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OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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THE 


TREASURY  OF  HISTORY; 


BEING 


A  HISTOHY  OF  THE  WORLD: 


COMPRISING 


^  (general  i^istors,  boti)  !^ncicnt  anb  illobcrn, 

OF 

ALL  THE  PRINCIPAL  NATIONS  OF  THE  GLOBE. 

THEIR    RISE,    PROGRESS,    PRESENT    CONDITION,    ETC. 

BY  SAMUEL  MAUNDER, 

AUTHOK  OF    "THE   TREASURY  OF  KNOWLEDGE,"   "BIOGRAPHICAL   TREASURY,"   ETC. 
TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED,  ' 

A  COMPLETE  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  TO  THE 
PRESENT  TIME, 

INCLUDING 

®l)e  Catc  toar  mill)  Mtxko,  California,  eti\ 

EDITED   BY   JOHN   INMAN,    ESQ. 

CJc  tojole  SnibellistjelJ  tottl)  Numerous  SEnarabfnas,  rtprcsentinfl  JSattle 
Scenes.  Coronations,  processions,  Costumes,  &c,,  ^c. 

IN     TWO     VOLUMES. 

V  O  L    I  T. 


NEW    YORK: 

PRINTED   BY   HARPER   &   BROTHERS 

FOE  HENRY   BILL. 

18  5  0. 


Entered,  accordiug  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-eight,  by 

Harper  6c  Brothers, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District' 
of  New  Yorii. 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.    II. 


THE    HISTORY  OF  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  I.  . 
CHAPTER  II. 
CHAPTER  III. 
CHAPTER  IV. 
CHAPTER  V. 
CHAPTER  VI. 


lis 

16 
21 
24 
30 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 

CHAPTER  I.— Fii-st  Settlement .49 

CHAPTER  II.— The  House  of  Stuart      . 58 

CHAPTER  III.— The  reign  of  Mary.— House  of  Stuart 63 

CHAPTER  IV.— The  accession  of  James  the  Sixth  of  Scotland,  and  the  First 

of  England     .         .         , 71 

CHAPTER  v.— From  the  accession  of  Charles  I.  to  the  death  of  William  III.  74 

CHAPTER  VI.— The  Union  of  the  two  Kingdoms                    ....  76 


THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 

Gaul,  imder  the  Romans 78 

The  Merovingian  Dynasty,  or  First  Race 80 

The  Carlovlngian  Dynast}^,  or  Second  Race 81 

First  Branch. — The  Capetine  Dj^nasty,  or  Third  Race 81 

Second  Branch. — House  of  Valois 83 

The  House  of  Valois-Orleans  ,         .        .       • 84 

The  House  of  Valois-Angoul^me 84 

Third  Branch. — House  of  Bom-bon 85 

The  French  Revolution. — 

1.  The  Limited  Monarchy 8S> 

2.  The  Republican  Government 90 

3.  The  Consxilar  Government         ••......  93 


VI  CONTENTS. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  SPAIN 112 

TBE  HISTORY  OF  PORTUGAL 14^ 


THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY,  comprifling  the  Austrian  Empire,  German 

States,  &c.         . I54 

HUNGARY 1     164 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA 166 


THE  HISTORY   OF    THE   NETHERLANDS,   comprising   Hollaku   and 

Belgium 17J 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SWEDEN,  DENMARK,  AND  NORWAY. 

Sweden ; 186 

Denmark I93 

Norway 198 


THE  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA 199 


THE  HISTORY  OF  POLAND 214 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SWITZERLAND 223 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 230 


THE  HISTORY  OF  VENICE 243 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

Ancient  Rome 256 

The  Roman  Republic 263 

The  Roman  Empire 271 

Papal  Rome,  or  States  of  the  Church 280 


NAPLES «        ....    282 

SICILY.' ,        .  .         .     285 


CONTENTS.  Vli 

THE  HISTORY  OF  GENOA 287 

THE  HISTORY  OF  SARDINIA 288 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BAVARIA 289 

THE  HISTORY  OF  HANOVER .         .    290 


THE  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

Chapter  I .  .     292 

Chapter  II .  296 

Chapter  III .  29D 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMAN,  OR  TURKISH  EMPIRE    .        .        311 
The  Rise  and  Progress  of  Mohammedauism 318 


THE  HISTORY  OF  INDIA 324 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PERSIA 344 

ARABIA 3.52 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 

Chapter  I.       ....         . 3-51 

Chapter  II 359 

Chapter  III 365 

Chapter  IV 372 

Chapter  V.       .        . 377 

THE  HISTORY  OF  JAPAN 379 


THE  EAST  INDIA  ISLANDS. 

Ceylon 382 

Sumatra 383 

Prince  of  Wales'  Island 384 

Java 384 

Borneo 385 

Celebes 335 

The  Moluccas,  or  Spice  Islands 336 

The  Banda,  or  Nutmeg  Isles •         •  387 

The  Plulippine  Islands ...  387 


y,i,  CONTENTS. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE,  and  more  particularly  of  the  Jews  .  387 

The  State  of  the  Jews  since  the  Destruction  of  JeruBjdem      ....  382 

Armenia  •         •  ^^^ 

Albania ^^ 


THE  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT,  with  Stria 396 

Alexandria 40? 

Antioch ^^^ 


THE  BARBARY  STATES 407 

Alffiers 408 


THE  HISTORY  OF  AUSTRALIA  AND  POLYNESIA. 

Australia 413 

New  Holland 414 

New  Zealand 415 

Polynesia 416 

Ladrones,  or  Marianne  Islands .416 

Friendly  Islands .         .417 

Society  Islands 417 

Sandwich  Islands         .         .         .         .         i 418 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ICELAND 419 


THE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICA 421 

North  America — 

Canada .         .  422 

Newfoundland 423 

Greenland 423 

Mexico 424 

South  America — 

Peru 426 

Chili 427 

Brazil 428 

The  Republic  of  La  Plata,  or  United  Provinces 429 

Colombia 430 

Bolivia 431 

Guiana 431 

Amazonia 43? 


THE  WEST  INDIA  ISLANDS. 

Cuba 432 

Hayti,  or  St.  Domingo 433 


CONTENTS 


Porto-Rico 

Barbadoes 
St.  Chi-istophe 
Nevia 
Antigua 
Montserrat 
Jamaica  . 
Martinique 
Guadaloupe 
St.  Lucia 
St.  Vincent 
Dominica 
Grenada 
Trinidad 
St.  Eostatius 
Tobago   . 
The  Bahamas 


's;  or,  St 


Kitts 


437 
438 
439 
439 
439 
440 
440 
442 
442 
443 
444 
445 
445 
446 
446 
446 
447 


HISTORY  0¥  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
CHAPTER  I.— To  the  close  of  tiie  Revolutionary  War  .         .         .         .448 

CHAPTER  II. — The  Administration  of  Government 462 

CHAPTER  III.— The  War  of  1S12-14 475 

CHAPTER  IV.— From  the  Treaty  o£  Ghent  to  tke  present  time    .         .         .499 


OUTLINE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  STATES. 

Virginia (.37 

New-York g^2 

Pennsylvania ^^q 

Massachusetts Q^g 

New-Hampshire (j54 

Rhode-Island g5g 

Connecticut fj.-jg 

New-Jersey f,f;0 

Delaware pgl 

Maryland (;C>2 

North-Carolina 664 

Soath-Carolina 065 

Georgia 667 

Mame 669 

Vermont 670 

District  of  Columbia 671 

Kentucky        .., 672 

Tennessee 673 

Ohio fi75 

Indiana 676 

Illinois 677 

Lonisiana ••  678 


z 


CONTE.tl-a 


Mississippi 679 

Missouri 680 

Arkansas 682 

Alabama 683 

Michigan         .         .         , 684 

Florida 684 

Texas 685 

Iowa 686 

Wisconsin        .         .         .         . 687 

Oregon 687 


«ketch  of  California 689 


Governors  of  the  States C90 

General  Viesv  of  Europe 690 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

V0LU3IE    II. 

To  face  page 

City  of  Dublin,  in  the  Time   of  Charles  1 13 

City  of  Limerick 44 

View  of  Kinsale 44 

View  of  Carlisle 55 

The  Forth,  from  Cambuskenneth  Castle 65 

Castle  of  St.  Andrew's 65 

View  of  Perth 70 

Stirling  Castle 70 

View  of  the  Tyrol 96 

View  of  St.  Helena 103 

The  Chevalier  Bayard 120 

City  of  Utrecht 132 

Namur 172 

Hong  Kong,  from  the  opposite  Mainland 354 

Corpus  Christi 590 

Point  Isabel 591 

Fort  Brown 594 

View  near  Monterey 596 

Charge  at   Buena  Vista 607 

Mexican  Funeral 625 


A  SERIES  OF  SEPARATE  HISTORIES, 

(CONTINUED.) 


THE   HISTORY   OF  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

There  is  no  other  country  in  the  world  the  history  of  which  has  been 
written  and  commented  upon  in  so  unjust  a  temper  and  tone  as  that  of 
Ireland.  And,  strange  to  say,  the  persons  who  have  been  most  frequently 
wrong  in  their  statement  of  the  evils  of  Ireland,  and  their  proposals  for 
remedying  them,  have  been  precisely  those  who  have  made  the  loudest 
professions  of  desire  to  serve  her.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  say  how  much 
of  this  mis-statement  has  arisen  from  their  want  of  correct  information, 
and  how  much  from  a  deliberately  bad  spirit ;  certain  it  is,  however,  that 
Ireland  has  few  worse  enemies  than  those  who  in  ignorance  or  in  evil 
temper  attribute  motives  and  feelings  to  England  and  English  statesmen 
of  which  they  are  quite  innocent,  and  who  assign  for  Irish  poverty  and 
Irish  suffering  causes  which  have  really  had  no  part  in  producing  them. 

Unwise  laws  of  centuries  long  passed  are  quite  coolly  cited  as  proof  of 
a  partial  tyranny  of  Ireland  by  England  ;  yet  a  single  glance  at  English 
statutes,  a  single  reflection  upon  the  punishments  which  to  a  very  recent 
date  were  allowed  to  disgust  the  wise  and  brutalize  the  bad,  would  show- 
that  Ireland  was  not  a  jot  less  mercifully  governed  than  Kent  or  York- 
shire, and  that  the  cruelties  of  English  law,  whether  administered  in  Lon- 
don or  in  Dublin,  were  no  proofs  of  English  dislike  of  Ireland. 

The  early  history  of  most  countries  is  so  uncertain,  that  but  little  more 
credit  is  due  to  it  than  to  any  other  romance  ;  and  when  we  read  of  the 
splendours  of  a  country  which  during  the  whole  period  of  its  authentic 
history  has  been  poor ;  of  the  power  of  a  country  which  during  all  the 
period  of  its  authentic  history  has  been  divided,  turbulent,  and  weak  ;  and 
of  the  learning  and  civilization  of  a  country  which  even  now  has  less  of 
diff"used  learning  and  civilization  than  any  other  country  in  Europe,  it  is 
quite  consistent  with  the  severest  logic  and  with  the  utmost  charity  to 
look  upon  the  relations  of  the  historian  as  being  founded  rather  upon 
fancy  than  upon  fact. 

The  best  authorities  agree  in  stating  Ireland  to  have  been  peopled  from 
the  Spanish  colonies  of  the  partly  trading  and  partly  piratical  Phoenicians, 
and  this  statement,  credible  from  the  unanimity  of  authorities  otherwise 
conflicting,  is  still  farther  strengthened  by  the  facts  of  the  PhcBnicians 
having  been  well  known  to  have  traded  largely  with  the  British  isles,  and  of 
the  frequent  finding,  even  at  the  present  day,  of  ornaments  and  utensils 
which  are  indubitably  of  Phoenician  manufacture.  That  gold  and  silver 
mines  existed  in  Wicklow  and  some  other  parts  of  Ireland  is  asserted 
very  positively,  but  we  think  with  far  more  positiveness  than  proof;  cer- 
tain it  is,  that  a  recent  attempt  to  find  gold  in  a  district  in  which  it  was 
once  said  to  abound,  proved  to  be  a  complete  and  lamentable  failure.    IC 


14  THE  TREASURY  OP  HlbTORY 

as  seems  to  be  certain,  Ireland  was  once  colonized  by  individuals  of  a 
people  so  wealthy  as  the  Phoenicians,  that  fact  would  at  once  account  for 
the  valuable  articles  so  frequently  recovered  from  the  soil.  But  it  by  no 
means  goes  to  prove  that  Ireland  in  the  early  ages  could  boast  of  either 
learning  or  civilization  of  the  high  order  claimed  for  it.  It  is  not  the 
most  refined  or  most  learned  class  that  will  venture  into  far  and  foreign 
lands  to  war  with  the  wild  animals,  to  reclaim  the  morass,  and  to  level 
the  primeval  forest.  The  hardiest,  the  rudest,  the  least  civilized,  those 
who  have  the  most  to  hope  for  and  the  least  to  lose  or  to  fear,  are  the 
men  who  usually  go  forth  to  colonize  strange  lands  ;  and  the  Phoenicians 
who  seized  upon  Ireland  as  their  abiding  place,  were  in  all  human  prob- 
ability the  hardy  and  resolute  rovers  of  the  sea  for  many  along  and  strife - 
ful  year  before  they  became  dw^ellers  upon  and  cultivators  of  the  land. 
That  they  came  from  Phoenicia,  a  civilized,  ingenious,  and  wealthy  land, 
proves  literally  nothing  as  to  their  own  civilization  or  their  own  wealth, 
as  any  one  may  perceive  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  observe  the  majority 
of  the  colonists  who  leave  the  civilized  and  luxurious  nations  of  our  own 
day,  to  build  cities  in  the  desert,  and  to  place  palaces  and  thronged  marts 
stored  with  costly  wares,  where,  even  within  the  memory  of  man,  the 
dense  forest  sheltered  only  the  wild  animal  or  the  scarcely  less  savage 
man. 

The  Phoenician  colonies  of  Spain  were  at  once  eager  speculators  and 
bold  seamen;  visiting  the  British  coast  as  traders,  especially  in  order  to 
procure  tin,  they  could  scarcely  fail  to  admire  the  soil  and  climate  of  Ire- 
land, and  could  have  but  little  difficulty  in  subduing  or  destroying  the 
mere  handful  of  poor  and  all  but  actually  savage  aborigines,  who  must 
have  been  a  mere  handful,  destitute  as  they  were  of  commerce  or  manu- 
factures, and  warring,  as  we  know  that  they  did  at  a  much  later  date,  with 
the  wolf  and  the  hill-fox  who  disputed  the  swamp  and  the  forest  with 
them. 

When  historians  tell  us  thai  splendidly-manufactured  and  extremely 
costly  articles  are  frequently  excavated  from  the  Irish  soil,  we  do  not  dis- 
pute the  accuracy  of  the  statement,  but  we  deny  its  cogency  as  proving 
that  the  early  colonists  of  Ireland  were  learned,  or  civilized,  or  even 
wealthy.  A  magnificent  ornament  or  a  costly  and  ingenious  machine 
taken  from  France  or  England  to  the  arid  desert  of  Africa  or  the  swampy 
flat  of  the  Swan  river,  would  prove  that  the  country  had  been  visited  by 
people  from  a  wealthy  and  civilized  land,  but  certainly  not  that  the  indi- 
viduals were  themselves  either  the  one  or  the  other ;  in  short,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  the  very  fact  of  emigration  would  be  decisive  on  the  opposite 
state  of  the  case. 

That  the  Phoenicians  were  the  dominant  people  in  Ireland — anciently 
called  lerne,  or  Erin,  which  signifies  the  western  land — and  that  the  magi, 
or  priests  of  the  fire-worshippers  of  Persia,  were  the  actual  governing 
authorities,  both  lay  and  religious,  as  the  Druids  were  in  Britain,  there  is 
abundant  proof.  From  the  far  East,  indeed,  Europe  seems  to  have  been 
supplied  with  its  early  superstitions,  as  well  as  with  the  fierce  swarms  of 
nomade  and  desperate  barbarians,  who,  entering  Europe  on  the  north,  at 
length  found  even  the  vast  steppes  and  forests  of  Scandinavia  too  narrow 
for  them,  and  whose  furious  assaults  levelled  cities  and  terminated  the 
stern  rule  of  ages,  only,  in  the  end,  to  found  nations  at  once  mightier  in 
(jonquest,  wiser  in  law-giving,  and  possessing,  as  it  should  seem,  as  great 
a  superiority  in  permanency,  as  in  extent,  of  empire.  As  the  aborigines, 
if  such  existed  when  the  Phoenicians  colonized  Ireland,  had  made  way  for 
a  more  civilized,  wealthy,  and  luxurious  people,  so  these  in  their  turn 
were  soon  obliged  to  make  way  for  or  submit  to  a  fiercer  and  more  hardy 
people.  The  Scoti,  one  of  those  Scandinavian  hordes,  which  under  the 
various  names  of  Northmen,  Sea-kings,  Danes,  and  Saxons,  defied  un- 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  15 

navigated  seas  and  natural  barriers  to  prevent  them  from  overrunning  the 
fairest  and  richest  portions  of  Europe  (b.  c.  200),  sent  forth  from  the  north 
of  Spain,  where  they  had  been  colonized,  a  powerful  and  fierce  horde  led 
by  Milesius.  Hence  these  Scoti  are  more  commonly  called  Milesians; 
the  term  Scoti  being  generally  confined  to  another  swarm  of  the  same 
fierce  race,  which  at  a  later  date  endeavoured  to  settle,  also,  in  Ireland ; 
but,  unable  to  effect  their  purpose,  departed  northward,  and  founded  the 
powerful  Scots,  who,  now  at  war  with  the  Picts  and  now  in  alliance  with 
them  against  the  comparatively  civilized  Britons,  were  so  long  noted 
for  strength,  courage,  and  perseverance,  before  they  were  famous  for 
aught  else ;  and  who  taught  even  the  Roman  legions  to  respect  them  as 
foes,  ages  before  they  had  any  of  those  arts  of  peace  which  the  Roman 
eagles  had  heralded  into  many  other  lands. 

That  the  vast  immigrations  which  have  changed  the  face  of  all  Europe 
origmated  in  the  east  of  the  world,  and  that  the  north  of  Europe,  by  what 
ever  tribes  nominally  peopled,  was,  in  fact,  but  the  resting-place  and  nui 
sery  of  such  immigrants,  very  many  circumstances  go  to  prove ;  but  per- 
haps none  more  strongly  than  the  general  resemblance  in  both  the  politi- 
cal and  the  religious  rule  of  tribes  nominally  and  directly  coming  from 
distant  parts  and  settling  in  distant  parts.  Thus  we  find  that  the  Phoeni 
cians  direct  from  the  east  of  the  Mediterranean  strikingly  resembled,  in 
many  points,  both  civil  and  religious,  the  Scoti  or  Milesians  of  the  Span- 
ish coast  who  certainly  had  settled  there  from  the  north  of  Europe,  where. 
it  is  nearly  as  certain,  they  had  originally  halted  on  their  march  from  the 
eastern  quarter  of  the  world ;  and  these,  again,  in  like  manner  resembled 
the  Britons.  Between  the  Magi  of  the  Phoenician  Irish,  (those  priests  of 
the  false  faith  of  Zoroaster  who  were  perfectly  undisturbed  in  their  rites, 
or  rather  who  were  continued  in  their  power  as  priests,  sages,  seers,  and 
statesmen  by  the  fierce  Milesians),  and  the  Druids  of  Britain,  there  were 
so  many  and  such  striking  resemblances,  that  the  Milesians  called  their 
priests  Magi  and  Druids  indiscriminately.  The  dark  grove  and  the  un- 
sparing sacrificial  knife  of  the  stern  and  unquestioned  priest  marked  both 
offshoots  or  corruptions  of  the  fire-worshippers;  and  the  mysteries, 
cruelties,  and  sacrifices,  from  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth  to  the  first-born 
child  of  the  idolator's  family,  of  the  Druids  were,  with  but  such  difference 
as  long  journeys  and  distant  residence  will  easily  and  fully  account  for, 
the  mysteries,  the  cruelties,  and  the  sacrifices  of  the  Magi  too. 

The  dreadful  and  fierce  sacrifices  of  the  Druids  were  put  an  end  to  in 
Britain  by  the  Roaians;  but,  strange  to  say,  that  mighty  and  enterprising 
people  seem  never  to  have  visited  Ireland,  where  the  Magi  exercised  their 
terrible  rule  quite  undisturbed  during  all  the  long  lustres  of  the  Roman 
sway  in  Britain.  Yet,  geographically  speaking,  Ireland  was  well  known 
to  the  ancients.  The  Greeks  called  it  lerne,  the  Romans  Hibernia;  and 
It  was  also  called  the  Holy  or  Sacred  Isle,  not,  as  has  been  with  much 
defiance  of  chronology  and  common  sense  affirmed,  on  account  of  its  ow- 
ing its  Christianity  to  one  of  the  immediate  disciples  of  the  great  founder 
of  our  faith,  but  to  the  precisely  opposite  reason  that  it  was  notorious  as 
the  residence  of  the  Magi,  and  as  the  scene  of  their  terrible  rites  long 
after  those  rites  had  disappeared  elsewhere  before  the  all-conquering  and 
all-reforming  Roman. 

The  Scoti,  or  Milesians,  whether  intermarrying  with  the  Phosnician 
first  colonies,  or  annihilating  them,  are  the  real  ancestors  of  the  Irish 
people  ;  and  yet  we  are  asked  to  believe  in  wealth,  learning,  and  civiliza- 
tion, among  this  horde  of  semi-savages ;  these  contemporaries  and  co- 
equals  of  the  other  Scandinavian  and  Scythian  hordes  who,  probably 
during  ages,  had  been  wandering  by  slow  degrees  and  in  savage  guise 
from  the  steppes  of  Tartary  to  the  forests  of  Germany,  and  from  the 
bleak  north,  with  its  ice-chained  rivers  and  piercing  blasts,  to  the  luxuri- 

2  2 


16  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

0U3  coasts  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  the  voluptuous  plains  and  rivers  of 
Italy  I  These  were  the  real  ancestors  of  the  Irish  people  ;  these  were 
the  "ancient  Milesians"  and  "Irish  of  the  old  time"  in  whose  gold  and 
gems,  in  whose  piety,  learning,  and  delicate  breeding  we  are  called  upon 
to  believe. 

Had  Ireland  been  so  learned  and  civilized  at  this  early  day,  we  should 
surely  not  be  even  now  ignorant  whether  the  round  towers  were  Phoeni- 
cian temples  or  beacons  for  the  Scoti,  the  Danes,  and  the  other  hostile 
settlers  or  piratical  visitors  of  Ireland ;  and  had  Ireland  been  so  rich  at 
that  day,  the  Romans  would  never  have  left  her  in  contempt  and  in  un- 
visited  security,  while  ruling  and  reforming  Britain  for  nearly  four  cen- 
turies. 

We  conclude  this  chapter,  then,  with  stating  and  with  begging  particular 
attention  to  the  statement — that  the  early  history  of  Ireland  is  as  fabulous 
in  all  that  relates  to  glory,  learning,  wealth,  and  heroes,  as  any  other  early 
history  whatever  :  that,  in  the  case  of  Ireland  this  fabulous  turn  of  early 
writers  has  been  made  the  foundation  of  great  injustice  committed  by  later 
writers,  and  by  orators  and  statesmen,  too,  as  to  England;  that  thoug)\ 
no  doubt,  English  kings  and  their  advisers  in  past  days  may  have  unwisely 
decreed  or  unjustly  acted  in  Ireland,  as  in  any  other  country,  yet  Ireland 
never  began  to  be  civilized,  populous,  learned,  wealthy,  or  important,  until 
connected  with  England;  that  English  connexion  has  done  much,  and  is 
still  doing  much,  to  make  Ireland  both  prosperous  and  happy,  and  would 
do  far  more  but  for  the  fierce  party  spirit  of  some,  and  the  equally  fierce 
but  still  more  disgraceful  personal  selfishness  and  ambition  of  others, 
which  are  constantly  and  throughout  that  torn  land  at  work  to  perpetuate 
the  grossest  prejudices  and  the  basest  feelings. 


CHAPTER  II. 

When  the  ancient  kings  and  the  ancient  glories  of  Ireland  are  spoken 
of,  inexperienced  readers  ^re  apt  to  picture  one  king  of  Ireland  swaying 
the  whole  territory  from  the  Giant's  Causeway  to  Cape  Clear,  and  from 
Galway-bay  to  the  Hill  of  Howth.  This,  however,  was  so  far  from  being 
the  case,  that  within  that  island  there  were  five  separate  kingdoms,  always 
jealous  of  each  other,  and  frequently  at  open  war.  The  five  provinces  or 
kingdoms  of  Ireland  were  Meath,  Leinster,  Munster,  Connaught,  and 
Ulster.  The  first  named  was  considered  the  chief  sovereignty ;  at  the 
hill  of  Tara,  famed  alike  in  true  .history  and  bard's  romance,  which  was 
situated  in  that  kingdom,  were  the  great  assemblages  of  princes  and  chiefs  ; 
and  the  other  four  kings  were  nominally  tributary  to  the  king  of  Meath, 
just  as  the  tanists,  or  the  chiefs  of  septs,  in  their  respective  kingdoms 
were  to  them.  The  bards,  an  idle,  imaginative  set  of  men,  were  not 
merely  the  diverters  of  the  chieftain's  hours  of  recreation  and  wassail; 
the  chieftain's  bard  was  also  his  recorder,  aud  we  may  cease  to  wonder 
at  the  exaggerations  that  have  come  down  to  us,  when  we  consider  that 
these  marvels  were  originally  said,  sung,  and  written — if  written  at  all — 
by  men  whose  comfort  depended  upon  the  complacent  feelings  of  him 
whose  deeds  they  sang,  and  who,  therefore,  were  under  no  very  great 
temptation  to  observe  a  too  rigid  adherence  to  paltry  realities. 

In  one  of  the  piratical  excursions  made  by  the  Irish,  Mac  Nial,  a  petty 
king,  landed  on  the  coast  of  Brittany,  and  brought  spoil  living  as  well  as 
dead,  human  as  well  as  brute.  Among  the  captives  was  a  youth  of  some 
sixteen  years  of  age,  who,  on  arriving  in  Ireland,  was  sold  as  a  slave  and 
employed  in  herding  sheep.  This  youth  was  the  afterwards  celebrated 
St.  Patrick.     Naturallv  of  a  thoughtful  turn,  the  mountain  track  and 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  17 

forest  glade  in  which  his  vocation  caused  him  to  spend  much  of  his  time 
deepened  his  meditative  habits,  and  gave  zeal  and  fervour  to  native  re- 
ligious impressions.  He  looked  upon  the  land  and  saw  that  it  was  good ; 
but  he  saw  that  it  was  peopled  with  idolaters  and  polluted  by  cruelties. 
Even  amid  the  bitterness  of  his  own  situation,  a  slave  and  a  captive  in  a 
'oreign  land,  he  felt  that  it  would  be  a  great  and  a  Christian  deed  to  open 
'he  eyes  of  the  blinded  among  whom  his  lot  was  cast,  and  save  their  minds 
from  the  bondage  of  a  false  faith,  and  the  lives  of  their  first-born  from 
feeing  sacrificed  in  torture  at  the  flaming  altars  of  senseless  and  graven 
idols.  Fortunately,  Patrick  had  scarcely  attained  the  age  of  manhood 
ere  he  escaped  and  got  safely  back  to  France,  and  for  upwards  of  twenty 
years  applied  himself  with  diligence  to  learning,  such  as  was  then  attain- 
able. I3ut  neither  lapse  of  years  nor  pride  of  cultivated  intellect  could 
banish  from  his  mind  the  recollection  of  the  state  of  the  Irish,  or  his  early 
determination  to  make  the  attempt,  at  least,  to  enlighten  their  minds  and 
raise  their  social  condition. 

A.  D.  432. — Accordingly,  in  the  year  432,  when  about  forty-five  years  of 
age,  he  applied  to  the  pope  for  permission  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Ireland. 
Such  a  permission  was  willingly  granted,  and  Patrick,  accompanied  by  a 
few  French  monks  whom  he  had  interested  by  his  descriptions  of  the 
character  and  condition  of  the  Irish,  landed  in  Ulster,  after  an  absence  of 
nearly  or  quite  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  foreign  garb  and  striking  ap- 
pearance of  Patrick  and  his  companions  filled  the  peasantry  whom  they 
first  encountered  with  the  notion  that  they  were  pirates,  and  preparations 
were  made  for  driving  them  back  to  their  vessels.  But  their  quiet  de- 
meanour, and  the  earnest  and  simple  assurances  given  by  Patrick,  in  the 
language  of  the  peasants,  that  he  and  his  companions  had  arrived  on  an 
errand  of  peace  and  good-will,  speedily  converted  hostility  into  admiration 
and  confidence.  The  hospitality  of  the  principal  people  was  heartily  be- 
stowed upon  the  disinterested  strangers,  and  Patrick  and  his  companions 
presented  themselves  at  Tara  attended  by  a  numerous  and  enthusiasiic 
cortege.  The  mild  and  venerable  aspect  of  the  preachers  gave  full 
weight  to  the  sublime  and  benevolent  doctrines  which  they  propounded. 
King  and  people  listened  at  first  with  interest,  and  then  with  full  credence ; 
and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  idols  and  idol-worship  became  hateful  to 
the  people ;  Christian  doctrines  were  everywhere  received,  and  churches 
and  monasteries  arose  where  flames  had  but  recently  licked  up  the  blood 
of  shrieking  and  expiring  human  victims  of  ferocious  error. 

About  the  close  of  the  eighth  century  the  Northmen  began  to  send  as 
man/  as  a  hundred  vessels  laden  with  fierce  warriors  into  the  Boyne  and 
LifTey.  The  monasteries,  both  as  being  the  wealthiest  places  in  the 
island,  and  as  being  the  abode  of  the  teachers  of  the  faith  of  hated  Charle- 
magne, whose  prowess  and  whose  sternness  had  made  his  name  odious  to 
the  northern  marauders,  were  the  especial  objects  of  their  cupidity  and 
vengeance.  Built  chiefly  of  wood,  the  monasteries  when  plundered  were 
committed  to  the  flames  ;  and  crowds  of  terrified  monks  and  nuns  escaped 
from  the  swords  of  the  enemy  only  to  perish  of  hunger,  or  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather,  amid  the  woods  and  morasses.  From  conducting  expe- 
ditions farther  and  farther  into  the  bosom  of  the  island,  the  northmen  at 
length  proceeded  to  attempt  a  permanent  settlement.  And  early  in  the 
ninth  century  (a.  d.  1816),  they  succeeded  in  planting  a  colony  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Armagh.  Between  this  colony  and  the  neighbouring  Irish  there 
were  frequent  and  desperate  struggles  ;  but  about  thirty  years  after  it  was; 
planted,  Turgesius,  a  Norwegian  of  great  fame  and  power  among  the 
northern  pirates,  brought  a  powerful  fleet  to  its  aid,  carried  death  and  dis- 
n:iay  into  all  the  accessible  parts  of  the  country,  and  assumed  the  title  of 
knig  of  Ireland  (a.  n.  845.)  Having  erected  strong  forts  on  well  chosen 
p:iris  of  the  coast,  he  wielded  his  usurped  authority  most  stcnly.  The 
2 


18  THE  TREASURY  ClF  HISTORY. 

native  kings  were  made  to  consider  themselves  as  his  mere  tributary 
tanists ;  and  upon  each  he  levied  a  tribute,  in  the  nature  of  a  poll-tax, 
upon  tlieir  subjects,  wliich,  from  the  punishment  of  its  non-payment  being 
the  amputation  of  the  offender's  nose,  was  ealied  nose-money. 

Turbulent  towards  their  own  titular  kings  of  Meath,  it  might  have 
been  expected  that  the  singularly  haughty  chiei's  of  Ireland  would  be 
stung  to  desperation  by  the  sweeping  tyranny  of  a  foreign  pirate.  Many 
attempts  at  throwing  off  his  yoke  were' unsuccessful ;  but  at  length  the 
art  and  intrepidity  of  O'Malachlin,  an  Irish  king,  put  an  end  both  to  the 
reign  and  life  of  the  usurper.  As  though  the  whole  power  of  the  north- 
men  had  been  centred  in  one  man,  this  death  was  the  signal  of  a  general 
rising  of  the  Irish.  The  lukewarm  grew  zealous,  and  the  timid  brave: 
everywhere  the  Irish  sword  gleamed  for  Ireland,  and  the  massacre  of  the 
northmen  was  so  extensive  that  the  country  might  once  more  be  said  to 
be  free  from  all  enemies;  but  this  freedom  was  soon  interrupted.  In 
larger  numbers  than  ever,  with  vengeance  animating  them,  the  hordes  of 
the  north  poured  in  under  three  famous  sea-kings,  Sitric,  Olaff,  and  Ivar. 
Waterford,  Limerick,  and  Dublin  were  seized  upon,  and,  as  is  generally 
ohservable,  the  energy  of  unprincipled  conquerors  gave  a  commercial  and 
trading  consequence  to  those  cities  such  as  they  had  never  before  pos- 
sessed. Merchants  from  foreign  countries  repaired  thither,  with  articles 
of  both  use  and  luxury;  and  an  observable  impulse  was  given  to  the  civ- 
ilization and  refinement  of  the  country,  through  the  medium  of  the  inva- 
ders to  whom  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  owed  misery  and  death.  In 
truth,  the  situation  of  the  native  Irish  during  this  occupation  by  the  Danes 
may  be  compared  to  that  of  the  Britons  under  the  early  rule  of  the  Sax- 
ons, so  grapliically  depicted  by  Bede. 

But  neither  the  influence  of  the  commercial  spirit  nor  the  foreign  luxury 
introduced  by  the  Danes,  had  the  effect  of  subduing  the  Irish  turbulence 
or  courage.  Even  when,  laying  aside  for  a  brief  time  their  petty  quarrels 
for  local  supremacy,  they  turned  their  arms  against  the  northmen,  their 
endeavours  were  more  creditable  than  successful.  But  a  king  of  Munster 
at  length  arose,  to  show  thR  northmen  that  the  power  of  an  invader  is 
precarious,  and  may  be  shaken  long  after  the  most  timid  of  his  followers 
have  ceased  to  fear,  and  all  save  the  best  and  bravest  among  the  oppressed 
have  ceased  to  hope. 

A.  D.  990. — Brian  Borohme,  whose  talents  and  courage  even  romances 
scarcely  rate  too  highly,  was  the  king  of  Munster,  contemporary  with 
Malachi,  king  of  Meath.  The  latter,  though  in  title  the  chief  kingdom, 
was  at  this  time  scarcely  the  superior  of  Munster,  the  kings  of  which  oc- 
casionally asserted  their  equality  by  a  refusal  to  pay  the  tribute.  Though 
rivals,  Malachi  and  Brian  had  one  common  feeling  of  hatred  to  the  foreign 
rule  of  Ireland^  and  the  former,  a  brave  and  able  general,  was  in  a  mere 
military  point  of  view  more  completely  the  liberator  of  their  common 
country  than  the  latter.  Disputes  having  arisen  between  the  king  of 
Meath  and  the  Danes,  who  had  now  rendered  Dublin  very  populous  and 
wealthy,  a  battle  took  place  between  them  in  the  vicinity  of  the  hill  of 
Tara,  in  which  the  Danes  were  so  completely  routed  that  they  were  glad 
10  accept  Malaehi's  terms  for  peace.  But  Brian  Borohme,  conscious  not 
only  of  warlike  ability  but  also  of  capacity  for  civil  rule,  aimed  at  the  sole 
sovereignty  of  Ireland  ;  Malachi,  equally  ambitious,  resisted  his  preten- 
sions. A  severe  and  passionate  contest  ensued,  in  which  Malachi  was 
subdued,  and  compelled,  in  that  hall  of  Tara  which  for  centuries  had  wit- 
nessed the  supremacy  of  his  ancestors,  to  do  homage  to  the  rival  whom 
he  had  bravely  though  lucklessly  resisted. 

Brian  Borohme's  first  acts  showed  that,  however  blameable  the  course  by 
which  he  had  obtained  the  chief  regal  place,  his  genius  was  admirably 
adapted  to  it.    Without  losing  time  in  idle  show  and  ceremony,  he  at  oiic't 


THE  TREASURY  OP  IiISrORY.  jg 

Bet  ont  on  a  tour  of  pacification,  receiving  the  submission  of  the  chiefs, 
and  demanding  hostages  for  the  loyalty  of  those  who  had  given  cause  for 
suspicion.  Nor  did  he  confine  his  cares  to  protecting  himself;  he  also 
made  laws  preventing  the  people  from  being  scourged  by  the  cosherings 
of  their  rulers.  His  well  known  talents,  and  the  sternness  with  which  he 
imprisoned  those  chiefs  who  ventured  to  infringe  his  laws,  had  a  salutary 
effect;  and  in  his  reign  Ireland  was  a  better  ordered  and  more  happy  and 
peaceful  country  than  it  had  ever  before  been.  The  strongholds  and  re- 
ligious houses,  which  had  suffered  so  m.uch  at  first  by  the  violence  of  the 
northmen,  were  repaired,  and  new  ones  founded.  The  Danes  themselves, 
dreading  to  provoke  him,  busied  themselves  solely  with  trade,  and  did  not 
for  many  years  commit  any  violence. 

A.D.  lOU. — The  king  of  Dublin  suddenly  and  without  provocation  led 
his  northmen  into  the  kingdom  of  Meath,  plundering  without  limit,  and 
murdering  without  mercy.  As  if  to  show  that  Irishmen  were  never  to  sec 
the  misfortunes  of  their  country  without  doing  their  part  towards  inflict- 
ing them,  the  king  of  Leinster  joined  his  forces  to  those  of  the  northmen. 
Malachi  and  Brian  Borohme  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  other  kings 
to  oppose  the  host  of  foes  that  had  thus  suddenly  sprung  up.  Rightly 
believing  the  native  more  guilty  than  foreign  ones,  Borohme  dispatched  a 
large  force  under  his  son  Donough,  to  overrun  the  kingdom  of  Leinster. 
This  service  the  old  warrior  judged  his  son  could  effect  in  three  days,  to 
which  period  he  limited  his  absence.  But  treason  was  in  the  camp  of  the 
brave  Eorohme,  whose  gallant  son  was  no  sooner  beyond  recall,  than 
some  deserter  made  the  northmen  aware  how  much  the  Irish  were  weak- 
ened by  this  detachment,  and  they  at  once  forced  a  general  engagement. 

Borohme  formed  his  troops  in  battle  array,  and  though  four-score  years 
had  blanched  his  hair  and  abated  his  strength,  he  rode  along  the  ranks  and 
shouted  his  exhortations  in  the  eloquence  of  which,  in  former  times,  he  had 
so  often  witnessed  the  effect  upon  troops  who  had  followed  him  to  victory. 
Bearing  a  crucifix  in  his  left  hand,  as  he  brandished  his  familiar  sword  in 
his  right,  he  called  upon  them  to  follow  where  he  should  lead,  and  strike 
for  the  religion  of  the  saints,  with  the  firm  hearts  and  vigourous  arms 
of  men  who  knew  how  to  die  as  Christians,  but  never  to  submit  to 
heathens  in  heart,  name,  or  alliance.  Shortly  after  day-break,  on  the  23d 
of  April,  the  venerable  king  and  warrior  thus  addressed  his  army,  who 
responded  to  the  address  by  commencing  the  fight,  which  lasted  the 
whole  day.  As  the  shadows  of  night  fell  deeper,  he  was  obliged  to  seek 
rest  in  his  tent.  At  length  the  shouts  of  the  Irish  proclaimedlhat  the  foe 
was  broken  beyond  hope,  and  the  king's  tent  in  the  general  joy,  was  left 
unguarded  save  by  a  stripling  page.  He  was  recognised  by  a  flying  party 
of  the  enemy  a  few  minutes  after,  and  in  an  instant  his  enemies  were  upon 
him;  the  loud  shriek  and  feeble  blow  of  the  young  page  delayed  the 
sacrifice  not  a  moment ;  Brian  Borohme,  the  terrible  in  battle,  the' wise  in 
council,  was  slain,  with  many  and  ghastly  wounds,  even  as  he  knelt  in 
thanksgiving  for  the  victory  he  had  done  so  much  towards  obtaining  for 
his  country. 

The  defeat  of  the  northmen  was  complete  at  Clontarf.  The  invade.rs  fled 
lotlieir  ships  and  sought  safety  inflight;  and  the  northmen  who  were  nat- 
uralized in  Ireland,  despairing  of  any  farther  aid  from  beyond  sea,  had  no 
recourse  but  to  live  in  peace  with  their  neighbours,  with  whom  the  inter- 
marriages of  a  few  generations  so  incorporated  them,  that  all  distinction 
was  lost  between  the  two  people.  Malachi,  who  had  bravely  distinguish- 
ed himself  on  this  occasion,  was  now  by  common  consent  called  again  to 
the  chief  sovereignty,  which  he  enjoyed  in  peace  and  honour  until  his 
death. 

A.  D  1023. — Full  of  years  and  honours,  IMalachi  expired  in  1022  :  and  the 
death  of  that  monarch  was  the  signal  for  the  renewal  of  those  slianu'Tui 


20  THE  TliEASUltY  OF  HISTORY 

civil  wars,  from  which  the  strong  mind  of  Brian  Borohme  had  so  long 
kept  the  country  free.  The  renown  of  Malachi  had  caused  all  the  kings 
to  hail  him  as  the  successor  of  Urian  Borohme,  but  the  relatives  of  those 
two  princes  could  not  so  easil>  igree  as  to  the  successor  of  the  former. 
Many  competitors  appeared  and  sanguinary  struggles  ensued;  but  at 
length  the  field  was  cleared  of  all  but  two.  These  were  Donough,  king  ol 
Munster,  heir  of  Brian  Borohme,  and  Turlough,  great  nephew  of  the  lat- 
ter and  nephew  of  the  former ;  both,  it  will  be  perceived,  claiming  in 
hereditary  succession  to  him  who  had  been  to  all  intents  an  usurping 
king,  however  good  and  able.  The  struggle  between  these  two  princes 
was  long;  but  Donough  was  vanquished,  and  almost  immediately  re- 
signed his  kingdom  of  Munster,  and  set  out  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome. 
Arrived  at  "  the  eternal  city,"  he  entered  into  a  monastery,  and  there  ob- 
scurely finished  his  life. 

Turlough,  on  mounting  the  throne,  proved  that  he  inherited  with  it 
much  of  the  ability  and  coui&ge  of  his  great  uncle,  together  with  a 
double  portion  of  his  resolved  self-will.  Much  as  he  owed  to  the  inferior 
kings  and  chiefs,  he  imposed  upon  them  unusually  heavy  tributes ;  a 
tyranny  the  full  weight  of  which  was  felt  by  the  unfortunate  kerne,  or 
peasantry,  from  whom  it  was  of  course  wrung  by  their  tyrants.  From 
the  natives,  Turlough  turned  his  strong  hand  upon  the  northern  settlers 
and  traders.  Even  under  the  firm  rule  of  Brian  Borohme,  these  people 
were  allowed  to  follow  their  peaceable  pursuits,  and  their  lowns  had 
been  governed  by  their  own  laws,  administered  by  governors  of  their 
own  race.  One  of  these,  Godfred,  king  of  Dublin,  was  banished  almost 
immediately  after  the  accession  of  Turlough,  who  filled  the  vacancy  with 
Murkentach,  his  own  son.  A  similar  tyrannic  course  was  followed  to  all 
the  Danish  towns.  At  this  period  Ireland  seems  to  have  obtained  con- 
siderable improvement  as  to  wealth,  if  not  refinement.  Mention  is  fre- 
quently made  of  gold  in  payment  of  tribute,  where  formerly  it  was  paid 
in  kine ;  and  to  its  former  exports  of  wheat,  wool,  hides,  and  cattle,  we 
now  find  timber  added. 

A.  D.  1086. — After  an  active  and  generally  prosperous  reign,  Turlough 
died.  His  kingdom  was  partitioned  among  his  three  sons  ;  the  heredi- 
tary principle  being  set  aside,  but  on  this  occasion  with  at  least  the  colour 
of  justice,  inasmuch  as  the  principle  of  equal  division — though  including 
the  most  distant  male  relatives — was  that  of  the  Brehon  laws  in  the 
palmy  days  of  the  Magi.  One  of  the  sons  dying,  a  contest  arose  be- 
tween the  two  survivors,  Murkentach — already  mentioned  as  succeeding 
Godfred  the  northman  in  the  government  of  Dublin— and  Dermot.  The 
latter  was  defeated  and  driven  into  exile,  and  Murkentach  now  claimed 
and  was  about  to  assume  the  whole  kingdom.  But  a  rival  was  set  up 
against  him  in  the  person  of  a  chieftain  of  the  old  blood-royal,  named 
Donald  MacLoughlin,  who  was  extremely  popular  among  the  princes 
DOth  on  account  of  his  personal  qualities  and  his  descent ;  and  again  the 
unhappy  country  was  visited  by  a  civil  war.  For  eight  years  the  old 
scenes  of  rapine  and  misery  bade  fair  to  undo  all  that  invaders  had  done 
towards  improving  it ;  and  after  all  this  strife  and  misery,  the  rivals 
agreed  to  divide  the  regal  spoil  between  them.  The  southern  moiety  of 
the  kingdom  was  given  to  Murkentach,  and  bore  the  title  of  Leathmogh, 
or  Mogh's  share  ;  and  the  northern  moiety  to  MacLoughlin,  and  bore  the 
title  of  Leath  Cunnin,  or  Conn's  share. 

Even  this  seemingly  equitable  arrangement  did  not  restore  a  lasting 
peace.  Perpetual  encroachments  were  made  by  one  or  the  other,  and  a 
series  of  sanguinary  and  mischievous  battles  terminated  in  the  utter 
defeat  of  Murkentach,  who  retired  from  the  contest  in  1103,  and  sought 
refuge  in  a  monastery,  where  he  terminated  his  days. 

During  Ihe  obstinate  struggle  between  the  Irish  kings,  the  coastward 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  jl 

parts  of  the  country  wererepeatedly  annoyed  by  the  Norwegian,  Magnus. 
His  prowess  and  audacity  had  possessed  him  of  the  Hebrides  and  the 
Isle  of  Man,  and  under  the  title  of  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  he  struck  ter- 
ror and  dismay  far  and  near.  Emboldened  by  the  senseless  dissensions 
of  the  Irish,  he  sailed  up  the  Liffey,  ravaging  and  destroying,  and  at 
length  possessed  himself  of  Dublin,  where,  having  fallen  into  an  am- 
bush, he  lost  his  life. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  various  wars  in  Ireland  did  not  prevent  the  island  from  being 
still  divided  into  the  five  chief  kingdoms  of  which  mention  has  already 
Deen  made.  The  titular  chief  royalty  passed  now  to  Roderic  O'Connor, 
king  of  Connaught.  But  all  his  energies  were  required  to  enable  him 
to  govern  Connaught,  and  he  was  incapable  of  either  composing  the  dif- 
ferences of  the  other  kings,  or  of  uniting  them  all  under  his  own  au- 
thority. In  a  word,  Ireland  was  in  the  13th  century  as  divided  as 
ever  it  had  been ;  and  only  so  far  improved  in  wealth  as  to  tempt  ag- 
gression by  exciting  cupidity.  Heathen  Rome  and  Christian  Rome  alike 
had  allowed  the  semi-barbarous  people  of  the  "  sacred  island "  to  fight 
and  destroy  at  their  own  good  pleasure.  But  the  time  at  length  came 
when  Christian  Rome,  already  enthroned  as  the  arbitress  of  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  princes  of  the  earth,  looked  with  a  longing  eye  upon  the 
fertile  island  on  which  prosperity  had  begun  to  dawn.  Ireland's  near 
and  ambitious  neighbour,  Henry  II.  of  England,  it  was  who  immediate- 
ly drew  the  attention  of  the  pontiff  to  her  value  and  capabilities.  Attract- 
ed by  the  fertility  of  Ireland  and  its  contiguity  to  his  own  kingdom,  he 
applied  to  the  papal  court  for  its  sanction  to  his  subduing  Ireland. 

A.  D.  1116. — Pope  Adrian  III.,  who  then  filled  the  papal  chair,  was 
doubly  glad  to  receive  this  request.  An  Englishman  by  birth,  he  was 
naturally  anxious  for  the  aggrandizement  of  his  native  country ;  and, 
as  pope,  he  could  not  but  be  rejoiced  at  having  from  the  king  of  Eng- 
land this  emphatic  acknowledgement  of  the  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual 
supremacy  of  Rome.  The  pope  having  shown  that  Ireland  ought  to  be 
conquered,  and  that  Henry  is  appointed  conqueror,  "  exhorts  him  to  in- 
vade Ireland,  in  order  to  extirpate  the  vice  and  wickedness  of  the  natives, 
and  oblige  them  to  pay  yearly,  from  every  house,  a  penny  to  the  see 
of  Rome ;  gives  him  entire  right  and  authority  over  the  island,  com- 
mands all  the  inhabitants  to  obey  him  as  their  sovereign,  and  invests 
him  with  the  fullest  power, '  all  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
the  souls  of  men.'  " 

The  state  of  Ireland  soon  after  this  bull  was  issued,  was  precisely 
such  as  its  foreign  foeman  might  have  desired  it  to  be ;  one  of  the  in- 
testine brawls  breaking  out  just  then  with  even  more  than  usual  viru- 
lence and  fury.  Dermot  Macmorrogh,  the  king  of  Leinster,  who  was 
remarkable  for  his  gross  immorality,  had  greatly  provoked  the  chief 
men  of  his  kingdom.  Unaware  or  contemptuous  of  the  general  feeling 
that  existed  against  him,  he  wantonly  added  to  it  by  abducting  the  wife  of 
Ororic,  prince  of  Breffney,  during  her  husband's  absence.  Prince  Ororic, 
on  his  return  to  the  bog  island  in  which  he  had,  as  he  imagined,  secured 
the  safety  of  his  wife,  was  roused  to  the  utmost  rage  by  the  information 
that  Macmorrogh  had  made  a  descent  upon  it  and  forcibly  carried  her 
away.  Morality  at  that  time  was  so  low,  that  nearly  any  man  but  the 
king  of  Leinster  might  have  abducted  his  neighbour's  wife,  without  run 
ning  serious  risk  of  incurring  enmity  or  censure  beyond  that  of  the  injured 
husband  and  his  immediate  friends  and  followers.     But  Macniorrogh's 


22  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

character  was  so  generally  detested,  that  the  prince  of  Bretiney  met  with 
warm  and  unusual  sympathy.  Among  those  wlio  hastened  to  assist  him 
was  Rodcric,  king  of  Connaught ;  and  so  powerful  a  force  was  speedily 
led  to  the  punisliment  of  the  ravisher,  that  he  was  fairly  driven  from  the 
territory  he  had  so  scandalously  misgoverned. 

Chastised  but  impenitent,  the  exile  went  to  France,  where  Henry  II.  oT 
Kngland  then  was,  and  solicited  his  aid.  Delighted  at  having  an  additional 
excuse  for  his  meditated  invasion,  Henry  affected  to  give  full  credence  to 
the  version  of  the  story  which  it  suited  Macmorrogh's  purpose  to 
<.ell;  especially  as  he  offered,  if  restored  to  his  kingdom,  to  hold  it 
as  vassal  of  the  English  crown.  Just  at  that  moment,  however, 
Henry  was  too  busily  engaged  in  Guienne  in  quelling  the  rebellious  spirit 
of  his  French  subjects,  to  be  able  to  go  personally  to  the  aid  of  his  Irish 
supplicant.  Nevertheless  he  cordially  promised  him  puissant  support, 
and  furnished  him  with  letters-patent  by  which  all  subjects  of  the  king  of 
Kngland  were  empowered  and  encouraged  to  aid  the  exile  king  of  Leinster 
in  his  attempts  to  recover  his  dominion.  With  this  important  document 
Dermot  ]\Iacmorrogh  hastened  to  Bristol  to  raise  a  force.  For  a  time, 
however,  ho  found  even  the  king's  letters-patent  insufficient  to  induce  men 
to  volunteer  for  Ireland,  where,  according  to  the  general  notion,  hard  blows 
were  likely  to  constitute  the  principal  booty.  It  is  likely  Macmorrogh 
would  have  been  still  longer  without  reaping  any  benefit  from  the  king's 
letters-patent,  had  he  not  fortunately  met  with  a  ruined  noble  of  the  house 
of  Clare,  who  by  a  furious  course  of  pleasure  and  extravagance,  had  so  re- 
duced himself,  that  he  would  gladly  have  shared  in  even  a  less  promising 
adventure. 

E-ichard,  surnamed  Strongbow,  earl  of  Strigul,  was  easily  induced  to 
etiter  into  the  cause  of  the  king  of  Leinster,  on  being  promised  his  daughter 
Eva  as  a  wife,  with  a  present  portion  and  the  reversion  of  the  father's 
dominion.  Having  secured  this  potent  ally — for  Strongbow  was  a  good 
and  approved  soldier — Macmorrogh  left  his  new  ally  and  proceeded  to 
Wales,  where  by  liberal  promises  he  produced  two  other  allies,  Maurice 
Fitzgerald,  and  Robert  Fitzstephen,  constable  of  Abertivi.  Having  thus 
secured  abundant  aid,  he  made  arrangements  for  future  proceedings  with 
the  three  leaders,  and  then  clandestinely  re-entered  his  kingdom  of  Lein- 
ster, and  secreted  himself  in  the  monastery  of  Femes,  of  which — so  little 
had  the  founding  of  monasteries  at  that  time  to  do  with  religious  feeling — 
this  tyrant  and  ravisher  was  the  founder. 

It  is  probable  that  Dermot  Macmorrogh  had  only  his  own  revenge  in 
view  when  he  sought  the  protection  and  aid  of  the  English  king.  Yet 
when  he  thus  proposed  to  introduce  foreign  troops  into  Ireland,  and,  like 
Count  Julian  of  Spain,  who  introduced  the  fierce  Arabs  into  his  country, 
called  the  foreigners  to  look  at  once  upon  the  fertility  and  the  feeblness  of 
the  land,  it  seems  scarcely  possible  he  could  have  been  wholly  without  a 
presentiment  of  the  natural  result.  Robert  Fitzstephen,  with  thirty 
knights,  sixty  esquires,  and  three  hundred  archers,  was  the  first  of  the 
friends  of  Dermot  to  make  his  appearance  in  Ireland.  The  archers, 
besides  being  completely  armed,  were  for  the  most  part  men  who  had  seen 
service,  and  their  compact  and  orderly  march  struck  terror  wherever  they 
appeared.  Ten  knights,  thirty  esquires,  and  sixty  archers  having,  under 
the  leadership  of  Maurice  de  Prendergast,  joined  this  force,  an  attack  was 
was  made  upon  the  town  of  Wexford,  which  had  been  greatly  improved 
and  was  chiefly  inhabited  by  a  party  of  Danes.  The  town  was  carried, 
and  here  the  adventurers  awaited  the  arrival  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald.  He 
joined  them  soon  after  with  ten  knights,  thirty  esquires,  and  a  hundred 
archers;  and  the  whole  force  of  the  adventurers  was  now  fully  equal 
to  the  task  of  defeating  any  force  that  Ireland  could  draw  to  one  point. 
Rodcric,  king  of  Connaughtj  who  had  taken  so  signal  a  part  in  expelling 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  23 

Ihe  guilty  and  detested  Macmorrogh,  made  a  gallant  resistance,  but  was 
beaten  at  all  points  ;  and  Macmorrogh  now,  looking  beyond  the  mere 
restoration  of  the  authority  from  which  he  had  so  deservedly  been  driven, 
began  to  project  the  dethroning  and  exile  or  death  of  Roderick,  and  his 
oivn  elevation  to  the  dignity  of  chief  king  of  Ireland. 
.  While  these  things  were  being  enacted,  Strongbow  had  made  his  way 
to  Normandy,  where,  as  we  have  before  said,  Henry  11.  at  that  time  was. 
Though  a  gallant  knight,  Strongbow  too  well  knew  the  waywardness  of 
his  royal  master,  not  to  feel  anxious  for  a  more  direct  and  personal  per- 
mission to  act;  lest  he  should  by  chance  run  counter  to  the  king's  private 
wishes  while  acting  under  his  openly-expressed  authority.  Henry  con- 
firmed in  person  the  permission  given  in  the  letters-patent,  but  did  so  with 
a  coldness  and  ambiguity  which  showed  him  by  no  means  over  pleased 
with  the  success  of  the  king  of  Leinster.  Having  first  dispatched  Ray- 
mond, with  seventy  archers,  who  made  good  their  landing  in  spite  of  three 
thousand  Irish  by  whom  they  were  furiously  attacked  near  Waterford, 
Strongbow  himself  soon  afterward  landed  with  two  hundred  horse  and  a 
body  of  archers.  Having  secured  Waterford,  Strongbow  led  the  English 
force  to  Dublin,  which  place  they  carried  by  assault.  Roderick,  king  of 
Connaught,  enraged  at  the  prowess  of  the  English,  put  to  death  a  natural 
son  of  Macmorrogh's,  who  was  one  of  the  seven  hostages  held  by  him. 
Both  at  Waterford  and  Dubhn,  the  triumph  of  the  English  and  their 
treacherous  ally  was  also  marked  by  circumstances  of  awful  barbarity. 
Has;9ulf,  the  Danish  governor,  with  his  wife  and  children,  were  fortunate 
enough  to  escape  from  the  sack  of  Dublin ;  but  the  slaughter  among  the 
common  'Y'eople  \vas  frightful.  Strongbow  now  received,  as  had  been 
stipulated,  the  hand  of  Eva,  the  natural  daughter  of  Macmorrogh;  and 
this  latter  personage  dying  shortly  afterwards,  Strongbow  became  pos- 
sessed of  the  kingdom  of  Leinster,  and  prepared  to  cstend  his  possession 
to  the  whole  of  Ireland. 

Roderick,  instead  of  hastening  to  the  relief  of  Dublin,  employed  thai 
critical  time  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  English  in  a  desultory  expedi- 
tion into  Meath.  He  now  became  sensible  of  the  error,  and  being  joined 
by  other  Irish  princes,  advanced  with  thirty  thousand  men — an  immense 
army  for  Ireland  at  that  time — to  besiege  Dublin..  But  Strongbow  wa? 
not  a  man  to  be  pent  within  the  walls  of  a  beleaguered  city.  At  the  head 
of  ninety  knights,  with  a  proportionate  number  of  men-at-arms,  he  sallied 
out  and  inflicted  such  a  sanguinary  defeat  upon  this  large  but  undisciplined 
host,  as  to  impress  all  Ireland  with  an  opinion  that  the  English  were  ab- 
solutely irresistible.  'Just  at  this  juncture  the  brave  Fitzstephen,  who 
had  been  closely  hemmed  in  at  Carrick,  sent  to  entreat  aid  of  Strongbow. 
The  latter  hastened  at  once  to  the  support  of  his  friend ;  but  before  he 
could  arrive  Fitzstephen  had  allowed  himself  to  be  tricked  out  of  his 
liberty.  A  messenger  sent  by  the  people  of  Waterford,  to  whom  he  was 
especially  obnoxious,  informed  him  that  Roderick  had  taken  Dublin  ;  that 
Strongbow,  Fitzgerald,  and  other  knights  of  name  had  perished,  and  that 
Roderick  was  now  marching  towards  him  with  the  avowed  determination 
to  spare  neither  sex  nor  age  of  the  English.  Fitzstephen,  confident  that 
a  barbarous  country  like  Ireland  would  be  easily  subdued,  had  brought 
over  his  wife  and  children  with  him,  and  was  now,  on  their  account,  struck 
so  with  terror,  that  he  readily  gave  credence  to  the  intelligence.  The 
messenger  perceiving  the  impression  his  false  tidings  made  upon  Fitz- 
stephen, persuaded  him  to  allow  him  to  guide  him  to  a  shelter,  together 
with  his  family  and  immediate  foliovv-ers.  In  an  evil  hour  his  anxiety  for 
the  safety  of  his  wife  and  children  caused  him  to  abandon  the  strong  fort 
j«s  which  he  could,  at  the  v/orst,  have  held  out  for  some  time,  and  place 
'imself  and  family  in  the  hands  of  his  bitterest  enemies.  He  discovered 
nis  error  almost  as  soon  as  he  had  committed  it.     Many  of  his  most 


24  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

valued  followers  were  put  to  death  on  the  instant,  ^A/hile  he  and  the  rest 
were  committed  to  prison  and  closely  guarded,  liut  how  greatly  was  his 
chagrin  increased  when  he  heard  of  the  splendid  success  of  Slrongbow  at 
Dublin ;  and  that  he  was  hastening  to  Carrick  for  the  express  purpose  of 
affording  that  aid  which  Filzstephen'sown  precipitancy  had  now  rendered 
jseless.  The  people  at  Waterford,  well  knowing  what  fate  they  might 
pxpect  should  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  terrible  Strongbow,  gathered 
up  every  portable  part  of  their  property,  set  fire  to  the  town,  and  then, 
carrying  their  prisoners  with  them,  took  shelter  in  a  little  island  near 
Waterford  harbour.  Thither  Strongbow  pursued  them,  with  threats  of 
taking  the  most  signal  and  terrible  vengeance;  but  just  as  he  was  about 
to  attack  the  island,  he  was  induced  to  depart  by  solemn  assurances  that 
the  landing  of  his  first  man  should  be  the  signal  for  striking  off  the  head 
of  every  English  prisoner. 

Henry  II.,  as  soon  as  the  state  of  affairs  would  admit  of  his  doing  so, 
was  on  his  way  to  Ireland  at  tlie  head  of  a  numerous  force.  Strongbow 
hastened  to  England  and  met  the  king  in  Gloucester,  where  he  had  as- 
sembled a  very  powerful  force.  Henry  at  first  refused  to  admit  Strong- 
how  to  his  presence ;  but  on  the  earl  urging  that  he  could  clearly  show 
that,  in  all  he  had  done,  he  had  acted  solely  for  the  king's  service,  and  that 
he  would  not  even  stir  a  step  in  the  Irish  expedition  until  he  had  received 
a  particular  permission  from  the  king,  he  was  admitted.  And  he  boldly 
affirmed,  on  being  admitted  to  the  royal  presence,  that  he  aimed  at  Irish 
conquest  only  for  the  king's  service,  and  that  for  himself,  he  should  be 
content  with  whatever  reward  his  royal  master  might  deign  to  bestow 
upon  him.  Pacified  dy  a  submission  so  complete,  and  seemingly  so  dis- 
interested, the  king  accepted  the  surrender  of  Dublin  and  all  other  ports 
and  fortresses  conquered  or  to  be  conquered  in  Ireland ;  and  granted  to 
the  earl  and  his  heirs  for  ever,  all  his  other  Irish  acquisitions  to  be  held 
as  fiefs  of  the  English  crown. 

A.  D.  1171. — The  conciliatory  policy  of  the  shrewd  earl  having  thus 
averted  the  storm  of  royal  wrath  in  which  he  and  his  fortunes  would 
otherwise  have  probably  suffered  shipwreck,  Henry  hastened  his  prepara- 
tions, and,  accompanied  by  Strongbow,  landed  at  Waterford  about  the 
middle  of  October.  The  large  force  by  which  the  king  was  accompanied, 
and  the  gallant  appearance  of  the  knights,  armed  cap-a-pie,  procured  him 
a  degree  of  respect  from  the  natives  which  they  probably  would  have 
withheld  from  the  name  of  king,  which  was  too  common  among  them  to 
have  much  of  that  prestige  which  attached  to  it  elsewhere.  No  opposi- 
tion was  made  to  his  landing,  and  as  he  progressed  through  the  country, 
kings  and  chiefs  flocked  to  him  to  tender  their  homage.  To  each  who 
thus  came  to  surrender  his  possessions  and  authority,  Henry  instantly 
restored  both  on  the  easy  condition  of  homage  being  done  and  vassalage 
confessed.  Even  Roderick  O'Connor,  the  original  opponent  of  Dermot, 
peaceably  submitted,  and  without  a  single  battle  Henry  II.  of  England 
became  also  king  of  Ireland.  Having  held  a  council  at  Cashel,  in  which 
special  provisions  were  made  for  the  support  and  protection  of  the  clergy, 
upon  whose  exertions  the  king  well  knew  that  the  peaceable  maintenance 
of  his  authority  would  depend,  and  in  which  a  variety  of  other  laws  for  the 
regulation  of  marriage,  wills,  and  succession  of  property  were  propounded, 
the  king  proceeded  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  Christmas  at  Dublin.  The 
city  possessed  no  apartment  large  enough  to  serve  for  the  royal  banquet- 
nig  room  on  this  occasion,  but  a  temporary  pavilion  was  erected,  in  which 
Henry  feasted  O'Connor  and  the  other  principal  Irish  princes  in  a  style 
of  profuse  and  costly  hospitality  such  as  they  had  never  before  witnessed. 

The  king  appointed  a  lord-high-constable,  an  earl-marshal,  and  a  high 
steward ;  and  distributed  vast  tracts  of  Irish  territory  among  English  no- 
bles, but  on  the  strictest  feudal  principle.     Thus,  for  instance,  by  wr.y  of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  25 

preventing  the  great  possessions  of  ,Strongbow  from  beir.^-  predominant 
in  Ireland,  the  king  gave  the  whole  of  Meaih,  so  long  the  beat  of  the  chief 
Irish  royalty,  to  Hugh  de  Lacy  and  his  heirs  forever,  on  the  tenure  of 
fifty  knights'  service.  Having  thus  provided  for  the  future  government 
and  security  of  Ireland  as  an  integral  part  of  his  dominion,  and  made  such 
minor  arrangements  as  chanced  to  occur  to  his  mind  or  to  the  minds  of 
his  advisers,  Henry  departed  from  the  scene  of  his  easy  conquest — if  con- 
quest, indeed,  that  could  be  called  in  which  he  never  had  occasion  to  strike 
a  blow — in  April,  1172,  having  been  in  Ireland  barely  six  months  ;  and  on 
landing  in  Wales,  proceeded  immediately  to  St.  David's  church  to  return 
thanks  for  a  success  of  which  he  seems  to  have  felt  all  the  importance. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A.  n.  1172. — The  profuseness  with  which  Henry  had  parcelled  out  Irish 
lands  among  English  soldiers,  and  the  jealous  rigour  with  which  each 
English  pale  or  settlement  repressed  the  slightest  Irish  disturbance,  soon 
caused  deep  and  fierce  hatred.  While  the  king  and  his  formidable  army 
remained,  the  Irish  affected  the  most  cordial  feelings  ;  nay,  perhaps,  while 
the  king's  presence  acted  as  a  check  upon  the  haughty  tyranny  of  the 
conquerors,  the  conquered  actually  did  entertain  the  hope  of  being  allowed 
to  live  in  peace  and  good-fellowship.  But  the  king  had  no  sooner  departed 
than  the  fiercest  animosities  began  to  display  themselves.  The  natives, 
especially  those  who  were  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  palati- 
nates, and  who  therefore  were  especially  subjected  to  the  insolence  and 
oppression  of  the  English,  looked  with  detestation  upon  these  possessors 
of  countless  acres  which  they  had  forcibly  wrested  from  the  rightful  in- 
heritors. From  murmurs  they  proceeded  to  actions  ;  rebellions  on  the  one 
hand  and  unsparing  severity  on  the  other,  ensued  ;  and  again  this  luckless 
land  seemed  doomed  to  long  centuries  of  petty  but  ruinous  wars. 

Strongbovv  was  the  principal  man  among  the  new  comers,  and  was 
known  to  be  the  soul  of  their  councils;  so  against  him  the  animosity  of 
the  natives  was  especially  directed.  To  render  his  situation  still  more 
perilous,  his  own  followers,  who,  justly  or  not,  had  acquired  so  much 
through  his  daring  and  skill,  began  to  show  strong  symptoms  of  insubor- 
dination. His  appearance  was  hailed  with  less  cordiality;  his  orders 
obeyed  with  less  promptitude.  A  chief  cause  of  this  among  the  English 
soldiers  was  the  strictness  of  Fitzmaurice,  who  had  the  immediate  com- 
mand. He  was  a  good  soldier,  and  being  desirous  that  the  natives  and 
the  English  should,  for  the  sake  of  both  parties,  live  in  peace  and  the  mu- 
tual performance  of  good  ofl[ices,  he  strictly  forbade  all  plundering  and 
brawling,  to  which  the  English  showed  themselves  only  too  prone.  This 
strictness,  which  the  licentious  soldiery  considered  all  the  more  unreason- 
able, inasmuch  as  they  were  most  irregularly  paid,  at  length  led  to  an 
openly-expressed  determination  of  the  soldiers  to  abandon  Ireland  alto- 
gether, unless  the  command  were  taken  from  Fitzmaurice,  and  given  to 
Kaymond  le  Gros,  an  officer  who  was  altogether  popular  among  them. 
Raymond  le  Gros,  perceiving  how  important  his  support  was  to  Strongbow, 
ventured  to  ask  the  hand  of  that  nobleman's  sister  Basilia,  a  very  beautiful 
woman,  of  whom  Raymond  had  long  been  enamoured,  but  whom  his  com- 
naralively  humble  fortune  would  probably  never  have  allowed  him  to  seek 
in  marriage,  but  for  the  adventitious  importance  into  which  he  was  lifted 
by  the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  soildery.  Strongbow  was  fa.-  loo  acute  not 
to  be  aware  of  the  delicacy  and  even  peril  of  his  9itu?,fion;  b*U  he  was 
pround  as  he  was  brave,  and  without  hesitation  refused  A?syirvOMd  both  the 
hand  of  the  lady  and  constableship  of  Leinster,  which  he  clso  demanded. 


26  Tllii  TREASUllY  OF  IIISTOIIY. 

Raymond  immeaiately  embarked,  taking  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
army  with  Iiim.  Their  departure  was  the  signal  for  an  outbreak  of  the 
natives:  while  the  English  were  so  nuu-h  wc^akened  by  the  sudden  loss 
of  so  Vdrge  a  body,  lliat  Strongbow  found  it  necessary  to  dispatch  a  mes- 
senger to  Le  Gros,  who  had  landed  in  Waies;  promising  that  his  double 
demand  should  be  immediately  complied  with  if  he  would  return  with  the 
soldiers.  He  did  so  at  a  most  critical  moment;  arriving  just  in  time  to 
save  the  garrison  of  VVaterford,  of  whom  the  Irish  had  vowed  not  to  spare 
a  man.  Le  Gros  received  both  his  bride  and  his  appointment,  and  then 
hurried  to  meet  a  vast  force  of  Irish  whom  O'Connor  was  leading  against 
Dublin.  As  usual,  the  superior  discipline  of  the  English  overcame  the 
tumultuous  though  brave  Irish.  liodcrick  sought  safety  in  flight,  and 
Raymond  le  Gros  indulged  his  victorious  followers  in  all  the  disorders  of 
semi-barbarous  w'arfare.  Though  defeated  on  this  particular  occasion, 
O'Connor  was  not  subdued.  Often  routed,  he  as  often  gathered  his  wild 
followers  to  a  head  again,  and  his  persevering  and  desultory  attacks  defied 
even  the  skill  of  the  brilliant  Le  Gros.  At  length  O'Connor  entered  into 
a  new  treaty,  by  which  he  engaged  to  hold  his  rightful  dominions  as  the 
liege  vassal  of  the  king  of  England;  and  in  consideration  of  his  having 
the  chief  sovereignly  of  Ireland  exclusive  of  the  English  pale,  he  under- 
took to  secure  the  peaceable  conduct  of  the  other  native  princes  ;  to  whom 
Ilenry  assured  the'  peaceful  enjoyment  of  iheir  respective  territories  on 
condition  of  their  regular  payment  of  tribute,  consisting  of  a  hide  for  every 
ten  head  of  cattle  slaughtered.  Roderick  O'Connor,  therefore,  was  king, 
in  vassalage  to  England,  of  all  Ireland  except  the  English  pale,  which  in- 
cluded Dublin,  Waterford,  Leinsler,  Meath,  and  the  whole  extent  of  coun- 
try from  Dungarvon  to  Waterford. 

A.  D.  1175.— Strongbow  died  in  1175,  leavinghis  daughter  Isabel  de  Clare 
heiress  to  his  immense  wealth,  with  the  exception  of  certain  lands  with 
which  he  endowed  the  priory  which,  in  compliance  with  the  quasi  devout 
spirit  of  the  age,  he  had  founded  at  Kilmainham.  At  the  death  of  Strong- 
bow a  new  governor,  Fitz-Adelm,  went  to  Ireland.  In  his  train  was  a 
knight,  of  no  great  previous  notoriety,  named  De  Courcy,  who,  in  pursu- 
ance of  a  singular  fancy,  lighted  up  the  flames  of  war  in  a  part  of  the 
country  which  amid  all  the  recent  bloodshed  had  remained  at  peace. 
Lying  towards  Scotland,  and  being  inhabited  chiefly  by  Scotsmen  and 
shepherds,  the  province  of  Ulster  might  have  long  remained  undisturbed, 
but  that  a  headstrong  English  knight  conceived  the  plan  of  fulfilling  au 
Irish  prophecy,  at  no  matter  what  expense  of  blood,  Scotch,  English,  or 
Irish.  The  prophecy  ran  that  Ulster  should  be  conquered  by  a  knight 
from  over  sea,  riding  on  a  white  horse  and  bearing  birds  on  his  shield. 
De  Courcy  had  come  from  over  sea;  he  speedily  provided  himself  with  a 
white  horse,  and  though  his  shield  bore  not  birds  but  bees,  yet  as  the  lat- 
ter as  well  as  the  former  have  wings,  he  was  decidedly  of  opinion  that 
he  was  tout-a-fait  the  very  knight  alluded  to  in  the  prophecy!  And  to 
this  mere  w'him  of  a  foreigner,  who  in  more  sober  times  w^ould  have  been 
laughed  at  as  a  coxcomb,  or  shut  up  as  a  dangerous  lunatic,  the  unhappy 
people  of  Ulster  were  to  see  homes  and  lives  sacrificed. 

In  despite  of  the  express  prohibition  of  the  governor,  Fitz-Adelm,  De 
Courcy  mustered  a  numerous  band  of  followers,  and  with  pennant  flying, 
and  trumpets  sounding,  galloped  at  day-break  into  the  streets  of  Down- 
patrick,  the  capital  of  Ulster.  The  pope's  legate.  Cardinal  Viviani,  uho 
was  in  that  province,  endeavoured  to  dissuade  De  Courcy  from  violence; 
but  the  cardinal's  eloquence  was  powerless  against  the  prophecy.  The 
cardinal  then  becoming  indignant  at  the  senseless  and  unprincipled  con- 
duct of  De  Courcy.  advised  the  king  of  Ulster,  O'Neil,  to  oppose  him  in 
arms.  In  the  first  engagement  O'Neil  was  defeated,  but  subsequently  De 
Courcy,  though  generally  successful  in  pitched  battles,  was  frequeatlr 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  37 

reduced  to  great  straits ;  and  on  one  occasion  he  only  escaped  capture — 
which  in  his  case  would  have  been  inevitable  death — by  flying  before  hia 
enemies  for  two  days  and  nights,  without  other  sustenance  than  water  and 
wjld  berries. 

The  petty  and  mischievous  warfare  which  De  Courcy  had  commenced 
m  Ulster  naturally  led  to  similar  disturbances  in  other  parts.  Fitz-Adelm, 
the  governor,  was  detested ;  and  Henry  imagining  that  a  more  popular 
governor  would  perhaps  succeed  in  restoring  and  preserving  the  peace  of 
the  country — a  peace  whicli  was  indispensable  towards  making  the  pos- 
session of  the  country  a  source  of  revenue  to  England — removed  Fitz- 
Adelm,  and  gave  his  post  to  Hugh  de  Lacy,  the  lord  of  Meath,  whom  he 
instructed  to  take  all  possible  means  to  couciliate  the  natives,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  exert  himself  in  the  erection  of  castles  sufficiently  strong 
and  advantageously  situated  for  the  defence  of  the  English  pale.  Nor  did 
the  king's  efforts  to  secure  the  peace  of  Ireland  stop  even  here.  He  ap- 
plied to  Rome  for  permission  to  crown  his  son  Prince  John  as  king  ol 
Ireland,  though  of  course  in  vassalage  to  li^ngland.  The  court  of  Rome, 
which  even  only  with  reference  to  Peter-pence,  and  still  more  with  refer- 
ence to  future  contingencies,  had  a  deep  stake  in  the  tranquillity  and  pros- 
perity of  Ireland,  readily  gave  the  permission  required.  But,  whether 
from  already  perceiving  something  of  John's  real  nature,  or  from  some 
other  unexplained  feeling,  the  king  did  not  avail  himself  of  it,  but  merely 
sent  him  over  as  lord  of  Ireland,  where  the  prince  arrived  in  the  year  1185 

Prince  John  was  at  this  period  about  nineteen  years  of  age.  Arrogant, 
hejrlless,  and  destitute  even  of  the  prudence  which  would  have  taught 
him  to  imitate  the  affability  of  manner  by  which  his  father  had  contrived 
to  conciliate  the  testy  but  warm-hearted  chieftains,  John  by  his  first  act 
disgusted  those  who  approached  him  for  the  purpose  of  renewing  their 
allegiance  to  the  English  crown.  The  flowing  yellow  garments  and  long 
hair  and  beards  of  the  Irish  presented  a  very  odd  appearance,  no  doubt ; 
though,  as  the  Irish  were  a  singularly  well  and  powerfully  made  race,  one 
would  imagine  that  the  peculiarities  of  costume  tended  to  make  their  ap- 
pearance imposing  rather  than  ludicrous.  But  when  they  were  intro- 
duced to  Prince  John,  who  seems  to  have  been  surrounded  by  persons 
as  young  and  ignorant  as  himself,  they  were  received  with  peals  of  laugh- 
ter, and  some  of  the  boy-courtiers  are  said  to  have  gone  so  far  as  to  pull 
the  beards  of  these  fiery  and  veteran  warriors.  The  Irish  nature  was 
precisely  such  as  it  would  be  safer  to  injure  than  to  insult.  Burning  with 
rage,  the  chieftains  departed  with  the  deepest  determination  to  leave  no 
eflort  untried  towards  shaking  off  the  English  yoke.  They  who  had  been 
tlie  most  sincerely  desirous  to  show  themselves  faithful  to  the  absent 
king  of  England,  now  joined  those  of  their  fellow-countrymen  who  were 
already  in  arms  against  him,  and  an  insurrection  of  the  most  extensive- 
description  fjorthwith  broke  out.  The  English  army,  beaten  at  various 
points,  was  in  a  measure  destroyed,  and  the  Irish  even  made  themselves 
a  passage  into  the  English  pale,  plundering  and  burning  many  of  the 
houses  and  butchering  the  inhabitants.  So  extensive  was  this  revolt,  and 
so  deadly  the  animosity  felt  towards  John,  that  it  is  likely  Ireland  would 
have  been  wholly  lost  to  England,  had  he  longer  continued  in  that  island. 
Fortunately,  genuine  information,  not  always  procurable  by  even  the 
most  powerful  kings,  reached  the  ears  of  Henry,  and  he  instantly  recal- 
led his  incapable  son  and  gave  the  government  to  De  Courcy,  earl  of  Uls- 
ter. He,  probably,  combining  both  civil  and  military  talents,  and  possess- 
ing enormous  property  and  proportionate  influence  in  Ulster,  was  the 
fi.ttest  man  then  in  Ireland  to  overcome  the  difficulties  and  danger  conse- 
quent upon  Prince  John's  absurd  conduct.  Hugh  de  Lacy,  who  had  for- 
meriv  replaced  Fitz-Adelm,  would  have  been  a  still  more  efficient  gover 
I'or,  but  he  had  recently  been  murdered  in  cold  blood,  by  an  Irish  labourer 


23  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

while  supcrimeiiding  the  building  of  a  castle  in  his  lorc^ship  of  Meath. 
De  Courcy,  well  knowing  the  propensity  of  Irish  princes  to  make  war 
upon  each  other,  so  skilfully  exerted  himself  to  foment  quarrels  among 
them,  that  he  easily  broke  up  their  league;  and,  at  once  separated  from 
their  common  object,  they  weakened  each  other  so  far  that  he  had  but 
little  difficulty  in  quelling  tlicir  desultory  attacks  upon  the  English. 

A.  D.  UH9. — Henry  the  Second,  after  a  reign  of  thirty-five  years,  the 
latter  portion  of  wliich  had  been  tormented  by  the  unnatural  misconduct 
of  liis  sons,  died  on  the  (5lli  of  July,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  renowned 
king  Richard  the  first.  Attached  to  warfare,  Richard  was  more  anxious 
lo  humble  France,  or  to  lead  an  army  against  the  far-distant  hosts  o( 
Heathenesse,  than  to  improve  a  conquest  already  made  in  his  own  neigh- 
borhood. He  left  Ireland  wholly  unnoticed  ;  yet  it  was  in  his  reign  that 
the  final  annexation  of  Ireland  to  the  English  crown  may  in  some  sort 
be  said  to  have  taken  place;  as  in  the  year  1198  O'Connor,  the  last  native 
king  of  Ireland,  expired  in  the  monastery  in  which  for  thirteen  years  he 
had^livcd  in  peace.  As  he  was  the  last  Irish  king,  so  was  he  the  first  of 
them  who  had  the  sagacity  to  perceive  that  the  great  source  of  Irish 
weakness  and  misery  was  ignorance.  Though  monasteries  and  their 
inhabitants  existed  in  very  evil  abundance,  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
were  in  the  most  deplorable  stale  of  ignorance.  Roderick  O'Connor  ex- 
erted himself  to  establish  schools,  especially  in  Armagh;  and  by  that 
wise  act  deserved  an  admiration  which,  unfortunately,  the  world  is  more 
willing  to  bestow  upon  the  king  that  leads  in  war,  than  upon  him  who 
points^fhe  road  to  civilization  and  happiness. 

De  Courcy,  by  nature  restless  and  ambitious,  availed  himself  of  the 
neglect  shown  to  Ireland  by  Richard,  and  made  war  and  took  spoil  at  his 
own  pleasure;  and  when,  in  1199,  John  succeeded  to  Richard,  De  Courcy 
had  the  boldness  to  refuse  to  acknowledge  him  as  sovereign.  As  the 
matter  really  stood  between  John  and  his  nephew,  Arthur  of  Brittany, 
his  claim  was  open  to  question.  But  powerful  as  De  Courcy  was  in  Ire- 
land and  against  Irish  chieftains,  he  soon  discovered  that  he  had  overshot 
his  mark  in  venturing  to  beard  the  king  of  England,  even  in  the  person  of 
so  contemptible  a  man  as  John  was.  De  Courcy,  in  the  life-time  of 
Richard,  had  given  offence  to  Prince  John  by  the  contempt  with  which 
he  had  treated  all  the  prince's  orders  having  relation  to  Ireland ;  and 
John,  now  that  he  had  come  to  the  throne,  resolved  to  curb  the  proud 
vassal.  De  Courcy  was  accordingly  arrested  and  sent  to  England.  How 
or  when  he  died  is  not  known,  but  it  is  certain  ho  never  returned  to  his 
Irish  possessions  ;  and  even  his  lordship  of  Ulster  was  taken  from  him 
and  bestowed  upon  Hugh,  the  son  of  Hugh  de  Lacy,  the  murdered 
governor. 

Though  anything  but  warlike  in  disposition,  John  made  an  expedition 
to  Ireland  ;  less,  it  would  seem,  for  the  sake  of  putting  an  end  to  the  dis- 
orders which  existed  there,  than  as  an  excuse  for  leaving  England  while 
the  minds  of  his  subjects  were  alarmed  and  irritated  by  the  tremendous 
effects  of  the  papal  interdict.  Attended  by  a  powerful  army,  he  was 
speedily  waited  upon  at  Dublin  by  twenty  of  the  most  powerful  chieftains, 
■who  did  homage  and  took  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Anxious  now  to  con- 
ciliate, as  formerly  he  had  been  hasty  to  offend,  he  made  many  presents 
among  them  ;  and  we  may  take  it  as  a  proof  that  these  brave  chieftains 
Avere  even  yet  not  far  removed  from  barbarism,  when  we  learn  that  of  all 
the  presents  he  made  them,  they  were  most  dehghted  with  a  quantity  ot 
scarlet  cloth.  The  reader  is  aware  of  the  important  law  regulations 
which  were  made  in  England  during  the  reign  of  John ;  all  tnese  were 
equally  extended  to  Ireland,  as  were  the  provisions  of  that  great  political 
blessing — magna  charta.  But  these  benefits,  though  actually  conferred 
upon  afl,  were  enjoyed  only  by  the  English  in  Ireland  ;  the  turbu^'^'nce  -wid 


THE  TREASURY  OF  l?i3T0RV.  25 

indomitable  prejudices  of  the  dwellers  beyond  the  Enelish  pale,  makinj 
ihem  look  with  contempt  upon  all  liberty  and  enjoyment  procured  other 
wise  than  by  force  of  arms.  Where  the  barons  from  Kngland  subduec 
Iracts  of  country  and  subjected  the  inhabitants  to  the  feudal  law,  those 
inhabitants  undoubtedly  enjoyed  the  same  imperfect  liberty  as  Knglish 
men  of  the  same  rank  ;  and  nothing  can  be  more  grossly  unjust  than  Ic 
represent  as  a  consequence  of  English  partiality,  that  difference  betweep 
the  people  which  really  arose  from  the  fierceness  of  the  Irish  themselves 

A.  D.  1216. — John,  whose  attention  to  Ireland  was  but  temporary,  was 
now  succeeded  by  Henry  III.  The  reign  of  this  prince  extended  to  fifty 
six  years ;  and  the  weakness  of  his  character  unfitting  him  to  contend 
with  the  bold  and  restless  barons  of  his  time,  made  the  struggles  of  Eng 
land  more  than  enough  to  employ  him  ;  and  Ireland  was  consequently 
left  to  be  scourged  by  constant  wars  between  the  Irish  people  and  their 
English  rulers,  the  latter  of  whom  still  farther  increased  the  confusion  by 
fierce  and  frequent  contests  among  themselves.  How  desperate  the  con- 
dition of  the  country  had  at  length  become,  may  be  inferred  from  a  peti- 
tion of  the  Irish  people  to  Edward  I.,  in  which  they  implored  him  to  com- 
pel the  barons  to  administer  the  laws  equally  whether  to  English  or  Irish 
vassals  of  his  majesty,  and  to  compel  the  extension  of  all  English  laws 
and  customs  to  the  whole  Irish  people.  Utterly  heedless,  it  would  seem, 
of  the  fact  that,  as  far  as  decree  could  avail,  all  this  had  been  done  in  the 
reign  of  John,  and  that  it  was  the  people  themselves  who  prevented  prac- 
tice from  being  assimilated  to  theory  ;  yet  sensible  of  the  existing  evils, 
though  blind  to  their  real  causes,  they  offered  to  p»ay  the  sum  of  eight 
thousand  marks  to  the  king  as  the  price  of  his  rendering  them  this  great 
service.  He  made  an  order  accordingly ;  but  the  order  of  the  great  Ed- 
ward was  as  ineffectual  as  that  of  the  mean  John,  when  opposed  to  the 
prejudices  of  a  people  at  once  brave,  restless,  and  ignorant,  living  in  a 
state  of  society  provocative  of  injustice  and  tyranny. 

The  war  in  which  Edward  I.  was  engaged  with  Scotland  compelled 
him  to  summon  his  barons  from  Ireland,  and  during  their  absence  the  na- 
tives made  frequent  and  destructive  attacks  upon  the  English  pale.  The 
death  of  Edward  enabled  the  celebrated  Robert  Bruce  to  seat  himseli 
firmly  upon  the  throne  of  Scotland.  Knowing  how  ardently  the  Irish 
desired  to  throw  of  the  English  yoke,  and  judging  how  important  he  could 
make  them  in  diverting  the  attacks  of  tlie  English  from  Scotland,  King 
Robert  Bruce  in  the  year  after  his  accession  to  the  Scottish  throne,  (1315) 
sent  his  brother  Edward  into  Ireland  with  a  well  equipped  army  of  six 
thousand  men.  He  was  received  with  open  arms  as  deliverer,  and  took 
upon  himself  the  title  of  king.  His  brother  soon  afterwards  landed  in 
Ireland  with  a  still  more  powerful  army.  But  just  at  this  time  there  was 
an  absolute  famine  in  both  England  and  Ireland ;  and  the  latter  country, 
suffering  under  the  effects  of  long  civil  war  as  well  as  of  the  bad  season, 
was  still  more  terribly  destitute  than  the  former.  The  most  splendid 
successes  of  war  could  avail  nothing  against  famine.  Reduced  to  feed 
upon  the  horses  as  they  died  of  actual  hunger,  the  soldiers  of  Bruce  per- 
ished in  awful  numbers,  and  he  at  length  returned  to  Scotland,  leaving 
his  brother  to  contest  his  usurped  crown  with  the  English  or  abandon  it, 
as  he  might  see  fit.  Edward  Bruce,  who  was  to  the  full  as  cruel  as  he 
was  brave,  bore  up  with  a  constant  spirit  against  all  difficulties.  But 
though  he  had  much  success  in  the  field,  and  made  terrible  examples  of 
the  vanquished,  he  found  it  impossible  to  drive  the  English  from  their 
strong  holds.  The  Irish  were  for  the  most  part  very  favourable  to  him  ; 
but  if  they  hated  the  English  much  they  hated  each  other  still  more,  and, 
as  usual,  their  mutual  strife  rendered  it  impossible  that  they  could  cor- 
dially co-operate  even  for  a  purpose  which  they  all  had  strongly  at  heart. 

A.  D.  1318. — Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  likely  that  Edward  Bruce 


30  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

would  at  length  have  seen  that  the  conquosl  of  Ireland  was  a  ptq)''ct  too 
vast  for  Scotland,  even  with  the  mighty  Robert  Bruce  for  her  kinjf.  But 
Rre  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  abandon  his  usurped  royalty  and  return 
to  Scotland,  he  was  encountered  at  Dundalk  by  the  English  army,  inider 
Lord  Bcrmingham.  Kdward  Bruce  on  this  important  day  performed  the 
jiart  of  a  good  general  and  a  stout  soldier;  but  all  his  efforts  were  in  vain, 
and  he  fell  upon  the  field  of  battle  while  making  efforts  to  rally  a  portion 
of  his  routed  and  dispirited  force.  Conspicuous  by  his  arms  and  orna- 
ments, he  was  marked  out  by  an  English  knight,  Sir  John  Maupas.  Hold- 
ing Edward  Bruce  in  especial  detestation,  and  believing  his  death  to  be  in 
every  way  deserved  and  desirable,  he  vowed  himself,  after  the  custom  of 
the  age,  to  destroying  him.  Accordingly,  though  Edward  was  zealously 
defended  by  his  friends  and  attendants,  Sir  John  succeeded  in  reaching 
him  ;  and  after  the  battle  their  dead  bodies  were  found  still  grasping  eacl'* 
other  in  the  death-gripe. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Knowing  what  we  do  of  the  turbulence  of  the  barons  wherever  the 
feudal  law  prevailed,  we  have  no  room  to  doubt  that  the  English  in  Ire- 
land made  their  vassals  feel  the  weight  of  their  feudal  chains.  Removed 
as  they  were  from  the  check  of  the  king's  presence,  and  living  in  a  country 
in  which  civil  strife  v.as  not  the  mere  exception  but  the  general  rule,  it 
would  have  been  strange  indeed  if  those  barons  had  been  less  tyrannous 
than  the  men  of  their  order.  But  it  is  abundantly  evident,  after  making 
allowance  for  the  evils  which  Ireland,  in  common  with  other  countries, 
must  have  owed  to  the  abuses  of  the  feudal  system,  the  chief  and  abiding 
cause  of  misery  was  the  inherent  disorderliness  of  the  Irish  character. 
The  clergy,  for  instance,  both  English  and  Irish,  were  at  deadly  feud. 
No  English  monk  was  allowed  to  enter  an  Irish  monastery;  and  the 
monasteries  of  the  English  pale  were  hopelessly  inaccessible  to  the  native 
monk.  When  we  see  that  even  the  common  bond  of  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral interest  could  not  induce  the  clergy  to  lay  aside  their  animosities, 
we  need  not  marvel  that  the  best  attempts  at  causing  a  general  union  of 
the  people  failed.  Edward  III.,  who  did  so  much  towards  improving  the 
1-aws  and  raising  the  trade  of  England,  was  desirous  to  render  the  same 
service  to  Ireland.  Clearly  perceiving  that  it  was  next  to  impossible  to 
obtain  the  exact  obedience  of  the  barons  whose  lands  lay  in  Ireland,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  desirous  to  prevent  the  Irish  people  from  being  op- 
pressed, he  threw,  as  far  as  possible,  the  government  of  Ireland  into  the 
hands  of  nobles  whose  property  lay  in  England,  and  for  v.'hose  obedience 
and  good  conduct  he  consequently  had  some  security.  But  this  excel- 
lent stroke  of  policy  was  made  too  late  to  have  the  effect  it  would  have 
had  at  an  earlier  date. 

A.  D.  13G1. — Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant  of 
Ireland  in  the  year  1361 ;  and  he  evidently  went  there  with  the  desire  to 
give  effect  to  his  royal  father's  wishes  for  the  people's  welfare.  But  llie 
animosities  which  had  been  so  many  years  increasing  were  now  beyond 
the  possibility  of  a  speedy  remedy.  Such  was  the  hostility  between  the 
two  races,  that  under  the  governorship  of  Lionel,  it  was  found  requisite  to 
pass  the  stringent  regulations  known  to  lawyers  as  the  statute  of  Kdkenny. 
Hitherto  attempts  had  been  made  to  govern  Ireland  rather  by  affection 
than  by  severity  ;  and  the  law  left  it  quite  open  to  the  two  races  to  become 
amalgamated  by  marriage  and  friendship.  15ut  by  this  statute,  which 
seems  to  have  been  called  for  by  the  danger  of  the  English  from  the  Irish, 
the  latter  we-e  at  length  treated  formally  as  an  inferior  people.     Marriage 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  gi 

with  the  Irish  was  forbidden;  the  nursings  of  English  infuuls  by  Irish 
woinnn  was  discountenanced;  and  severe  punishments  were  alloited  to 
ihe  oflfences,  on  the  part  of  men  of  English  descent,  of  speaking  the  Irish 
language,  using  the  Irish  customs,  or  wearing  the  Irish  dress.  These 
enactments  were  doubtless  severe ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  an 
opposite  spirit  had,  for  two  hundred  years,  been  tried  in  vain;  and  that 
between  this  stern  severity  and  the  actual  abandonment  of  the  island — 
the  possession  of  which  by  France  would  have  been  so  prejudicial  to  the 
Knglish  throne — the  condition  and  temper  of  the  Irish  people  left  room 
for  no  middle  course.  However  reasonable  the  demands  of  the  Englisli 
government,  they  never  failed  to  provolie  an  armed  resistance ;  the 
country  was  continually  in  a  state  of  revolt,  famine  was  frequent,  and 
sufTering  constant. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Richard  II.  to  the  throne  of  England,  that 
prince  went  to  Ireland  with  a  considerable  force,  naturally  expecting  that 
he  should  find  the  chiefs  disinclined  to  yield  him  peaceable  homage. 
Whether  from  some  vague  predilection  in  his  favour,  or  from  the  fact  of 
his  being  accompanied  by  a  well-appointed  force,  he  was  even  joyfully 
received.  No  fewer  than  seventy-four  of  the  most  powerful  men  hastened 
to  make  a  surrender  of  their  possessions,  and  to  agree  to  receive  them  in 
grant  from  him  on  condition  of  maintaining  his  royal  authority  in  Ireland. 
Delighted  with  a  loyalty  so  exuberant,  Richard  proposed  to  honour  with 
knighthood  the  four  principal  chiefs.  But  the  Irish  were  not  learned  in 
the  lore  of  chivalry,  and  an  honour  which  would  have  been  eagerly 
coveted  by  the  high-born  and  wealthy  elsewhere,  was  actually  declined 
by  these  untutored  men,  who  gravely  assured  him  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  Irish  kings  to  confer  knighthood  on  their  sons  as  early  as  the  age  of 
seven  years.  And  it  was  not  until  pains  had  been  taken  to  explain  to 
them  the  theory  of  knighthood,  that  they  could  be  induced  to  pass  the 
preparatory  vigil  and  receive  the  honour  with  its  formalities.  Richard  on 
this  occasion  made  a  considerable  slay  in  Ireland,  and  he  and  his  Irish 
subjects  parted  in  apparent  good  feeling.  But  as  soon  as  the  king  was 
absent  the  chiefs  became  turbulent  as  ever.  The  English  pale  was  per- 
petually attacked,  and  so  much  territory  recovered  that  it  became  reduced 
w:.l;n  dangerously  narrow  limits;  and  at  length,  Roger,  earl  of  March, 
eoi;sin  and  heir-presumptive  of  the  king,  was  barbarously  murdered. 
Richard  was  at  this  time  greatly  harrassed  by  the  enmity  of  Henry  Bo- 
lingbroke,  the  exiled  duke  of  Lancaster.  But  though  he  well  knew  that 
noble  meditated  the  invasion  of  England,  Richard  unhesitatingly  led  an 
army  to  Ireland  to  avenge  the  death  of  his  cousin  :  (a.  d.  1399.)  As  usual 
with  them,  the  Irish  chieftains  endeavoured  to  avoid  being  brought  to  a 
general  action,  and  retired  among  the  bogs  and  mountains.  But  Richard 
was  too  intent  upon  avenging  the  murder  of  his  cousin  to  listen  to  those 
who  represented  the  difficulty  of  following  the  rebels  into  their  retreats. 
Burning  the  towns  and  villages  as  he  marched  along,  and  disregarding  the 
sufferings  and  complamts  of  his  soldiers,  who  often  floundered  in  the 
treacherous  soil  of  the  bogs,  he  followed  so  closely,  that  the  greater  part 
gladly  submitted  on  condition  of  being  received  into  the  king's  peace  with 
h.Yi  indemnity  for  the  past.  But  Macmorrogh,a  lineal  descendant  of  that 
Ci,:ef  whose  misconduct  had  first  called  the  English  into  Ireland,  held  out 
and  loudly  protested  that  neither  fear  nor  love  should  induce  him  to  sub- 
n  it.  The  chivalry  of  England  was  not  to  be  res"!sted  by  a  chieftain  so 
comparatively  powerless  ;  and  Macmorrogh  at  length  agreed  to  treat  with 
the  earl  of  Gloucester.  But  when  the  meeting  took  place,  the  fiery  chief- 
tain was  so  enraged  at  what  he  thought  the  insulting  terms  proposed,  thai 
he  angrily  broke  up  the  conference  and  betook  himself  lo  his  savage 
haunts,  less  inclined  than  ever  to  submission.  Richard  ofl'ered  a  large 
reward  for  the  person  of  Macmorrogh,  living  or  dead;  but  events  had  by 


32  THE  tiip:asuiiy  of  history. 

this  time  taKen  place  in  England,  which  compelled  him  to  forego  his  de- 
sire to  punish  the  haughty  enemy ;  for  the  earl  of  Lancaster,  who  sub- 
sequently dethroned  Richard,  and  succeeded  him  under  the  title  of  Henry 
IV.,  had  landed  in  England,  and  been  joined  by  some  of  the  most  power 
ful  of  the  nobility,  and  an  army  of  near  sixty  thousand  men.  Richard  was 
consequently  obliged  to  abandon  whatever  projects  he  had  formed.  Henry 
IV.  could  find  no  leisure  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  Ireland,  though  many 
petitions  were  sent  to  him  ;  and  during  the  whole  of  his  reign  the  turbu- 
lence of  the  Irish  chieftains,  and  the  cupidity  and  despotism  of  the  En 
glish  authorities,  made  the  country  a  scene  of  wild  disorder  and  wretch- 
edness ;  in  which  condition  it  remained  from  the  close  of  the  fourteenth 
century  to  the  accession  of  Henry  VII.  of  England.  During  this  long 
period  the  whole  history  of  Ireland  may  be  written  in  two  words,  strife 
and  misery ;  and  to  enter  into  any  detail  would  be  merely  to  weary  the 
reader  with  a  monotonous  recital. 

A.  D.  1485. — As  though  Ireland  had  not  already  suffered  sufficiently,  the 
accession  to  the  throne  of  England  of  one  of  its  most  solidly  wise  and 
peace-loving  kings,  Henry  VII.,  was  the  signal  for  more  disturbance. 
Hitherto  the  unhappy  people  had  at  least  fought  about  their  own  afTairs ; 
but  now  they  were  involved  in  the  cause  of  a  silly  impostor,  the  tool  of  a 
more  knavish  one.  The  history  of  the  impudent  attempt  of  the  priest 
Simon  to  palm  a  youth  of  low  degree  named  Lambert  Simnel,  upon  the 
people  as  the  earl  of  Warwick,  nephew  of  Edward  IV.,  and  heir  to  the 
throne  of  England,  we  gave  in  detail  under  the  history  of  that  country. 
But  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  it  here,  inasmuch  as  that  gross  imposture 
became  a  cause  of  suffering  to  the  Irish.  Richard  Simon,  a  priest  living 
in  Oxford,  was  instructor  of  the  young  impostor,  Simnel ;  but  considering 
the  character  of  the  dowager-queen,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that 
Simon  was  himself  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  persons  far  higher  in  rank 
Young  Simnel  was  well  furnished  with  information  connected  with  the 
royal  family ;  and  his  tutor,  aware  of  its  propensity  to  fighting  for  any  or 
for  no  cause,  judged  Ireland  to  be  the  fittest  scene  for  the  first  attempt ; 
especially  as  the  Irish  were  attached  to  the  house  of  York,  of  which  it 
was  pretended  the  young  impostor  was  a  scion.  The  lord-deputy  of  Ire- 
land, Thomas  Fitzgerald,  earl  of  Kildare,  received  the  impostor's  story 
without  suspicion,  the  people  followed  the  example  of  the  court,  and  the 
impudent  son  of  a  baker  was  actually  crowned — the  crown  being  taken 
for  that  purpose  from  an  image  of  the  virgin — lodged  in  Dublin  castle 
with  all  regal  honours,  and  received  throughout  Ireland  under  the  title  ol 
king  Edward  VI.,  without  a  word  said,  or  a  blow  stricken  in  defence  ol 
king  Henry.  Henry  VII.,  with  the  prudence  which  characterized  his  life, 
no  sooner  heard  of  the  pretensions  of  Simnel,  than  he  put  all  doubt  out 
of  the  question,  by  causing  the  real  earl  of  Warwick  to  be  taken  from  his 
confinement  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  exhibited  to  the  populace,  at 
Paul's  cross.  Margaret  of  Burgundy,  however,  affecting  to  believe  the 
absurd  tale,  got  together  two  thousand  German  troops,  under  the  com- 
mand of  an  enterprising  officer  named  Swartz,  and  sent  them  to  Ireland. 
The  arrival  of  such  a  force,  sent,  too,  by  a  person  of  such  influence  as 
the  duchess-dowager  of  Burgundy,  raised  the  Irish  enthusiasm  to  the 
highest  pitch.  Too  poor  to  be  able  much  longer  to  support  the  pretender 
and  his  followers,  the  Irish  now  became  eager  to  be  led  to  dethrone  king 
Henry.  That  shrewd  monarch  had,  however,  wisely  convinced  his  En- 
glish subjects  of  Simnel's  imposture,  and  thus  prepared  them  to  give  him 
a  hostile  reception  should  he  attempt  to  leave  Ireland  for  England.  Sim- 
nel, intoxicated  with  honours,  was  easily  induced  to  believe  that  his  cause 
was  popular  in  England  ;  and  in  full  persuasion  that  he  had  only  to  show 
himself  in  order  to  secure  support,  he  actually  disembarked  his  Germans 
at  Foudrey,  in  Lancashire      This  was  precisely  what  the  king  desired. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  ^ 

Fie  marched  against  him,  and  the  hostile  forces  met  in  Nottinghamshire, 
near  Stoke,  where  a  most  sanguinary  action  was  fought.  The  impostor 
was  completely  defeated,  and  he  and  his  tutor  taken  prisoners.  The  Irish, 
who  fought  with  even  more  than  their  accustomed  bravery,  suffered 
dreadfully.  Ill  provided  with  offensive  weapons,  they  were  altogether 
destituteof  defensive  armour;  and  consequently  received  the  most  ghastly 
and  fatal  wounds.  Rushing,  half  naked,  upon  the  cool  and  well-protected 
soldiery  of  England,  they  saw  their  ranks  awfully  thinned  at  every  charge, 
and  when  the  battle  was  over  but  few  of  them  remained  alive.  With  the 
capture  of  Simnel  the  king's  anger  ended.  He  immediately  dispatched 
Sir  Richard  Edgecombe  with  a  full  pardon  to  all  in  Ireland  who  had 
abetted  the  impostor;  to  Thomas,  earl  of  Kildare,  he  sent,  with  the  letter 
containing  his  pardon,  a  splendid  gold  chain;  and  shortly  afterwards  the 
principal  lords  of  Ireland  were  summoned  to  wait  upon  the  king  at  Green- 
wich, ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  doing  homage  and  taking  oaths  of 
allegiance.  But  the  ever-politic  king  had  a  deeper  design  ;  that  of  making 
the  Irish  lords  so  ashamed  of  the  impostor  to  whose  designs  they  had  so 
foolishly  lent  themselves,  that  they  should  be  ever  after  little  disposed  to 
countenance  similar  adventurers.  Accordingly,  at  a  grand  banquet  to 
which  they  were  invited,  they  had  the  surprise  and  mortification  to  find 
among  the  liveried  menials  who  waited  upon  them,  that  identical  Simnel 
whom  a  short  time  previous  they  had  crowned  as  their  king — crowned, 
too,  with  a  diadem  taken  from  the  head  of  an  image  of  the  Virgin  ! 

Henry  VII.,  though  he  loved  peace  and  preferred  amassing  money  to 
the  empty  glories  of  the  mere  conqueror,  was  nevertheless  very  capable 
of  exerting  vigour  upon  occasion ;  and  he  now  determined  to  make  such 
alterations  as  would  prevent  Ireland  from  being  so  convenient  a  recruiting 
place  for  pretenders  and  their  traitorous  friends.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that 
Ireland  was  at  this  time  an  avowed  sanctuary  to  evil-doers.  He  who  had 
committed  in  England  an  offence  by  which  he  had  forfeited  life  or  liberty, 
had  only  to  escape  into  Ireland,  and  no  man  could  touch  him.  The  right 
of  sanctuary  was  first  recognised  by  Richard,  duke  of  York — father  of 
Edward  IV. — during  his  governorship  of  Ireland;  but  for  its  actual  origin 
we  must  look  to  the  numerous  monastic  houses  there.  Henry  VII.,  per- 
ceiving the  immense  and  pernicious  advantages  which  the  enemies  of 
England  derived  from  this  Irish  right  of  sanctuary,  wisely  determined  to 
abolish  it ;  and  he  entrusted  this  and  some  other  reforms  to  a  man  of  con- 
siderable talent  and  still  more  energy,  Sir  Edward  Poynings,  whose  able 
and  firm  conduct  caused  his  name  to  be  given  to  the  important  regula- 
tion known  to  lawyers  as  "  Poyning's  law,"  which  struck  at  the  very 
root  of  Irish  sedition,  by  taking  away  from  the  lords,  parliament,  and  all 
other  authorities  in  Ireland,  the  power  of  giving  validity  to  any  law  until 
it  should  have  been  considered  by  the  king  of  England.  Beit,  perhaps, 
the  most  important  act  performed  by  Sir  Edward  Poyning,  was  his  arrest' 
ing  and  sending  prisoner  to  England  the  celebrated  earl  of  Kildare. 
Henry  VII.  carried  his  peaceable  policy  too  far  now,  and  not  merely 
pardoned  him,  but  even  reappointed  him  to  the  dangerously  powerful 
ofSce  for  which  he  had  shown  himself  unfit. 

A.  D.  1497. —  Warned  by  his  narrow  escape,  the  earl  of  Kildare  seems 
henceforward  to  have  conducted  himself  with  considerable  discretion. 
Perkin  Warbeck,  another  impostor,  aided  by  his  French  friends,  having 
made  an  attempt  upon  England,  was  signally  disappointed  by  the  loyal 
men  of  Kent.  They  invited  him  to  land,  intending  to  seize  him,  but  the 
pretender  was  too  experienced  a  cheat  to  fall  into  the  snare,  and  the  re- 
sult fully  justified  his  caution.  Those  of  his  adherents  who  had  landed 
were  either  slain  or  made  prisoners  ;  and  Warbeck,  unaware  or  neglectful 
of  the  alteration  in  the  temper  and  opportunities  of  Ireland  that  had  been 
wrought  by  Poyning's  law,  proceeded  thither.  But  though  on  landing 
3 


.-54  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

at  Cork  lie  was  well  received  by  the  mayor  of  that  place,  and  ai30  by  the 
factious  earl  of  Desmond,  he  speedily  found  it  necessary  to  depart  for 
Scotland/ where  he  had  a  most  credulous  and  fast  friend  in  James  IV., 
who  protected  and  honoured  him  to  the  utmost,  and  even  went  so  far  as 
to  give  him  the  hand  of  his  own  relative,  the  lovely  Catherine  Gordon, 
daughter  of  the  earl  of  Huntley,  who,  to  the  honour  of  Henry  VH.  be  it 
said,  was  most  kindly  and  hospitably  treated  after  the  fall  and  execution 
of  lier  husband.  The  short  stay  of  Warbeck  in  Ireland  was,  thanks  to 
the  pood  order  established  by  Poyning,  productive  of  no  general  injury  ; 
the  laayor  of  Cork,  who  was  subsequently  executed  for  his  treasonable 
concert  with  the  pretender,  being  the  chief  sufferer. 

A.  D.  1535. — The  young  earl  of  Kildare  had  now  for  some  time  been  in 
a  sort  of  honourable  imprisonment  in  England ;  Cardinal  Wolsey,  the 
able  minister  of  Henry  VIII.,  having  very  wisely  objected  to  allowing 
that  nobleman's  use  or  abuse  of  his  immense  power  in  Ireland  to  depend 
upon  his  more  or  less  lively  recollection  of  the  narrow  escape  his  father 
had  formerly  had  ;  and  the  cardinal  had  an  additional  reason  to  doubt  the 
loyalty  and  faith  of  the  young  earl,  from  the  fact  of  his  being  very  closely 
allied  with  the  notoriously  seditious  and  powerful  chieftains  of  the  septs 
O'Carrol  and  O'Connor.  During  Kildare's  enforced  absence,  he  left  all 
his  interests  and  influence  in  the  hands  of  his  son.  Lord  Thomas  Fitzger- 
ald, who  was  then  barely  twenty-one  years  of  age.  It  is  not  surprising 
.:hat,  under  sticli  circumstances,  the  lord  Thomas  Fitzgerald  should  fall 
into  the  snare  that  was  laid  for  hin^i  by  his  father's  enemies.  Thej%  in 
order  to  involve  him  with  the  English  government,  caused  it  to  be  report- 
ed to  him  that  his  father  had  been  put  to  death,  and  that  orders  had  been 
issued  for  liis  own  arrest  and  that  of  other  members  of  his  family.  Hot- 
headed,  and,  to  say  the  truth,  partly  justified  by  the  probabilities  of  the 
case,  the  young  man  assembled  his  armed  followers  and  galloped  to  Dub- 
hn,  where  he  scornfully  threw  down  his  father's  state  sword,  and  rndde  a 
•solemn  renunciation,  in  both  his  own  and  his  father's  name,  of  ail  alle- 
giance and  respect  to  the  P^nglish  crown.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that  the 
chancellor,  one  of  the  few  real  friends  of  the  Fitzgerald  family,  implored 
the  deceived  young  man  not  to  commit  himself  too  hastily  and  too  far. 
The  mere  rhymed  follies  of  an  Irish  bard  were,  with  this  hot-headed  and 
most  ill-advised  young  nobleman,  sufBcient  to  counterbalance  all  tlio  wis- 
dom of  a  grave  and  honest  counsellor.  He  collected  all  the  friends  and 
stores  he  could  command ;  and  though  the  plague  was  then  raging  in 
Dublin,  he  proceeded  to  invest  that  city. 

A.  D.  1536. — Lord  Leonard  Grey,  newly  appointed  to  the  government  of 
Ireland,  displayed  considerable  talent  in  the  course  of  this  strife ;  and 
after  upwards  of  six  months  hard  fighting  he  obliged  Lord  Thomas  to 
surrender.  He  and  five  of  his  uncles,  who  had  been  as  deeply  concerned 
as  himself,  were  sent  to  London  as  prisoners,  and  there  executed.  Henry 
VIII.  was  the  more  enraged  by  the  extent  and  continuance  of  this  rebel- 
lion, because  it  put  a  stop  to  the  efforts  he  was  making  to  carry  into  llie 
religion  of  Ireland  the  same  reformation  he  had  brought  about  in  England. 
As  soon  as  the  rebellion  was  suppressed,  Henry  renewed  his  endeavours 
to  that  end ;  and  so  evident  an  evil  was  the  multitude  of  monastic  houses 
in  Ireland,  that  the  archbishop  of  Dublin  was  the  first  person  to  fall  in 
with  the  king's  design.  The  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  and  the 
formal  declaration  of  Henry  VIII.  as  king  of  Ireland,  independent  of  the 
pope — instead  of  lord  of  Ireland  holding  under  the  pope,  which  was  the 
light  in  which  the  Irish  had  hitherto  looked  upon  the  king  of  England — 
were  followed  up  by  some  politic  endeavours  on  the  part  of  Henry  to 
conciliate  the  regard  of  the  Irish  chieftains.  O'Donncl,  for  instance,  was 
created  earl  of  Tyrconnel ;  O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone  ;  and  his  son,  Lord 
Duncannon  ;  tliougli  t!>e  latter,  formidable  as  he  could  make  himself  n; 


THE  TREASURY  OF  UISTORY.  ^\, 

Wild  Irish  warfare,  was  so  poor,  that  in  order  to  be  able  to  go  to  London 
to  receive  his  new  honour  from  the  hands  of  the  king,  was  actually 
obliged  to  borrow  a  hundred  pounds  of  .St.  Leger,  the  English  governor 
and  had  so  little  prospect  of  returning:  even  tlial  sum  in  hard  cash,  that  he 
stipulated  to  be  allowed  to  repay  it  in  cattle. 

A.  D.  1558. — Tlie  comparatively  short  reign  of  Mary  in  England,  served 
to  show  that  the  facility  with  which  the  Irish  had  acquiesced  in  Henry's 
sweeping  reform  of  religion  was  chiefly  owing  to  self-interest  and  the 
skill  of  the  king  in  accommodating  his  favour  to  the  desires  of  the  person 
to  be  conciliated.  For  a  very  general  inclination  was  shown  in  Ireland 
during  the  reign  of  Mary,  to  return  to  the  papal  faith,  and  one  of  the  ear- 
liest difficulties  experienced  by  Elizabeth  was  that  of  re-establishing 
protestantism  among  her  Irish  subjects.  The  Desmonds  and  the  O'Neills 
were  especially  troublesome  in  their  resistance  to  England.  The  earl  of 
Desmond  broke  out  into  an  open  v/ar  with  the  earl  of  Ormond,  who,  be- 
sides being  a  very  able  nobleman,  was  cousin  to  the  queen.  Desmond 
professing  to  be  confident  that  he  could  show  he  was  in  the  right,  and 
was  the  injured  party  in  the  dispute  between  him  and  OrnioJid — a  question 
of  boundary  of  their  adjoining  possessions — petitioned  to  be  allowed  to 
represent  the  matter  to  the  queen  in  person.  He  arrived  in  London,  un- 
der the  impression  that  he  was  to  have  the  required  interview  ;  but  instead 
of  being  so  favoured  he  was  thrown  in  the  Tower,  where  he  was  kept  a 
close  prisoner  for  some  years.  When  he  at  length  got  his  liberty  he  nat- 
urally enough  considered  himself  a  deeply-injured  man,  and  extended  his 
enmity  from  the  earl  of  Ormond  to  the  English  power  altogether. 

A.  D.  1579. — Philip  of  Spain,  hating  Elizabeth,  both  as  the  protestant 
ruler  of  that  kingdom  which  he  would  fain  have  subjected  to  the  gloomy 
despotism  of  the  inquisition,  and  because  she  had,  most  prudently,  refused 
the  offer  he  made  of  his  hand  almost  ere  her  sister  and  his  wife  was  laid 
in  her  tomb,  gladly  encouraged  Desmond  in  his  desire  to  work  evil  to  tlie 
English  power,  and  actually  sent  the  rebel  earl  a  very  considerable  foi-cp 
of  Spaniards  and  Italians.  But  the  wild  Irish  warfare,  with  its  accompa- 
nying famine  and  other  sufferings,  v/as  too  much  for  the  endurance  ot 
these  troops,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  make  war  with  considerably 
less  bloodshed  and  more  personal  indulgence.  Defeated  wherever  they 
appeared,  and  at  length  abandoned  in  despair  by  Desmond  himself,  they 
laid  down  their  arms,  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  other  English  officers 
decided  that  they  could  not  be  looked  upon  so  much  in  the  light  of  pris- 
oners of  war,  as  in  that  of  felonious  abettors  of  a  domestic  rebellion  ;  and, 
as  a  consequence  of  this  decision,  they  were  summarily  executed.  Des- 
mond himself  being  found  in  a  hut,  was  put  to  death  by  some  soldiers  for 
the  sake  of  the  reward  they  anticipated  receiving  for  his  head  from  his 
enemy  the  earl  of  Ormond.  The  large  territories  of  Desmond,  and  the 
vast  possessions  of  the  numerous  wealthy  men  who  had  abetted  his  rebel- 
lion were  confiscated,  either  on  the  death  of  the  owners  in  battle,  or  by 
their  departure  on  the  failure  of  the  rebellion  to  the  Low  Countries,  where 
service  was  offered  to  them  by  Philip.  If  the  miseries  of  civil  war  fell 
exclusively  upon  those  who  excite  it,  the  evil  would  be  great  and  sad 
enough  ;  but,  unhappily,  the  worst  share  of  wretchedness  usually  fails 
upon  people  who  neither  take  part  in  the  crime,  nor  have  any  power  to 
prevent  its  commission.  In  the  present  case,  the  horrors  of  famine  and 
disease  raged  to  such  an  extent  as  almost  to  depopulate  Munstcr.  Ra- 
leigh and  other  Englishmen  got  grants  of  the  land  that  was  left  untenant-  ■ 
able  and  to  the  accident  of  his  obtaining  a  grant,  Ireland  owes  t'le  iiitro- 
d  louon  of  her  great  staple,  potatoes,  which  he  first  brought  into  that  coun- 
try from  Spanish  America.  He  also  introduced  the  cultivation  of  tobacco, 
but  the  climate  prevented  it  from  being  good.  But,  by  introducing  the 
potato,  Raleigh  conferred  a  real  and  permanent  benefit  upon  that  country. 


36  THE  TREASi:aY  OF  HISTORY. 

Hugh  O'Neill,  who  had  received  much  kindness  from  Queen  Elizubeth, 
by  whom  he  had  been  created  carl  of  Tyrone,  and  to  whom  he  was  indebt- 
ed for  the  restoration  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  earldom,  which  had 
been  forfeited  by  the  treason  of  his  uncle  Shane  O'Neill,  was  for  some 
time  one  of  the  most  loyal  of  the  queen's  nobles.  It  chanced,  however, 
that  when  the  great  and  providential  tempest  dispersed  that  armada  which 
Philip  of  Spain  and  the  pope  had  presumptuously  named  the  "  invincible," 
some  of  the  vessels  composing  it  were  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Ireland 
Tyrone  behaved  with  so  much  cordiality  to  the  shipwrecked  Spaniards, 
as  to  give  an  opportunity  to  his  cousin,  a  son  of  Shane  O'Neill,  to  accuse 
him  of  treasonable  correspondence  with  Spain.  All  the  violence  of  the 
earl's  nature  now  burst  fiercely  forth;  insteadof  taking  a  safe  and  straight 
course,  he  caused  his  cousin  to  be  seized  and  put  to  death;  and  having 
thus,  by  an  inhuman  crime  put  himself  out  of  the  queen's  peace,  he  impu- 
dently set  himself  up  as  the  patriotic  enemy  of  her  to  whose  favour  he 
owed  all  that  he  possessed.  Levying  war  in  reality  to  save  himself  from 
the  deserved  penalty  of  murder,  he  also  excited  the  M'Guires,  M'Mahona, 
and  other  sects  to  join  in  his  rebellion  ;  and  while  the  English  agents  were 
endeavouring  to  enrich  the  country,  these  patriots  were  doing  their  utmost 
to  throw  it  deeper  into  barbarism. 

A.  D.  1594. — The  experience  of  ages  had  not  yet  taught  the  Irish  that 
peace  is  the  true  nursing-mother  of  prosperity  and  happiness.  Tyrone 
and  his  associates,  with  abundant  support,  had  committed  much  crime 
.and  inflicted  proportionate  misery.  And  yet,  when  in  1594  Sir  William 
Russell  went  to  Ireland  as  lord-deputy,  Tyrone  had  the  consummate  assu- 
rance to  go  to  Dublin  and  assert  his  desire  to  support  her  majesty's  gov- 
ernment. Sir  Henry  Bagnal,  a  shrewd  man,  who  then  filled  the  office  of 
marshal  of  the  army  in  Ireland,  was  for  putting  it  out  of  the  traitor's 
power  to  commit  further  crime  by  at  once  sending  him  to  England.  But 
Sir  William,  desirous  of  carrying  conciliation  to  its  most  prudent  length, 
determined  to  trust  the  earl's  promise  of  faith  and  loyalty  ;  and  the  earl 
showed  his  sense  of  this  too-trusting  conduct,  by  immediately  going  to 
his  own  territory  and  opening  a  correspondence  with  her  majesty's  bitter- 
est enemy,  the  Spaniard,  from  whom  he  obtained  a  supply  of  ?.rms  and 
ammunition,  and  then  openly  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  confederacy 
of  Irish  chiefs,  their  avowed  object  being  the  ruin  of  the  English  power  in 
Ireland.  Shrewd  and  well-advised  as  Elizabeth  was  beyond  most  English 
sovereigns,  magnum  vectigal  parsimunia  est  was  the  ruling  maxim  of  her 
life;  to  parsimony  she  owed  not  a  little  of  that  respect  which  the  profu- 
sion of  her  successor  caused  to  be  withheld  from  him  ;  to  parsimony  she 
was  sincerely  devoted.  And,  accordingly,  to  the  six  thousand  pounds 
which  was  the  ordinary  revenue  of  Ireland,  the  queen  added  only  twenty 
thousand,  when  emergency  required  the  doubling  or  trebling  of  the  ordi- 
nary English  force  of  a  thousand  men. 

While  Sir  John  Norris  was  in  command  of  the  English  force  in  Ireland, 
Tyrone  availed  himself  of  his  knowledge  of  the  limited  extent  to  which 
the  queen  supplied  her  officers,  to  play  upon  that  commander's  feelings, 
to  make  and  break  treaties  to  such  an  extent,  that  the  unfortunate  gentle- 
man actually  died  of  a  complaint  which  was  attributed  solely  to  his  men- 
tal sufferings.  He  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Henry  Bagnal,  of  whom  mention 
has  already  been  made.  Being  aware  of  the  real  disposition  of  Tyrone, 
this  officer  resolved  to  suppress  him  to  the  utmost;  but  an  unfortunate 
circumstance  caused  the  first  of  his  operations  to  terminate  in  his  death 
The  rebels  at  that  time  were  besieging  the  fort  of  Blackwater,  the  garri- 
son of  which  they  had  already  reduced  to  great  distress.  Sir  Henry  led 
his  troops  to  the  relief  of  the  fort,  and  was  suddenly  attacked  on  very  dis- 
advantageous ground;  and  one  of  the  ammunition  wagons  accidentally 
blowing  up,  so  ir  creased  the  panic  into  which  the  men  had  been  thro  wo. 


THJ3  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  37 

that  a  complete  rout  took  place.  The  loss  on  the  English  side  was  fully 
fifteen  hundred,  and  unhappily  mcluded  the  gallant  Sir  Henry ;  and  but 
for  the  daring  conduct  of  Montacute,  the  commander  of  the  cavalry,  who 
held  the  enemy  in  check,  the  loss  would  have  been  much  greater.  The 
rebels  were  much  elated  by  this  victory,  which  was  more  decisive  than 
they  were  accustomed  to  achieve ;  and  it  also  put  them  in  possession  of  a 
considerable  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition,  of  both  which  they  stood  in 
great  need.  As  for  Tyrone,  he  assumad  to  himself  the  title  of  deliverer 
of  the  Irish  people,  and  patron  of  Irish  liberty.  This  event  caused  no 
little  anxiety  at  the  English  court ;  and  Elizabeth  and  her  councillors  at 
length  came  to  the  determination  to  give  no  future  room  to  the  rebels  to 
avail  themselves  of  truces  and  treaties.  The  queen,  in  truth,  deemed  it 
high  time  to  put  her  Irish  affairs  in  the  hands  of  some  commander  posses- 
sing rank  as  well  as  ability.  Her  own  opinion  inclined  towards  Charles 
Blount,  the  young  and  high-spirited  Lord  Mountjoy.  But  Essex,  who 
was  now  high  in  his  sovereign's  favour,  was  himself  ambitious  of  acquir- 
ing fame  by  pacifying  Ireland,  and  he  urged  that  Mountjoy  was  not  pos- 
sessed of  the  requisite  standing  or  the  requisite  talent ;  plainly  giving  the 
queen  to  understand  that  he  was  himself  tiie  fittest  person  she  could  send. 
Essex  so  perseveringly  pushed  his  suit,  that  Elizabeth  at  length  consented 
to  entrust  him  with  the  coveted  office ;  and  in  the  patent  by  which  she 
constituted  him  her  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  she  gave  him  the  power  of 
pardoning  rebels,  and  of  appointing  all  the  principal  officers  in  the  lieuten- 
antcy.  As  in  distinction,  so  in  military  force  he  was  favoured  beyond 
any  of  his  predecessors  ;  having  an  army  provided  for  him  of  twenty 
thousand  infantry  and  two  thousand  cavalry.  Averse  as  Elizabeth  was 
to  all  expensive  armaments,  the  more  reflecting  among  the  friends  of 
Essex  trembled  for  him  ;  and  the  more  reflecting  among  his  enemies  re- 
joiced in  anticipation  of  the  ruin  in  which  failure  would  involve  him, 
should  he  be  otherwise  than  successful  when  so  abundantly  provided  with 
the  means  of  success.  And,  in  order  to  render  ill  success  the  more  ruin- 
ous to  him,  Raleigh,  Cecil,  and  the  earl  of  Nottingham,  took  every  oppor- 
tunity to  impress  upon  the  queen  the  impossibility  of  her  favourite  being 
otherwise  than  triumphant.  The  earl  of  Southampton  had  incurred  the 
anger  of  Elizabeth  by  marrying  without  her  permission — an  offence  which 
never  failed  deeply  to  incense  her  against  those  of  her  courtiers  who  com- 
mitted it ;  and  ere  Essex  left  England  the  queen  gave  express  orders  not 
to  give  any  command  to  Southampton.  But  one  of  the  very  first  acts  of 
Essex  on  his  arrival  in  Ireland  was  to  give  his  friend  Southampton  the 
command  of  the  horse.  This  error,  gross  enough,  was  still  farther  aggra- 
vated. The  queen  no  sooner  heard  of  the  disobedience  than  she  sent  her 
special  command  to  Essex  to  revoke  Southampton's  commission ;  and 
Essex,  instead  of  obeying,  contented  himself  with  remonstrating,  nor  did 
he  obey  until  a  new  and  more  positive  order  convinced  him  that  his  own 
command  would  be  taken  from  him  if  he  longer  hesitated.  Considering 
the  self-willed  character  of  the  sovereign  whom  he  served,  Essex  placed 
himself  in  sufficient  peril  by  this  one  error  ;  but  as  if  infatuated  and  deter- 
mined upon  ruin,  he  immediately  committed  an  error  still  more  grave, 
because  striking  directly  against  the  success  of  the  cnterprize  intrusted  to 
him.  At  the  English  council-board  he  had  pledged  hi.T.self  to  proceed  at 
once  against  the  main  body  under  Tyrone.  The  queen  and  her  advisers 
perfectly  agreed  with  him  on  this  point;  yet  he  had  scarcely  landed  in 
Dublin  when  he  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  the  season  was  too 
early,  and  that  his  better  plan  would  be  to  devote  some  time  to  an  expe- 
dition into  Munster,  where  parties  of  the  rebels  were  doing  mischief.  In 
fine,  after  proving  himself  signally  unfit  for  his  task,  Essex  in  a  pet  re- 
lumed to  England,  and  eventually  lost  his  head.  Lord  Mountjoy,  whom 
Elizabeth,  as  we  have  said,  oripinally  intended  for  the  Irish  expedition. 


38  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

was  now  sent  over,  in  the  hope  that  he  would  repair  the  evils  cansed  by 
his  incapable  rival.  The  Irish  rebels  speedily  discovered  that  tliey  now 
had  to  deal  with  a  lord-lieutenant  very  different  from  the  vain  and  facile 
Essex.  Brave  and  accomplished  as  a  soldier,  Mountjoy  was  also  some- 
what inclined  to  sternness  and  severity. 

A.  D.  1G02. — On  taking  the  command  in  Ireland,  Mountjoy  divided  hi3 
force  into  detachments,  and  gave  tlie  commands  to  men  of  known  ability 
and  courage,  with  orders  to  act  with  tlie  utmost  vigour  and  to  give  no 
quarter.  The  rebels  being  thus  attacked  at  once,  and  finding  their  new 
opponent  was  impracticable  in  negotiation  as  he  was  in  war,  threw  down 
their  arms.  Many  of  them  sought  safety  by  retiring  into  the  morasses 
and  mountain  caves,  while  their  friends  exerted  themselves  to  obtain  their 
peace  Oh  such  terms  as  Mountjoy  chose  to  dictate.  Tyrone  was  no  ex- 
ception ;  at  first,  indeed,  he  tried  to  obtain  favourable  terms,  but  his  days 
of  successful  deception  were  ended.  Mountjoy  refused  to  admit  him  to 
mercy  on  any  other  condition  than  that  of  absolute  surrender  of  his  life 
and  fortunes  to  the  queen's  pleasure.  But  Elizabeth  had  expired  while 
he  still  hesitated ;  and  as  the  character  of  her  successor  rendered  it  un- 
likely he  v^ould  show  mercy  to  rebels  so  crafty  and  faithless  as  Tyrone, 
both  he  and  O'Donnel  made  their  escape  to  Italy  ;  where  Tyrone  lived 
some  years,  supported  only  on  a  pension  allowed  him  by  the  pope.  He 
was  blind  for  many  years  before  his  death  ;  and  the  poverty  and  obscurity 
into  which  his  misconduct  brought  him,  compared  with  the  influence  and 
respect  which  he  forfeited,  ought  to  warn  such  men — if  indeed  men  of 
ambition  and  ill-regulated  energies  can  be  warned  by  anything — of  the 
danger  as  well  as  impropriety  of  inciting  the  ignorant  and  violent  to  that 
worst  of  crimes,  rebellion. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A.  D.  1612. — The  most  efficient  of  the  English  commanders  was  un- 
doubtedly the  lord  Mountjoy ;  and  perhaps,  but  for  his  stern  chastisement 
of  armed  rebellion,  Ireland  would  not  have  been  in  a  state  to  profit  by  the 
wise  and  humane  desire  of  Elizabeth's  successor,  James  I.,  to  civilize  the 
people  by  raising  them  socially  as  well  as  intellectuall}'.  The  immense 
tracts  of  land  which  civil  war  and  rebellion  had  depopulated  in  Ireland, 
especially  in  Ulster,  furnished  the  sagacious  James  with  the  first  great 
element,  room  for  civilized  colonists,  whose  example  of  industry  and 
prosperity  could  not  fail  to  have  the  effect  of  raising  all  the  rest  in  the 
social  scale.  Aware  that  a  large  sum  of  money  was  necessary  for  the 
carrying  out  of  his  admirable  plan,  and  aware,  too,  that  practical  men  were 
the  best  persons  to  look  after  the  details  upon  which  so  much  would  de- 
pend, James  incorporated  the  Royal  Irish  Society.  The  members  were 
to  be  annually  elected  from  the  aldermen  and  common-council  of  London  ; 
and  to  the  committee  thus  formed,  were  all  matters  to  be  intrusted  con- 
nected with  the  management  of  the  Irish  fisheries,  and  the  waste  tracts 
of  land.  The  lands  were  to  be  let  to  three  classes  of  undertakers;  so 
called  because  they  undertook  to  fulfil  certain  conditions.  Those  who 
received  two  thousand  acres  were  to  build  a  castle,  with  a  proportionate 
hawn  or  yard,  surrounded  by  a  substantial  wall;  those  who  received  fifteen 
hundred  acres  were  to  build  a  stone  house,  also  surrounded  by  a  bawn, 
unless  in  situations  where  a  bridge  would  be  more  desirable  ;  and  those 
who  received  a  thousand  acres  were  to  build  a  good  dwelling  to  their  own 
taste.  The  plan  itself  was  a  comprehensive  one  ;  and  we  think  that  few 
will  be  disposed  to  differ  from  Sir  Jonn  Davies,  who  says,  as  quoted  by 
Hume,  that  "  James  in  nine  years  made  greater   advances  towards  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  33 

Civilization  of  Ireland,  than  had  been  made  in  tlie  four  hundred  and  forty 
years  which  had  elapsed  since  the  conquest  was  first  attempted."  Having 
done  so  much,  James  declared  all  the  people  of  Ireland  to  be  equally  his 
subjects,  abolished  the  Brehon  laws,  and  stationed  a  small  army  in  Ire- 
land, which  was  regularly  paid  from  England,  and  thus  spared  all  temp- 
tation to  excite  disturbances  in  the  country  by  levying  contributions  upon 
its  inhabitants.  The  good  effect  of  this  was  strikingly  shown  in  the  case 
of  an  outbreak  excited  by  a  chief  named  O'Dogherty.  This  chieftain, 
among  many,  was  enraged  at  seeing  the  comfort  and  prosperity  in  which 
strangers  dwelt  in  his  native  country  ;  and  he  was  especially  opposed  to 
the  abolition  of  the  Brehon  laws,  which  gave  occasion  to  periodical  war- 
fare by  a  most  absurd  division  of  property,  and  made  murder  and  other 
crimes  as  purchaseable  as  any  manufactured  luxury,  by  affixing  a  price 
to  each  crime,  as  the  Normans  and  Saxons,  and  most  other  partially  bar- 
barous people,  had  done  at  an  earlier  day.  Taking  counsel  with  other 
chieftains  as  prejudiced  and  turbulent  as  himself,  O'Dogherty  endeavoured 
to  plunge  the  country  into  a  civil  war.  But  his  first  outbreak  was  steadily 
met  by  the  resident  English  troops;  reinforcements  were  speedily  sent; 
and  he  v/ho  but  a  few  years  before  might  have  sacked  towns,  and  then 
have  sold  his  good  behaviour  for  a  peerage,  was  easily  and  speedily  put 
down.  Regular  circuits  for  the  administration  of  justice  were  formed  ; 
charters  of  incorporation  were  bestowed  upon  the  larger  and  more  pros 
parous  towns;  and  James  had  the  truly  enviable  pleasure  of  seeing 
prosperity  and  growing  civiUzation  accomplished  by  his  peaceful  and 
equitable  rule,  for  a  country  which  his  predecessors  had  all  failed  even  to 
begin  to  rule  with  either  certainty  or  advantage.  Hume  gives  a  curious 
anecdote,  illustrative  of  the  effect  which  the  affixing  prices  to  crimes  had, 
in  diminishing  not  merely  the  legal  fear  of  committing  them,  but  also  the 
moral  sense  of  their  enormity.  When  Sir  William  Fitzwilliams  was  lord- 
deputy,  he  told  the  powerful  and  unruly  M'Guire  that  he,  the  deputy,  was 
about  to  send  the  sheriff  into  Fermanagh.  "Your  sheriff  shall  be  wel- 
come," said  M'Guire,  "  but  let  me  know  beforehand  what  a  sheriff's  head 
is  rated  at,  that  I  may  be  prepared  to  levy  the  amount  upon  the  county  if 
my  people  chance  to  cut  his  head  off." 

A.  D.  1641. — From  the  year  1G03,  Ireland  had  been  constantly  progres- 
sing, sometimes  slowly,  but  always  more  or  less,  towards  the  comparative 
perfection  of  England  ;  and  if,  now,  in  1641,  Brian  Borohme,  or  Mala- 
chi  of  the  golden  collar,  those  sincere  and — the  age  in  which  t!iey  lived 
being  considered — sensible  friends  of  their  native  country,  could  have 
seen  the  splendid  alterations  that  had  been  wrought  in  its  favour,  they 
would  have  denounced  to  death  the  traitor,  who,  for  the  sake  of  Iiis  own 
interests,  or  ignorant  fancies,  should  have  proposed  to  light  up  the  tore!) 
of  war,  and  undo,  in  a  few  weeks  of  violence,  what  had  been  accomplished 
by  the  wisdom,  patience,  and  liberality  of  years.  Bat  unhappily  the  times 
were  favourable  to  mock  patriots.  The  unfortunate  Charles  I.  was  now 
upon  the  English  throne,  and  deeply  involved  in  the  fatal  disputes  with 
parliament,  which  ended  so  lamentably  for  both  king  and  people.  The 
settlers  in  Ireland  under  the  scheme  of  King  James  were  almost  exclu 
sively  protestant,  and  tliey  naturally  had  the  utmost  horror  of  the  oppo- 
site faith,  in  the  name  of  which  so  much  cruel  persecution  had  taken 
place,  and  constantly  sympathized  with  the  puritan  party  in  the  English 
house  of  commons.  In  their  zealous  attention  to  this  one  point,  they  quite 
overlooked  the  peculiarity  of  their  own  situation.  Owing  everything  to 
royal  authority,  and  protected  in  their  liberties  by  the  royal  troops,  the 
Irish  protestants  were  probably  the  last  of  all  the  ill-fated  Charles'  subjects 
who,  even  with  a  view  to  selfish  interests  alone,  should  have  done  aught 
that  could  aid  the  triumphs  of  his  enemies.  Though  a  long  lapse  of 
years,  and  the  steady  and  consistent  wisdom  of  the  successive  adminis- 


10  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

trations  of  Chichester,  Grandison,  Falkland,  and  the  murdered  Strafford, 
had  fairly  established  Ireland  among  the  prosperous  and  civilized  nations; 
though  septs  after  septs  had  become  peaceful  and  settled  tillers  of  the 
earth,  or  prosperous  artizans  and  traders  in  the  town,  neither  time  nor 
ministerial  wisdom  had,  as  yet,  abated  the  detestation  in  which  the  Irish- 
man hold  the  Englishman,  in  which  the  catholic  held  the  prolestant,  in 
which,  in  a  word,  the  conquered  held  the  conqueror.  There  was  still 
much  of  tlie  old  leaven  of  disturbance  in  existence;  and  at  the  moment 
when  the  protestants  of  Ireland  were  indulging  their  hostility  to  the 
throne,  they  were  watched  with  a  grim  smile  of  approving  hate  by  their 
lloman  catholic  enemies. 

No  matter  whether  the  question  \verc  one  of  finance,  of  power,  or  of  the 
form  and  etiquette  so  important  to  the  efficacy  of  the  ruler,  yet  without 
injury  or  danger  to  the  ruled,  the  Irish  protestants  in  parliament  assem- 
bled took  every  opportunity  to  despoil  and  mortify  their  king  in  the  most 
complete  and  egregious  unconsciousness,  as  it  would  seem,  that  they 
were  in  precisely  the  same  degree  preparing  and  precipitating  their  own 
ruin.  While  the  Irish  protestants  were  thus  departing  from  the  line  of 
policy  and  duty,  the  catholics  and  old  Irish  were  longing  for  an  opportu- 
nity to  avail  themselves  of  the  fatal  error;  and  there  was  nothing  needed 
to  plunge  the  now  smiling  and  prosperous  land  into  the  horrors  of  civil 
war,  but  a  daring,  active  leader.  Unhappily  such  a  man  was  at  hand  in 
the  person  of  Roger  Moore,  a  man  of  ability,  and  very  popular  among  the 
"  old  Irish,"  of  whom  by  descent  he  was  one.  Haling  even  the  benefi- 
cence of  the  English,  he  took  advantage  of  the  blundering  ingratitude  of 
the  Irish  protestants,  to  excite  the  catholics  and  malcontents  to  insurrec- 
tion. Artful  and  eloquent,  he  suited  his  complaints  to  every  man's  pecu- 
liar character,  and  pressed  them  alike  upon  the  sympathy  of  all.  To  Sir 
Phelim  O'Neill,  and  the  lord  M'Guire,  he  early  and  successfully  addressed 
himself,  and  he  and  they  used  the  most  untiring  industry  to  induce  other 
leading  men  of  the  old  blood  and  the  old  faith  to  join  them.  They  pointed 
out  the  crippled  condition  of  the  royal  authority  in  England,  and  of  the 
vice-regal  authority  in  Ireland  ;  and  they  dwelt  upon  the  inferiority  of  the 
English  in  numbers,  and  upon  the  ignorant  and  insolent  confidence  of 
safety  in  which  they  lived,  even  their  small  standing  army  being  loosely  sub- 
divided throughout  the  land.  Moore  urged  that  the  decay  of  the  royal 
authority  boded  persecution  and  ruin  to  the  catholics.  He  said,  that 
though,  as  Irishmen,  they  were  wronged  by  being  .subjected  to  English 
rule  under  any  circumstances,  yet  the  king  had  shown  no  disposition  to 
persecute  them  especially  on  account  of  their  religion,  but  if  the  puritans, 
as  seemed  certain,  should  succeed  in  subjecting  their  high-church  sover- 
eign in  England,  would  they  have  any  toleration  to  spare  for  his  catholic 
subjects  in  Ireland]  If  any  Irishman  had  a  doubt  upon  that  point,  he  had 
but  to  look  at  the  persecution  already  endured  by  his  fellow-religionists  in 
lOngland.  As  catholics,  it  was  their  bounden  duty  to  prevent  themselves 
from  falling  victims  to  the  fierce  and  persecuting  zeal  of  the  puritans  ;  as 
Irishmen  they  would  at  all  times,  and  under  any  circumstances,  have 
been  warranted  in  throwing  off  the  foreign  yoke  which  conquest  had  fixed 
upon  them  ;  and  they  were  now  especially  called  upon  to  do  so.  O'Neill 
engaged  to  head  an  insurrection  in  the  provinces,  the  signal  for  which 
was  to  be  given  simultaneously  with  an  attack  upon  the  castle  of  Dublin, 
which  was  to  be  headed  by  Roger  Moore  and  M'Guire.  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
indirectly  at  least,  promised  arms  and  other  aid  ;  numero4]s  Irish  officers 
who  were  serving  in  the  Spanish  army  promised  to  join  them  ;  and  there 
could  be  no  doubt  but  the  catholic  population  would  join  in  a  revolt  origin- 
atnig  in  zeal  for  the  catholic  religion.  Every  arrangement  having  been 
made,  the  day  fixed  upon  for  the  outbreak  was  the  23d  of  October,  1641, 
that  late  period  of  the  year  being  named  by  Moore  on  account  of  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  41 

darkness  of  the  nights,  which  would  favour  the  dark  deeds  that  were  in 
contemplation,  and  on  account  of  the  difficulty  that  stormy  season  of  the 
year  would  throw  in  the  way  of  transporting  men  and  arms  from  England, 
when  news  should  reach  that  country.  Great  and  prudent  precaution  as 
Moore  and  his  fellow-conspirators  had  taken,  their  terrible  design  would 
in  all  probability  have  been  frustrated,  but  for  the  unhappy  ditference  be- 
tween the  king  and  his  people.  For  whatever  caution  might  be  used  in 
holding  foreign  correspondence,  it  was  scarcely  possible  so  vast  a  con- 
spiracy could  be  known  at  foreign  courts  without  some  inkling  of  the 
matter  getting  to  the  ears  of  the  spies,  who,  for  gain  or  other  motives, 
busy  themselves  in  tattling  to  the  attaches  of  the  embassies.  And  though 
no  definite  news  of  the  matter  in  agitation  reached  the  king  from  his  am- 
bassadors, yet  he  was  warned  by  them  that  there  assuredly  was  some 
deep  and  dangerous  thing  planning  in  Ireland.  Had  the  king  been 
in  concord  with  his  people  at  home,  and  the  Irish 'authorities  zealous  in 
his  service,  even  these  slight  hints  would  have  led  to  the  discovery  of  the 
plot,  and  the  prevention  of  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  terrible  massa- 
cres that  has  ever  occurred.  But  the  lord-lieutenant,  Earl  Leicester,  was 
detained  in  London  ;  and  Sir  .John  Borlase  and  Sir  William  Parsons,  who 
discharged  his  duties  by  commission,  owed  their  promotion  to  the  king's 
domestic  enemies,  the  puritans,  and  therefore  paid  little  attention  to  his 
warinngs,  and  made  no  use  of  them.  These  reckless  men  had  not  so 
much  as  doubled  the  guards  at  Dubhn  castle,  though  its  routine  guard  was 
at  that  time  but  fifty  men,  while  it  held  out  to  the  rebels  the  tempting  booty 
of  thirty  pieces  of  artillery,  and  arms  for  ten  thousand  men,  with  ammu- 
nition in  proportion.  The  23d  of  October,  as  we  have  mentioned,  was 
the  day  appointed;  the  22d  had  already  arrived;  Moore  and  M'Guire 
were  in  Dublin,  their  signal  watched  by  a  host  of  disguised  followers ; 
yet  not  a  doubt  or  fear  disturbed  the  serenity  of  the  castle,  until,  when 
the  eleventh  hour  was  past  and  the  twelfth  had  well-nigh  struck.  Sir 
William  Pardons  was  roused  from  his  complacent  indolence  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  one  O'Conolly,  who,  though  an  Irishman  and  a  conspirator, 
was  also  a  protestant,  and  shuddered  when  the  hour  approached  which 
was  to  doom  every  man  of  his  own  faith  throughout  Ireland  to  death. 
The  repentance  and  confession  of  O'Conolly  were  in  time  to  save  Dublirn 
castle  from  capture ;  but,  alas  !  it  was  now  beyond  human  power  to  pre- 
vent massacre  from  stalking,  unsparing  and  ghastly,  throughout  the  resi 
of  the  land.  Sir  William  Parsons  and  his  colleague  dispatched  officers 
to  apprehend  Moore  and  M'Guire,  and  to  warn  the  protestan-ts,  from  street 
to  street,  to  arm  and  prepare  themselves  for  a  death-struggle.  Moore 
perceived  that  something  had  alarmed  the  castle,  and  he  took  his  depar- 
ture from  the  city  before  the  oiScers  could  find  him  ;  M'Guire  and  Maho- 
ney  were  less  fortunate ;  they  were  seized  and  examined  by  the  lords- 
justices,  and  Mahoney's  confession  conveyed  to  them  the  astounding  in- 
telligence that  the  fate  from  which  the  protestants  of  Dublin  had  so  nar- 
rowly escaped,  was  but  too  certainly  in  store  for  their  unhappy  co-religion- 
ists throughout  all  the  rest  of  the  island.  O'Neill  and  other  leaders,  not 
dreaming  of  any  check  to  their  design  taking  place  in  Dublin,  where  the 
authorities  had  seemed  so  blind  and  presumptuous,  were  true  to  their 
time  and  their  ruthless  purposes.  Men,  women,  and  children,  were  indis- 
criminately put  to  death  ;  no  former  kindness,  no  present  connection,  was 
suffered  to  save  the  unhappy  creatures  who  were  known  to  be  guilty  of 
the  inexpiable  crimes  of  being  English  and  of  being  protestants.  Never 
in  the  world's  history  was  massacre  more  unrelentingly  carried  on. 
Roger  Moore,  though  enthusiastic  in  his  hatred  of  the  English,  was  grieved 
at  the  wide-spreading  horrors  of  which  his  own  exertions  had  been  the 
cause,  and  retired  to  Flanders. 
A  short  truce  at  length  took  place.     The  marquis  of  Ormond  entered 


i-2  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

nto  a  correspondence  witli  Pheliin  O'Neill,  between  whom  and  tlie  rebel 
parliament  at  Kilkenny  and  the  royal  authorities  at  Dublin  a  peace  waa 
agreed  upon.  How  long-  so  bloodthirsty  a  person  as  O'Neill  would  have 
remained  peaceable,  it  is  difTicult  to  guess.  But  the  pope  looked  longingly 
upon  the  Peter-pence  and  the  absolute  authority  of  the  green  isle  ;  and  the 
instant  he  heard  O'Neill  had  agreed  to  give  the  torn  land  and  suffering 
people  rest,  he  sent  a  confidential  priest  named  Rinuccini  as  his  nuncio. 
Whatever  else  the  court  of  Rome  understood,  it  was  ignorant  of  political 
economy.  For  while  that  grasping  power  was  ready  to  brave  all  laws 
and  feelings  in  its  ardour  for  conquering  countries,  it  was  to  the  full  as 
anxious  to  impoverish  as  to  conquer  them;  and  while  desirous  of  tribute, 
was  bent  upon  nmltiplying  tliose  non-producing  communities  which  could 
neither  pay  themselves  nor  exist  but  by  diminishing  that  which  but  for 
them  might  have  been  wrung  from  the  laity  ;  and  the  monks,  whether 
Jesuits  or  Franciscans,  Carmelites  or  Dominicans,  who  were  placed  in  the 
principal  abbeys  and  monasteries  that  were  restored,  had  it  in  charge  from 
this  zealous  Jesuit,  that  they  should  be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season 
i  1  exhorting  the  laity  to  aid  in  restoring  and  beautifying  all  the  monasteries 
throughout  the  island  ;  of  which  it  is  clear  that  Rome  felt  confident  of  ob- 
taining the  complete  dominion.  The  assistance  which  the  rebels  received 
enabled  them  to  recommence  and  continue  the  civil  war  with  advantage 
over  the  royal  force,  for  the  king  was  now  in  the  power  of  the  puritans; 
and  much  as  those  bigots  hated  the  papists  of  Ireland,  they  loved  their 
own  aggrandizement  still  more  ;  and  while  they  obtained  large  sums  from 
the  gulled  people  of  i^ngland,  under  the  pretence  of  putting  down  the  Irish 
rebels,  they  coolly  applied  those  sums  to  the  support  of  their  own  treason- 
able schemes,  and  left  the  luckless  authorities  at  Dublin  wholly  unaided. 
Rinuccini,  though  his  ostensible  mission  was  only  of  a  spiritual  character, 
had  more  ample  secret  powers  and  instructions.  At  all  events,  he  by  no 
means  confined  himself  to  matters  spiritual,  but  interfered  with  so  much 
insolence  in  civil  affairs,  and  showed  so  evident  an  intent  to  usurp  all 
authority,  that  even  the  Irish  rebels  became  disgusted,  and  he  was  at  length 
driven  out  of  the  country. 

After  the  murder  of  Charles  I.,  that  event  added  to  the  previously  exist- 
ing topics  of  strife  in  Ireland.  The  "king's  party"  included  not  a  few  of 
those  who  had  rebelled  against  the  authority  of  Charles  I.,  and  was  from 
a  variety  of  causes,  so  strong,  that  the  marquis  of  Ormond,  then  at  Paris 
with  the  queen  and  Charles  II.,  complied  with  the  invitation  that  was  sent 
him  to  go  over  and  take  the  chief  command,  in  hope  that  his  experience 
and  popularity,  being  himself  an  Irishman,  would  make  him  so  efficient  a 
rallying  point  for  the  royalists,  that  Ireland  might  enable  the  young  king 
at  some  future  day  to  reconquer  England.  For  a  time,  in  truth,  it  seemed 
as  if  this  really  would  bs  the  case.  Notwithstanding  the  cause  of  hale 
and  strife  which  divided  the  Irish  people  into  royalists  and  parliament- 
arians, Ormond  was  cordially  received  among  them,  and  speedily  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  nearly  twenty  thousand  men.  Colonel 
Jones,  who  was  a  creature  of  the  parliament,  and  to  whom  Ormond  had 
delivered  the  chief  command  in  Ireland  when  he  himself  hastened  to  aid 
the  unfortunate  Charles  I.  in  England,  was  compelled  to  bestow  all  his 
care  upon  Dublin,  where  the  parliament  left  him  unaided.  Ormond  there- 
fore found  but  little  difficulty  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  attempt  to  reduce 
Ireland  to  subjection  to  Charles  II.  At  Dundalk,  Ormond  no  sooner  sum- 
moned the  place,  than  the  garrison  mutinied  against  tlieir  governor.  Monk 
and  compelled  him  to  surrender  without  firing  a  shot.  Tredah  and  several 
other  places  were  taken  with  comparatively  small  trouble  and  loss ;  and 
Ormond  now  proposed,  after  giving  his  troops  necessary  repose,  to  advance 
to  the  siege  of  Dublin.  Could  he  have  succeeded  in  that  important  point, 
it  is  v(?ry  probable  that  Irela^^d  would  have  wholly  been  lost  to  the  parlia 


TilE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  43 

raent;  for,  considering  the  enthusiastic  nature  of  the  Irish  people,  it  is 
highly  probable  the  appearance  of  the  young  king  jn  Dublin,  whither  he 
would  have  proceeded  immediately  on  the  success  of  Ormond,  would 
have  united  the  whole  Irish  people  in  defence  of  their  king  against  the  pu- 
ritans, and  their  country  against  usurpers.  But  a  change  had  come  over 
the  state  of  things.  Cromwell  was  now  more  potent  in  England  than  the 
parliament  whose  tool  he  had  seemed  to  be  ;  and  though  England  presented 
abundant  labour  and  no  little  danger,  Cromwell  grudged  Waller  and  Lam- 
bert the  glory,  which  both  aspired  to,  of  conquering  Ireland,  in  the  char- 
acter of  its  lord-lieutenant.  With  his  usual  art,  he  procured  his  own  nom- 
ination ;  and,  with  his  usual  promptitude  and  energy,  he  no  sooner  received 
his  appointment  than  he  prepared  to  fulfil  his  task.  He  immediately  sesJ 
over  a  strong  reinforcement  of  both  horse  and  foot  i».  Colonel  Jones,  in 
Dublin.  Never  was  reinforcement  sent  at  a  more  critical  moment.  Or- 
mond, and  Inchiquin,  who  had  joined  him,  had  proceeded  to  repair  a  fort 
close  to  Dublin,  and  had  carried  forward  their  work  very  considerably 
towards  completion.  Colonel  Jones,  who  was  an  energetic  olllcer,  had 
no  sooner  received  this  reinforcement  than  he  sallied  out  suddenly  upon 
the  royalists,  and  put  them  completely  to  the  rout.  One  thousand  of  them 
were  killed;  and  twice  that  number,  with  all  the  ammunition  and  muni- 
tions of  the  royal  army,  graced  the  triumphal  return  of  the  colonel  to  Dub- 
lin. In  the  midst  of  the  joy  and  exultation  of  the  garrison  and  people  of 
Dublin  at  this  success,  Cromwell  himself,  accompanied  by  Ireton,  arrived 
upon  the  scene.  Tredah,  or  Drogheda,  a  strong  and  well  fortified  town 
near  Dublin,  was  garrisoned  for  the  king  by  three  thousand  men,  princi- 
pally English,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Arthur  Aslon,  an  able  and  expe- 
rienced officer.  Thither  Cromwell  hastened,  battered  a  breach  in  the  wall, 
and  led  the  way  in  person  to  an  assault.  Though  the  parliamentary  sol- 
diery of  England, with  Cromwell,  and  scarcely  less  terrible  Ireton  at  their 
head,  sword  in  hand,  were  not  the  men  to  be  easily  repelled,  the  garrison 
of  Tredah  showed  that  they  were  "  English  too ;"  for  the  assailants  were 
twice  beaten  back  with  great  carnage.  A  third  assault  was  more  suc- 
cessful, and  partly  in  implacable  rage  at  having  been  even  temporarily 
held  in  check,  and  partly  as  the  surest  way  to  deter  other  places  from 
venturing  to  resist  his  formidable  power,  Cromwell,  to  his  disgrace,  gave 
the  fatal  word  "No  quarters;"  and  so  determined  was  he  in  this  barbarous 
resolution,  that  even  a  wretched  handful  of  men  who  escaped  the  carnage, 
were,  on  the  fact  becoming  known  to  Cromwell,  immediately  put  to  the 
sword.  The  excuse  that  Cromwell  made  for  this  barbarity,  so  thoroughly 
disgraceful  to  the  soldierly  character,  was  his  desire  to  avenge  the  shock- 
ing cruelties  of  the  massacre.  Professing  so  much  religious  feeling,  even 
that  motive  would  scarcely  have  palliated  his  cruelty  ;  but  the  excuse  was 
as  ill-founded  as  the  measure  was  rufllanly,  for  the  garrison  were  not  Irish- 
men, stained  with  the  horrible  guilt  of  the  ever-execrable  massacre,  but, 
as  Cromwell  well  knew,  Englishmen,  true  alike  to  their  monarch,  their 
faith,  and  their  country.  Having  thus  barbarously  destroyed  the  entire 
garrison  of  Tredah,  with  the  exception  of  one  solitary  soldier,  whose  life 
was  merely  spared  that  he  might  carry  through  the  country  the  tale  of 
the  prowess  of  the  English  general,  Cromwell  advanced  upon  Wexford. 
Here  he  had  the  same  success,  and  showed  the  same  murderous  severity 
as  at  Tredah ;  and  in  less  than  a  year  from  his  landing  in  Ireland  he  was 
in  possession  of  all  its  chief  towns  and  fortresses,  and  had  driven  both 
English  royalists  and  Irish  rebels  to  such  straits,  that  no  fewer  than  forty 
thousand  withdrew  from  the  island  altogether. 

But  Scotland  now  attracted  the  ambition  of  Cromwell ;  and  having 
looked  well  to  the  garrisoning  of  the  principal  towns,  and  sent  a  vast  num- 
ber of  the  inhabitants,  and  especially  young  people,  of  both  sexes,  to  the 
We.'t  li,  ■'•jes,  as  slaves,  he  left  the  goverment  of  Ireland  to  Ireton,  upoa 


14  THE  TREASUllY  OP  HISTORY. 

whom  also  devolved  the  finishing  the  subjection  of  the  country.  Treton, 
who  was  a  stout  soldier,  followed  the  parting  instructions  of  Cromwell  to 
the  letter.  With  a  well-supplied  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  he  ruled 
liie  country  with  an  iron  and  unfaltering  hand.  Wherever  the  rebels  ap- 
peared, there  he  was  sine  to  meet  them ;  and  wherever  he  met,  there  he 
also  defeated  them.  The  faithless  and  black-hearted  Phelim  O'Neill,  the 
author  of  the  worst  atrocities  of  the  rebellion,  was  at  length  taken  prisoner; 
and  if  ever  the  gibbet  was  rightfully  employed  in  taking  away  human  life, 
it  was  certainly  so  on  this  occasion.  As  far  as  his  means  permitted 
him,  this  man  had  rivalled  Nero  and  all  the  worst  miscreants  of  antiquity  ; 
Ireland,  that  unhappy  country,  was  at  least  fortunate  in  being  reconquered 
by  even  a  Cromwell,  instead  of  falling  under  the  dictatorship  of  an  O'Neill. 
The  only  place  of  any  importance  that  had  now  not  yielded  to  the  English, 
was  Limerick.  Against  this  town  Ireton  led  his  men  with  his  usual  suc- 
cess. A  fierce  resistance  was  made,  and  when  he  at  length  took  it  by 
assault,  he  took  a  no  less  fierce  revenge.  But  here  it  was  ordained  that 
both  his  success  and  cruelty  should  terminate.  The  crowded  state  of  the 
place  and  the  scarcity  of  provisions  had  generated  one  of  those  fevers  so 
fommon  in  Ireland,  which  are  as  infectious  as  the  plague  of  the  East,  and 
nearly  as  fatal.  Ireton  had  scarcely  stilled  the  tumult  and  excitement  in- 
separable from  the  taking  of  a  besieged  town,  when  he  was  attacked  by 
this  fever;  and  as  he  was  already  much  weakened  by  fatigues  and  expo- 
sure, it  speedily  proved  fatal.  After  what  we  have  said  of  his  inflexible 
severity  to  his  Irish  prisoners,  it  may  seem  paradoxical  to  affirm  thai  his 
death  was  a  calamity  to  Ireland.  A'nd  yet  as  such  we  really  view  it ;  he 
was  led  to  his  inflexibility  by  a  horror  of  the  cruelty  of  the  rebels,  and  a 
belief  that  it  was  his  duty  to  God  and  man  to  avenge  it.  But  in  his  civil 
administration  he  was  a  just  and  calm  governor;  and  as  the  country  be- 
came orderly  and  obedient,  so  would  he,  we  feel  sure,  have  relaxed  from 
his  sternness  and  become  the  best  resident  ruler  that  Ireland  ever  possessed. 
Ireton  was  succeeded  in  the  lieutenancy  by  Ludlow.  He  drove  the 
native  Irish,  almost  without  exception,  into  Connaught ;  and  so  completely 
was  the  Irish  cause  a  lost  one,  that  Clanricarde,  who  had  succeeded  O'Neill 
as  its  chief  hope  and  champion,  lost  all  heart  and  confidence,  made  peace 
with  parliament,  and  was  allowed  to  find  a  shelter  in  England,  where  he 
resided  until  his  death.  Under  Ludlow  and  Henry  Cromwell,  Ireland 
gradually  improved.  On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  the  duke  of  Or- 
mond,  who  was  condemned  to  death  at  the  same  time  as  O'Neill,  but 
spared  and  allowed  to  retire  to  France,  returned  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieu- 
tenant. Ormond,  unlike  soldiers  in  general,  set  a  due  value  upon  the 
peaceable  arts,  and  he  wisely  considered  that  the  best  way  to  ensure  peace 
and  the  obedience  of  a  people,  is  to  encourage  commerce  and  manufac- 
tures among  them.  Accordingly,  he  exerted  himself  to  promote  the  im- 
migration of  English  and  foreign  artizans,  and  established  linen  and  wooleiv 
factories  in  Clonmel,  Carrick,  and  other  towns.  The  duke  continued  to 
be  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland  during  the  whole  reign  of  Charles  II.;  and 
the  improvement  of  the  country  was  proportionate  to  his  well-directed 
^Jfforts  to  that  end.  On  the  accession  of  James  11. ,  that  monarch,  who 
was  extremely  anxious  to  fill  all  the  offices  of  that  country  with  catholics, 
as  though  he  foresaw  it  would  one  day  be  the  last  spot  upon  which  he 
could,  with  even  a  chance  of  success,  attempt  to  defend  his  crown,  removed 
the  duke;  but  Ireland  still  continued  to  improve  in  wealth,  morals,  and 
comfort,  untd  the  abdication  of  James  once  more  involved  that  ill-fated 
country  in  warfare.  Aided  by  Louis  XIV.,  James  led  a  strong  force  to 
Ireland,  where  he  landed  at  Kinsale,  on  the  17th  of  March,  1689.  The 
earl  of  Tyrconnel,  whom  he  had  himself  made  lorf-lieutenant,  escorted 
him  to  Dublin,  where  he  was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  loyalty 
and  respect  by  the  catholic  clergy  and  people,  the  former  meeting  him  at 


53^^rL>^=t^^y^ 


View  of  Kinsale. 


City  of  Limekick 


THE  taSASLrvf  OF  HISTORY.  45 

9ome  distance  from  the  city  in  their  full  clerical  attire  But  his  conduct 
while  in  the  country  was  arbitrary  and  mischievous  in  the  extreme. 

James  caused  several  pieces  of  brass  artillery  to  be  melted  down  and 
coined.  The  utmost  value  of  each  of  these  coins  was  sixpence,  but  the 
current  value  given  to  them  by  the  preposterously  dishonest  order  of 
James  was  five  pounds  !  Not  contented  with  subsisting  his  army,  his 
suite,  and  his  friends,  upon  this  shameful  difference  between  the  nominal 
and  intrinsic  value  of  his  currency,  he  went  still  farther,  and  did  what  we 
think  would  justify  even  sterner  censure  than  we  have  pronounced  upon 
him  ;  for  with  this  same  base  money,  so  base  as  to  have  scarcely  any  in- 
trinsic value  at  all,  he  purchased  vast  quanlilies  of  every  description  of  goods 
and  shipped  them  off  to  France. 

In  the  province  of  Ulster,  where  nearly  the  whole  population  were 
traders  and  protestants,  and  where  much  of  the  real  property-tenure  was 
affected  by  the  act  of  settlement,  the  tyranny  of  James  aroused  a  spirit  of 
determined  resistance.  The  king,  obstinate  and  implacable  in  his  resent- 
ments, looked  upon  the  dislike  of  his  subjects  to  such  wholesale  destruc- 
tion of  both  their  political  liberty  and  private  property,  as  nothing  less 
than  treason  against  his  authority  ;  and  made  war  upon  them  as  fiercely 
as  though  they  had  no  more  rights  than  the  meanest  of  the  mercenaries 
by  whom  he  was  accompanied.  Derry,  commanded  by  the  famous  pro- 
testant  clergyman,  George  Walker,  closed  her  gates  against  him ;  and 
to  the  steady  bravery  with  which  that  city  held  out,  as  more  particu- 
larly described  in  the  history  of  England,  it  was  mainly  owing  that  he  was 
so  early  driven  from  the  island.  Inniskillen  resisted  him  with  success; 
her  army  of  'prentice  boys  nobly  making  good  their  war-cry  of  "  no  sur- 
render ;"  and  at  length,  on  the  30th  of  June,  1690,  after  a  little  more  than 
fifteen  months  of  tyranny,  so  senseless  that  one  might  almost  suppose  him 
to  have  laboured  during  the  whole  time  under  a  judicial  blindness,  the 
famous  battle  of  the  Boyne  drove  him  forever  into  that  obscurity  for 
which,  as  concerned  the  happiness  of  mankind,  he  was  alone  fitted. 

The  affairs  of  England  now  requiring  William's  presence,  he  gave  up 
the  command  of  the  army  to  Ginckle,  an  able  general.  He  defeated  the 
Irish  and  French  at  Aughrim,  and  on  the  defeated  troops  taking  refuge  in 
Limerick,  he  at  once  laid  siege  to  it.  But  the  cause  of  the  fugitive  James 
was  at  so  low  an  ebb,  that  even  the  most  enthusiastic  of  the  catholics  had 
given  up  all  anticipation  of  benefit  from  farther  resistance  ;  and  as,  froa 
the  stern  character  of  Ginckle,  it  was  not  likely  that  he  would  keep  any 
measure  in  his  wrath,  if  compelled  to  take  the  place  by  assault,  it  was 
determined  to  treat  for  peace  while  it  was  likely  he  would  listen  to  reason- 
able terms.  A  negotiation  was  commenced,  and  after  some  alteration  in 
the  terms  had  been  dictated  by  Ginckle  and  acceded  to  by  the  garrison, 
peace  vvas  concluded,  and  the  gates  of  Limerick  thrown  open  on  the  3d 
of  October,  1691.  When  William  III.  was  fairly  settled  upon  his  throne. 
Ireland  as  well  as  England  began  to  exhibit  manifest  improvement  ia 
trade  and  commerce.  That  some  distress  should  exist  was  inevitable, 
but  no  one  can  deny  that  Ireland  improved  wonderfully  and  rapidly,  upon 
the  whole,  during  the  time  that  elapsed  between  the  treaty  of  Limerick 
and  the  accession  to  the  English  throne  of  George  III.,  that  is  to  say, 
from  the  year  1691  to  the  year  1760.  George  III.,  in  the  first  year  of  his 
reign,  showed  sincere  anxiety  to  promote  the  prosperity  and  comfort  of 
his  Irish  subjects.  Public"  works  of  importance  gave  employment  to  those 
labourers,  who,  in  the  inevitable  fluctuations  of  trade  and  speculation,  were 
in  want  of  it ;  new  roads  were  made,  piers  built  at  some  of  the  sea-ports, 
a  splendid  quay  was  built  at  Limerick,  and  that  magnificent  canal  was 
planned  which  connects  Dublin  with  the  Shaimon,  carrying  employment 
and  prosperity  throughout  its  course.  In  1786,  that  perpetual  source  of 
ill  blood,  the  tithe  system,  met  with  determined  resistance  from  a  large 


40  TUE  TIIEASUKY  OF  HISTOKY. 

parly  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  who  styled  themselves  Right-boys.  The> 
administered  oaths,  binding  the  people  not  to  pay  more  tithe  per  acre  than 
a  certain  sum  they  fixed — to  permit  no  proctors — and  not  to  allow  the 
clergyman  to  take  his  tithes  in  kind.  They  also  proceeded  to  fix  the 
rents  of  land — to  raise  the  wages  of  labour — and  to  oppose  the  collection 
of  the  tax  called  hearth-money.  It  was  impossible  that  the  legislature 
could  allow  this  violation  of  the  law  to  pass  unnoticed,  and  in  the  following 
year  an  act  was  passed,  to  prevent  tumultuous  assemblies  and  illegal  com- 
binations. 

A  very  few  years  passed  from  this  time  before  the  French  revolution 
broke  out ;  when  all  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  government,  and 
lioped  to  profit  by  the  convulsion  into  which  the  country  was  likely  to  be 
thrown,  as  well  as  those  who  sighed  for  catholic  emancipation,  or 
clamoured  for  redress  of  grievances,  hailed  the  success  of  revolutionary 
principles  in  that  country  as  the  day-spring  of  liberty  in  their  own;  but 
while  they  professed  to  forward  a"  brotherhood  of  affection,  a  communion 
of  rights,  and  a  union  of  power  among  Irislimen  of  every  religious  per- 
suasion," the  leaders  of  this  *'  association  "  contemplated  nothing  short  of 
subversion  of  the  monarchy  in  Ireland,  and  a  perfect  fraternization  with 
the  republicans  of  France,  whom  they  invited  to  come  to  their  assistance. 
That  such  was  their  intention,  was  afterwards  fully  proved  on  the  trials  of 
Napier  Tandy  and  others  ;  and  it  was  also  evident  from  the  formation  in 
Dublin  of  national  guards,  distinguished  by  a  green  uniform,  and  by  but- 
tons with  a  harp  under  a  cap  of  liberty  instead  of  a  crown.  The  i)th  of 
December,  1792,  was  appointed  for  the  general  muster  of  these  guards; 
but  the  government  interfered  with  their  proceedings,  and  the  muster 
never  took  place.  But,  although  the  progress  of  insurrection  v/as  stayed 
for  a  time,  the  spirit  of  disaffection  only  lay  dormant  till  a  more  favour?- 
able  opportunity  should  offer  for  displaying  its  activity.  At  length  an 
arrangement  was  made  between  the  ringleaders  and  the  French  govern- 
ment, that  an  armament  should  be  sent  in  the  winter  of  1796-7,  with  whom 
the  Irish  insurgents  would  be  ready  to  co-operate.  Accordingly,  the  in- 
vading fleet  anchored  in  Bantry  Bay,  on  the  24ih  of  December,  179C ;  but 
as  the  general  and  a  great  part  of  the  troops  were  on  board  ships  that  had 
not  arrived,  the  admiral,  after  waiting  for  him  a  few  days,  returned  to 
Brest  ;  having  previously  ascertained,  however,  that  the  country  was  in  a 
better  state  of  defence,  and  that  the  population  was  less  disaffected  to  the 
English  government,  than  the  French  directory  had  reason  to  suppose. 

In  May,  1797,  a  proclamation  was  issued,  declaring  the  civil  power  in- 
adequate to  quell  the  insurrection,  and  ordering  the  military  to  act  upon  the 
responsibility  of  their  own  officers.  Many  severities  were  consequently 
practised ;  and  the  United  Irishmen,  perceiving  that  their  only  chance  of 
success  was  by  assuming  the  appearance  of  being  reduced  to  obedience, 
they  conducted  their  operations  in  a  more  secret  manner,  discontinuing 
their  meetings,  and  putting  on  the  semblance  of  loyalty  with  such  con- 
summate art  that,  tlie  government  being  deceived  by  these  appearances, 
the  administration  of  justice  was  again,  in  about  three  months  from  the 
date  of  the  proclamation,  committed  to  the  civil  power.  The  organization 
of  the  United  Irishmen,  however,  liad  been  going  on  all  this  time  in  a  man- 
ner the  most  secret  and  effectual.  Secretaries,  delegates,  committees,  and 
even  an  executive  directory,  was  respectively  engaged  in  furnishing  sup- 
plies and  arranging  the  materials  necessary  for  carrymg  out  their  plans; 
and  in  the  spring  of  1797,  the  Irish  union  was  extending  far  and  wide 
throughout  the  island.  Not  being  able  to  propagate  their  instruction  by 
means  of  the  public  press,  liaud-bills  were  privately  printed  and  circ-alatcd 
by  their  agents.  In  \.\\q^c,  abstinence  from  spirituous  liquors  was  strongly 
recommended— for  the  two-fold  reason  of  impairing  the  reveriue,  and  of  guard. 
ing  against  intoxication,  lest  the  secrets  of  the  society  should  be  incautiously 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  47 

divulged  tc  the  agents  of  government.  Those  who  thought  thsy  knew  the 
character  of  the  lower  Irish  would  not  have  believed  that  any  motive 
would  induce  thenj  to  follow  this  advice ;  but  it  was  so  generally  and 
faithfully  obeyed,  that  drunkenness  among  Unite!  Irishmen  became  a 
comparatively  rare  occurrence.  The  members  were  cautioned  against  pur- 
chasing the  quit-rents  of  the  crown,  as  the  bargains  would  not  be  valid  in 
case  of  a  change  in  the  government ;  and  the  taking  of  bank  notes  was 
also  to  be  especially  avoided.  These  things  indicated  an  approaching 
revolution,  and  to  effect  it  they  looked  with  intense  anxiety  to  France  for 
military  aid.  This  was  readily  promised  them;  and  preparations  for  the 
invasion  of  Ireland  were  made  at  Brest  and  in  the  Texel ;  but  Lord  Dun- 
can's victory  off  Camperdown  rendered  the  latter  abortive,  while  that  at 
Brest  met  with  unexpected  delays. 

By  this  time  the  number  of  men  sworn  into  the  conspiracy  amounted 
nearly  to  half  a  million,  and  plans  were  made  for  the  simultaneous  rising 
of  this  body;  their  plans  were,  however,  defeated  by  the  vigilance  of 
the  ministry,  and  some  of  their  most  influential  leaders  arrested.  In 
March,  1798,  government  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  immediate  sup- 
pression of  the  disaffection  and  disorders  in  Ireland  ;  while  Gene'i'al  Aber- 
crombie,  at  the  head  of  the  forces,  marched  into  the  most  disturbed  dis- 
tricts ;  not,  however,  till  the  insurrection  had  risen  to  an  alarming  heig-ht. 
Vigorous  measures  were  now  taken ;  and  General  Lake,  who  succeeded 
Abercrombie  in  the  command  of  the  army,  proclaimed  martial  law,  and 
eventually  crushed  the  rebellion  in  the  memorable  conflict  at  Vinegar-hill. 

But  it  is  needless  to  proceed  ;  for  the  scenes  which  followed,  and  the 
affairs  of  Ireland  generally,  are  so  bound  up  with  those  of  England  from 
this  period,  that  the  reader  will  find  the  material  points  already  succinct!)- 
given.  We  shall  therefore  only  introduce  a  few  remarks  relative  to  the 
repeal  agitation,  the  poison  so  thoroughly  instilled  into  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people  in  every  pa"t  of  the  island.  Insulting  epithets,  gibes, 
and  falsehoods,  have  been  used  by  O'Connell  again  and  again,  to  bring  the 
government  of  England  into  contempt ;  denunciations  against  the  "  Saxon," 
he  has  coupled  with  the  meanest  sycophancy  to  an  ignorant  rabble;  ht) 
has  boasted  of  his  power  to  wage  war  against  the  British,  while  in  the 
same  breath  he  has  affected  to  recommend  peace.  "  If,"  said  he,  at  a 
recent  "monster"  meeting,  "  it  should  be  necessary  for  me  to  call  this 
vast  assemblage  to  arms — to  bid  you  march  to  the  battle-field,  there  is  not 
one  of  you  that  would  refuse  the  summons  ;  ay,  and  your  enemies  know 
it  as  well  as  I  do.  Yes,  1  have  set  them  at  defiance,  and  I  defy  them 
again." 

To  write  at  all  on  Ireland,  and  not  allude  to  the  crisis  which  is  so 
•ostentatiously  announced,  would  seem  to  be  a  dereliction  of  one's  duty. 
But  that  we  may  not  be  subject  to  the  charge  of  taking  a  one-sided  view 
of  Irish  grievances,  we  shall  make  a  few  extracts  from  the  observations 
of  a  popular  writer,  whose  opinions  on  political  matters  are  frequently 
carried  to  the  verge  o[  liberalism. 

"  The  granting  of  the  elective  franchise  to  the  catholics,  so  late  as 
17'j2,  was  the  first  great  step  in  the  progress  to  a  better  system,  which 
was  happily  consummated  by  the  repeal  of  the  last  remnant  of  the  penal 
'jode  in  1829.  The  odious  distinctions  by  which  society  was  formerly  divided 
hive  no  longer  any  real  or  statutory  foundations-  Adherence  to  the  religion 
of  their  ancestors  has  ceased  to  entail  upon  the  catholics  a  denial  of  their 
political  franchises ;  and  all  classes  now  participate  equally  in  the  rights 
and  privileges  granted  by  the  constitution. 

"  One  of  the  most  curious  chapters  in  the  Irish  history  is  that  connected 
with  the  embodying  of  the  volunteers  in  1782,  and  the  revolution  that  was 
soon  after  effected  in  the  construction  of  Ireland.  The  difficulties  in 
which  Great  Britain  was  then  involved  having  occasioned  (he  withdrawal 


48  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  the  greater  number  of  the  troops  from  Ireland,  rumours  were  propa- 
gated of  an  expected  invasion  of  the  island  by  the  French  ;  and,  to  nieet 
this  contingency,  the  protestants  of  Ulster  and  other  parts  took  up  arms, 
and  formed  themselves  into  a  body  of  volunteer  corps.  These  bodies  soon 
became  sensible  of  their  strength  ;  and  having-  appointed  delegates  and 
concerted  measures,  they  proceeded  to  set  about  reforming  the  constitu 
tion.  In  this  view  they  published  declarations,  to  the  effect  that  Ireland 
■was  a  free  and  independent  kingdom,  and  that  no  power  on  earth,  except 
that  of  the  king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland,  could  legally  enact  laws 
to  bind  Irishmen.  These  declarations,  which  struck  a  direct  blow  at  the 
superiority  hitherto  claimed  and  asserted  by  the  British  parliament,  might, 
and  most  probably  would,  at  another  time,  have  been  successfully  resist- 
ed. But  Great  Britain,  being  then  engaged  in  a  desperate  contest  with  her 
revolted  colonies,  and  with  almost  all  the  great  European  powers,  pru- 
dently made  the  concession  demanded  by  the  Irish  volunteers;  and  the 
Independence  of  Ireland  was  proclaimed  amid  the  most  enthusiastic  demon- 
strations of  popular  rejoicing. 

"  In  truth,  however,  this  independence  was  apparent  only.  The  wretched 
state  of  the  elective  franchise  in  Ireland  was  totally  inconsistent  with 
anything  like  real  independence ;  and  so  venal  was  the  Irish  parliament, 
that  any  minister,  how  unpopular  soever,  had  no  difficulty  in  securing  a 
majority  in  that  assembly.  Hence  the  anticipations  in  vv'hich  tlie  more 
sanguine  Irish  patriots  had  indulged  were  destined  soon  to  experience  a 
most  mortifying  disappointment;  and  this,  and  the  hopes  inspired  by  the 
French  revolution,  terminated  in  the  rebellion  of  1798,  which  was  not 
suppressed  v/ithout  a  repetition  of  the  former  scenes  of  devastation  and 
bloodshed. 

"The  British  government  at  length  wisely  determined  to  effect  a  legis- 
lative union  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  to  suppress  the  sep- 
arate legislature  of  the  latter.  This  measure,  notwithstanding  a  strenuous 
opposition,  was  happily  carried,  and  took  effect  from  the  1st  of  January 
1801.  And,  unless  it  were  resolved  or  wished  to  put  an  end  to  all  politi- 
cal connection  between  the  two  countries,  nothing  could  be  more  inexpe- 
dient and  absurd  than  the  existence  of  a  separate  independent  legislature 
for  Ireland.  Perpetual  jealousies  could  not  have  failed  to  arise  between 
It  and  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain,  which  must  necessarily  in  the  end 
have  led  to  estrangement,  and  probably  separation.  A  legislative  union 
was  the  only  means  of  obviating  these  and  other  sources  of  miscJiief ;  its 
repeal  would  make  Ireland  a  theatre  for  all  sorts  of  projects  and  intrigues, 
and  it  would  be  sure  to  be  followed,  at  no  distant  period,  by  the  dismember- 
ment of  the  empire.  Its  maintenance,  therefore,  should  be  regarded  as  a 
fundamental  principle  of  policy  ;  and,  to  give  it  permanence  and  stability, 
every  effort  should  be  made  to  remove  all  just  grounds  of  complaint  on  the 
part  of  the  Irish  people,  and  to  make  the  union  one  of  national  inteicw 
and  affection,  as  vvell  as  of  constitutional  law." — M^Culloch 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

''History,"  says  Dr.  Robertson,  "which  ought  to  record  truth  and  teacn 
wisdom,  often  sets  out  with  retailing  fiction  and  absurdities."  Never  was 
a  sentence  more  true,  nor  a  truism  more  necessary  to  be  borne  in  mind. 
Relying  upon  uncertain  legends,  and  the  traditions  of  their  bards,  still 
more  uncertain,  the  Scots  reckon  up  a  series  of  kings  several  ages  before 
the  birth  of  Christ ;  but  the  earliest  accounts  we  can  depend  on,  are  obtained 
from  Roman  historians  ;  and  even  these  are  very  meagre.  The  Scots  ap- 
pear to  have  been  descended  from  the  Britons  of  the  south,  or  from  the 
Caledonians,  both  of  Celtic  origin,  who  being  pressed  forward  by  new 
colonies  from  Gaul,  till  they  came  to  the  western  shores  of  Britain,  there 
took  shipping  and  passed  over  to  Ireland,  about  a  century  before  tlie  Chris- 
tian era.  In  their  new  abode,  it  is  said  they  obtained  the  name  of  Scuyts, 
or  Wanderers;  from  which  the  modern  term  Scots  is  supposed  to  be  de- 
rived. About  A.  D.  320,  they  returned  to  Britain,  or  at  least  a  large  colony 
of  lliem,  under  the  conduct  of  Fergus,  and  settled  on  the  coast  of  Cale- 
donia, whence  they  had  formerly  emigrated,  and  in  a  few  years  after  we 
find  them  associated  with  the  Picts  in  their  expedition  against  the  Roman 
province  of  South  Britain.  The  modern  inhabitants  of  Scotland  are  divided 
into  Highlanders  and  Lowlanders  ;  but  the  general  name  of  both  is  Scots  ; 
and  if  the  etymology  of  that  name  be  correct,  we  may  say,  withcut  sar- 
casm or  reproach,  that  they  still  merit  it  as  much  as  their  ancesiors;  for 
there  is  scarcely  a  place  in  the  world  where  they  are  not  to  be  Durid. 

There  has  been  much  dispute  among  antiquaries  whether,  m  the  first 
place,  the  Picts  and  Caledonians  were  the  same  race;  and  iv'hether,  sec 
ondly,  they  were  of  Gothic  origin ;  but,  according  to  the  best  authorities, 
both  these  points  have  been  very  satisfactorily  demonstrated.  Tacitus 
describes  the  Caledonians  as  being  of  tall  stature,  light  hr;ir,  and  blue  eyes, 
and  he  deduces  their  Gothic  origin  from  their  appearance ;  the  Celts  being, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  small  and  dark  people,  with  black  eyes  and  hair. 

In  the  year  81,  the  Romans,  under  Agricola,  carried  their  arms  into  the 
northern  parts  of  Britain,  which  they  found  possessed  by  the  Caledonians, 
a  fierce  and  warlike  people;  and  having  repulsed,  rather  than  conquered 
them,  they  erected  a  strong  wall,  or  line  of  forfs,  between  the  friths  of 
Forth  and  Clyde,  which  served  as  the  northerr  boundary  of  their  empire. 
In  121,  Adrian,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  o(  defending  such  a  distant 
frontier,  built  a  second  wall  much  more  soi:thward,  which  extented  from 
Newcastle  to  Carlisle.  However,  the  country  between  the  two  walls 
was  alternately  under  the  dominion  of  the  Romans  and  the  Caledonians. 

In  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius,  the  pro-prcetor,  Lollius  Urbius,  drove  the 
Scots  far  to  the  northward,  and  repaired  the  chain  of  forts  built  by  Agri- 
cola,  which  lay  between  the  Carron  on  the  frith  of  Forth,  and  Dunglass 
on  the  Clyde.  However,  after  the  death  of  Antoninus,  Commodus  having 
recalled  Calpnrmus  Agricola,  an  able  commander,  who  kept  the  Scots  in 
awe,  a  more  dangerous  war  broke  out  than  had  ever  been  expcrienrc^d  by 
the  Romans  in  that  quarter.  Tlie  Scots  having  passed  the  wall,  put  all 
the  Romans  tliey  could  meet  with  to  the  sword  ;  but  they  were  soon  re- 
pulsed by  Ulpius  Marcellus,  a  general  of  consummate  abilities,  whom 
4 


50  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Commodus  sent  into  the  island.  In  a  short  time  the  tyrant  recalled  this 
able  commander.  After  his  departure  the  Roman  discipline  suffered  a 
total  relaxation;  the  soldiery  grew  mutinous,  and  great  disorder  ensued; 
but  these  were  all  happily  removed  by  the  arrival  of  Clodius  Albinus,  who 
possessed  great  skill  and  experience  in  military  affairs.  His  presence 
for  some  time  restrained  the  Scots,  but  a  civil  war  breaking  out  between 
him  and  Severus,  Albinus  crossed  over  to  the  continent  with  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Roman  forces  in  Britain,  and  meeting  his  antagonist  at  Lyons, 
a  dreadful  battle  ensued,  in  which  Albinus  was  completely  defeated. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  Roman  troops  gave  encouragement  to  the  Scots 
to  renew  their  insurrection,  which  they  did  with  such  success,  that  the 
emperor  became  apprehensive  of  losing  the  whole  island,  on  which  he  de- 
termined to  take  the  field  against  them  in  person.  The  army  he  collected 
on  this  occasion  was  far  more  numerous  than  any  the  Romans  had  ev^r 
sent  into  Britain,  and  it  is  asserted  that  in  reconquering  Scotland  he  lost 
no  less  than  50,000  men.  On  his  return  from  the  northern  extremity  of 
the  island  he  built  much  stronger  fortifications  to  secure  the  frontiers  than 
had  ever  been  done  before,  and  which  in  some  places  coincided  with 
Adrian's  wall,  but  extended  farther  at  each  end.  But,  in  the  meantime, 
the  Scots,  provoked  by  the  brutality  of  the  emperor's  son,  Caracalla,  whom 
he  had  left  regent  in  his  absence,  again  took  up  arms,  on  which  Severus 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  legions,  with  a  determination,  as  he  said,  of 
extirpating  the  whole  nation.  But  his  death,  which  happened  soon  after, 
put  a  stop  to  the  execution  of  a  threat  so  direful,  and  we  find  that  his  son 
Caracalla  ratified  the  peace  with  the  Scots.  At  this  period  Scotland  was 
governed  by  Donald  I.,  who  is  said  to  have  been  its  first  Christian  king.  ' 
Hq  died  a.  d.  216.  From  the  reign  of  Donald  I.  to  that  of  Eugene  I.,  in 
357,  during  which  time  eleven  kings  filled  the  throne,  no  important  event 
occurs  for  which  we  have  authentic  history  ;  though  we  are  told  that  for 
the  gr^at  aid  afforded  by  one  of  the  Scottish  kings,  named  Fincormachus, 
to  the  liritons,  in  their  contest  with  the  Romans,  Westmoreland  and  Cum- 
berland vrere  ceded  to  Scotland.  In  the  reign  of  Eugene  I.  v.'e  read  that 
the  Romah  and  Pictish  forces  were  united  against  the  Scots.  The  Picts 
were  comn^.anded  by  their  king,  named  Hargust,  and  the  Romans  by 
Maximus,  wlio  murdered  Valentinian  III.,  and  afterwards  assumed  the 
imperial  purple.  The  allies  defeated  Eugene  in  the  county  of  Galloway  ; 
but  Maximu.s  being  obliged  to  return  southward  on  account  of  an  insurrec- 
tion, the  Picts  wp-re  in  their  turn  defeated  by  the  Scots.  In  the  following 
year,  however,  Maximus  again  marched  against  the  Scots,  and  not  only 
gained  a  complete  \'\ctory  over  them,  but  the  king,  with  the  greater  part 
of  his  nobles,  were  among  the  slain.  So  well,  indeed,  did  the  conquerors 
improve  their  victory, 'Jiat  their  antagonists  were  at  last  totally  driven  out 
of  the  country.  Some  of  them  took  refuge  in  the  jEbudae  islands,  and 
some  in  Scandinavia,  but  most  of  them  fled  to  Ireland,  whence  they  made 
frequent  descents  upon  Scotland. 

The  Picts  were  at  first  greatly  pleased  with  the  victory  they  had  gained 
over  their  warlike  antagonists;  but  being  commanded  to  adopt  the  laws 
of  the  Romans,  and  to  choose  no  king  who  was  not  sent  from  Rome,  they 
began  to  repent  of  their  having  contributed  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Scots; 
and  in  the  year  421,  when  Autulphus,  king  of  the  Goths,  sent  over  a  body 
of  exiled  Scots  to  Britain,  under  Fergus,  a  descendant  of  the  kings  of 
Scotland,  the  Picts  immediately  joined  them  against  the  common  enemy. 
It  was  at  this  period  that  the  Romans  were  obliged,  by  the  inundation  of 
northern  barbarians  who  poured  in  upon  them,  to  recall  their  legions  and 
abandon  their  conquests  in  Britain.  The  native  Britons,  therefore,  so 
long  accustomed  to  the  dominion  of  these  mighty  conquerors,  and  now  so 
incorporated  willi  them,  severely  felt  the  perils  of  their  situation  when 
left  to  defend  themselves  ;  hence  originated  that  supplicating  letter  to 


THE  TIIEASUilY  OF  HISTORY.  5I 

Rome,  entitled  "  the  groans  of  the  Britons."  This,  however,  not  being 
attended  with  success,  the  Britons  called  in  the  >Saxons  to  their  aid.  By 
these  new  allies  the  Scots  were  defeated  in  a  great  battle,  and  their  king, 
Dongard,  successor  to  Eugene,  drowned  in  the  Humber,  a.  d.  457,  which 
put  a  stop  for  soiTie  time  to  these  excursions.  Hitherto  we  have  seen  the 
Scots  very  formidable  enemies  of  the  southern  Britons ;  but  when  the 
Saxons  usurped  the  kingdom,  and  subjected  those  whom  they  came  to 
aid,  the  Scots  joined  in  a  strict  alliance  with  the  latter;  nor  does  it  ap- 
pear that  the  league  thus  formed  was  afterwards  broken. 

Three  centuries  now  pass  without  anything  occurring  calculated  to 
interest  the  reader,  or  to  throw  light  on  the  Scottish  history,  beyond 
what  has  been  related  in  the  history  of  England  during  the  Heptarchy. 
In  787  we  find  that  Achaius,  king  of  tlie  Scots,  after  quelling  some  insur- 
rections, entered  into  a  treaty  of  perpetual  amity  with  Charles  the  Great, 
king  of  France  and  emperor  of  Germany,  which  treaty  continued  to  be 
observed  inviolably  between  the  two  nations,  till  the  accession  of  James 
VI.  to  the  throne  of  England.  The  next  remarkable  event  in  the  history 
of  Scotland  is  the  war  with  the  Picts.  Dongal,  king  of  the  Scots,  claimed 
a  right  to  the  Pictish  throne,  which  being  rejected  by  the  latter,  they  had 
recourse  to  arms.  At  this  time  the  dominions  of  the  Scot."  comprehended 
the  western  islands,  together  with  the  counties  of  Argyle,  Knapdale,  Kyle, 
Kintyre,  Lochaber,  and  a  part  of  Breadalbane,  while  the  Picts  possessed 
the  rest  of  Scotland,  and  a  considerable  part  of  Northumberland.  The 
Scots,  however,  appear  to  have  been  superior  in  military  skill;  for  Alpin, 
the  successor  of  Dongal,  having  engaged  the  Pictish  army  near  Forfar, 
defeated  them,  and  killed  their  king,  though  not  without  suflfering  great 
loss  himself.  The  Picts  then  chose  Brudus,  the  son  of  their  former  king, 
to  succeed  him,  but  soon  after  deposed  and  put  him  to  death.  His  brother 
Kenneth  shared  the  same  fate.  Brudus,  who  next  ascended  the  throne, 
was  a  brave  and  spirited  prince  ;  lie  first  offered  terms  of  peace  to  the 
Scots,  which,  however,  Alpm  rejected,  and  insisted  on  a  total  surrender 
of  his  crown.  After  vainly  endeavoring  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  Edwin, 
king  of  Northumberland,  Brudus  marched  resolutely  against  his  enemies, 
and  the  two  armies  came  to  an  engagement  near  Dundee.  The  superior 
skill  of  the  Scots  in  military  affairs  was  about  to  have  decided  the  victory 
in  their  favour,  when  Brudus  is  said  to  have  had  recourse  to  stratagem  to 
preserve  his  army  from  destruction.  He  caused  all  the  attendants,  female 
as  well  as  male,  to  assemble  and  show  themselves  at  a  distance,  as  a 
powerful  reinforcement  coming  to  the  Picts.  This  caused  such  a  panic  in 
the  Scottish  ranks,  that  all  the  efforts  of  their  leader  could  not  recover 
them ;  and  they  were  accordingly  defeated  with  great  slaughter.  Alpin 
himself  was  taken  prisoner,  and  soon  after  beheaded. 

Kenneth  H.,  the  son  of  Alpin,  succeeded  his  father,  and  proved  himself 
a  brave  and  enterprising  prince.  Resolved  to  take  a  severe  revenge  for 
his  father's  death,  he  made  the  most  vigorous  preparations  for  war ;  and 
so  well  did  he  succeed,  that,  after  many  desperate  conflicts,  he  became 
master  of  all  Scotland,  so  that  he  is  justly  considered  the  true  founder  of 
the  Scottish  monarchy.  lie  is  also  said  to  have  been  very  successful 
against  the  Saxons,  but  of  his  exploits  with  those  hardy  an  1  skilful  war- 
riors we  have  no  accounts  that  can  be  depended  on.  Hav'ng  reigneJ 
sixteen  years  in  peace  after  his  subjugation  of  the  Picts,  and  composed  a 
code  of  laws  for  the  better  regulation  of  his  people,  he  died  at  Fort  Teviot 
in  Perthshire.  Before  his  time  tlie  seat  of  the  Scottish  government  had 
been  in  Argyleshire  ;  but  he  removed  it  to  Scone,  by  transferring  thither 
the  celebrated  black  stone  supposed  to  be  the  palladium  of  Scotlaiid,  and 
V,  hich  was  afterwards  removed  by  tidv/ard  I.  to  Westminster  abbey. 

In  the  reign  of  Donald,  who  succeeded  his  brother  Kenneth,  the  Picts 
who  had  fled  out  of  Scotb.nd  applied  to  the  Saxons  for  assistance,  promis- 


52  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ing  to  make  Scotland  tributary  to  the  Saxon  power  after  it  should  be  con- 
quered. This  ended  in  a  great  victory  on  the  part  of  the  confederates, 
who  became  masters  of  all  the  country  south  of  the  Fortli  and  Clyde  ;  it 
being  agreed  that  the  Forth  should  from  that  time  forward  be  called  the 
•'  Scots  sea;"  and  it  was  made  a  capital  offence  for  any  Scotchman  to  set 
his  foot  on  English  ground.  They  were  to  erect  no  foriSw  near  the  t]n- 
glish  boundaries,  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  of  a  thousand  pounds,  and  to 
give  up  sixty  of  the  sons  of  their  chief  nobility  as  hostages.  After  the 
conclusion  of  this  treaty,  so  humiliating  to  the  Scots,  the  Picts,  finding 
that  their  interests  had  been  entirely  neglected,  fled  to  Norway,  while 
those  who  remained  in  England  met  with  a  brutal  death  from  tlieir  late 
allies.  Donald,  having  been  dethroned  and  imprisoned,  put  an  end  to  his 
own  life;  he  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Constantine,  the  son  of  Ken- 
neth M'Alpin,  in  whose  reign  Scotland  was  first  invaded  by  the  Danes, 
who  proved  such  formidable  enemies  to  the  English.  This  invasion  is 
said  to  have  been  occasioned  by  a  body  of  exiled  Picts  v.'ho  fled  to  Den- 
mark, where  they  prevailed  upon  the  king  of  that  country  to  send  his  two 
brothers  to  recover  the  Pictish  dominions  from  Constantine.  These 
princes  landed  on  the  coast  of  Fife ;  and  though  one  of  the  armies  was 
defeated  by  Constantine  near  the  water  of  Levan,  the  king  was  himself 
defeated  by  the  other,  taken  prisoner,  and  beheaded  at  a  place  called  the 
Devil's  Cave,  a.  d.  874.  This  unfortunate  action  cost  the  Scots  10,000 
men  ;  but  the  Danes  purchased  their  victory  dearly,  as  they  were  obliged 
immediately  afterwards  to  abandon  their  conquests  and  retire  to  their 
own  country. 

Constantine  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Eth,  surnamed  the  Swift- 
footed,  from  his  agility.  He  was  succeeded  by  Gregory,  the  son  of  Dou- 
gal,  contemporary  with  Alfred  of  England,  and  both  princes  deservedly 
acquired  the  name  of  Great.  The  Danes  at  their  departure  had  left  the 
Picts  in  possession  of  Fife.  Against  them  Gregory  immediately  marched, 
and  quickly  drove  them  into  the  north  of  England,  where  their  confede- 
rates were  already  masters  of  Northumberland  and  York.  In  their  way 
thither  they  threw  a  garrison  into  the  town  of  Berwick  ;  but  this  was 
presently  reduced  by  Gregory,  who  put  all  the  Danes  to  death,  but 
spared  the  lives  of  the  Picts.  He  afterwards  marched  against  the  Cum- 
brians, whom  he  easily  overcame,  and  obliged  to  yield  up  all  the  lands 
they  had  formerly  possessed  belonging  to  the  Scots,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  agreed  to  protect  them  against  the  power  of  the  Danes.  In  a 
short  time,  however,  Constantine,  the  king  of  the  Cumbrians,  violated  the 
convention  he  had  made,  and  invaded  Annandale,  but  vvas  defeated  and 
killed  by  Gregory  near  Lochmaben.  After  this  he  entirely  reduced  the 
counties  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland,  which,  it  is  said,  were  ceded 
to  him  by  Alfred  the  Great,  whose  affairs  were  at  that  period  anything 
but  prosperous.  Gregory  next  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  Irish,  to  support 
Donach,  an  Irish  prince,  against  two  rebellious  noblemen.  The  first  en- 
gagement after  his  landing  in  Ireland  proved  fatal  to  Brian,  one  of  these 
chieltains,  and  he  then  reduced  Dundalle  and  Drogheda.  On  his  way  to 
Dublin  he  was  opposed  by  a  chieftain  named  Cornell,  who  shared  the  fato 
of  his  friend  Brian.  Gregory  then  assumed  the  guardianship  of  the 
young  prinre  he  came  to  assist,  appointed  a  regency,  and  obliged  them  to 
swear  thri  they  would  never  admit  into  the  country  either  a  Dane  or  an 
Englishman  without  his  consent.  Having  placed  garrisons  in  the  strong- 
est fortresses,  he  returned  to  Scotland,  where  he  died  in  the  year  893. 

Donald  III.,  the  son  of  Constantine,  succeeded  Gregory;  but  his  reign 
was  short ;  for,  having  marched  against  a  body  of  marauders,  who  had  in- 
vaded and  ravaged  the  counties  of  Murray  and  Hoss,  and  subdued  them, 
he  soon  after  died,  a.  d.  903.  He  was  succeeded  by  Constantine  III.,  the 
eon  of  Eth,  the  most  remarkable  event  in  whose  reign  was,  that  he  enter- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  5 

ed  into  alliance  with  the  Danes  against  the  English.  This,  however, 
lasted  but  two  years.  As  soon  as  Constanline  had  concluded  the  treaty 
with  the  Danes,  he  appointed  the  presumptive  heir  to  the  Scottish  crown, 
Malcolm,  prince  of  the  southern  counties,  on  condition  of  his  defending 
them  against  the  attaliks  of  the  English.  He  had  soon  dn  opportunity  ot 
displaying  his  valour,  but,  neglecting  the  necessary  cauti(jn,his  army  was 
signally  defeated,  and  he  himself  severely  wounded.  In  consequence  of 
this  disaster,  Constantino  was  obliged  to  do  homage  to  the  English  mon- 
arch, Edward  the  Elder,  for  the  possessions  he  had  to  the  southward  of 
the  Scottish  boundary. 

Early  in  the  reign  of  Athelstan,  the  son  of  Edward,  the  northern  Danes 
were  encouraged  by  some  conspiracies  formed  against  that  monarch,  to 
throw  off  the  yoke  ;  and  their  success  was  such,  that  Athelstan  thought 
proper  to  enter  into  a  treaty  witli  Sithric,  the  Danish  chief,  and  to  give 
nim  his  daughter  in  marriage.  Sithric,  however,  did  not  lonij  survive  the 
nuptials ;  and  his  son  Guthred,  endeavouring  to  throw  off  the  English 
yoke,  was  defeated  and  obliged  to  fly  into  Scotland.  This  event  caused 
a  series  of  hostilities  between  the  Scots  and  English,  which  in  the  year 
938  ended  in  a  general  engagement.  At  this  time  the  Scots,  Irish,  Cum- 
brians, and  Danes,  were  leagued  against  the  English.  The  Scots  were 
commanded  by  their  king,  Constantine  ;  the  Irish  by  Anlaf,  the  brother  of 
Guthred,  the  Danish  prince;  ihe  Cumbrians  by  their  own  sovereign;  and 
the  Danes  by  Froda.  The  generals  of  Athelstan  were  Edmund,  his  brother, 
and  Turketil,  his  favourite.  After  an  obstinate  engagement,  the  confed- 
erates were  defeated  with  great  slaughter;  the  consequence  of  which 
was,  that  the  Scots  were  deprived  of  all  their  possessions  to  the  southward 
of  the  Forth,  and  Constantine,  quite  dispirited  with  his  misfortune,  re- 
signed the  crown  to  Malcolm,  and  retired  to  the  monastery  of  the  Culdees 
at  St.  Andrew's,  where  he  died  in  943. 

The  reigns  of  Malcolm,  Indulfus,  Duffus,  and  Cnllen,  present  nothing 
worthy  of  comment ;  but  a  remarkable  revolution  took  place  in  the  reign 
of  Kenneth  III.,  who  succeeded  CuUen,  a.  d.  970.  This  prince  com- 
menced his  reign  by  reUeving  the  lower  classes  from  the  exactions  and 
oppressions  of  the  nobiliiy,  which  had  become  intolerable.  Without 
stating  his  reasons,  he  ordered  the  barons  to  appear  before  him  at  Lanark, 
where  he  had  provided  an  armed  host  to  take  such  of  them  into  custody 
as  he  knew  to  be  notorious  offenders,  and  on  the  charges  being  substan- 
tiated, they  were  compelled  to  make  restitution,  or  were  punislied  in  pro- 
Sortion  to  the  niagnitucie  of  their  offences.  In  this  reign  the  Danes,  who 
ad  previously  been  making  attempts  to  invade  England,  landed  at  Mon- 
trose, and  laid  waste  the  country  around.  Kenneth  finding  that  they 
were  making  rapid  progress  in  his  kingdom,  and  were  then  besieging 
Perth,  resolved  to  give  them  battle.  He  is  said  to  have  offered  ten  pounds 
in  silver,  or  the  value  of  it  in  land,  for  the  head  of  every  Dane  which 
should  be  brought  to  him,  and  an  immunity  from  all  taxes  to  the  soldiers 
who  served  in  his  army,  provided  they  should  be  victorious  ;  but,  notwith- 
standing the  utmost  efforts  of  the  Scots,  their  enemies  fought  so  desperatelj', 
that  Kenneth's  army  must  have  been  totally  defeated,  liad  not  the  fugitives 
been  stopped  by  a  yeoman  of  the  name  of  Hay,  and  his  retainers,  who 
were  only  armed  with  rustic  weapons.  The  fight  wa?  "ow  renewed  with 
such  violence  on  tlie  part  of  the  Scots,  that  the  Danes  were  wholly  de- 
feated;  and  after  the  battle  the  king  rewarded  Hay  with  the  barony  of 
Errol,  in  the  carse  of  Gowrie,  ennobled  his  family,  and  gave  them  an 
armorial  bearing  alluding  to  the  rustic  weapons  with  which  they  had 
achieved  this  illustrious  exploit.  Kenneth,  at  lenoth,  in  994,  met  his 
death  by  murder,  at  the  instigation  of  a  lady  named  Fenella,  whose  son 
he  had  caused  to  be  put  to  death.  The  throne  wag  then  seized  by  an 
usurper,  named  Constantine,  who,  being  killed  in  bsittle  after  a  reign  of  S 


54  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

year  and  a  half,  was  succeeded  by  Grime,  the  grandson  of  King  Dufius; 
and  he  again  was  defeated  and  killed  by  Malcolm,  the  son  of  Kenneth, 
the  lawful  heir  of  the  Scottish  throne. 

Malcolm  formed  a  strict  alliance  with  the  king  of  England  ;  and  proved 
so  successful  against  the  Danes  in  that  country,  that  Sweyn,  their  king, 
resolved  to  direct  his  whole  force  against  him  by  an  invasion  of  Scotland. 
In  conjunction  with  Duncan,  prince  of  Cumberland,  who  on  this  occasion 
entered  into  an  alliance  with  Sweyn,  Malcolm  sustained  a  terrible  defeat, 
and  was  himself  desperately  wounded.  So  elated  were  the  Danes  by  this 
victory,  that  they  sent  for  their  wives  and  children,  intending  to  make 
Scotland  their  future  home.  Towns  and  fortresses  fell  into  their  hands, 
and  the  Scots  were  everywhere  treated  as  a  conquered  people  ;  but  they 
afterwards  met  with  a  severe  check,  which  they  endeavoured  to  remedy 
by  sending  for  reinforcements  from  both  England  and  Norway.  Their 
fleets  soon  appeared  off  the  coast,  and  they  effected  a  landing  at  Redhead, 
in  the  county  of  Angus.  The  castle  of  Brechin  was  first  besieged  ;  but 
meeting  with  a  stout  resistance  there,  they  laid  the  town  and  church  in 
ashes.  Malcolm,  in  the  meantime,  was  at  hand  witli  his  army,  and 
encamped  at  a  place  called  Barr,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which  both 
parties  prepared  to  decide  the  fate  of  Scotland.  The  action  was  tierce 
and  bloody,  but  was  eventually  crowned  with  complete  success  to  the 
Scots.  Sweyn  was  not,  however,  so  discouraged,  but  that  he  sent  his  son 
Canute,  afterwards  king  of  England,  and  one  of  the  greatest  warriors  of 
that  age,  into  Scotland,  with  an  army  more  powerful  than  any  that  had 
j'et  appeared ;  and  though  the  Danes  were,  upon  the  whole,  successful  in 
the  great  battle  which  followed,  they  were  so  much  reduced  that  they 
willingly  concluded  a  peace  on  the  following  terms,  viz:  that  the  Danes 
should  immediately  leave  Scotland;  that  as  long  as  Malcolm  and  Sweyn 
lived,  neither  of  them  should  wage  war  with  the  other,  or  help  each  other's 
enemies,  and  that  the  field  in  which  the  battle  was  fought  should  be  set 
apart  and  consecrated  for  the  burial  of  the  dead.  But  glorious  as  the  war- 
like exploits  of  Malcolm  had  been,  he  is  said  to  have  stained  the  latiei 
part  of  his  reign  with  avarice  and  oppression  ;  and  at  the  age  of  eighty, 
after  having  reigned  thirty  years,  he  fell  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 
Duncan  I.,  a  grandson  of  Malcolm,  succeeded  him  in  1034  ;  he  had  also 
another  grandson,  the  celebrated  Macbeth,  who  in  the  early  part  of  Dun- 
can's reign  signalized  himself  in  quelling  a  formidable  insurrection,  but 
who  subsequently,  after  having  done  much  in  expelling  the  Danish 
marauders,  murdered  the  king,  and  usurped  his  throne,  to  the  exclusion  of 
Malcolm,  the  rightful  son  and  heir  of  Duncan. 

For  some  time  Macbeth  governed  with  moderation,  but  his  tyrannical 
nature  was  afterwards  shown  in  almost  every  act.  He  caused  Banquo, 
the  most  powerful  thane  in  Scotland,  to  be  treacherously  murdered,  and 
intended  that  his  sonFleance  should  share  the  same  fate,  had  he  not  made 
his  escape  to  Wales.  Next  to  Banquo  the  most  powerful  of  his  subjects 
was  Macduff,  the  thane  of  Fife  ;  for  which  reason  Macbeth  plotted  hi» 
destruction;  but  on  Macduff  seeking  refuge  in  England,  the  tyrant  cruelly 
put  to  death  his  wife  and  infant  children,  and  sequestered  his  estate.  The 
injured  Macduff  vowed  revenge,  and  encouraged  Malcolm  to  attempt  to 
dethrone  the  traitorous  usurper.  With  their  united  forces  they  gave 
Macbeth  battle  ;  and,  being  defeated,  he  retreated  to  the  most  inaccessible 
places  in  the  Highlands,  where  for  two  years  he  continued  to  defend  him- 
self against  all  who  dared  to  oppose  him.  In  the  meantime,  however,  Mal- 
colm, was  acknowledged  king  of  Scotland,  and  Macbeth  penslied  in  a  con- 
flict with  Macduff. 

A.  D.  1057. — Malcolm  III.  being  now  established  oi.  the  throne,  com- 
menced his  reign  by  rewarding  Macduff  for  his  great  services,  and  con- 
ferred upon  his  family  some  distinguished  honouro      The  conquest  of 


THE  TREASURY  OF   HISTORY  5,5 

England  by  William  of  Normandy  involved  Malcolm,  who  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  Saxons,  in  many  fierce  wars.  Edgar  Atheling',  the  heir  of 
the  Saxon  line,  and  many  of  the  Saxon  nobles,  found  an  asylum  in  Scot- 
land. Malcolm  married  Margaret,  the  sister  of  the  fugitive  prince,  who  is 
said  to  have  introduced  a  degree  of  refinement  into  her  court  remarkable 
for  that  time,  and  to  have  contributed  to  soften  the  rude  manners  of  the 
people.  Malcolm  twice  invaded  England  with  success;  but  William, 
having  collected  a  great  army,  in  his  turn  invaded  Scotland,  and  compelled 
Malcolm  to  do  homage  for  the  lands  which  he  held  within  what  was 
accounted  the  English  territory.  This  was,  as  the  reader  has  been  else- 
where informed,  an  ancient  feudal  practice,  common  at  the  period  ;  though 
in  later  times  it  has  been  asserted  that  the  Scottish  monarchs  held  their 
whole  kingdom  on  this  tenure.  On  the  death  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
Malcolm  again  espoused  the  cause  of  Edgar  Atheling,  who  had  been 
induced  to  seek  his  assistance  asecond  time,  when  William  II.,surname(l 
E.ufus,  ascended  the  English  throne.  After  several  negotiations  between 
Malcolm,  Rufus,  and  Edgar,  it  was  agreed  that  the  king  of  England  should 
restore  to  Malcolm  all  his  southern  possessions,  for  which  he  should  pa}' 
the  same  homage  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do  to  the  Conqueror;  that 
he  should  restore  to  Malcolm  twelve  disputed  manors,  and  give  him  like- 
wise thirteen  marks  of  gold  yearly,  besides  restoring  Edgar  to  all  his  En- 
glish estates.  William,  however,  afterwards  refused  to  fulfil  his  engage- 
ments, and  applied  himself  to  the  fortification  of  his  northern  boundaries, 
especially  Carlisle,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Danes  200  years 
before.  This  place  lay  within  the  feudal  dominions  of  Malcolm,  and  he 
complained  of  William's  proceedings,  as  a  breach  of  the  late  treaty. 
Another  war  was  the  natural  consequence;  and  the  Scottish  king,  with 
his  eldest  son,  were  killed  in  attempting  to  take  the  castle  of  Alnwick, 
A  D.  1093. 

I'hough  Malcolm  left  male  heirs,  yet  his  throne  was  usurped,  first  by 
his  brother  Donald  Bane,  and  afterwards  by  Duncan,  his  natural  son.  By 
the  interposition  of  the  king  of  England,  however,  Edgar,  lawful  son  of 
Malcolm,  was  placed  upon  the  Scottish  throne.  After  a  reign  distinguish- 
ed by  no  remarkable  event,  Edgar  died  in  1107,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  Alexander,  surnamed  the  Fierce,  from  the  impetuosity  of  his 
temper.  But  though  impetuous,  he  was  severely  just,  and  rendered  him- 
self chefly  remarkable  by  the  attention  he  paid  to  the  administration  ol 
justice  and  redress  of  wrong.  A  conspiracy  formed  against  the  life  ot 
this  good  king  was  dissipated  by  the  vigour  of  his  measures;  and  after 
assisting  Henry  I.  of  England  in  a  war  with  the  Welsh,  he  died  in  1124. 
Having  left  no  issue,  Alexander  was  succeeded  by  David,  his  younger 
brother,  commonly  called  St.  David,  on  account  of  his  great  piety  and 
excessive  liberality  to  the  church  and  clergy.  David  interested  him- 
self in  the  affairs  of  England,  espousing  the  cause  of  Maud  against 
Stephen.  In  several  engagements  he  was  successful,  but  was  in  others 
defeated,  and  found  himself  unable  effectually  to  support  the  cause  he  had 
undertaken.  He  died  in  1153,  and  was  succeeded  by  Malcolm  IV.,  a 
prince  of  a  weak  body,  and  no  less  feeble  mind,  who,  dying  in  1165,  left 
his  crown  to  his  brother  William. 

•  In  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  William  recovered  from  Henry  of  Eng- 
land the  earldom  of  Northumberland,  which  had  been  relinquished  by 
Malcolm;  but  afterwards  leading  an  army  into  England,  and  conducting 
himself  with  too  little  caution,  he  was  made  prisoner  by  surprise,  and  de- 
tained in  captivity,  till,  in  order  to  regain  his  liberty,  he  consented  to 
declare  himself  a  vassal  of  England,  and  to  do  homage  for  his  whole  king- 
dom. Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  however,  who  succeeded  Henry,  remitted 
the  oppressive  terms,  and  declared  Scotland  to  be  an  independent  king- 
dom ;  a  measure  to  which  he  was  induced,  partly  by  tlic  injustice  of  the 


55  THE   THEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

claim  itself,  and  partly  by  his  wish  of  rendering  the  Scots  his  friends, 
during  an  expedition  he  was  about  to  undertake  in  Palestine.  William 
showed  his  gratitude  for  the  restoration  of  his  independence,  by  con- 
linuing  a  faithful  ally  of  the  English  till  his  death,  in  1214. 

William  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Alexander  II.,  a  youth  of  sixteen. 
He  took  the  side  of  the  English  barons  in  their  contentions  with  John 
their  feeble  and  imprudent  monarch.  He  was  a  wise  and  good  prince, 
and  maintained  with  steadiness  and  spirit  the  independency  of  his  crown 
abroad,  and  the  authority  of  his  government  at  home.  At  his  death,  in 
1249,  he  was  succeded  by  his  son,  Alexander,  a  child  of  eight  years  of 
age,  who  was  immediately  crowned  at  Scone  as  Alexander  III.  Having 
been  betrothed,  when  an  infant,  to  the  princess  Margaret  of  England,  their 
nuptials  were  celebrated  at  York  in  1251,  and  he  did  homage  to  Henry  for 
his  English  possessions.  The  latter  monarch  demanded  homage  for  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  but  the  young  prince  replied  with  spirit,  that  he  came 
to  York  to  marry  the  princess  of  England,  not  to  treat  of  state  affairs, 
and  that  he  would  not  take  so  important  a  step  without  the  concurrence 
of  the  national  council.  One  of  the  principal  events  of  Alexander's  reign 
was  the  battle  of  Largs.  Haco,  king  of  Norway,  having  collected  a  fleet 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  ships,  sailed  towards  Scotland  with  a  numer- 
ous army,  a.  d.  1263,  with  a  view  to  recover  such  of  the  western  isles  as 
had  formerly  belonged  to  his  crown,  but  which  had  been  wrested  from  it 
by  the  Scots.  He  made  himself  master  of  Arran  and  Bute,  and  after- 
wards landed  on  the  coast  of  Ayrshire.  Alexander  attacked  him  at  Largs, 
where,  after  a  fierce  contest,  victory  at  last  declared  for  the  Scots,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  invading  army  fell  either  in  the  action  or  the  pur- 
suit. Haco  reached  the  Orkneys,  but  soon  afterwards  died,  as  is  said,  of  a 
broken  heart,  and  was  succeeded  by  Magnus,  who,  discouraged  by  the 
disaster  which  had  befallen  his  father,  yielded  all  his  rights  to  the  Western 
Islands  and  the  Isle  of  Man  to  the  crown  of  Scotland,  for  the  sum  of  four 
thousand  marks,  to  be  paid  in  four  years,  and  a  quit-rent  of  one  hundred 
marks,  yearly  ;  a.  d.  1266.  The  Norwegians  still  retained  the  Orkney  and 
Shetland  islands.  From  this  period,  Alexander  was  employed  for  several 
years  in  maintaining  the  independence  of  the  Scottish  church  against  the 
pretensions  of  the  pope,  and  in  restraining  the  encroachments  of  the 
clergy.  His  reign  was  a  long  and  prosperous  one,  and  his  death  was, 
in  its  consequences,  a  serious  calamity  to  Scotland.  While  riding  in  the 
dusk  of  the  evening  along  the  sea-coast  of  Fife,  his  horse  started,  and  he 
was  thrown  over  the  rock  and  killed  on  the  spot. 

A.  D.  1286. — Alexander's  children  had  all  died  before  him.  His  daughter 
Margaret  had  married  Eric,  king  of  Norway,  and  died,  leaving  issue  one 
daughter,  Margaret,  ucually  called  the  Maiden  of  Norway,  the  now  un- 
doubted lieiress  of  the  crown  of  Scotland,  and  recognized  as  such  by  the 
states  of  the  kingdom  about  three  weeks  after  Alexander's  death.  The*^ 
same  convention  appointed  a  regency  of  six  noblemen  during  the  absence 
of  the  young  queen.  These  regents  for  some  time  acted  with  wisdom 
and  unanimity  ;  but  two  of  them  dying,  dissensions  arose  among  the  re- 
maining four,  and  Eric,  king  of  Norway,  apprehensive  for  the  interests  of 
his  daughter,  applied  to  Edward,  king  of  England,  for  his  assistance  and 
protection.  Edward  had  already  formed  a  scheme  for  uniting  the  two 
kingdoms  by  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  son,  Edward,  with  the  queen  of 
Scots.  A  treaty  was  entered  into  for  this  purpose ;  but  the  Maiden  of 
Norway  unfortunately  died  at  Orkney,  on  her  passa-je  to  Scotland,  and 
the  nation  was  struck  with  grief  and  consternation  in  beholding  the  extinc- 
tion of  a  race  of  sovereigns  who  had  distinguished  themselves  for  their 
bravery  and  wisdom,  and  in  anticipating  the  miseries  of  a  contested  suc- 
cession. 

The  line  of  Alexander's  descendants  being  thus  extinguished,  the  right 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  57 

Bf  succession  devolved  on  the  descendants  of  David,  earl  of  Buntingdon, 
third  son  of  David  I.  Among  these,  Robert  Bruce  and  John  Baliol  ap- 
peared as  compeiitors  for  the  crown.  Bruce  was  the  son  of  Isabel,  earl 
David's  second  daughter;  Baliol,  tiie  grandson  of  Margaret,  the  eldest 
daughter.  Although  the  right  was  incontestable  in  Baliol,  the  prejudices 
of  the  people  favoured  Bruce ;  each  was  supported  by  a  powerful  faction, 
and  arms  alone,  it  was  feared,  must  decide  the  dispute.  In  order  to 
avoid  the  threatened  miseries  of  civil  war,  Edvk'ard  I.,  king  of  England, 
was  chosen  umpire,  and  both  parties  agreed  to  acquiesce  in  his  decree. 
This  measure  had  nearly  proved  fatal  to  the  independence  of  Scotland. 
Edward  was  artful,  brave,  and  enterprising.  The  anarchy  which  pre- 
vailed in  Scotland  invited  him  first  to  seize,  and  then  to  subject  the  king- 
dom. Under  the  authority  of  an  umpire,  he  summoned  all  the  Scottish 
barons  to' Norharn ;  and  having  gained  some,  and  intimidated  others,  he 
prevailed  on  all  who  were  present,  not  excepting  Bruce  and  Baliol,  the 
competitors,  to  acknowledge  Scotland  to  be  a  fief  of  the  crown  of  England, 
and  to  swear  fealty  to  him  as  their  sovereign  lord.  Edward  now  de- 
manded possession  of  the  kingdom,  that  he  might  be  able  to  deliver  it  to 
him  whose  right  should  be  found  preferable;  and  such  was  the  pusillan- 
imity of  the  nobles,  and  the  impatience  of  the  competitors,  that  both  as- 
sented to  his  demand,  and  Gdbert  d'Umpfrevilie,  earl  of  Angus,  was  the 
only  man  who  refused  to  surrender  the  castles  in  his  custody  to  the'ene- 
my  of  his  country.  Edward,  finding  Baliol  had  the  best  right,  and  was  the 
least  formidable  of  the  two  competitors,  gave  judgment  in  his  favour,  and 
Baliol  once  more  confessed  himself  the  vassal  of  England.  Edward  now 
concluded  that  his  dominion  was  fidly  established  in  Scotland,  and  began 
to  assume  the  master  ;  his  new  vassals,  however,  bore  the  yoke  with  im- 
patience. Provoked  by  his  haughtiness,  the  humble  spirit  of  Baliol  began 
to  mutiny.  But  Edward,  who  had  no  further  use  for  such  a  pageant  king, 
forced  him  to  resign  the  crown,  and  attempted  to  seize  it,  as  having  fallen 
to  himself  by  the  rebellion  of  his  vassal. 

Sir  William  Wallace,  a  hero  and  patriot,  now  first  made  his  appearance, 
and  almost  singly  ventured  to  take  arms  in  defence  of  the  kingdom  ;  but 
his  courage,  although  for  a  time  it  revived  the  spirit  of  his  countrymen, 
could  not  save  them  from  the  power  of  the  English  king.  He  had  lived 
a  free  man,  and  a  free  man  he  resolved  to  die  ;  but  the  season  of  resist- 
ance was  passed.  He  at  length  fell  into  Edward's  hands,  was  arraigned 
at  Westminster  as  a  traitor,  and  an  ignominious  death  was  the  reward  of 
his  unexampled  bravery.  Robert  Bruce,  the  grandson  of  the  competitor 
of  Baliol,  then  came  forward,  to  assert  his  own  rights  and  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  his  country.  The  nobles  crowded  to  his  standard,  and  many 
battles  were  fought  with  the  English.  The  Scots,  though  often  van- 
quished, were  not  subdued ;  the  prudent  conduct  nf  Bruce,  aided  by  the 
national  enthusiasm,  baffled  the  repeated  eftbrts  of  Edward  ;  and,  although 
the  war  continued,  with  littk;  intermission,  upv/ards  of  seventy  years, 
Bruce  and  his  posterity  kept  possession  of  Scotland. 

But  while  the  sword,  the  ultimate  judge  of  all  disputes  between  contend- 
ing nations,  was  employed  to  terminate  this  controversy,  neither  Edward 
nor  the  Scots  seemed  to  distrust  the  justice  of  their  cause;  and  both  ap- 
pealed to  history  and  records,  and  from  these  produced,  in  their  own  favour, 
such  evidence  as  they  pretended  to  be  unanswerable.  The  letters  and 
memorials  addressed  by  each  party  to  the  pope,  v.'ho  was  then  reverenced 
as  the  common  father,  and  often  appealed  to  as  the  common  judge  of  all 
Christian  princes,  are  still  extant.  The  fabulous  tales  of  the  early  British 
history,  the  partial  testimony  of  ignorant  chroniclers,  suppositions,  treaties, 
and  charters,  are  the  proofs  on  which  Edward  founded  his  title  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Scotland;  and  the  homage  done  by  the  Scottish  monarchs 
for  their  lands  in  England  is  preposterously  supposed  to  imply  the  subjec- 


58  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tion  of  llie  whole  kingdom.  Ill-founded,  however,  as  their  right  was,  Iho 
p]nglish  (lid  not  fail  to  revive  it,  in  all  tiie  subsequent  quarrels  between 
the  two  kinjj-doins,  while  the  Scots  disclaimed  it  with  the  utmost  indigna- 
tion. To  this  we  must  impute  the  fiereo  and  implacable  hatred  to  each 
other,  which  long  inflamed  both.  Their  national  antipathies  were  excited, 
not  only  by  the  usual  circumstances  of  frequent  hostilities,  and  reciprocal 
injuries,  but  the  English  considered  the  Scots  as  vassals  who  had  presumed 
to  rebel,  and  the  Scots,  in  their  turn,  regarded  the  English  as  usurpers 
who  amied  at  enslaving  their  country. 

A.  D.  133u. — liobert  Bruce  began  to  reign  in  1306,  and  no  prince  was 
ever  more  indebted  to  his  nobles.  Their  valour  conquered  the  kingdom, 
and  placed  him  on  the  throne,  and  he  bestowed  upon  them,  in  return,  the 
lands  of  the  vanquished.  Robert  died  in  1329,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  David.  He  iiad  been  an  exile  in  France,  and  afterwards  a  prisoner 
in  England,  and  being  involved  in  continental  war  with  Edward  111.  of 
England,  had  not  time  to  attend  to  the  internal  police  of  the  kingdom. 
He  died  without  children  in  1371,  and  was  succeeded  by  Robert  Stuart. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE     HOUSE    OF    STU.VRT. 

A.  D.  1371. — The  reign  of  Robert  II.  (the  first  of  the  House  of  Stuart), 
is  replete  with  accounts  of  skirmishes  and  inroads,  but  of  very  little  con- 
sequence in  an  historical  point  of  view.  He  died  in  1390,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Robert  III.,  who  was  a  man  of  weak  mind  and  sickly  constitu- 
tion, and  very  unfit  to  check  the  growing  power  of  the  martial  barons. 
Robert  died  in  HOG,  and  an  interregnum  of  eighteen  j'ears  took  place, 
owing  to  James,  his  successor,  being  a  prisoner  in  England. 

A.  D.  1424. — The  English  had  unjustly  detained  the  heir  of  the  Scottish 
throne,  but  they  certainly  made  some  amends  for  their  injustice,  by  the 
care  they  took  in  his  education.  During  his  long  residence  in  England, 
he  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  feudal  system  in  a  more  advanced 
state,  and  refined  from  many  of  the  imperfections  which  still  adhered  to 
it  in  his  own  kingdom.  He  saw  there  nobles  great,  but  not  independent ; 
a  king  powerful,  though  far  from  absolute  ;  he  saw  a  regular  administra- 
tion of  government,  wise  laws  enacted,  and  a  nation  flourishing  and  hap- 
py, because  all  ranks  were  accustomed  to  obey  them.  Full  of  these  ideas, 
he  returned  to  his  native  country,  which  presented  to  him  a  very  different 
scene.  The  royal  authority,  never  great,  was  now  contemptible,  by  hav- 
ing been  so  long  delegated  to  regents.  The  ancient  patrimony  and  rev- 
enues of  the  crown  were  almost  totally  alienated.  The  license  of  many, 
years  had  rendered  the  nobles  independent.  Universal  anarchy  prevailed  ; 
the  weak  were  opposed  to  the  oppression  of  the  strong ;  the  barbarous 
chieftain  ruled  at  pleasure,  and  neither  feared  the  king,  nor  felt  for  the 
people. 

James  was  too  wise  to  employ  open  force  to  correct  such  rooted  evils ; 
neither  the  men  nor  the  times  would"  have  borne  it.  He  applied  the  gentler 
remedy  of  laws  and  statutes,  tending  visibly  to  re-establish  order,  tran- 
quillity, and  justice,  in  the  kingdom.  But,  at  the  same  time  that  he  en- 
deavoured to  secure  these  blessings  to  the  people,  he  discovered  his  in- 
tention to  recover  those  possessions  of  which  the  crown  had  been  unjustly 
deprived,  and  for  that  purpose  oblamedan  act,  by  which  he  was  impow- 
ered  to  summon  such  nersons  as  had  obtained  crown-lands  during  the 
three  last  reigns,  to  produce  the  rights  by  which  they  held  them.  As  this 
statute  threatened  the  property  of  the  nobles,  another,  which  passed  in  a 
subsequent  parliament,  aimed  a  dreadful  blow  at  their  power.     By  it  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  53 

leagues  and  combinations  which  rendered  the  nobles  so  formidable  to  the 
crown,  were  declared  unlawful.  James  now  took  bolder  and  more  deci~ 
sive  steps.  During  the  silling  of  parliament,  he  seized  his  cousin  Murdo, 
duke  of  Albany,  and  his  sons  ;  the  earls  of  Douglas,  Lenox,  Angus,  IMarch, 
and  above  twenty  others  of  the  first  rank,  who  appeared  restless  under  the 
new  statutes.  To  all  of  them,  however,  he  was  soon  after  reconciled, 
except  Albany  and  his  sons,  and  Lenox.  These  were  tried  by  their  peers, 
and  condemned.  Their  execution  struck  the  whole  order  with  terror,  and 
the  forfeiture  of  their  estates  added  considerably  to  the  possessions  of  the 
crown.  He  seized  likewise  the  earldoms  of  Buchan  and  Strathern  upon 
different  pretexts,  and  that  of  Mar  fell  to  him  by  inheritance.  The  pa- 
tience and  inactivity  of  the  nobles,  while  the  king  was  proceeding  so 
rapidly  in  aggrandizing  the  crown,  are  amazing.  The  only  obstruction 
he  met  with,  was  from  a  slight  insurrection,  headed  by  the  duke  of  Albany's 
youngest  son,  which  was  soon  suppressed.  Encouraged  by  the  facility 
with  which  he  had  advanced,  James  ventured  upon  a  measure  that  irrita- 
ted the  whole  body  of  the  nobility.  The  father  of  George  Dunbar,  earl  of 
March,  had  taken  arms  against  Robert  IIL  the  king's  father;  but  that 
crime  had  been  pardoned,  and  his  lands  restored,  by  Robert,  duke  of  Al- 
bany, during  the  confinement  of  James  in  England.  Under  the  pretext 
that  the  regent  had  exceeded  his  power,  and  that  it  was  the  prerogative 
of  the  king  alone  to  pardon  treason,  James  declared  the  pardon  to  be  void. 
Many  of  the  nobles  and  great  men  held  lands  by  no  other  right  than  what 
they  derived  from  grant  of  the  two  dukes  of  Albany.  Although  Dunbar 
was  at  present  the  only  sufferer,  it  caused  great  alarm,  as  the  precedent 
might  be  extended.  Terror  and  discontent  spread  far  and  wide  upon  this 
discovery  of  the  king's  intentions ;  the  common  danger  called  on  the 
whole  order  to  unite,  and  to  make  one  bold  stand,  before  they  were  strip- 
ped successively  of  their  acquisitions.  A  conspiracy  was  formed  against 
the  king's  life  by  those  who  had  been  the  chief  sufferers  under  the  new 
laws,  and  the  first  intelligence  of  it  was  brought  to  him  while  he  lay  in  his 
camp  before  Roxburgh  castle.  He  instantly  dismissed  his  nobles  and 
their  vassals,  in  whom  he  could  place  no  confidence,  and  retired  to  a 
monastery  near  Perth,  where  he  was  soon  afterwards  murdered  in  a  most 
cruel  manner,  in  1437.  James  was  a  prince  of  great  abihties,  and,  in 
general,  conducted  his  operations  with  prudence ;  he  was  beloved  by  trie 
people,  and  hated  by  the  nobles.  His  maxims  and  manners  were  too  re- 
fined for  the  age  and  country  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  James  H.,  an  infant. 

A.  D.  1437. — Crichton,  who  had  been  the  minister  of  James  L,  still  held 
the  reins  of  government.  He  did  not  relinquish  the  design  of  the  late  king 
for  humbling  the  nobility,  but  endeavoured  to  inspire  his  pupil  with  the 
same  sentiments.  But  what  James  had  attempted  to  effect  slowly,  and 
by  legal  means,  his  son  and  Crichton  pursued  with  the  impetuosity  natural 
to  Scotchmen.  William,  the  sixth  earl  of  Douglas,  was  the  first  victim 
to  their  barbarous  policy.  He  was  decoyed  to  an  interview  in  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  and  there  murdered  with  his  brother.  Crichton,  however, 
gained  little  by  this  act  of  treachery,  which  rendered  him  universally 
odious.  William,  the  eighth  earl  of  Douglas,  was  no  less  powerful,  and 
no  less  formidable  to  the  crown  than  his  predecessor ;  he  had  united 
against  his  sovereign  almost  one  half  of  his  kingdom,  when  his  credulity 
led  him  into  the  same  snare  which  had  been  fatal  to  tlie  former  earl.  Re- 
lying on  the  king's  promises,  who  had  now  attained  to  the  years  of  man- 
hood, and  having  obtained  a  safe  conduct  under  the  great  seal,  he  ventured 
to  meet  him  in  Stirling  castle.  James  urged  him  to  dissolve  that  danger* 
ous  confederacy  into  which  he  had  entered ;  the  earl  obstinately  refused. 
"  If  you  will  not,"  said  the  enraged  monarch,  drawing  his  dagger,  "this 
hall ;"  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart.     This  filled  the  nation  with  astonish 


00  THE  TREASUIIY  OF  HLSTORY. 

ment.  The  earl's  vassals  ran  to  arms,  marched  to  Stirling',  burnt  the 
town,  and  threatened  to  besiege  the  castle.  An  accommodation,  how- 
ever, ensued,  on  what  terms  is  not  known ;  but  the  king's  jeahiusy,  and 
the  new  carl's  power  and  resentment,  prevented  it  from  beiiigof  long  con- 
tinuance. Ijoth  took  the  field  at  the  head  of  tlieir  armies,  and  met  near 
Abercorn.  That  of  the  earl,  composed  chiefly  of  borderers,  was  far  supe- 
rior to  the  king's  both  in  number  and  in  valour ;  and  a  single  battle  must, 
in  all  probability,  have  decided  whether  the  house  of  Stuart  or  of  Douglas 
was  henceforth  to  possess  the  throne  of  Scotland.  But  as  his  troops  were 
impatiently  expecting  the  signal  to  engage,  the  earl  ordered  them  to  retire 
to  their  camp.  His  principal  ofiicers,  now  convinced  of  his  want  of 
genius  and  courage,  deserted  him;  and  he  was  soon  after  driven  out  of 
the  kingdom,  and  obliged  to  depend  for  his  subsistence  on  the  friendship 
of  the  king  of  England.  The  ruin  of  this  great  family,  which  had  so 
long  rivalled  and  overawed  the  crown,  secured  the  king  for  some  time 
from  opposition,  and  the  royal  authority  remained  uncontrolled,  and  al- 
most absolute.  James  did  not  suffer  this  favourable  interval  to  pass  un- 
improved ;  he  procured  the  consent  of  parliament  to  laws  more  advan- 
tageous to  the  prerogative,  and  more  subversive  of  the  privileges  of  the 
aristocracy,  than  were  ever  obtained  by  any  former  or  subsequent  mon- 
arch of  Scotland.  During  the  remainder  of  his  reign,  this  prince  pursued 
the  plan  which  he  had  began  with  the  utmost  vigour  ;  and  had  not  a  sud 
den  death,  occasioned  by  the  splinter  of  a  cannon  which  burst  near  him 
at  the  siege  of  Roxburgh,  prevented  his  progress,  he  wanted  neither  genius 
nor  courage  to  perfect  it,  and  Scotland  might,  in  all  probability,  have  been 
the  first  kingdom  in  Europe  which  would  have  seen  the  subversion  of  the 
feudal  system. 

A.  D.  1460. — James  III.  succeeded  his  father  in  1460,  and  discovered  nc 
less  eagerness  than  his  father,  or  grandfather,  to  humble  the  nobility  ;  but 
far  inferior  to  either  of  them  in  abilities  or  address,  he  adopted  a  plan  ex- 
tremely impolitic,  and  his  reign  was  disastrous,  as  well  as  his  end  trag- 
ical. James  feared  and  hated  his  nobles ;  he  kept  them  at  an  unusua. 
distance,  and  bestowed  every  mark  of  confidence  and  affection  upon  a  few 
mean  persons.  Shut  up  with  these  in  his  castle  of  Stirling,  he  seldom 
appeared  in  public,  and  amused  himself  in  architecture,  music,  and  other 
arts,  which  were  tlien  little  esteemed.  The  nobles  resented  this  conduct 
in  the  king,  and  combinations,  secret  intrigues  with  England,  and  all  tht 
usual  preparations  for  civil  war,  were  the  effects  of  their  resentment. 
Alexander,  duke  of  Albany,  and  John,  earl  of  Mar,  the  king's  brothers,  two 
young  men  of  turbulent  and  ambitious  spirits,  and  incensed  against  James, 
who  treated  them  with  great  coldness,  entered  deeply  into  all  their  cabals. 
The  king  detected  their  designs  before  they  were  ripe  for  execution,  and 
seizing  his  two  brothers,  committed  the  duke  of  Albany  to  Edinburgh 
castle.  The  earl  of  Mar  having  remonstrated  with  too  much  boldness,  it 
is  said,  was  murdered  by  the  king's  command.  Albany,  apprehensive  of 
the  same  fate,  made  his  escape  out  of  the  castle,  and  reached  France. 
James'  attachment  to  favourites  rendering  him  every  day  more  odious  to 
his  nobles,  soon  inspired  Albany  with  more  ambitious  and  criminal 
thoughts.  He  concluded  a  treaty  with  Edward  IV.  of  England,  in  which 
he  assumed  the  name  of  Alexander,  king  of  Scots  ;  and,  in  return  for  the 
assistance  which  was  promised  him  towards  dethroning  his  brother,  he 
bound  himself,  as  soon  as  he  was  put  in  possession  of  the  kingdom,  to 
swear  fealty  and  do  homage  to  the  English  monarch,  to  renounce  the  an- 
cient alliance  with  France,  to  contract  a  new  one  with  England,  and  to 
surrender  some  of  the  strongest  castles  and  most  valus.ole  counties  in 
Scotland.  The  aid  which  the  duke  so  basely  purchased,  at.  the  price  of 
his  own  honour  and  the  independence  of  his  country  v/f.s  punctually 
granted  him,  and  Richard,  duke  of  Gloucester,  with  2   j!;flerful  army 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  61 

conducted  him  towards  Scotland.  The  danger  of  a  foreign  invasion  soon 
induced  James  to  asii  the  assistance  of  those  nobles  whom  he  had  so  long 
treated  with  contempt.  They  expressed  their  readiness  to  stand  forward 
in  defence  of  their  king  and  country  against  all  invaders,  and  took  the 
field  at  the  head  of  a  large  army  of  their  followers  ;  but  it  was  evident  at 
the  same  time  that  they  were  animated  by  a  stronger  desire  to  redress 
their  own  grievances  tlian  to  annoy  the  enemy,  and  with  a  fixed  deter 
mination  of 'r-unishing  those  favourites  whose  insolence  had  become  in- 
tolerable. This  resolution  they  executed  in  the  camp  near  Lauder.  Hav- 
ing previously  concerted  their  plan,  the  earls  of  Angus,  Huntley,  and 
Lauder,  followed  by  almost  all  the  barons  of  note  in  the  army,  forcibly 
entered  the  apartments  of  the  king,  sei/.ed  every  one  therein,  except  Ram- 
say, who  had  taken  shelter  in  his  arms,  and  hanged  them  immediately 
over  a  bridge.  Among  the  most  remarkable  of  those  who  had  engrossed 
the  king's  favour,  were  Cochran,  a  mason,  Homrail,  a  tailor,  Leonard,  a 
smith,  Rogers,  a  musician,  and  Torlifan,  a  fencing-master.  Having  no 
reason  to  confide  in  an  army  so  little  under  his  command,  James  dismiss- 
ed it,  and  shut  liimself  up  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  At  length  Albany 
made  his  peace  with  the  king,  but  it  was  not  of  long  duration ;  for  James 
abandoned  himself  once  more  to  his  favourites,  and  Albany,  again  dis- 
gusted, retired  to  his  castle  at  Dunbar,  and  renewed  his  former  confed- 
eracy with  Edward.  The  death  of  Edward,  soon  after,  blasted  his  hopes 
of  reigning  in  Scotland.  He  fled  first  to  England,  and  then  to  France, 
and  from  that  time  he  took  no  part  in  the  affairs  of  his  native  country. 
Grown  fonder  of  retirement  than  ever,  and  sunk  into  indolence  or  super- 
stition, James  suffered  his  whole  authority  to  devolve  upon  his  favourites. 
The  nobles  llew  to  arms,  and  obliged  or  persuaded  the  duke  of  Rothsay, 
the  king's  eldest  son,  a  youth  of  fifteen,  to  set  himself  at  their  head ;  and 
they  then  openly  declared  their  intention  of  depriving  James  of  the  crown- 
Roused  by  this  danger,  the  king  quitted  his  retirement,  took  the  field,  and 
encountered  them  at  Bannockburn;  but  his  army  was  soon  routed,  and  he 
v/as  slain  in  the  pursuit.  Suspicion,  indolence,  immoderate  attachment 
to  favourites,  and  all  the  vices  of  a  feeble  mind,  are  visible  in  his  whole 
conduct.  Many  of  those  who  acted  against  James,  being  fearful  of  the 
terrors  of  excommunication  for  having  imbrued  their  hands  in  the  blood 
of  their  king,  endeavoured  to  atone  for  the  treatment  of  the  father  by  their 
loyalty  and  duty  towards  the  son.  They  placed  him  instantly  on  the 
throne,  and  the  whole  kingdom  soon  united  in  acknowledging  his  authority. 

A.  D.  1488. — James  IV.  ascended  the  Scottish  throne  in  the  year  1488. 
He  was  naturally  generous  and  brave ;  loved  magnificence,  and  delighted 
in  arms.  Indeed,  so  well  suited  was  he  for  those  over  whom  he  ruled, 
that  during  his  reign  the  ancient  enmity  between  the  king  and  the  nobles 
seemed  almost  to  have  entirely  ceased.  He  envied  not  their  splendour, 
because  it  contributed  to  the  ornament  of  his  court;  and  their  power  he 
considered  as  the  security  of  his  kingdom,  not  as  an  object  of  terror  to 
himself.  This  confidence  on  his  part  met  with  duty  and  affection  on  theirs  ; 
and  in  his  war  with  England  he  experienced  how  much  a  king  beloved  by 
his  nobles  is  able  to  perform.  Through  the  ardour  of  his  courage,  rather 
than  from  any  prospect  of  national  advantage,  he  declared  war  against 
England,  and  was  followed  by  as  gallant  an  army  as  ever  any  of  his  an- 
cestors had  led  into  England.  The  battle  of  Flodden  Field,  [see  "Eng- 
land," vol  I.]  gained  by  the  earl  of  Surrey  over  James,  and  in  which  he 
lost  his  life,  served  to  humble  the  aristocracy  of  Scotland  more  than  all 
the  premeditated  attacks  of  the  preceding  kings.  Twelve  earls,  thirteen 
.ords,  five  eldest  sous  of  noblemen,  and  a  great  number  of  barons,  fell 
with  the  king. 

A.  D.  1517. — James  V.  succeeded  his  father  when  only  one  year  old. 
The  office  of  regent  was  conferred  upon  his  cousin,  the  duke  of  Albany, 


52  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

a  man  of  genuis  and  enterprize,  a  native  of  France.  A  stranger  to  the 
manners,  the  laws  and  the  language  of  the  people  over  whom  he  was 
called  to  rule,  he  acted  rather  as  a  viceroy  of  the  French  king,  than  the 
governor  of  Scotland.  "When  James  had  attamed  his  thirteenth  year, 
Albany  retired  to  France ;  and  the  nobles  agreed  that  the  king  should  as- 
sume  the  government,  with  the  assistance  of  eight  counsellors,  among 
whom  was  the  earl  of  Angus,  who  soon  got  the  whole  authority  into  his 
own  hands.  James  was  continually  surrounded  by  the  earl's  spies  and 
confidants,  who  closely  watched  his  motions  ;  he,  however,  eluded  all 
their  vigilance,  and,  escaping  from  Falkland,  fled  to  the  castle  of  vStirling, 
the  residence  of  the  queen,  his  mother,  and  the  only  place  of  strength  in 
the  kingdom  which  was  not  in  the  hands  of  the  Douglasses.  The  nobles 
soon  appeared  at  Stirling,  and  the  court  of  James  was  presently  filled  by 
persons  of  the  first  distinction.  In  a  parliament  held  soon  after,  Angus 
and  his  adherents  were  attainted,  and  he  was  at  length  obliged  to  fly  to  Eng- 
land for  refuge.  James  had  now  not  only  the  name,  but  the  authority  of 
a  king.  His  understanding  was  good,  and  liis  person  graceful ;  but  his 
education  had  been  neglected.  He,  however,  formed  a  plan  for  humbling 
the  power  of  the  nobles,  more  profound  and  more  systematic  than  any  of 
his  predecessors.  The  Scottish  monarchs  had  the  sole  right  of  nomination 
to  vacant  bishoprics  and  abbeys;  and  James  naturally  concluded,  that 
men  who  expected  preferment  from  his  favour,  would  be  willing  to  merit 
it  by  promoting  his  designs.  Happily  for  him,  the  nobles  had  not  yet  re- 
covered the  blow  which  fell  on  their  order  at  Flodden,  and  James  treated 
them  with  coldness  and  reserve.  Those  oflices  which,  from  long  posses- 
sion, they  considered  as  appropriated  to  their  order,  were  bestowed  on 
ecclesiastics,  who  alone  possessed  his  confidence,  together  with  a  few 
gentlemen  of  inferior  rank.  These  ministers  were  chosen  with  judgment ; 
and  Cardinal  Beaton  was  a  man  of  superior  genius.  However,  a  false 
step  which  they  took,  presented  to  the  nobles  an  advantage  which  they 
did  not  fail  to  improve. 

Henry  VHI.  of  England,  unole  to  James,  proposed  a  personal  interview 
with  him  at  York,  with  a  view  lo  induce  him  to  throw  off  his  allegiance 
to  the  pope;  and  James  accepted  the  invitation.  By  the  persuasion  of 
his  ministers,  however,  James  bioke  his  agreement  with  Henry,  who,  in 
expectation  of  meeting  him,  had  already  come  to  York  ;  and  that  haughty 
monarch  resented  the  affront,  by  declaring  war  against  Scotland.  James 
was  now  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  his  nobles  for  the  defence  of  his  do- 
minions. At  his  command  they  assembled  their  followers,  it  is  true,  but 
with  the  same  dispositions  which  had  animated  their  ancestors  in  the  reign 
of  James  HI.  The  king,  perceiving  their  designs,  disbanded  the  army, 
and  retired  into  the  heart  of  the  kingdom.  Impatience,  indignation,  and 
resentment  against  the  nobles,  filled  his  bosom  by  turns.  He  became 
pensive,  sullen,  and  retired.  In  order  to  revive  his  spirits,  an  inroad  on 
the  western  border  was  concerted  by  his  minister,  who  prevailed  upon  the 
barons  in  the  neighbouring  provinces,  to  raise  as  many  troops  as  were 
thought  necessary,  and  to  enter  England.  But  nothing  could  remove  the 
king's  aversion  to  his  nobility,  or  dimmish  his  jealousy  of  their  power. 
He  would  not  even  trust  them  with  the  command  of  the  forces  which  they 
had  assembled,  but  appointed  Oliver  Sinclair,  his  favourite,  to  that  post. 
As  might  have  been  foreseen,  Sinclair  no  sooner  appeared  to  take  upon  him 
the  dignity  conferred,  than  an  universal  mutiny  took  place  in  the  army. 
Five  hundred  English,  who  happened  to  be  drawn  up  in  sight,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  this  disorder,  attacked  the  Scots  ;  when  hatred  to  the  king,  and 
contempt  for  his  general,  produced  an  effect  to  which  there  is  no  parallel 
in  history.  Ten  thousand  men  fled  before  an  army  so  vastly  inferior, 
without  striking  a  blow.  About  thirty  were  killed,  above  a  thousand  v.eio 
taken  prisoners,  and  among  them  one  hundred  and  sixty  persons  of  condi- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  mSTYRY.  63 

tion.  The  small  number  of  the  English  prevented  their  taking  more  pris- 
oners. As  sooner  as  this  affair  reached  the  king,  all  the  violent  passions 
which  are  the  enemies  of  life  preyed  on  his  mind  ;  the  deepest  melancholy 
and  despair  succeeded  to  the  furious  transports  of  his  rage.  Death  re- 
lieved him  from  his  anxiety ;  but  whether  from  the  diseases  of  his  mind, 
or  by  poison,  is  not  sufficiently  ascertained.  It  took  place  in  December, 
1542. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  REIGN  OF  MARV. — HOUSE  OF  STUART. 

A.  D.  1543. — Marv,  only  child  of  James  V.  and  Mary  of  Giiiso,  who  was 
born  only  a  few  days  before  the  death  of  her  father,  succeeded  to  the  crown. 
The  situation  in  which  he  left  the  kingdom,  and  the  perils  to  be  appre- 
hended from  a  lengthened  regency,  alarmed  all  ranks  of  men  with  the 
prospect  of  a  turbulent  and  disastrous  reign.     Cardinal  Deaton,  who  for 
many  years  had  been  considered  as  prime  minister,  was  the  first  that 
claimed  the  high  dignity  of  regent ;  in  support  of  his  pretensions,  he  pro- 
duced a  will,  which  he  himself  had  forged  in  the  name  of  the  late  king, 
and,  without  any  other  right,  instantly  assumed  the  title  of  regent.     He 
hoped,  by  the  assistance  of  the  clergy,  the  countenance  of  France,  the 
connivance  of  the  queen-dowager,  and  the  support  of  the  whole  popish 
faction,  to  hold  by  force  what  he  had  seized  on  by  fraud.     But  Beaton  had 
enjoyed  power  too  long  to  be  a  favourite  of  the  nation.     James  Hamilton, 
ean  of  Arran,  the  next  heir  to  the  queen,  w-as  called  forth,  by  the  general 
voice  of  the  nation,  to  take  upon  himself  the  high  office ;  and  the  noble.'', 
who  were  assembled  for  that  purpose,  unanimously  proclaimed  him  regent. 
Arran  had  scarcely  taken  possession  of  his  new  dignity,  when  a  negotia- 
tion was  opened  with  England,  which  gave  rise  to  events  of  the  must 
fatal  consequence  to  himself,  and  to  the  kingdom.     This  negotiation  em- 
braced a  proposal  from  Henry,  of  the  marriage  of  Edward,  his  only  son, 
with  the  young  queen  of  S(;ots.     All  those  who  feared  the  cardinal,  or 
who  desired  a  change  in  religion,  were  pleased  with  the  idea  of  an  alliance 
that  would  afford  protection  to  the  doctrine  which  they  had  embraced,  as 
well  as  to  their  own  persons,  against  the  rage  of  that  powerful  and  haughty 
prelate.     The  designs  which  Henry  had  formed  upon  Scotland,  were  ob- 
vious from  the  marriage  which  he  had  proposed,  and  he  had  not  dexterity 
enough  to  disguise  them.     He  demanded  that  the  young  queen  should  be 
put  under  his  care,  and  the  government  of  the  kingdom  placed  in  his  hands 
during  her  minority.     The  Scotch  parliament  consented  to  a  treaty  of  mar- 
riage and  of  union,  but  upon  terms  somewhat  more  equal.     The  Scots 
agreed  to  send  their  sovereign  into  England  as  soon  as  she  had  attained 
the  age  of  ten  years,  and  to  deliver  six  persons  of  the  first  rank,  to  be 
kept  as  hostages  by  Henry  till  the  queen's  arrival  at  his  court.     On  the 
side  of  Henry,  it  was  agreed  that  the  queen  should  continue  to  reside  in 
Scotland,  and  himself  remain  excluded  from  any  share  in  the  governmeni 
of  the  kingdom.     The  cardinal  complained  loudly  that  the  regent  had  be 
trayed  the  kingdom  to  its  most  inveterate  enemies,  and  sacrificed  its  hon 
our  to  his  own  ambition  ;  he  lamented  to  see  an  ancient  kingdom  consent- 
mg  to  its  own  servitude,  and  descending  into  the  ignominious  station  of  a 
province,  and  in  one  hour,  by  the  weakness  or  treachery  of  one  man,  sur. 
rendering  everything  for  which  the  Scottish  nation  had  struggled  and 
fought  during  so  many  ages.     These  remonstrances  of  the  cardinal  were 
not  without  effect,  and  the  whole  nation  declared  against  the  allaince  which 
had  been  concluded,      .^rgyll,   Huntley,  Both  well,  and  other  powerful 
barons,  declared  openly  against  the  alliance  with  Ihigland ;  by  their  asy- 


64  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

sistance  the  cardinal  seized  on  the  persons  of  the  young  queen  and  hei 
mother. 

On  the  25th  of  August,  1543,  the  regent  ratified  the  treaty  with  Henry, 
and  prochiimcd  the  cardinal,  wlio  still  continued  to  oppose  it,  an  enemy  to 
his  country.  On  the  3d  of  .September,  he  secretly  withdrew  from  Edin- 
burgh, and  had  an  interview  with  the  cardinal  at  Callandar,  where  he  not 
only  renounced  the  friendsiiip  of  England,  and  declared  for  the  interests 
of  France,  but  also  changed  his  sentiments  concerning  religion,  and  pub- 
licly renounced  the  doctrine  of  the  reformers  in  the  Franciscan  church  at 
Sterling.  The  cardinal  was  now  in  possession  of  everything  his  ambition 
could  desire,  and  exercised  all  the  authority  of  a  regent,  without  the  envy 
and  opprobrium  attached  to  the  name.  Henry  VIII.  was  not  of  a  temper 
to  bear  tamely  the  indignity  with  which  he  had  been  treated  both  by  the 
regent  and  the  parliament  of  Scotland,  and  determined  on  invading  that 
country.  The  earl  of  Hertford  liad  the  command  of  the  army  destined  for 
the  enterprise,  and  landed  it,  without  opposition,  a  few  miles  above  Leith. 
He  maiclied  directly  for  Edinburgh,  which  city  he  entered  May  3d,  1544. 
After  plundering  the  adjacent  country,  he  set  fire  to  both  these  towns; 
then  putting  his  booty  on  board  the  fleet,  reached  the  English  borders  in 
safety.  Peace  followed  soon  after;  but  Cardinal  Beaton  had  previously 
been  murdered  by  the  means  of  Norman  Leslie,  eldest  son  of  the  earl  of 
Rothes,  whom  the  cardinal  had  treated  not  only  with  injustice,  put  con- 
tempt. The  prelate  resided  at  that  time  in  the  castle  of  St.  Andrew's, 
which  he  had  fortified  at  a  great  expense,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  age, 
had  rendered  it  impregnable.  His  retiime  was  numerous,  the  town  at  fiis 
devotion,  and  the  neighbouring  country  full  of  his  dependents.  In  this 
situation  Leslie,  with  fifteen  others,  undertook  to  surprise  his  castle,  and 
assassinate  him;  and  their  success  was  equal  to  the  boldness  of  the  at- 
tempt. May  20th,  154G,  early  in  the  m-orning,  they  seized  on  the  gate  of 
the  castle,  which  was  open  for  the  accommodation  of  the  workmen  who 
were  employed  in  finisiiing  the  f(!rtifications;  and  having  placed  sentries 
at  the  door  of  the  cardinal's  apartment,  ihey  awakened  his  domestics  one 
by  one,  and  turning  them  out  of  the  castle,  they  murdered  him  without 
offering  violence  to  any  other  person,  thereby  delivering  their  country 
from  a  man  whose  pride  was  insupportable,  and  whose  cruelty  atid  cun- 
ning were  great  checks  to  the  reformation.  The  death  of  Beaton  was 
fatal  to  the  catholic  religion,  and  to  the  French  interest  in  Scotland.  The 
regent  threatened  vengeance,  but  the  threat  was  as  impotent  as  it  was 
unwise.  The  death  of  Henry  VIH.,  which  happened  January  28ih,  1547, 
blasted  the  hopes  of  the  conspirators,  by  whom  they  were  supported  both 
with  money  and  provisions.  Henry  II.  of  France,  sent  powerful  succours 
to  the  regent,  under  the  command  of  Leon  Strozzi ;  and  the  conspirators, 
after  a  short  resistance,  surrendered,  with  the  assurance  of  their  lives,  and 
were  sent  prisoners  to  France.     The  castle,  the  monument  of  Beaton's 

Sower  and  vanity,  was  demolished  in  obedience  to  the  canoji   law,  which 
enounces  its  anathemas  even  against  the  house  in  which  the  sacred  blood 
of  a  cardinal  happens  to  be  shed,  and  ordains  it  to  be  laid  in  ashes. 

Edward  VI.  v,'as  now  king  of  England,  and  the  earl  of  Hertford,  now 
duke  of  Somerset,  and  protector  of  the  kingdom,  entered  Scotland  at  the 
head  of  eighteen  thousand  men  ;  at  the  same  time  a  fleet  of  sixty  ships 
appeared  on  the  coast,  to  second  his  land  forces.  The  Scots  had  for 
some  time  seen  this  storm  gathering,  and  were  prepared  for  it.  Their 
army  was  almost  double  that  of  the  enemy,  and  posted  to  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage on  a  rising  ground  above  Musselburg,  not  far  from  the  banks  of 
the  Esk.  Confident  of  success,  they  attacked  the  English,  under  the 
duke  of  Somerset,  near  Pinkey,  September  10th,  1547,  who,  l::king  advan- 
tage of  their  impetuous  haste,  routed  tliem  with  considerable  loss.  The 
encounter  in  the  field  was  not  long,  but  the  pursuit  was  continued  for  some 


WW^''^^-^^ 


Castle  of  St.  Andrew's 


The  Forth,  from  Cambuskenneth  Castle. 


THE  TREASURY  0^=^  HI^ORY.  65 

time,  and  to  a  great  distance  ;  the  three  roads  by  which  the  Scots  fled, 
were  strewed  with  spears,  swords,  and  targets,  and  covered  with  the 
bodies  of  the  slain.  More  than  ten  thousand  men  fell  on  this  day,  one  of 
the  most  fatal  Scotland  had  ever  seen.  A  few  were  taken  prisoners,  and 
among  them  some  persons  of  distinction. 

A.  D.  1548. — The  Scottish  nobles  falling  in  with  the  prejudices  of  the 
queen  dowager  in  favour  of  France,  in  the  violence  of  their  resentment 
against  England,  voluntarily  proposed  to  Henry  II.  of  France,  a  marriage 
of  their  young  queen,  only  six  years  old,  with  the  dauphin,  eldest  son  of 
Henry  II.,  and  to  send  her  to  his  court  for  education.  Henry  witiiout 
hesitation  accepted  these  offers,  and  prepared  for  a  vigorous  defence  of 
his  new  acquisition.  On  the  loth  of  June,  1518,  the  treaty  was  concluded 
by  the  parUament  assembled  in  the  camp  bei'ore  Haddington  ;  and  Mary 
was  immediately  sent  to  France,  at  that  time  notoriously  the  most  cor- 
rupt court  in  Europe.  Here  -slie  acquired  every  accomplishment  tiiat 
could  add  to  her  charms  as  a  woman,  and  contracted  many  of  those 
prejudices  which  occasioned  her  misfortunes  as  a  queen.  Peace  was 
soon  afterwards  made  vi'iih  England  ;  and  both  the  British  and  Scottish 
nations  lost  power  by  this  unhappy  quarrel,  while  France  obtained  a  de- 
cided advantage.  The  reformation,  however,  gained  ground.  At  this 
lime  appeared  the  famous  John  Knox,  a  man  whose  natural  intrepidity  of 
mind  placed  him  far  above  fear.  He  began  his  public  ministry  at  St. 
Andrew's,  in  1547,  with  that  success  which  always  accompanies  a  bold 
and  popular  eloquence.  He  was  patronized  by  the  conspirators  while 
they  kept  possession  of  the  castle,  which  he  had  made  the  place  of  his 
abode.  At  this  time  the  qucen-dowager,  Mary  of  Guise,  aspired  to  the 
office  of  regent.  She  had  already  nearly  engrossed  the  administration  of 
affairs*  into  her  hands.  Her  designs  were  concealed  with  the  utmost  care, 
and  advanced  by  address  and  refinement ;  her  brothers  entered  warmly 
mto  the  scheme,  and  supported  it  with  all  tlieir  credit  at  the  court  of 
France.  The  queen-dowager  visited  France  in  1550  ;  from  llience  over- 
ures  were  made  to  the  regent  to  resign  his  situation  in  her  favour,  which 
.he  king  of  France  enforced,  by  an  artful  admixture  of  threats  and 
promises ;  .so  that  he  was  induced  to  relinquish  his  power,  which  he 
formally  laid  down  in  1554,  and  the  parliament  raised  Mary  of  Guise  to 
that  dignity.  Thus  was  a  woman,  and  a  stranger,  advanced  to  the 
supreme  authority  in  Scotland! 

A.  D.  1558. — On  the  14ih  of  April,  the  marriage  of  the  young  queen  took 
place  with  the  dauphin  Francis,  and  the  parliament  of  Scotland  sent  eight 
of  its  members  to  represent  their  whole  body  at  the  nuptials.  In  l!ie 
treaty  of  marriage,  the  dauphin  was  allowed  to  assume  the  title  of  king  of 
Scotland  as  an  honorary  title.  The  French  king,  however,  soon  after  in- 
sisted that  the  dauphin's  title  should  be  publicly  recognized,  and  all  the 
right  appertaining  to  the  husband  of  a  queen  should  be  vested  in  his  per- 
son, upon  which  the  Scotch  parliament,  (Nov.  29),  passed  an  act  confer- 
ring the  crown  matrimonial  on  the  daupliin.  The  earl  of  Argyll,  and 
James  Stuart,  prior  of  St.  Andrew's,  were  appointed  to  carry  the  crown 
and  other  ensigns  of  royalty  to  the  dauphin.  But  from  this  they  were 
diverted  by  the  part  they  were  called  upon  to  act  in  a  more  interesting 
scene,  which  now  began  to  open.  The  bigoted  Queen  Mary,  of  England, 
whose  religious  persecutions  had  earned  for  her  a  still  more  offensive 
name,  died  on  the  17th  of  November,  1558  ;  and  Elizabeth,  her  sister,  took 
possession  of  the  English  throne.  In  order  to  gratify  the  arbitrary 
caprice  of  Henry,  Elizabeth  as  well  as  her  predecessor,  Mary,  had  heea 
declared  illegitimate  by  the  parliament ;  but  in  his  last  will  he  declared 
them  the  successors  on  the  throne  to  their  brother  Edward  ;  at  the  same 
time  passing  by  the  posterity  of  his  sister  Margaret,  queen  of  Sc-otland, 
and  continuing  the"  line  of  succession  to  his  sister,  the  duchess  o( 
5 


(56  '  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Suffolk.  Rome  trembled  for  the  catholic  faith  under  a  queen  of  sucb 
abilities  as  Elizabeth  was  known  to  possess.  Spain  and  France  were 
equally  alarmed.  Instigated  by  the  impetuous  ambition  of  the  Guises, 
who  governed  the  court  of  France,  Henry,  soon  after  the  death  of  Mary 
persuaded  his  daughter-in-law,  and  his  son,  her  husband,  to  assume  the 
title  of  king  and  queen  of  England.  Thev  affected  to  publish  this  to 
all  Europe  and  used  that  style  and  appellrtion  in  public  papers.  The 
arms  of  England  was  engraved  on  their  cjin,  and  on  their  plate,  and 
borne  by  them  on  all  occasions ;  but  no  preparations  were  made  to  sup- 
port this  impolitic  and  premature  claim.  Elizabeth  was  already  seated  on 
her  throne  ;  she  possessed  all  the  intrepidity  of  spirit,  and  all  the  arts  of 
policy  which  were  necessary  for  maintaining  that  station ;  and  England 
was  growing  into  reputation  for  naval  power,  while  that  of  France  was 
neglected.  It  was  absurd  to  expect  that  the  Scottish  protestants  would 
assist  to  dethrone  a  queen  whom  all  Europe  began  to  consider  as  the 
most  powerful  guardian  and  defender  of  the  reformed  faith.  Yet,  absurd 
as  it  was,  in  1559,  the  queen-regent  issued  a  proclamation,  enjoining  all 
persons  to  observe  the  approaching  festival  of  Easter  according  to  the 
Romish  ritual.  The  protestants,  who  saw  danger  approaching,  in  order 
to  av£rt  it,  engaged  the  earl  of  Glencairn,  and  Sir  Hugh  Campbell,  of 
London,  to  expostulate  with  her.  Without  disguise  or  apology,  she 
avowed  to  them  her  resolution  of  extirpating  the  reformed  religion  out  of 
the  kingdom,  and  soon  after  summoned  all  the  protestant  preachers  in 
the  kingdom  to  a  court  of  justice,  to  be  held  at  Stirling  on  the  10th  day  of 
May.  The  reformed  convened  in  great  numbers  to  attended  their  pastors 
to  Stirling.  The  regent  being  alarmed  at  their  being  so  numerous, 
although  unarmed,  promised  to  put  a  stop  to  the  intended  trial,  and  they 
dispersed  towards  their  own  habitations.  The  regent  had  little  regard  to 
her  promise.  The  10th  of  May  arrived.  The  names  of  those  were  called 
who  had  been  summoned  ;  and,  upon  their  non-appearance,  they  were  pro- 
nounced outlaws.  This  conduct  occasioned  an  insurrction  in  Perth; 
the  churches  were  defaced,  the  altars  were  overturned,  the  images  broken 
in  pieces,  the  pictures  torn,  and  the  monasteries  almost  levelled  with  the 
ground.  A  truce  was  soon  after  concluded  between  the  regent  and  the 
protestants,  which  was  presently  broken  by  the  former,  and  the  proies- 
tants  again  took  to  arms,  not  only  with  a  view  of  redressing  their  reli- 
gious, but  their  civil  grievances,  and  the  protestant  army,  wherever  it 
came,  spread  the  ardour  of  reformation.  The  gates  of  every  town  were 
thrown  open  to  receive  them ;  and,  without  striking  a  blow,  they  took 
possession  of  Edinburgh,  June  29,  1559. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  Henry  II.  of  France  died;  and  Francis,  the  husband 
of  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  queen-regent  was 
soon  after  deprived  of  her  power  by  the  protestants  ;  but  the  P'rench  garri- 
son in  Leith  refused  to  surrender  that  place,  nor  were  the  Scots  in  a  con- 
dition to  compel  them.  In  this  situation  of  affairs,  application  was  made  to 
Elizabeth  for  assistance.  She  sent  to  them  a  supply  of  four  thousand 
crowns,  which  was  intercepted  by  Bothwell,  and  carried  off.  A  second 
application  was  made,  imploring  her  assistance.  Elizabeth  had  observed 
llie  prevalence  of  French  councils,  and  had  already  come  to  a  resolution 
with  regard  to  the  pan  she  would  act,  if  their  power  should  grow  more 
formidable.  In  January,  1560,  an  English  fleet  arrived  in  the  frith  of 
Forth,  and  cast  anchor  in  the  road  of  Leith.  The  English  army,  consist- 
ing of  six  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Grey  of  Wilton,  and  attended  by  a  prodigious  number  of  protestants, 
entered  Scotland  early  in  the  spring,  and  advanced  towards  Leith,  which 
they  invested.  Nothing  could  now  save  the  French  troops  shut  up  in 
Leith,  but  the  immediate  conclusion  of  peace,  or  the  arrival  of  a  powerful 
army  from  the  continent     They  chose  the  former;  and  Elizabeth  not 


7liK  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  fff 

only  obtained  honourable  conditions  for  her  allies,  but  for  herself;  par- 
ticularly an  acknowledgment  of  her  right  to  the  crown  of  England  from 
Francis  and  Mary,  who  in  the  treaty  solemnly  engaged  neither  to  assume 
the  title,  nor  to  bear  the  arms  of  king  and  queen  of  England,  in  any  time 
to  come ;  this  peace  was  signed  July  6,  1560.  "While  this  peace  was 
negotiating,  the  queen-regent  died  ;  and  on  the  4th  of  December  Francis  II. 
paid  the  debt  of  nature.  He  was  a  prince  of  a  weak  constitution,  and 
Btill  weaker  intellect.  The  ancient  confederacy  of  the  two  kingdoms  had 
already  been  broken ;  and  by  the  death  of  Francis  the  chief  bond  of 
union  which  remained  was  dissolved. 

In  1561,  the  convention  invited  the  queen  to  return  to  Scotland,  her 
native  countrj%  and  to  assume  the  reins  of  government.  She  sailed  from 
Calais  in  a  galley,  and  on  the  19th  of  August  landed  safely  at  Leith,  where 
she  was  received  by  her  subjects  with  acclamations  of  joy.  With  a  view 
to  gain  Elizabeth's  favour,  and  conformable  to  the  plan  which  had  been 
concerted  in  France,  Mary  committed  the  administration  of  affairs  entirely 
to  protestants.  Elizabeth  commanded  Randolph  to  congratulate  her  on 
her  safe  return  ;  and  Mary  sent  Maitland  to  the  English  court  with  cere- 
monious expressions  of  regard  for  the  queen.  Mary  had  now  been  several 
years  a  widow,  and  numerous  applications  from  different  courts  were 
made  for  her  hand  without  effect.  The  queen  of  England  recommended 
Robert  Dudley,  afterwards  earl  of  Leicester  to  her  choice.  The  high 
spirit  of  Mary  could  not  well  bear  the  first  overture  of  a  match  with  an 
English  subject.  She  dissembled,  however,  with  the  English  resident, 
and  married  her  cousin.  Lord  Darnley,  eldest  son  of  the  earl  of  Lenox. 
The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  queen's  chapel,  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Romish  church,  on  the  25th  of  July,  1565.  Darnley's  external 
accomplishments  had  excited  that  sudden  and  violent  passion  which 
raised  him  to  the  throne.  But  his  understanding  was  weak,  and  he  was 
inexperienced  and  conceited.  A  few  months  after  marriage  their  domes- 
tic quarrels  began  to  be  observed.  Rizzio,  an  Italian  musician,  whom 
Darnley  had  at  first  taken  into  great  confidence,  had  now  incurred  his 
displeasure;  and  he  imputed  the  change  in  the  queen's  conduct  towards 
him,  to  his  insinuations  ;  and  Mary's  behaviour  was  undoubtedly  such  as 
to  confirm  these  suspicions.  She  treated  this  Italian  with  a  familiarity, 
and  admitted  him  to  a  share  in  her  confidence,  which  neither  his  first 
condition,  nor  the  oflice  of  French  secretary  to  the  queen,  which  she  had 
lately  bestowed  on  him.  gave  him  any  title.  He  was  perpetually  in  her 
company ;  and,  together  with  a  few  favourites,  was  the  companion  of  all 
her  private  amusements.  The  haughty  spirit  of  Darnley  could  not  bear 
the  intrusion  of  such  an  upstart,  and,  impatient  of  any  delay,  he  resolved 
to  get  rid  of  him  by  violence.  Nothing  remained  but  to  concert  the  plan 
of  operation,  and  choose  the  actors.  The  place  appointed  for  Rizzio's 
murder  was  the  queen's  bed-chamber.  Darnley  himself  selected  it,  in 
order  that  he  might  have  the  satisfaction  of  reproaching  him  with  his 
crimes  before  the  queen's  face.  On  the  9th  of  March,  1556,  Morton 
entered  the  court  of  the  palace  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  men,  and 
.seized  all  the  gates  without  resistance.  W^hile  the  queen  was  at  supper 
with  the  countess  of  Argyll  and  Rizzio,  the  king  suddenly  entered  the 
apartment.  Close  behind  him  was  Ruthven,  clad  in  complete  armour ;  and 
three  or  four  followed  him.  Rizzio,  conscious  of  his  baseness,  supposing 
himself  their  victim,  took  shelter  behind  the  queen,  taking  hold  of  her, 
hoping  that  she  might  prove  some  protection  to  him.  Numbers  of  armed 
men  rushed  into  the  chamber.  Ruthven  drew  his  dagger,  and  furiously 
commanded  Rizzio  to  leave  a  place  of  which  he  was  so  unworthy,  and 
which  he  had  occupied  too  long.  Mary  employed  tears,  entreaties,  and 
Ihreatenings,  to  save  her  favourite  ;  but  notwithstanding  all  these,  he  was 
lorn  from  her  by  violence ;  and  before  he  could  be  dragged  through  the 
next  apartment,  his  body  was  pierced  with  fifty-six  wounds. 


gg  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Mary  was  but  a  very  short  time  without  a  favourite.  James  Hepburn, 
earl  of  Bothwell,  a  man  of  base  character,  gained  an  ascendancy  over 
her  heart;  and  the  king- was  treated  with  indifference  and  neglect.  On 
the  19th  of  June,  1566,  she  was  dehvered  of  a  son.  This  event  did  not 
in  the  least  alter  her  opinion  in  favour  of  her  husband,  and  her  aversion 
to  hini  was  excessive.  Bothwell  was  the  object  of  her  admiration. 
Henry  had  for  some  time  resided  at  Glasgow,  where  he  had  suffered 
severely  from  illness.  Thither  Mary  went,  and  prevailed  upon  him  to 
come  to  Edinburgh,  to  which  place  he  was  carried  in  a  litter.  The  house 
prepared  for  his  reception  belonged  to  the  provost  of  a  collegiate  church, 
called  Kirk  of  Field,  and  had  all  the  advantages  of  healthful  air  to  recom- 
mend it,  and  its  solitude  rendered  it  a  proper  place  for  the  commission  of 
that  crime,  with  a  view  to  which  it  seems  manifestly  to  have  been  chosen. 
Mary  attended  the  king  with  assiduous  care;  she  even  slept  two  nights  in 
the  chamber  under  his  apartment.  On  Sunday,  the  9th  of  February,  1567, 
she  left  him,  in  order  to  be  present  at  a  masque  in  the  palace.  At  two 
o'clock  the  next  morning  the  house  was  blown  up  with  gunpowder.  The 
dead  body  of  the  king,  with  that  of  a  servant  who  slept  in  the  same  room, 
were  found  lying  in  an  adjacent  garden,  without  the  city  wall,  untouched 
by  fire,  and  with  no  bruise  or  mark  of  violence.  The  queen  and  Bothwell 
were  generally  suspected  of  the  murder,  not  only  by  her  own  subjects,  but 
by  all  Europe,  over  which  the  news  spread  rapidly,  and  excited  universal 
horror;  but  what  contributed  most  to  convince  the  world  of  her  guilt,  was 
her  marriage,  on  the  15lh  day  of  May  follov/ing,  with  Bothwell.  This  inde 
cent  act  excited  particular  indignation  and  abhorrence  in  the  Scots;  and 
in  one  month  Bothwell  was  obliged  to  make  a  hasty  flight  to  Norway, 
where  he  died  in  a  miserable  state,  while  Mary  surrendered  herself  to  the 
nobles,  who  conducted  her  to  Edinburgh,  amid  the  execrations  of  thf 
soldiers  and  the  multitude.  The  following  evening  she  was  conveyed, 
under  a  strong  guard,  to  Lochlevin  castle,  and  put  under  the  care  oi 
William  Douglas,  the  owner  of  it.  to  keep  her  as  a  prisoner.  In  this 
place  she  resigned  the  crown  to  her  son,  and  appointed  the  earl  of  Murray 
regent. 

A.  D.  1567. — James  VI.,  at  the  time  an  infant,  was  crowned  at  Stirling 
on  the  29th  day  of  Jidy,  1567  ;  and  the  earl  of  IMurray  assumed  the 
regency,  the  good  effects  of  which  was  quickly  felt.  He  called  a  parlia- 
ment, that  confirmed  the  proceedings  of  the  confederates.  Here  the  let- 
ters which  Mary  had  written  to  Bothwell  were  produced,  which  proved 
her  to  be  accessory  to  the  murder  of  the  king.  Yet  George  Douglas,  a 
youth  of  eighteen,  and  brother  to  William  Douglas,  who  had  charge  oi 
Mary,  was  induced,  by  her  affable  and  insinuating  manner,  to  let  her 
escape.  On  Sunday,  the  2d  of  Maj^  while  his  brother  was  at  supper,  he 
procured  the  keys  which  unlocked  her  apartment ;  and  the  queen  and  one 
of  her  maids  were  suffered  to  escape  to  a  boat  on  the  lake  ready  to  receive 
her.  She  travelled  all  night,  attended  by  Douglas,  Seton,  and  Sir  James 
Hamilton,  and  in  two  days  reached  Hamilton,  where  she  raised  a  large 
army.  The  regent  was  at  Glasgow,  holding  a  court  of  justice,  when  he 
heard  of  Mary's  flight ;  and  her  army,  already  strong,  was  only  eight 
miles  distant.  In  this  dangerous  exigency  the  superiority  of  Murray's 
genius  appeared,  and  he  was  soon  in  a  condition  to  take  the  field.  Be- 
tween the  two  armies,  and  on  the  road  towards  Dumbarton,  lay  Langside- 
hill.  This  the  regent  had  the  precaution  to  seize,  and  here  he  awaited  the 
approach  of  the  enemy.  The  encounter  was  fierce  and  desperate ;  at 
length  the  queen's  army  was  obliged  to  give  ground,  and  the  rout  imme- 
diately became  universal.  Mary  witnessed  the  battle  from  a  hill,  and 
when  she  saw  the  army,  her  last  hope,  thrown  into  irretrievable  confusion, 
she  began  her  flight,  and  never  slept  till  she  reached  the  abbey  of  Dun- 
drenan,  in  Galloway,  full  sixty  Scots  miles  from  the  field  of  battle.     From 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  69 

tlience  she  escaped  in  a  fisherman's  boat  to  Carlisle,  with  about  twenty- 
attendants.  This  event  took  place  on  the  Ifith  of  May,  15G8,  Elizabeth 
no  sooner  heard  that  Mary  had  arrived  in  England,  than  she  resolved  to 
detain  her.  With  this  view  she  instantly  dispatched  Lord  Scrope,  and 
Sir  P'rancis  KnoUys,  with  letters  full  of  kindness  and  condolence  ;  but  at 
the  same  time  gave  orders  to  prevent  her  escape.  Mary  was  soon  after 
conducted  to  Bolton,  a  seat  of  Lord  Scrope's  on  the  borders  of  Yorkshire. 
She  was  some  time  after,  on  account  of  a  rebellion  in  her  favour,  removed 
to  Coventry,  a  place  of  strength,  which  could  not  be  taken  without  a  reg- 
ular siege.  Weary  of  keeping  such  a  prisoner  as  the  Scotch  queen,  Eliza- 
beth resolved  to  deliver  her  to  the  regent  on  certain  conditions.  But  wliile 
this  affair  was  in  negotiation,  the  regent  was  murdered  by  Hamilton,  of 
Bothwellhaugh,  a  person  who  owed  his  life  to  the  regent's  clemency. 
Thus  ended  the  celebrated  man,  James  Stuart,  natural  son  of  James  the 
Fifth,  by  Lady  Erskine,  and  natural  brother  of  Mary,  queen  of  Scots.  He 
possessed  personal  intrepidity,  military  skill,  and  sagacity.  He  was  a 
friend  to  learning,  zealous  for  the  reformed  religion,  and  liberal  to  all 
whom  he  esteemed  worthy  of  his  confidence  and  friendship.  He  was  long 
and  aff'ectionately  remembered  among  the  people  by  the  name  of  the 
"good  regent." 

A.  D.  1570. — The  earl  of  Lenox,  father  of  the  unfortunate  Darnley,  the 
husband  of  Mary,  was  elected  regent  on  the  13th  of  July,  1570 ;  and  in 
1571  Dumbarton  castle  was  attacked  and  taken  by  Captain  Crawford  ;  a 
service  of  great  importance  to  the  regent,  being  the  only  fortified  place  in 
the  kingdom  that  held  out  for  the  queen.  He  was,  however,  surprised 
and  murdered  at  Stirling,  on  tiie  3d  of  September,  1571.  The  earl  of  Mar 
was  chosen  regent  by  a  majority  of  voices,  on  the  Rlh  of  September,  but 
he  retained  the  situation  no  longer  than  the  29ih  of  October,  1572,  when 
the  earl  of  Morton  was  elected,  the  fourth  who  had  held  that  dangerous 
office  in  the  space  of  five  years.  James  was  now  in  the  twelfth  year  of 
his  age.  Alexander  Erskine  had  the  chief  direction  of  his  education  ;  and 
under  him  the  celebrated  Buchanan  acted  as  preceptor,  assisted  by  three 
others  of  the  first  ability.  The  nation  groaned  under  the  oppressions  of 
Morton;  and  those  about  the  king  infused  into  him  suspicions  of  his 
power  and  designs.  The  earls  of  Athol  and  Argyll  were  animated  against 
him  with  implacable  resentment;  they  beseeched  the  king  to  call  •• 
council  of  the  nobles.  James  consented,  and  letters  were  issued  for  that 
purpose.  This  council  met  March  24,  1578,  and  advised  the  king  to  de- 
prive Morton  of  the  regency,  and  take  the  reins  of  government  into  his 
own  hands.  Morton  immediately  acquiesced ;  and  a  council  of  twelve 
peers  were  appointed  to  assist  the  king  in  tlie  administration  of  affairs. 
Morton, however,  gained  theascendancyina  month, and  resumed  hisformer 
authority.  James  early  discovered  thai  excessive  attachment  to  favour- 
ites which  accompanied  him  through  life.  Esme  Stuart,  second  brother 
of  the  earl  of  Lenox,  by  birth  a  Frenchman,  and  Captain  James  Stuart, 
second  son  of  Lord  Ochiltree,  were  most  in  his  confidence.  Both  tliese 
favourites  laboured  to  undermine  the  authority  of  Morton;  they  accused 
him  of  the  murder  of  the  late  king,  and  oftered  to  verify  this  charge  by 
legal  evidence.  Morton  was  confined  first  to  his  own  house,  and  after- 
wards in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  ;  and  he  was  soon  a''*"^r  tried,  condemn- 
ed, and  executed.  What  he  confessed  with  regard  to  the  crime  is  re- 
markable ;  it  amounted  to  this,  that  Bothwell  and  Huntley  were  the  per- 
petrators, and  that  the  queen  was  the  author  of  it.  Morton  was  executed 
in  1581.  The  enterprise  called  the  "  raid  of  Ruthven"  happened  in  the 
following  year,  when  the  king  was  seized  in  Ruthven  castle  by  Cowrie, 
Boyd,  Glamis,  and  Oliphant.  This  conspiracy,  it  is  said,  was  counte- 
nanced by  Elizabeth.  James,  however,  in  June,  J583,  escaped  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  conspirators,  after  upwards  of  ten  uKMith's  confinement. 


70  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

In  1584,  the  partisans  of  Mary  were  busied  in  a  conspiracy  againal 
Elizabeth,  called  the  Great  Plot,  or  Designment,  which  she  no  sooner  din- 
covered,  than  she  resolved  to  lake  Mary  out  of  the  hands  of  tiie  earl  ol 
Shrewsbury,  who  had  had  the  care  of  her  fifteen  years,  and  appointed  Sii 
Amias  Pau'let  and  Sir  Drue  Drury  to  be  her  keepers.  Soon  after  this  an 
act  was  passed,  which  rendered  Mary  accountable  not  only  for  her  owu 
actions,  but  for  those  of  others,  in  consequence  of  which  she  might  forfeit 
her  right  of  succession,  and  even  her  life  itself.  From  this  period  Mary 
was  treated  with  inereased  rigour;  almost  all  her  servants  were  dismissed, 
she  was  removed  to  Teibury,  and,  shortly  after,  was  tried  and  executed. 

The  next  event  of  importance  connected  with  the  court  of  Scotland, 
was  the  marriage  of  James  to  the  princess  Ann  of  Denmark,  which  took 
place  November  24,  1589.  As  the  prospect  of  succeeding  to  the  crown  ot 
England  drew  near,  James  thought  it  prudent  to  endeavour  to  gain  a  party 
in  that  country.  Edward  Bruce,  his  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Elizabeth, 
solicited  her  in  the  most  earnest  manner  to  recognize  his  title  by  some 
public  deed ;  but  a  general  and  evasive  answer  was  all  that  James  could 
obtain.  As  no  impression  could  be  made  on  the  queen,  the  ambassador 
was  then  ordered  to  sound  the  disposition  of  her  subjects.  In  this  he 
succeeded,  and  many  of  the  highest  rank  gave  him  repeated  assurances  oi 
their  resolution  to  assert  his  master's  right  against  every  pretender. 

During  the  summer  of  IGOO,  Scotland  enjoyed  an  unusual  tranquillity, 
when,  in  the  midst  of  this  security,  the  king's  life  was  exposed  to  the  ut- 
most danger,  by  a  conspiracy  altogether  unexpected,  and  almost  inexpli- 
cable. The  authors  of  it  were  John  Ruthven,  earl  of  Gowrie,  and  his 
brother  Alexander,  the  sons  of  that  earl  who  was  beheaded  in  the  year 
1584.  On  the  4lh  of  August,  as  the  king,  who  during  the  hunting  season 
resided  at  Falkland,  was  going  out  to  his  sport  early  in  the  morning,  he 
was  accosted  by  Mr.  Alexander  Ruthven,  who,  with  an  air  of  importance, 
told  him,  that  the  evening  before  he  had  met  an  unknown  man,  of  a  sus- 
picious appearance,  walking  alone  in  a  by-path,  near  his  brother's  house 
at  Perth,  and  on  searching  him,  had  found  under  his  cloak  a  pot  filled 
with  a  great  quantity  of  foreign  gold  ;  that  he  had  immediately  seized 
both  him  and  his  treasure,  and,  without  communicating  the  matter  to  any 
person,  had  kept  him  confined  and  bound  in  a  solitary  house,  and  that  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  impart  such  a  singular  event  first  of  all  to  his  maj- 
esty.°  James  immediately  suspected  this  person  to  be  a  seminary  priest 
supplied  with  foreign  gold,  in  order  to  excite  new  commotions  in  the 
kingdom,  and  resolved,  to  empower  the  magistrates  of  Perth  to  call  the 
person  before  them,  and  inquire  into  all  the  circumstances  of  the  story. 
Ruthven  violently  opposed  this  resolution,  and,  with  many  arguments,  m- 
duced  the  king  to  ride  directly  to  Perth,  and  to  examine  the  matter  in 
person.  When  within  a  mile  of  the  town,  Ruthven  rode  forward  to  inform 
his  brother  of  the  king's  arrival,  with  about  twenty  attendants.  No  prep- 
arations were  made  for  his  entertainment ;  although  the  earl  appeared  pen- 
sive and  embarrassed,  he  took  great  pains  to  atone,  by  his  courtesy,  for 
the  common  fare  with  which  he  treated  his  guest.  As  soon  as  the  king's 
repast  was  over,  his  attendants  were  conducted  to  dinner  in  another  room. 
Ruthven  told  him  now  was  the  time  to  go  to  the  chamber  where  the  un- 
known person  was  kept;  and,  conducting  the  king  up  a  staircase,  and 
then  through  several  apartments,  the  doors  of  which  he  locked  behind 
him,  led  him  at  last  to  a  small  study,  in  which  stood  a  man  clad  in  armour, 
with  a  sword  and  a  dagger  by  his  side.  The  king,  who  expected  to  have 
found  one  disarmed  and  bound,  started  at  the  sight.  Ruthven,  snatching 
the  dagger  from  the  girdle  of  the  man  in  armour,  and  holding  it  to  the 
king's  breast,  "  Remember,"  said  he,  "  how  unjustly  my  Cainer  suffered  by 
your  command.  You  are  now  my  prisoner  ;  submit  to  my  disposal  with- 
out resistance  or  outcry,  or  this  dagger  shall  instantly  revenge  his  blood." 


,1^' 


View  op  Perth. 


Stirling  Castle 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  71 

James  expostulated  with  Ruthven,  entreated,  and  flattered  him.  Words 
had  no  effect.  Rutliven  told  him  that  he  must  die,  and  attempted  to  bind 
his  hands.  James,  unarmed  as  he  was,  scorned  to  submit  to  that  indig- 
nity, and,  losing  with  the  assassin,  a  fierce  struggle  ensued,  the  man  in 
armour  standing  motionless  all  the  while,  and  the  king  dragging  Ruthven 
towards  a  window  which  was  open.  The  king  then,  with  a  voice  of  ter- 
ror, loudly  exclaimed,  "  Treason  !  treason  !  help!  I  am  murdered  !"  His 
attendants  heard  and  knew  his  voice,  and  saw  at  the  window  a  hand  which 
grasped  the  king's  neck  with  violence.  They  flew  to  his  assistance,  and 
Sir  John  Ramsay  first  entering  the  apartment,  rushed  upon  Ruthven,  who 
was  still  struggling  with  his  royal  master,  struck  him  twice  with  his 
dagger,  and  thrust  him  towards  the  stairs,  where  Sir  Thomas  Erskine 
and  Sir  Hugh  Herries  met  and  killed  him.  Gowrie  now  rushed  into  the 
room,  with  a  sword  in  each  hand,  followed  by  seven  of  his  attendants 
well  armed,  and,  with  a  loud  voice,  threatened  them  all  with  instant  death. 
Notwithstanding  the  inequality  of  numbers,  they  encountered  the  earl,  and 
Sir  John  Ramsay  pierced  Gowrie  to  the  heart,  who  fell  without  uttering 
a  word.  His  followers  having  received  several  wounds,  immediately 
fled.  The  parliament  lost  no  time  in  proceeding  against  the  conspirators. 
The  dead  bodies  of  the  two  brothers  were  produced  there  according  to 
law,  an  indictment  for  high  treason  was  preferred  against  them,  witnesses 
were  examined,  and,  by  an  unanimous  sentence,  tlie  punishment  due  to 
traitors  was  inflicted  on  their  dead  bodies.  The  parliament  also  enacted 
that  the  surname  of  Ruthven  should  be  abolished. 

Queen  Elizabeth  died  on  the  24th  of  March,  1604,  in  the  seventieth  year 
of  her  age,  and  the  forty-fifth  of  her  reign.  A  short  lime  previous  to  her 
death,  she  declared  to  Cecil  and  the  lord-admiral,  "  that  her  cousin,  the 
king  of  Scots,  should  be  her  successor."  This  she  confirmed  on  her 
death-bed.  As  soon  as  she  had  breathed  her  last,  the  lords  of  the  council 
proclaimed  James  king  of  England.  All  the  intrigues  carried  on  by  for- 
eigners in  favour  of  the  infanta,  all  the  cabals  formed  within  the  kingdom 
to  support  the  title  of  Lady  Arabella  Stuart  and  the  earl  of  Hertford  dis- 
appeared in  a  moment.  Sir  Charles  Percy,  brother  to  the  earl  of  Nor- 
thumberland, and  Thomas  Somerset,  son  of  the  earl  of  Worcester,  were 
dispatched  to  Scotland  with  a  letter  to  James,  signed  by  all  the  peers  and 
privy  councillors  then  in  London,  informing  him  of  Elizabeth's  decease, 
and  of  his  accession  to  the  throne.  He  prepared  to  set  out  for  London, 
and  appointed  the  queen  to  follow  him  within  a  few  weeks. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  ACCESSION  OK  JAMES  THE  SIXTH  OF  SCOTLAND,  AND  THE  FIRST  OF  ENGLAND 

On  the  5th  of  April  James  began  his  journey  with  a  splendid  train,  and 
entering  London  on  the  7th  of  May,  took  peaceable  possession  of  the 
throne  of  England.  But  from  this  period  to  the  legislative  union  of  the 
kingdoms,  Scotland  declined  not  only  in  importance  but  in  wealth.  In- 
stead of  enjoying  any  advantages  by  the  alliance,  it  was  considered  rather 
as  an  appendage  of  England  than  an  important  part  of  Great  Britain, 
and  it  was  consequently  neglected. 

We  shall  in  this  place  introduce  the  reflections  of  that  able  historian, 
Dr.  Robertson,  on  the  alteration  produced  in  the  political  and  social  state 
o^  Scotland  by  this  event.  "The  Scots,"  he  says,  "  dazzled  with  the 
glory  of  giving  a  sovereign  to  their  powerful  enemy,  relying  on  the  par- 
tiality of  their  native  prince,  and  in  full  expectation  of  sharing  liberally 
in  the  wealth  and  honours  which  he  now  would  be  able  to  bestow,  at- 


72  THE  TllEASUUY  OF  HISTOaV. 

lended  little  to  the  most  obvious  consequences  of  that  great  event,  and 
rejoiced  at  his  accession  to  the  tlirone  of  Kiii^hiud,  as  if  it  had  been  no 
less  beneficial  to  the  kingdom  than  honourable  to  the  king.  By  his  ac- 
cession, James  acquired  such  an  immense  increase  of  wealth,  power, 
and  splendour,  that  the  nobles,  astonished  and  intimidated,  thought  it  vain 
to  struggle  for  privileges  whicfi  they  were  now  unable  to  defend.  Nor 
■was  it  from  fear  alone  ihey  submitted  to  the  yoke  ;  James,  partial  to  his 
countrymen,  and  willing  that  they  should  partake  in  his  good  fortune, 
loaded  them  with  riches  and  honours  ;  and  the  hope  of  his  favour  concuwed 
with  the  dread  of  his  power,  in  taming  their  fierce  and  independent  spirits. 
The  will  of  the  prince  became  the  supreme  law  in  Scotland,  and  the 
nobles  strove,  with  emulation,  who  should  most  implicitly  obey  commands 
which  they  had  formerly  been  accustomed  to  contemn.  Satisfied  with 
having  subjected  the  nobles  to  the  crown,  the  king  left  them  in  full  posses- 
sion of  their  ancient  jurisdiction  over  their  own  vassals.  The  extensive 
rights  vested  in  a  feudal  chief,  became  in  their  hands  dreadful  instruments 
of  oppression,  and  the  miHtary  ideas  on  which  these  rights  were  founded, 
being  gradually  lost  or  disregarded,  nothing-  remained  to  correct  or  to 
mitigate  the  rigour  with  which  they  were  exercised.  The  nobles  exhaust- 
ing their  fortunes  by  the  expense  of  frequent  attendance  upon  the  English 
court,  and  by  attempts  to  imitate  the  manners  and  luxury  of  their  more 
wealthy  neighbours,  multiplied  exactions  upon  the  people,  who  durst 
hardly  utter  complaints  which  they  knew  would  never  reach  the  ear  of 
their  sovereign,  nor  move  him  to  grant  them  any  redress.  From  the 
union  of  the  crowns  to  the  revolution  in  1688,  Scotland  was  placed  in  a 
political  situation  of  all  others  the  most  singular  and  unhappy ;  subjected 
at  once  to  the  absolute  will  of  a  monarch,  and  to  the  oppressive  jurisdiction 
of  an  aristocracy,  it  suffered  all  the  miseries  peculiar  to  both  these  forms 
of  government.  Its  kings  were  despotic,  its  nobles  were  slaves  and 
tyrants,  and  the  people  groaned  under  the  rigorous  domination  of  both." 
As  the  nobles  were  deprived  of  power,  the  people  acquired  liberty. 
Exempted  from  burdens  to  which  they  were  formerly  subject,  screened 
from  oppression,  to  which  they  had  long  been  exposed,  and  adopted  into 
a  constitution  whose  genius  and  laws  were  more  liberal  than  their  own, 
they  extended  their  commerce,  refined  tlieir  manners,  made  improve- 
ments in  the  elegancies  of  life,  and  cultivated  the  arts  and  sciences. 
Since  the  union,  the  commons,  anciently  neglected  by  their  kings,  and 
seldom  courted  by  the  nobles,  have  emerged  into  dignity,  and,  being' 
admitted  to  a  participation  of  all  the  privileges  which  the  English  had  pur- 
chased at  the  expense  of  so  much  blood,  must  now  be  deemed  a  body  not 
less  considerable  in  the  one  kingdom  than  in  the  other.  The  church  felt 
the  effects  of  the  power  which  the  king  acquired  by  his  accession,  and  its 
revolutions  are  worthy  of  notice.  James,  delighted  with  the  splendour 
and  authority  which  the  English  bishops  enjoyed,  and  eager  to  effect  a 
union  in  the  ecclesiastical  policy,  which  he  had,  in  vain,  attempted  in  the 
civil  government  of  the  two  kingdoms,  resolved  to  bring  both  churches  to 
an  exact  conformity  with  each  other.  Three  Scotchmen  were  consecrated 
bishops  at  London.  From  them  their  brethren  were  commanded  to  re- 
ceive orders.  Ceremonies  unknown  in  Scotland  were  imposed,  and 
though  the  clergy,  less  obsequious  than  the  nobles,  boldly  opposed  these 
innovations,  James,  long  practised  and  well  skilled  in  the  arts  of  man- 
aging them,  obtained  at  length  their  compliance.  But  Charles  I.,  a  super 
stitious  prince,  unacquainted  with  the  genius  of  the  Scots,  imprudent  and 
precipitant  in  all  the  measures  he  pursued  in  that  kingdom,  pressing  too 
eagerly  tlie  reception  of  the  English  liturgy,  and  indiscreetly  atten)pting 
a  resumption  of  church  lands,  kindled  the  flames  of  civil  war;  and  the 
people  being  left  at  liberty  to  indulge  their  own  wishes,  the  episcopal 
church  was  overturned,  and  the  presbyterian  government  and  disciDline 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTOHT.  73 

were  re-established  with  new  vigour.  Topfsther  with  monarchy,  episco- 
pacy was  restored  in  Scotland.  A  form  of  government  so  odious  to  the 
people,  required  force  to  uphold  it,  and  though  not  only  the  whole  rigour 
of  authority,  but  all  the  barbarity  of  persecution,  were  employed  in  its 
support,  the  aversion  of  the  nation  was  insurmountable,  and  it  subsisted 
with  diflrculty.  At  the  revolution,  the  inclinations  of  the  people  were 
thought  worthy  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  the  presbyterian  govern- 
ment was  again*  established,  and,  being  ratified  by  the  union,  is  still  main- 
tained in  the  kingdom. 

Nor  did  the  inlluence  of  the  accession  extend  to  the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical constitutions  alone;  the  genius  of  the  nation,  its  taste  and  spirit, 
things  of  a  nature  still  more  delicate,  were  sensibly  affected  by  that  event. 
When  learning  revived  m  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  all  the 
modern  languages  were  in  a  state  extremely  barbarous,  devoid  of  elegance, 
of  vigour,  and  even  of  perspicuity.  No  author  thought  of  writing  in  lan- 
guage so  ill  adapted  to  express  and  embellish  his  sentiments,  or  of  erect- 
ing a  work  for  immortality  with  such  rude  and  perishable  materials.  As 
the  spirit  which  prevailed  at  that  time  did  not  owe  its  rise  to  any  original 
eftbrt  of  the  human  mind,  but  was  excited  chiefly  by  admiration  of  the 
ancients,  which  began  then  to  be  studied  in  every  part  of  Europe,  their 
compositions  were  deemed  not  only  the  standards  of  taste  and  of  senti- 
ment, but  of  style,  and  even  the  languages  in  which  they  wrote  were 
thought  to  be  peculiar,  and  almost  consecrated  to  learning  and  the  muses. 
Not  only  the  manner  of  the  ancients  was  imitated,  but  their  language  was 
adopted,  and,  extravagant  as  the  attempt  may  appear  to  write  in  a  dead 
tongue,  in  which  men  were  not  accustomed  to  think,  and  which  they  could 
not  speak,  or  even  pronounce,  the  success  of  it  was  astonishing.  As  they 
formed  their  style  upon  the  purest  models,  and  were  uninfected  with 
those  barbarisms  which  the  inaccuracy  of  familiar  conversation,  the  af- 
fectation of  courts,  intercourse  with  strangers,  and  a  thousand  other 
causes  introduced  into  living  languages,  many  moderns  have  attained  to 
a  degree  of  eloquence  in  their  Latin  compositions  which  the  Romans 
themselves  scarce  possessed  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Augustan  age. 
While  this  was  almost  the  only  species  of  composition,  and  all  authors, 
by  using  one  common  language,  could  be  brought  to  a  nearer  comparison, 
the  Scottish  writers  were  not  inferior  to  those  of  any  other  nation.  The 
happy  genius  of  Buchanan,  equally  formed  to  excel  in  prose  and  in  verse, 
more  various,  more  original,  and  more  elegant  than  that  of  almost  any 
other  modern  who  writes  in  Latin,  reflects,  with  regard  to  this  particular, 
the  greatest  lustre  on  his  country. 

But  the  labour  attending  the  study  of  a  dead  tongue  was  irksome  ;  the 
unequal  return  for  their  industry  which  authors  met  with,  who  could  be 
read  and  admired  only  within  the  narrow  circle  of  the  learned,  was  mor- 
tifying ;  and  men,  instead  of  wasting  half  their  lives  in  learning  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Romans,  began  to  refine  and  to  polish  their  own.  The 
modern  tongues  were  found  to  be  susceptible  of  beauties  and  graces  w^iich, 
if  not  equal  to  those  of  the  ancient  ones,  were  at  least  more  attainable. 
The  Italians  having  first  set  the  example,  Latin  was  no  longer  used  in 
works  of  taste,  but  was  confined  to  books  of  science;  and  the  politer 
nations  have  banished  it  even  from  these.  The  Scots,  we  may  presume, 
would  have  had  no  cause  to  regret  this  change  in  the  public  taste,  and 
would  still  have  been  able  to  maintain  some  equality  with  other  nations, 
in  their  pursuit  of  literary  honour.  The  English  and  Scottish  languages, 
derived  from  the  same  sources,  were  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century 
in  a  state  nearly  similar,  differing  from  one  another  somewhat  in  orthog- 
raphy, though  not  only  the  words,  but  the  idioms,  were  much  the  same. 
The  letters  of  several  Scottish  statesmen  of  that  age  were  not  inferior  in 
eJegance,  or  in  ourity,  to  those  of  the  English  ministers  with  whom  they 


74  THE  THEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

corresponded.  James  himself  was  master  of  a  style  far  from  contempti- 
ble, and  by  his  example  and  encouragement  the  hjcoltish  language  might 
have  kept  pace  with  the  P^nglish  in  refinement.  Scotland  rnif^hl  have  liad 
a  series  of  authors  in  its  own,  as  well  as  in  the  Latin  language  to  boast  of; 
and  the  improvements  in  taste,  in  the  arts,  and  in  the  sciences,  which 
spread  over  the  other  polished  nations  of  Europe,  would  not  have  been 
unknown  there. 

During  the  whole  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Englislj  were  gradually 
refining  their  language  and  their  taste  ;  in  Scotland  the  former  was  much 
debased,  and  the  latter  almost  entirely  lost.  In  the  beginning  of  that 
period,  both  nations  were  emerging  out  of  barbarity ;  but  the  distance 
between  them,  which  was  then  inconsiderable,  became,  before  the  end  of 
it,  immense.  Even  afier  science  had  once  dawned  upon  them,  the  Scots 
seemed  to  sink  back  inio  ignorance  and  obscurity,  and  active  and  intelli- 
gent as  they  naturally  were,  they  continued,  while  other  nations  were  eager 
in  the  pursuit  of  fame  and  knowledge,  in  a  state  of  langour.  This,  how- 
ever, must  be  imputed  to  the  unhappiness  of  their  political  situation,  not 
to  any  defect  of  genius  ;  for  no  sooner  was  the  one  removed  in  any  degree, 
than  the  other  began  to  display  itself.  Tiie  act  abolishing  the  power  of 
the  lords  of  tlie  articles,  and  other  salutary  laws  passed  at  the  revolution, 
having  introduced  freedom  of  debate  into  the  Scottish  parliament, 
eloquence,  with  all  the  arts  that  accompany  or  perfect  it,  became  imme- 
diate objects  of  attention  ;  and  the  example  of  Fletcher  of  Salton  is  alone 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  Scots  were  still  capable  of  general  sentiments, 
and,  notwithstanding  some  peculiar  idioms,  were  able  to  express  them- 
selves with  energy  and  with  elegance. 

At  length,  the  union  having  incorporated  the  two  nations,  and  rendered 
them  one  people,  the  distinctions  which  subsisted  for  many  ages  gradually 
wore  away  ;  the  same  manners  prevailed  in  both  parts  of  the  island  ;  the 
same  authors  were  read  and  admired ;  the  same  entertainments  were  fre- 
quented by  the  elegant  and  polite ;  and  the  same  standard  of  taste  and  of 
purity  in  language  was  established.  The  Scots,  after  being  placed,  during 
a  whole  century,  n  a  situation  no  less  fatal  to  the  liberty  than  to  the  taste 
and  genius  of  the  nation,  were  at  once  put  in  possession  of  privileges 
more  valuable  than  those  which  their  ancestors  had  formerly  enjoyed  ; 
and  every  obstruction  that  had  retarded  their  pursuit,  or  prevented  their 
acquisition  of  literary  fame,  was  wholly  removed.  There  were  seven 
Scottish  parliaments  called  after  the  accession  of  James,  wherein  he  pre- 
sided by  a  commissioner.  An  act  was  was  passed  in  1606  for  the  resto- 
ration of  the  estate  of  bishops  ;  which  was  followed  by  a  great  variety  of 
laws  for  giving  proper  effect  to  the  general  principle;  and  there  were  also 
many  laws  enacted  for  promoting  domestic  economy.  After  governing 
Scotland  with  considerable  success  during  his  occupation  of  the  throne 
of  England,  he  died  on  the  27th  of  March,  1625,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
eon,  Charles  I.,  then  in  the  25th  year  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM   THE    ACCESSION    OF    CHARLES    I.    TO    THE    DEATH    OF   WILLIAM   III. 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  Charles'  reign  nothing  occurred  in  Scot- 
land calculated  to  disturb  the  serenity  of  his  rule  ;  but  this  calm  was  suc- 
ceeded by  frequent  broils  and  contentions,  arising  from  many  causes,  but 
chiefly  originating  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  Among  many  laws  of  a 
salutary  tendency,  they  passed  an  act,  reserving  to  the  crown  those  lands 
which  the  baronage  had  wrested  from  the  church:  the  clergy  were  thus 
benefitted,   the  people  were  relieved,  but    the  barons   were  oflended 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  7S 

Charles,  who  was  attached  to  episcopacy  from  sincere  religious  convic- 
tions, as  well  as  from  views  of  political  expediency,  formed  the  scheme 
of  assimilating  in  all  respects  the  churches  in  England  and  Scotland. 
With  this  view  he  determined  to  introduce  a  liturgy,  which  in  Scotland 
had  never  been  regularly  used ;  and  he  insisted  upon  the  reception  of  a 
set  of  canons  abolishing  the  control  over  ecclesiastical  measures  which 
the  inferior  church  judicatories  had  been  permitted  to  exercise.  The 
violence  with  which  all  this  was  resisted  was  carried  to  the  most  extrava- 
gant pitch,  the  clergy  were  insulted,  and  episcopacy  was  again  contem- 
plated as  the  engine  of  popery  and  despotism.  The  dissensions  which 
soon  arose  in  England  cherished  this  state  of  mind  ;  the  discontented  in 
Scotland  made  common  cause  with  the  disaffected  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  island ;  they  bound  themselves  by  the  extraordinary  deed  which  they 
entitled  "  the  solemn  league  and  covenant,"  to  exterminate  prelacy  as  a 
corruption  of  the  gospel ;  and  they  took  an  active  part  in  those  violent 
scenes  which  ended  in  the  death  of  Charles  and  the  erection  of  the  com- 
monwealth. To  describe  the  battles  which  took  place  between  royalists 
and  roundheads,  or  to  make  comments  on  the  hypocrisy  and  faithlessness 
of  the  times,  would  be  to  repeat  that  which  has  already  found  a  place 
in  this  volume,  and  which  must  remain  the  foulest  blot  in  the  annals  of 
England.  We  shall  therefore  merely  observe,  that  after  the  execution  of 
Charles  I.,  in  1G48,  the  Scots  proclaimed  l^is  son  king,  under  the  title  of 
Charles  II. ;  and  that  some  months  after  tiis  defeat  at  Worcester,  Scot- 
land was  incorporated  into  one  commonwealth  with  England. 

On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  the  Scottish  parliament  assembled, 
under  the  earl  of  Middleton,  the  king's  commissioner,  on  the  I't  of 
January,  1661.  He  declared  the  king's  resolution  to  maintain  the  true 
reformed  protestant  religion,  as  it  had  been  established  during  the  reigns 
of  his  father  and  grandfather;  intimating,  however,  that  he  would  restore 
the  episcopal  government,  though  he  allowed,  meanwhile,  the  administra- 
tion of  sessions,  presbyteries,  and  synods.  This  endeavour  to  establish 
episcopacy  was  violently  opposed,  and  led  to  the  most  cruel  persecution 
of  the  Presbyterians,  which  lasted  with  more  or  less  severity,  during  the 
whole  of  the  reign.  Numbers  were  executed ;  others  were  fined,  im- 
prisoned, and  tortured;  and  whole  tracts  of  the  country  were  placed  under 
a  military  despotism  of  the  worst  description.  Driven  to  desperation,  the 
presbyterian  party  had  several  times  recourse  to  arms,  and,  although  in 
some  cases  successful,  they  were  finally  defeated  and  scattered  at  Both- 
well-bridge. 

A.  D.  1685. — On  ascending  the  throne,  James  II.  professed  his  intention 
to  support  the  government,  in  church  and  state,  as  by  law  established  ; 
yet  his  predilection  for  the  catholic  religion  was  evident  in  his  very  first; 
acts.  Compliant  as  the  Scottish  parliament  was  in  what  related  to  theii 
civil  liberties,  they  were  resolved  to  adhere  to  their  religious  principles. 
On  this  point,  indeed,  the  people  of  Scotland  were  unanimous,  and  when 
they  heard  of  the  landing  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  read  his  declaration 
in  favour  of  liberty  and  in  support  of  law,  they  hailed  his  advent  with  joy. 
The  nobles  began  to  intrigue,  the  populace,  in  their  zeal,  broke  out  into 
insurrection  against  the  catholics  at  Edinburgh,  and  all  classes  looked 
up  to  the  prince  of  Orange  as  the  deliverer  of  the  two  nations  from  popish 
dominion.  William  consulted  several  of  the  Scottish  nobles,  clergy,  and 
gentry,  regarding  the  state  of  their  country,  and  issued  circular  letters, 
summoning  a  convention  at  Edinburgh,  on  the  22dof  March,  1689.  When 
they  met  they  decided  that  king  James,  by  his  abuse  of  power,  had  for- 
feited the  rights  to  the  crown,  and  immediately  declared  the  prince  and 
princess  of  Orange  to  be  king  and  queen  of  Scotland.  This  act,  which 
involved  such  mighty  consequences,  was  attended  by  a  declaration  of 
their  wrongs  and  rights.     Former  insurrections,  thougti  accompanied  by 


76  TIIE  TREASUILY  OF  HISTOllY. 

many  mischiefs,  passed  away  without  any  advantage  to  the  nation. 
Though  the  revolution  of  1C8D  brouglit  with  it  a  civil  war,  it  was  the 
means  of  strengthening-  the  constitution,  of  preserving  public  liberty,  and 
securing  private  rights.  The  presbyterian  church  was  now  erected  on 
the  ruins  of  episcopacy,  the  prerogative  was  restrained  to  its  proper 
functions,  and  many  salutary  laws  for  promoting  domestic  economy  were 
enacted. 

Although  the  great  bulk  of  the  people  were  in  favour  of  the  revolution,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  there  was  a  considerable  party  that  remained 
attached  to  the  exiled  family  of  the  Stuarts;  and  it  was  found  to  be  no 
easy  matter  to  reconcile  the  Highlanders  to  the  expulsion  of  their  ancient 
race  of  monarchs.  Many  of  them  were  in  open  state  of  rebellion.  How- 
ever, in  August,  1G92,  a  proclamation  of  indemnity  had  been  passed  to 
such  insurgents  as  would  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  govern- 
ment on  or  before  the  last  day  of  December.  The  last  man  to  submit 
was  Macdonald  of  Glencoe,  and  he,  owing  to  the  snows  and  other  inter- 
ruptions which  he  met  with  on  the  road,  did  not  reach  Inverary,  the 
county  town,  in  time,  and  the  benefit  of  the  indemnity  was  therefore  strict- 
ly forfeited.  William  was  informed,  and  fully  believed  that  Macdonald  of 
Glencoe  was  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  pacification  of  the  Highlands,  and  a 
warrant  of  military  execution  was  procured  from  him  against  the  unfortu- 
nate chief  and  his  whole  tribe.  A  detachment  of  soldiers,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  in  number,  commanded  by  Captain  Campbell,  was  ordered  on 
the  1st  of  February,  to  repair  to  Glencoe,  where  they  were  quartered  for 
a  fortnight  among  the  inhabitants  of  that  sequestered  vale.  On  tho 
evening  of  the  13th  orders  arrived  to  attack  the  Macdonalds  while  asleep 
at  midnight,  and  not  to  suffer  a  man  to  escape  their  swords ;  an  order 
which  the  soldiers  obeyed  with  ruthless  barbarity.  Thirty-eight  persons, 
among  whom  were  Glencoe  and  his  wife,  thus  mercilessly  perished  ;  the 
rest,  alarmed  by  the  report  of  the  musketry,  escaped  to  the  hills,  and  were 
only  preserved  from  destruction  by  a  tempest  that  added  to  the  horrors  ol 
the  night.  The  carnage  was  succeeded  by  rapine  and  desolation ;  the 
houses  were  burned  to  the  ground,  and  women  and  children,  stripped 
naked,  were  left  to  die  of  cold  and  hunger.  This  horrible  massacre  excited 
universal  execration,  and,  naturally  enough,  rendered  the  government  of 
William  odious  to  the  Hiehlanders. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

UNION  OF  THE  TWO   KINGDOMS. 

William  III.  died  in  1702,  by  which  the  crowns  of  the  two  nations 
devolved  on  Anne,  who  assured  the  parliament  that  she  would  support  the 
government  as  then  established.  But  they  refused  to  tolerate  episcopacy, 
and  they  declined  lo  concur  in  adopting  the  prolestant  succession  for  the 
crown;  nay,  they  issued  a  declaration  which  intimated  a  purpose,  in  case 
of  the  demise  of  the  crown,  to  appoint  a  different  sovereign  from  whomso- 
ever might  be  the  English  king.  The  English  statesmen,  forseeing  what 
this  was  likely  to  produce,  recommended  the  appointment  of  commission- 
ers to  treat  of  a  union  between  the  two  kingdoms.  Instead  of  regarding 
it  as  an  identification  of  the  interest  ofboth  kingdoms,  the  people  generally 
considered  it  as  a  total  surrender  of  their  independence  into  the  hands  of 
a  powerful  rival.  Addresses  against  it  were  presented  from  all  quarters, 
and  in  several  places  the  populace  rose  in  arms,  and  formed  themselves 
into  regiments  of  horse  and  foot  in  order  to  oppose  the  union.  Nor  were 
the  commercial  part  of  the  community,  who  were  supposed  to  benefit 
largely  by  it,  satisfied  by  its  terms.     Notwithstanding  every  opposition, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  77 

however,  the  treaty  of  union  was  ratified  by  both  parliaments,  and  on  the 
1st  of  May,  1707,  the  legislative  union  of  England  and  Scotland  was 
ratified. 

For  several  years  the  union  was  unproductive  of  those  advantages  which 
were  at  first  expected  ;  no  new  manufactories  were  attracted  to  Scotland, 
and  commerce  grew  more  languid  than  before.  But  by  a  considerable 
assimilation  of  the  laws  to  those  of  Ens^land,  the  courts  of  justice  were 
better  regulated,  and  legal  redress  more  easily  obtained,  while  the  bar- 
barous practice  of  subjecting  prisoners  to  the  torture  was  abolished.  It 
was  stipulated  by  the  treaty  that  no  alterations  should  be  made  in  tlie 
church  of  Scotland;  that  tl'.e  commercial  laws  and  customs  should  be  the 
same  in  all  parts  of  the  united  kingdom ;  that  the  Scotch  royal  burgiis 
should  retain  all  their  ancient  privileges ;  and  that  no  person  should  be 
deprived  of  those  hereditary  rights  and  ofiices  which  they  had  enjoyed  by 
the  laws  of  Scotland.  Looking  at  these  and  other  conditions  of  ihe  union, 
it  is  certain  that  if  the  Scotch  would  abandon  prejudices  that  ought  to  be 
obsolete,  and  resolve  to  profit  by  the  connexion,  they  would  soon  have 
ample  opportunity  of  so  doing ;  while,  on  the  part  of  England,  it  was 
evident  that  the  zealous  co-operation  of  her  northern  neighbour  in  times 
of  war  must  tend  to  the  security  of  the  whole  island,  and  in  peace  contri- 
bute to  its  commercial  importance.  Queen  Anne  died  on  the  1st  of 
August,  1714,  and,  under  tlie  act  of  settlement,  the  united  crown  was 
transferred  to  George  I. 

We  conceive  it  to  be  unnecessary  to  carry  the  general  narrative  beyond 
this  period  ;  the  affairs  of  Scotland  being  henceforth  detailed,  in  common 
with  those  of  England,  in  the  history  of  that  country.  But,  in  concluding 
this  sketch,  it  appears  requisite  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  peculiarities 
which  attach  to  matters  ecclesiastical.  In  15G0,  the  Roman  catholic 
religion  was  abolished,  and  the  reformation  was  sanctioned  by  act  of  par- 
liament; the  distinguishing  tenets  of  the  Scotch  church  having  been  first 
embodied  in  the  formulary  of  faith  attributed  to  John  Knox,  who  had 
adopted  the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  established  at  Geneva.  General  assem- 
blies at  that  time  began,  and  continued  to  meet  twice  every  year,  for  the 
space  of  twenty  years  ;  after  which  they  were  annual.  From  1572  to 
1592,  a  sort  of  episcopacy  prevailed  in  the  church,  while  the  ecclesiastical 
form  of  government  was  presbyterian.  Meantime,  the  dignitaries  of  the 
church  and  the  nobility  monopolized  the  revenues  of  the  church,  and  left 
the  reformed  clergy  in  a  state  of  indigence.  After  much  deliberation,  the 
protestaat  leaders  resolved  to  provide  a  state-maintenance  for  their 
teachers,  and  the  following  plan  was  adopted.  Two-thirds  of  all  ecclesi 
astical  beneficer  were  reserved  to  the  present  possessor,  and  to  the  crown 
the  remainder  was  annexed,  out  of  which  a  competent  subsistence  was 
to  be  assigned  to  the  protestant  clergy.  But  the  revenue  thus  appropri 
ated,  Instead  of  being  duly  applied,  was  diverted  into  other  channels.  In 
1587,  all  the  unalienated  church  lands  were  annexed  to  the  crown  ;  and 
the  tithes  alone  were  reserved  for  the  support  of  the  clergy.  Bishops 
continued  till  1592,  when  presbyterian  government  was  established  by  an 
act  of  parliament,  and  a  division  was  made  of  the  church  into  synods  and 
presbyteries.  But  the  king,  desirous  of  having  the  power  of  the  bishops 
restored,  as  a  balance  to  the  nobles  in  parliament,  prevailed  on  a  majority 
of  the  clergj'',  in  1597  and  1598,  to  agree  that  some  ministers  should 
represent  the  church  in  parliament,  and  that  there  should  be  constant 
moderators  in  presbyteries.  By  an  act  of  parliament  in  IfiOG,  the  tempo- 
ralities of  bishops  were  restored,  and  they  were  allowed  a  seat  in  par- 
liament ;  and  thus  the  presbyterian  government  was  overturned.  But 
episcopacy  at  leng^.h  grew  so  obnoxious  to  the  people,  that  in  1689,  pre- 
lacy was  declared,  \)y  a  convention  of  estates,  to  be  a  national  grievance, 
whi(;;i  ought  to  be  ubolished ;  and  in  the  following  year  the  presbyterian 


78  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

government  was  restored  and  established  by  parliament ;  and  the  general 
assembly  met,  after  it  had  been  discontmued  from  the  year  652.  Hither- 
to the  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the  clergy  was  madequate,  but 
their  stipends  were  now  raised  and  regulated  by  the  price  of  grain. 

The  Presbyterian  church  government  afterwards  secured  in  the  treaty 
of  union,  is  founded  on  a  parity  of  ecclesiastical  authority  among  all  its 
presbyters  or  pastors,  and  modelled  after  the  Calvinistic  plan,  which 
Knox  recommended  to  his  countrymen.  This  form  of  government 
excludes  all  pre-eminence  of  order,  all  ministers  being  held  equal  in  rank 
and  power.  In  matters  relating  to  discipline  a  pastor  is  asisted  by  elders, 
who  ought  to  be  selected  from  among  the  most  intelligent  and  consistent 
of  the  parishioners,  but  have  no  right  to  teach  or  dispense  the  sacraments. 
Their  proper  office  is  to  watch  over  the  morals  of  the  people,  and  to  cate- 
chise and  visit  the  sick.  They  likewise  discharge  the  office  of  deacons 
by  managing  the  funds  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor  within  their  dis- 
tricts. The  elders  and  ministers  compose  what  is  called  a  kirk  or  church- 
session,  the  lowest  ecclesiastical  judicature  in  Scotland.  When  a  pari.=h- 
ioner  is  convicted  of  immoral  conduct,  the  church-session  inflicts  some 
ecclesiastical  censure.  If  a  person  considers  himself  aggrieved,  he  may 
appeal  to  the  presbytery,  which  is  the  next  superior  court.  The  ministers 
of  an  indefinite  number  of  contiguous  parishes,  with  one  ruling  elder 
chosen  half-yearly,  out  of  every  church-session,  constitute  what  is  called 
a  presbytery,  which  has  cognizance  of  all  ecclesiastical  matters  within  its 
bounds.  Si/nods  are  composed  of  several  presbyteries,  and  of  a  ruling 
elder  from  every  church-session  within  their  bounds.  They  review  the 
proceedings  of  presbyteries,  and  judge  in  references,  complaints,  and  ap- 
peals from  the  inferior  court.  But  their  decisions  and  acts  are  reversible 
by  the  general  assembly,  which  is  the  highest  ecclesiastical  court,  and  from 
which  there  is  no  appeal. 


THE   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE. 

France,  which  in  the  time  of  the  Remans  was  called  Gnul,  or  Gallia, 
extended  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Rhine,  and  on  the  side  of  Italy,  beyond 
the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic,  that  which  was  situated  on  the  Italian  side  of 
the  Alps  being  named  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  that  beyond  the  Alps,  Transal- 
pine Gaul.  The  part  of  Transalpine  Gaul  nearest  Upper  Italy,  and 
stretching  along  the  Mediterranean  towards  the  Pyrenees,  was  conquered 
by  Fabius.  As  this  was  the  first  part  that  was  converted  into  a  Roman 
province,  it  was  called,  by  way  of  eminence,  the  Provincia  (afterwards 
changed  into  Provence.)  It  was  bounded  by  the  Alps,  the  Cevennes,  and 
the  Rhone.  Cassar,  who  conquered  Transalpine  Gaul  at  a  later  period, 
found  it  divided  into  three  parts  :  1.  Aquitania,  extending  from  the  Pyr- 
enees to  the  Garonne,  chiefly  occupied  by  Iberian  tribes  ;  2.  Gallia  Celii- 
ca,  from  the  Garonne  to  the  Seine  and  Marne  ;  3.  Gallia  Belgica,  in  the 
north,  extending  to  the  Rhine.  But  subsequently,  by  the  command  of 
Augustus,  a  very  different  and  much  more  minute  division  of  the  country 
took  place,  which,  however,  it  is  not  here  necessary  to  describe. 


IHfi  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  79 

The  Gauls  were^he  chief  branch  of  the  great  orighial  stock  of  Celts, 
and  as  they  called  llifimselves  Gael,  the  name  Gaul  probably  thus  took  its 
rise.  A  greai  resemblance  appears  to  have  existed  among  all  the  Celts, 
and  although  they  were  divided  into  numerous  tribes,  there  were  but  few 
branches  that  were  perceptibly  different  from  each  other.  The  period  of 
their  earliest  migrations  is,  however,  too  remote  for  history,  and  inappli- 
cable to  our  present  object.  Caesar  represents  all  the  Gallic  tribes  as 
warlike,  going  always  armed,  and  ready  on  all  occasions  to  decide  their 
differences  by  the  sword;  as  a  people  of  great  levity,  and  little  inclined  to 
idleness,  but  hospitable,  generous,  confidmg,  and  sincere.  The  Druids, 
their  priests,  who  were  the  sole  depositaries  of  learning  among  them, 
were  indebted  to  the  credulity  of  the  people  for  the  deference  they  paid 
to  them.  These  priests  ruled  the  people  by  the  terror  of  their  anathemas  ; 
they  were  exempt  from  all  tribute  to  the  state,  and  abounded  in  riches. 
They  had  also  bards  or  poets,  who  composed  war-songs  to  animate  the 
combatants,  and  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  heroes.  The  elders, 
or  senators  of  their  towns,  together  with  the  military  and  their  chiefs, 
formed  the  nobility;  these,  in  conjunction  with  the  priests,  possessed  the 
riches  and  the  power;  vassalage  and  misery  were  the  portion  of  tlie  com- 
monalty. 

The  discipline  of  the  Romans,  and  the  genius  and  good  fortune  of  Caesar, 
triumphed  in  ten  years  over  the  valour  of  the  Gauls.  Colonies  had  com- 
menced the  work  of  subjugation,  and  conquest  completed  it;  Gaul  became 
a  Roman  province.  The  municipal  regulations,  and  the  agriculture  of  the 
Romans,  soon  rendered  the  country  flourishing,  but  despotism  afterwards 
despoiled  it.  This  state  of  tilings  continued  for  four  centuries,  when  the 
people  were  reduced  to  the  lowest  depths  of  misery,  impoverished  by  the 
proconsuls,  the  prey  of  factions,  and  alternately  passing  from  insurrection 
to  slavery,  under  tyrants,  who  were  perpetually  changing.  But  the  "  in- 
cursions of  the  barbarians"  on  the  Roman  territory,  had  by  this  time 
greatly  humbled  the  former  mistress  of  the  world.  The  civilization,  arts, 
and  literature  of  the  Romans  were  on  the  decline  ;  the  empire,  divided 
and  weakened,  was  falling  into  ruin,  discipline  was  relaxed,  and  the  glory  of 
the  Roman  name  faded  before  the  barbaric  hosts  that  issued  from  the 
north  and  overran  the  five  provinces  which  had  flourished  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  a  Trajan  and  an  Antonine. 

Four  hundred  years  after  the  Roman  conquests,  and  under  the  reign  of 
the  weak  Honorious,  a  people  known  by  the  name  of  Franks,  from  Fran- 
conia  in  Germany,  abandoned  their  morasses  and  their  woods,  in  search 
of  a  better  country.  Under  the  direction  of  their  king  Pliaramond,  they 
passed  the  Rhine,  and  entered  Gaul,  but  carried  their  arms  no  further  than 
Belgic  Gaul,  that  part  of  modern  France  till  lately  called  the  Netherlands. 
Pharamond  died  soon  after  he  had  effected  the  settlement.  The  long 
lists  of  kings  which  followed  Pharamond,  are  divided  into  three  races. 
'Vhefirsl  is  called  the  Merovingian,  from  Merovius,  the  third  king  of  the 
Franks  ;  it  produced  twenty-one  kings  to  France,  from  the  year  448  to  the 
year  751,  and  ended  with  Childeric  III.,  surnamed  the  Foolish.  The 
second  race  began  with  Pepin,  mayor  of  the  palace,  who  did  not  take  upon 
himself  the  title  of  king;  nor  did  his  son,  the  celebrated  Charles  Martel. 
Pepin  the  Short,  his  son,  deprived  Childeric  III.  of  his  crown.  This  race, 
called  the  Carlotingian,  gave  thirteen  kings  to  France.  It  acquired  much 
glory  under  Charlemagne,  but  became  very  weak  under  his  successors, 
and  terminated  with  Louis  V.,  called  the  Sluggard,  after  having  possessed 
trie  throne  233  years,  from  752  to  987.  The  third  race,  called  the  Cape- 
tine,  commenced  with  Hugh  Capet,and  gave  to  France  thirty-three  kings, 
who  reigned  806  years,  and  finished  with  Louis  XVI.,  who  was  beheaded 
January,  1793.  France  then  became  a  republic,  which  lasted  until  May 
1804,  when  it  was  transformed  intr  an  empire  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 


go  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTOllY. 

■who  had  risen  on  the  ruins  of  tlie  republic,  and  had  been  dictatoro<"  France 
under  the  appellation  of  chief  consul.  The  imperial  ti.tle,  however,  Ia-»led 
but  ten  years,  Napoleon  having  been  driven  from  his  UhurpeJ  throne,  and 
Louis  XVIII.  restored  to  tlie  throne  of  his  ancestorfi. 

In  tracini^  the  obscure  records  of  the  early  periods,  we  behold  alternately 
wars  and  alliances  amon^  the  Romans  and  Fianks,  the  Visigoths,  and 
other  barbarians  ;  ambitious  generals  raised  t.>  power  by  the  imperial 
court,  but  quickly  overcoming  ttieir  feeble  masters,  and  calling  in  tiie  aid 
of  the  barbarous  tribes  to  serve  the  ever-varying  purposes  of  their  per- 
sonal ambition.  The  western  empire  was  then  declining;  the  Saxons 
seized  upon  Anjou  and  Maine;  the  Burgundiaiis  occupied  the  country 
near  the  Seine  ;  the  Goths  and  Visigoths  extended  their  dominions  as  far 
as  the  Loire ;  the  Franks  and  the  Allmanns>  branches  of  the  different 
hordes  which  issued  from  Germany,  contended  for  the  possession  of  the 
north  ;  while  the  Romans  or  Gauls  kept  the  other  part  of  the  country. 
On  the  conquest  of  (iaul  by  the  Franks,  the  lands  were  distributed  among 
their  officers  ;  and  these,  with  the  clergy,  formed  the  first  great  councils 
or  parliaments.  Thus  the  government  was  evidently  a  kind  of  mixed 
monarchy,  in  which  nothing  of  moment  was  transacted  without  the  grand 
council  of  the  nation,  consisting  of  the  principal  oflicers,  who  held  their 
lands  by  military  tenures.  It  appears,  indeed,  that  when  Gaul  became 
the  possession  of  northern  invaders,  it  did  not  acquire  that  degree  of  free- 
dom to  its  constitution  which  Britain  received,  about  the  same  time,  from 
conquerors  who  sprung  from  the  same  common  stock. 

TJie  Merovingian  Dynasty,  or  First  Race. 

A.  D.  420. — Pharamond,  the  first  king  of  the  Franks,  was  succeeded  by 
Clodio,  who  extended  t!ie  bounds  of  his  kingdom.  Merovius  secured  the 
acquisitions  of  his  predecessor,  and  Childeric,  his  son,  pushed  his  con- 
quests to  the  banks  of  the  river  Seine.  Clovis,  his  son,  and  the  inheritor 
of  his  ambition,  aggrandized  his  kingdom,  and  so  far  extended  his  power, 
that  he  is  ranked  as  the  founder  of  the  French  monarchy.  This  prince, 
the  first  of  the  Frank  kings  who  had  embraced  Christianity,  brought  al- 
most all  the  Gauls  under  his  government.  He  parted  his  dominions,  before 
he  died,  between  his  children.  Clovis  owed  his  conversion  to  Christianity 
from  his  marriage  with  a  Christian  princess  of  Spain,  and  his  example 
was  followed  by  most  of  the  Franks,  who  until  that  time  had  been  pagans. 
He  was  baptized  with  great  splendour  in  the  cathedral  at  Rheims,  on 
which  occasion  the  king  granted  freedom  to  a  number  of  slaves,  and  re- 
ceived the  title  of  "  Most  Christian  King,"  which  has  ever  since  been  re- 
tained by  the  monarchs  of  France.  Charles  I.,  the  youngest  and  most 
barbarous  of  the  sons  of  Clovis,  and  the  last  survivor  of  them,  at  tiie  time 
of  his  death  possessed  the  whole  of  France  ;  his  dominion  extended  from 
the  banks  of  the  Elbe  to  the  sea  of  Aquitaine,  in  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and 
from  the  Scheldt  to  the  sources  of  the  Loire.  At  his  death  he  divided  it 
among  his  four  sons.  The  kingdom  was  soon  after  rendered  miserable, 
from  the  jealousy  of  two  ambitious  women,  the  queens  Fredigonde  and 
Brunehaut.  The  former  was  a  prodigy  of  boldness,  of  wickedness,  and 
genius,  and  gained  several  battles  in  person ;  the  other  is  described  as  a 
woman  who,  under  the  exterior  graces  of  beauty,  practised  the  worst  of 
vices,  and  expiated  her  crimes  by  a  shocking  death. 

A.  D.  613. — Clotaire  II.,  the  worthy  son  of  Fredigonde,  became  sole 
monarch  of  France.  Under  this  prince  the  mayors  of  the  palace  began  to 
have  considerable  power,  which  increased  under  Dagobcl  I.,  and  became 
excessive  under  Clovis  II.  and  his  successors.  We  see  in  the  first  race 
little  more  than  the  shadov/s  of  kings,  while  their  nnnisters  governed  and 
tyrannized  over  the  people.  Pepin  Heristal,  mayor  of  the  palace  to 
Childeric  the  Foolish,  seized  the    whole  authority.     His  son,  Charles 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  81 

Martel,  a  bold  and  enterprising  warrior  and  great  politician,  with  more 
ambition  even  than  his  father,  increased  his  power  by  his  brilliant  achieve- 
ments, and  governed  France  under  the  title  of  duke. 

The  Carlovingian  Dynasty,  or  Second  Race. 

As  mayor  of  the  palace,  Charles  Martel  had  long  exercised  the  sovereign 
jjower  in  the  name  of  Childeric,  a  weali  and  indolent  prince.  The  Sara- 
cms,  who  had  made  themselves  masters  of  the  south  of  France,  penetra- 
ting" into  the  heart  of  the  kingdom,  were  at  length  entirely  defeated  by 
him,  'n  one  great  battle,  fought  between  Tours  and  Poitiers,  which  lasted 
seven  Jays,  and  in  which  300,000  Moslems  were  slain.  In  consequence 
of  this  s,-lendid  victory,  he  was  considered  the  champion  of  Christendom, 
and  such  sras  his  popularity,  that  with  the  consent  of  the  people  he  as- 
sumed (he  QOininion  of  France  ;  for,  having  a  victorious  army  at  his  com- 
mand, he  not  9nly  deposed  the  king,  but  rendered  himself  an  absolute 
prince,  by  depriving  the  nobility  and  clergy  of  their  share  in  the  govern- 
ment. 

A.  D.  752. — His  &Jiii  Pepin  succeeded  him  on  the  throne,  but  restored 
the  privileges  of  the  \obility  and  clergy,  on  their  agreeing  to  exclude  the 
former  race  of  kings.  He  also  divided  the  provinces  among  his  principal 
nobihty,  allowing  them  to  exercise  sovereign  authority  in  their  respective 
governments,  till  at  length,  assuming  a  kind  of  independency,  they  only 
acknowledged  the  king  as  their  liead,  and  this  gave  rise  to  the  numerous 
principalities,  and  their  several  parliaments,  every  province  retaining  the 
same  form  of  government  thai  had  been  exercised  in  the  whole ;  and  no 
laws  were  made,  or  taxes  raised,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  clergy. 

A.  D.  768. — Charles,  his  son,  called  Charlemagne,  was  valiant,  wise,  and 
victorious.  He  conquered  Italy,  Germany,  and  part  of  Spain,  and  was 
crowned  emperor  of  the  Romans  (the  western  empire),  by  Pope  Leo  III. 
He  established  a  regular  and  popular  government,  compiled  a  code  of  laws, 
favoured  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  died  with  the  glory  of  being  beloved 
by  his  subjects,  and  feared  by  his  enemies.  Louis  I.,  le  Debonnaire,  the 
only  surviving  son  of  Charlemagne,  began  his  reign  with  the  most  cruel 
executions.  His  children  revolted  against  him,  he  was  compelled  to  do 
public  penance,  and  declared  to  have  forfeited  the  imperial  dignity.  The 
Normans  renewed  their  incursions  and  their  ravages  under  Charles  the 
Bald,  besieged  Paris  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Gross,  and  at  length  ob- 
tained a  fixed  establishment  under  Charles  the  Simple.  The  royal  au- 
thority became  weakened,  while  the  power  of  the  lords  considerably  aug- 
mented ;  the  imperial  dignity  was  already  lost  to  the  house  of  Charle- 
magne, and  it  was  soon  followed  by  the  loss  of  the  crown  of  France 

First  Branch. — The  Capetine  Dynasty,  or  Third  Race. 

k.  D.  987. — After  the  death  of  Louis  V.,  the  last  of  the  Carlovingian 
race,  Hugh  Capet  usurped  the  throne.  This  Hugh  was  the  grandson  of 
Robert,  whom  the  French  had  elected  king  in  the  room  of  Charles  the 
Simple,  His  father  had  rendered  himself  much  respected  by  the  nation, 
in  defending  Paris  against  the  attacks  of  the  barbarians.  Hugh  Capet 
inheriting  the  valour  of  his  ancestors,  saved  France  under  Lothail-e.  This 
family  possessed,  the  duchies  of  Paris  and  of  Orleans ;  and  these  two 
cities,  by  their  situation  on  the  Loire  and  the  Seine,  were  the  strongest 
bulwarks  of  the  monarchy  against  the  Normans.  Hugh  associated  his 
son  Robert  in  the  kingdom.  Robert,  as  pusillanimous  as  his  father  was 
courageous,  reunited  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  to  the  crown,  but  his  weak- 
ness tarnished  his  virtues. 

A.  D.  103L — Henry  I.,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  see  his  own  mother 
irmed  against  him,  to  deprive  him  of  his  crown  and  give  it  to  his  brother, 
6 


62  THE  TllEASUIlY  OF  HISTORY. 

with  iTie  assistance  of  the  duke  of  Normandy,  forced  his  brother  to  content 
iiimself  with  Burgundy,  which  this  branch  of  the  royal  family  possessed 
300  years.  At  this  period  the  tyranny  of  feudalism  was  at  its  height. 
Overwhelmed  with  services,  toils,  and  subsidies  of  all  sorts,  imposed  by 
the  military  or  the  ecclesiastics,  tiu;  people  fought  only  to  rivet  their 
(chains  more  firmly.  Those  who  lived  in  the  country  were  called  villeins; 
those  of  the  cities  and  towns,  bourgeois.  Neither  of  them  could  labour 
but  for  the  advantage  of  their  lords,  who  often  quartered  their  military 
retainers  upon  thcni.  Among  themselves  the  lords  were  equally  fero- 
cious ;  their  declarations  of  war  extended  to  relations  and  allies,  and  the 
quarrel  of  a  single  family  was  sufficient  to  involve  a  whole  community  in 
the  fiercest  war  for  years  together.  Thus  France  became  one  vast  field 
of  blood,  and  perpetual  carnage  at  length  wearied  even  ferocity  itself. 

A.  D.  lOCO. — The  long  reign  of  Pliilip  I.,  son  of  Henry  I.,  is  an  epoch  of 
remarkable  events.  William,  duke  of  Normandy,  crossed  the  channel, 
and  effected  the  conquest  of  Kngland  in  1066,  where  he  established  his 
own  rigorous  modification  of  the  feudal  regime,  and  had  also  the  firmness 
to  refuse  homage  to  llie  pope.  A  jest  of  the  king  of  France  on  the  obesity 
of  William  kindled  a  war,  from  which  may  be  dated  a  long  continued 
enmity  between  France  and  England. 

A.  D.  1108. — Philip  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Louis  the  Gross.  The 
first  years  of  his  reign  were  disturbed  by  insurrections  of  his  lords  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  these  insurrections  were  the  more  trouble- 
some, as  they  were  secretly  fomented  by  the  English  king,  that  by  weak- 
ening the  power  of  France  his  duchy  of  Normandy  might  be  the  more 
secure.  These  wars  between  the  two  countries  were  often  interrupted 
by  treaties,  but  as  often  re-lighted  by  national  ambition  and  antipathy. 
Louis  the  Young,  unfortunate  in  the  crusades,  at  his  return  repudiated  his 
wife,  in  whose  right  he  inherited  Guienne  and  Poictou.  He  died  in  1180, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Philip  II.,  surnamed  the  August.  Philip 
II.  defeated  John,  king  of  England,  and  wrested  from  him  Normandy, 
Maine,  and  Anjou.  He  then  went  on  the  crusade  with  Richard  Cceur-de- 
Lion,  to  rescue  Jerusalem  from  the  Saracens.  The  two  kings  succeeded 
only  in  taking  Acre,  and  Philip,  on  his  return,  treacherously  invaded 
Normandy  during  Richard's  absence. 

A.  D.  1223. — Philip  Augustus  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Louis  VIII., 
surnamed  the  Lion.  His  short  reign  was  not  marked  by  any  great  events, 
but  he  distinguished  it  by  enfranchising  a  great  number  of  serfs  or  villeins. 
He  signalized  his  courage  against  the  English,  and  died  of  a  contagious 
distemper,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine  years. 

A.  D.  1226. — Louis  IX.,  surnamed  for  his  piety,  Saint  Louis,  having  de 
feated  the  king  of  England  and  many  of  the  grand  vassals  of  France,  at 
Tailleburg,  conducted  an  army  to  Palestine,  took  Daraietta  in  Egypt,  and 
distinguished  himself  at  Massous,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner.  He  was 
a  friend  to  the  indigent,  and  a  zealous  advocate  for  the  Christian  religion. 
He  died  before  Tunis,  where  he  had  gone  upon  a  second  crusade  against 
the  infidels.  Philip  III.,  surnamed  the  Bold,  his  son,  was  proclaimed 
king  by  the  army ;  he  was  liberal,  benevolent,  and  just,  but  displayed  no 
striking  abilities.     He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Philip  the  Fair. 

A.  ».  12S5. — Philip  IV.,  surnamed  le  Bel,  or  the  Fair,  celebrated  for  his 
disputes  with  Edward  I.  of  England,  and  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  abolished 
the  order  of  the  Templars,  reduced  the  Flemings,  and  made  the  seat  of 
the  parliament  permanent  in  Paris.  He  was  of  a  lively  disposition,  but 
cruel  and  unfeeling,  and  employed  ministers  who  possessed  his  defects, 
without  his  good  qualities.  In  his  reign,  the  states-general,  or  representa- 
tives of  the  three  estates  of  the  kingdom,  the  nobility,  clergy,  and  com- 
monalty, were  first  assembled.  Philip  IV.  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Louis  X.,  during  whose  reign,  which  was  short,  the  people  were  burdened 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  S3 

with  imposts.  The  two  brothers  of  Louis,  Philip  the  Long  and  Charles 
IV.,  followed  successively.  Philip  signalized  himself  by  a  number  of 
wise  regulations  in  the  courts  of  justice.  Charles  followed  his  brother's 
steps  in  this  particular,  but  the  state  was  loaded  with  debts  and  badly 
governed. 

Second  Branch. — House  of  Valois. 

A.  D.  1328. — Queen  Jane,  wife  of  Charles  IV.,  being  delivered  of  a  pos- 
thumous daughter,  the  house  of  Valois  mounted  the  throne,  the  states  of 
France  having  decreed  females  to  be  incapable  of  inheriting  the  crown  of 
France.  This  is  called  the  Salic  law,  from  its  having  been  the  practice 
of  a  tribe  of  Franks,  called  Salians,  to  exclude  females  from  all  inheritance 
to  landed  property.  Philip  IV.,  soon  after  his  succession,  defeated  the 
Flemings,  but  was  defeated  by  the  English  in  a  sea-fight  near  Sluys,  also 
at  Cressy  and  Calais.  In  this  reign  Dauphiny  was  annexed  to  the  crown 
of  France. 

A.  D.  1350. — .John,  a  brave  prince,  but  without  genius  or  political  dis- 
cernment, succeeded  Philip.  He  continued  to  war  against  England,  but 
was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Poitiers.  The  kingdom 
became  the  theatre  of  factions  and  carnage,  and  was  drained  of  its  valuables 
to  ransom  the  king.  He  had  stipulated  for  the  cession  of  one  third  of  the 
kingdom,  and  3,000,000  of  gold  crowns.  Not  being  able  to  raise  this  enor- 
mous sum,  John  voluntarily  returned  to  London,  and  died  soon  after, 
A.  D.  13G4.  His  son,  Charles,  surnamed  the  Wise,  succeeded  him. 
Charles  V.,  seconded  by  De  Guesclin,  constable  of  France,  avenged  the 
honour  of  the  nation,  and  re-established  order  in  the  state.  Everything 
wore  a  new  face  under  this  king,  who  was  wise,  laborious,  and  economi- 
cal ;  a  friend  to  the  arts,  to  letters,  and  to  virtue. 

A.  D.  1380. — Charles  VI.  succeeded  to  the  crown,  and  France,  under  his 
government,  fell  into  great  disoi'der.  This  prince  having  lost  his  reason, 
and  recovering  it  at  intervals,  nothing  decisive  could  be  effected.  The 
English  king,  Henry  V.,  entered  France,  and  gained  the  battle  of  Agincourt. 
Henry,  by  treaty,  became  heir  to  the  crown,  but  died  a  few  days  before 
Charles  VI.  Henry  VI.  of  England  was  crowned  king  of  France  at  a 
very  early  age.  His  uncle,  John,  duke  of  Bedford,  acted  as  regent,  and 
during  his  life  the  power  of  the  English  increased  in  France.  About  this 
time  Joan  of  Arc,  an  enthusiast  in  the  cause  of  her  country,  reanimated 
the  valour  and  patriotism  of  the  French  nation.  She  fought  several  bat- 
tles with  success,  but  was  at  length  taken  at  Compiegne,  and  burnt  as  a 
witch,  by  order  of  the  English.  [See  "England,"  Hennj  VI-]  During 
this  time,  Charles  VII.  reigned  only  over  a  part  of  France.  But  the  duke 
of  Bedford  was  no  sooner  dead,  than  the  dukeof  Burgundy  became  recon- 
ciled with  Charles.  Normandy,  Guienne,  and  the  other  provinces,  which 
nad  been  held  by  the  power  of  the  duke  of  Bedford,  acknowledged  Charles, 
and  the  English  were  compelled  to  evacuate  France.  Charles  VII.  was 
succeeded  by  Louis  XL,  his  rebellious  son.  He  established  the  posts. 
He  was  a  bad  son,  and  as  bad  a  father ;  a  severe  prince,  but  a  deep  poli- 
tician. Some  important  changes  in  the  political  condition  and  the  man- 
ners of  the  nation  were  produced  in  this  reign.  The  royal  power  was  ex- 
tended and  consolidated,  the  knights  and  nobles  assisting  in  this,  because 
it  gave  scope  for  their  exploits.  The  gendarmerie,  or  body  of  permanent 
cavalry,  was  formed,  and  a  corps  of  foot  archers.  Charles  VIII.,  who 
succeeded  him,  married  Anne  of  Brittany,  thereby  putting  an  end  to  the 
last  of  the  great  feudal  fiefs  of  France.  He  restored  to  Ferdinand  V.  Car- 
dagne  and  Roussillon.  He  was  an  amiable  prince,  and  his  death  was  con- 
sidered as  a  public  loss. 


84  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

The  House  of  Valois- Orleans. 

A.  D.  1495. — Charles  VIII.  dying  without  children,  Louis,  Juke  of  Or- 
leans, descended  from  Charles  V.,  obtained  the  crown,  of  which  he  ap- 
peared worthy  by  his  good  qualities  and  his  virtues.  He  commenced  his 
reign  by  forgiving  his  enemies,  and  befriending  his  people.  He  conquered 
Milan,  which  he  afterwards  lost.  He  made  himself  master  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  conjointly  with  the  king  of  Arragon.  He  made  war 
also  against  Pope  Julius  II.  Gaston,  duke  of  Nemours,  and  the  chevalier 
Bayard,  greatly  distinguished  themselves;  but  the  French  were  obliged 
to  quit  Italy.  Louis  XII.  acquired  glory  more  durable,  by  gaining  the 
love  of  his  people,  and  by  his  extraordinary  affability,  than  by  his  wars. 

House  of  Valois- Angouleme. 

A.  D.  151o. — A  prince  of  the  house  of  Valois-Angouleme  ascended  the 
throne  after  the  death  of  Louis  XII.,  who  left  an  only  daughter,  married 
to  Francis,  count  of  Angouleme,  heir  to  the  crown.  Francis  defeated  the 
Swiss  at  Marignan,  reunited  Brittany  to  the  crown,  and  conquered  Lux- 
embourg. He  was  the  protector  and  the  promoter  of  the  fine  arts,  and  a 
great  encourager  of  the  learned.  He  died  with  the  reputation  of  being  the 
most  polite  prince  in  Europe. 

A.  D.  1547. — Henry  II.  succeeded  Francis.  The  face  of  affairs  changed 
at  the  commencement  of  the  reign  ol  this  prince.  He  joined  the  league 
of  the  protestanf  princes  against  the  emperor,  and  made  himself  master 
of  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun.  The  emperor,  Charles  V.,  besieged  Metz  ; 
the  duke  of  Guise  obliged  him  to  raise  the  siege,  and  defeated  him  at 
Renti.  Henry  afterwards  entered  into  a  league  against  the  house  of 
Austria  in  Spain,  and  Philip  II.  avenged  the  honour  of  the  Spaniards  at 
St.  Quintin.  The  duke  of  Guise  took  Calais  from  the  English,  and  the 
peace  of  Cateau  Cambresis  terminated  the  war.  Francis  II.,  his  son, 
succeeded  to  the  throne — a  prince  without  any  remarkable  vices  or  vir- 
tues. He  was  married  to  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
seventeen. 

A.  D.  1560. — Francis  II.  was  succeeded  by  Charles  IX.  The  religious 
wars,  the  seeds  of  which  had  been  previously  sown,  broke  out  with  fury  in 
this  reign.  The  massacre  of  Vassi  was  the  signal,  and  France  presented 
nothing  but  one  continued  scene  of  sanguinary  factions  for  years.  The 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day  covered  the  land  with  the  bleeding 
bodies  of  the  protestants.  On  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew,  orders  had 
been  sent  to  the  governors  of  provinces  to  fall  upon  the  protestants  in 
every  department  throughout  France  ;  and  though  an  edict  was  published 
before  the  end  of  the  week,  assuring  them  of  the  king's  protection,  and  that 
he  by  no  means  designed  to  exterminate  them  because  of  their  religion,  yet 
private  orders  were  sent  of  a  nature  directly  contrary  ;  in  consequence  of 
which  the  massacre  at  Paris  was  repeated  in  many  of  the  principal  towns, 
and  in  the  space  of  two  months  fifty  thousand  protestants  were  cruelly 
butchered.  From  the  time  of  this  most  atrocious  order,  given  by 
Charles  himself,  he  was  taken  ill,  and  languished  with  bodily  pains,  until 
relieved  by  death,  a.  d.  1572.  Charles,  dying  without  issue,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother,  Henry  III.,  who,  in  1575,  concluded  the  celebrated 
"  edict  of  pacification"  with  the  protestants  ;  the  substance  of  which  was, 
that  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  public  exercise  of  religion,  were 
granted  to  the  reformed,  without  any  other  restriction  than  that  they 
should  not  preach  within  two  leagues  of  Paris,  or  any  other  place  where 
the  court  whs.  This  edict  caused  the  Guises  to  form  an  association 
called  the  "catholic  league."  This  struck  at  the  very  root  of  the  king's 
authoritj' ;  for  as  the  protestants  had  already  their  chiefs,  so  the  catho- 
lics were  for  the  future  to  depend  entirely  upon  the  chief  of  tlie  league, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  gi 

and  execute  whatever  he  commanded.  Hence  arose  another  persecution 
of  the  protestants,  and  another  reconciliation.  In  the  end,  however,  the 
king  perished  by  assassination  at  the  hands  of  a  monk,  in  the  year  1588. 
Before  the  king's  death  he  nominated  Henry  of  Bourbon,  king  of  Navarre, 
as  his  successor  on  the  throne  of  France. 

Third  Branch. — House  of  Bourbon. 

A.  D.  1589. — Henry  IV.  took  the  title  of  king  of  France  and  Navarre  ; 
and  his  first  care  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  religious  disputes  which  had  so 
long  distracted  the  kingdom.  For  this  purpose  he  subsequently  promul- 
gated the  celebrated  edict  of  Nantes,  which  re-established  all  the  favours 
that  had  ever  been  granted  to  the  reformed  by  other  princes.  He  was 
acknowledged  by  the  lords  of  the  court,  but  opposed  by  the  catholic 
league,  which  set  up  the  old  cardinal  of  Bourbon  as  king,  under  the  title 
of  Charles  X.  Henry  IV.,  with  a  small  army  and  little  money,  was 
obliged  to  conquer  his  kingdom.  He  raised  the  siege  of  Paris,  and 
defeated  the  duke  of  Mayenne,  at  Arques  and  at  Ivri.  After  this  success 
he  presented  himself  before  Paris,  and  before  Rouen,  which  places  he 
besieged  in  form,  but  was  compelled  to  abandon  them  by  the  duke  of 
Parma.  The  duke  of  Mayenne  assembled  the  states-general  for  the 
election  of  a  king  of  France  ;  but  the  victory  gained  by  Henry  at  Dreux, 
and  his  abjuration  of  the  protestant  religion,  overthrew  all  their  projects, 
and  Paris  and  the  greater  part  of  the  cities  in  the  kingdom,  submitted  to 
his  government.  The  duke  of  Mayenne  retired  into  Burgundy ;  but  the 
leaguers,  supported  by  Spain,  were  still  in  opposition  in  Brittany.  Henry 
declared  war  against  Spain,  and  defeated  the  Spanish  army  at  Fontaine- 
Frangoise.  With  the  assistance  of  his  sagacious  friend  and  minister, 
Sully,  he  established  order  in  the  finances,  and  in  every  department  of  the 
state  ;  and  while  intent  on  reducing  the  dangerous  power  of  the  house  of 
Austria,  and  rendering  still  greater  service  to  the  people,  he  was  stabbed 
by  a  fanatical  priest  named  Ravilliac  Thus  fell  the  greatest  prince  evef 
known  in  France — the  best  and  bravest  of  its  kings. 

A.  D.  1610. — Louis  XIII.,  surnamed  the  Just,  succeeded  Henry  IV 
Being  a  minor,  Mary  de  Medicis  was  declared  regent  of  the  kingdom,  and 
dispensed  with  profusion  the  riches  which  Henry  had  amassed  to  render 
France  powerful.  The  queen's  favourite,  a  Florentine,  named  Concini, 
governed  the  state.  The  lords,  dissatisfied  with  the  pride  and  despotism 
of  this  stranger,  took  to  arms  ;  and  the  death  of  the  favourite  calmed  the 
intestine  division.  But  no  sooner  was  Concini  in  his  grave,  than  another 
favourite,  De  Luynes  appeared,  possessing  more  power,  if  possible,  than 
the  former.  Louis  banished  his  mother  to  Blois.  The  celebrated  Riche- 
lieu, then  bishop  of  Lucon,  eflTected  a  reconciliation  between  them,  and 
received,  as  a  reward,  a  cardinal's  hat.  The  protestants,  much  aggrieved 
by  the  catholics,  took  to  arms.  The  king  marched  against  them,  and  was 
victorious  in  every  quarter,  except  at  Montaubon,  from  whence  he  was 
obliged  to  retire  with  great  loss.  The  credit  and  ambition  of  Richelieu 
increased  daily,  until  he  was  declared  minister  of  the  state.  The  war 
was  renewed  with  the  protestants,  and  Rochelle,  the  bulwark  of  the 
Calvinists,  was,  after  a  severe  conflict,  reduced  by  the  king.  The  queen- 
mother,  and  Gaston  d'Orleans,  became  jealous  of  the  authority  of  Riche- 
lieu, and,  disgusted  with  his  pride,  left  the  kingdom ;  and  the  duke  de 
Montmorenci  was  beheaded  at  Toulouse.  Richelieu  died  in  the  fifty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  his  death  was  soon  followed  by  that  of  the 
king,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son. 

A.  D.  1543. — Louis  XIV.  being  only  six  years  old  when  his  father  died, 
the  queen,  Anne  of  Austria,  was  declared  regent  of  the  kingdom,  and  ap- 
pointed Cardinal  Mazarine  as  minister.  Conde  defeated  the  emperor  at 
Rocroy,  at  Fribourg,  at  Nordlingen,  and  at  Lens  *  and  these  successes, 


86  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

seconded  by  those  of  Turenne,  determined  the  emperor  to  conclude  peace. 
The  Spaniards  still  continued  the  war.  The  young  king  took  the  field 
in  person  at  the  head  of  his  armies,  and  Stenay  and  Montmedi  were  the 
fruits  of  his  first  eflforts  for  military  fame.  Peace  was  soon  after  con- 
cluded between  Don  Louis  de  Haro,  on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
Cardinal  Mazarine,  on  that  of  the  French.  The  cardinal  died  soon  after, 
leaving  the  finances  in  the  most  deranged  state,  and  the  navy  nearly 
rained.  Louis  XIV.  now  took  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own 
hands.  He  thirsted  for  glory,  and  had  the  discernment  to  choose  great 
men  as  his  ministers.  Colbert  and  Louvois  filled  the  first  ofl!ices  of  the 
state.  The  finances,  the  commerce,  the  marine,  the  civil  and  military 
government,  the  sciences  and  the  arts,  experienced  a  happy  change.  The 
death  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  occasioned  the  renewal  of  war.  Louis  head- 
ed his  troops,  showing  a  great  example  of  activity  and  courage  ;  and  his 
conquests  were  the  means  of  re-establishing  peace.  The  success  of  his 
arms  alarmed  the  neighbouring  powers,  who  entered  into  a  defensive 
league  against  France.  Louis  again  took  the  field,  and  conquered  the 
greater  part  of  Holland,  which  he  was  obliged  to  evacuate  through  the 
firmness  and  intrepidity  of  the  stadlholder,  afterwards  William  HI.,  king 
of  Great  Britain.  The  theatre  of  the  war  was  soon  after  changed,  and 
Franche  Compte  was  reconquered.  In  the  zenith  of  his  conquests, 
Louis  dictated  the  conditions  of  the  peace  of  Nimeguen ;  but  this  peace 
was  soon  after  infracted.  The  Spaniards  lost  Luxembourg;  Algiers, 
Tripoli,  and  Geneva  were  bombarded,  and  obtained  peace  by  making 
reparation  in  proportion  to  the  offences  they  had  given.  The  princes  of 
Europe  formed  the  league  of  Augsburg  against  Louis,  of  which  William, 
prince  of  Orange,  was  the  soul.  Louis  impoliticly  revoked  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  thereby  depriving  himself  of  the  services  of  many  thousands  of 
his  best  and  most  useful  subjects,  the  protestants,  whom  he  threw  into 
the  arms  of  his  enemies.  Having  so  done,  he  marched  against  the  allied 
powers.  He  took,  in  person,  Mons  and  Namur;  and  under  Luxembourg, 
Catinat,  and  Vendome,  the  French  signalized  themselves  at  Fleurus,  at 
Steinkirk,  at  Neuvinde,  at  Barcelona,  and  elsewhere.  James  II.,  of  Eng- 
land, having  abdicted  his  throne,  flew  to  France  as  an  asylum ;  and 
Louis  endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to  re-establish  him.  Peace  was  made  at 
Ryswick,  and  Europe  once  more  enjoyed  repose. 

Peace  was  of  short  duration  ;  the  death  of  Charles  II.  of  Spain  re- 
kindled the  flames  of  war.  Philip,  duke  of  Berri,  by  the  will  of  the  late 
king,  was  named  heir  to  the  Spanish  throne,  which  he  ascended  by  the 
name  of  Philip  V.  The  emperor  claimed  the  crown  of  Spain  for  his  son. 
War  was  declared,  and  the  fortune  of  arms  appeared  to  have  abandoned 
Louis,  who,  as  well  as  Philip,  sued  for  peace  ;  but  the  terms  offered  by 
the  allies  were  so  hard,  as  to  excite  the  indignation  of  the  Bourbons. 
The  war  was  continued,  and  at  length  terminated  in  favour  of  France, 
who  saw  Philip  in  peaceable  possession  of  the  crown  of  Spain,  secured 
by  the  peace  of  Utrecht  in  1713.  Two  years  after,  Louis  died,  having 
reigned  seventy-two  years.  The  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  has  been  celebrated 
as  the  era  which  produced  everything  great  and  noble  in  France.  He  has 
been  held  up  to  the  world  as  the  munificent  patron  of  the  arts,  and  a 
prince  whose  conceptions  and  plans  were  always  grand  and  dignified.  The 
true  character  of  kings  can  only  be  justly  determined  by  posterity,  and 
the  reputation  of  this  celebrated  monarch  has  not  been  strengthened  by 
time.  After  every  proper  tribute  of  applause  is  rendered  him,  it  may  be 
asserted,  that,  in  general,  he  rather  displayed  a  preposterous  vanity  than 
true  greatness  of  character,  which  has  been  productive  of  such  baneful 
effects,  that  the  decline  of  the  French  monarchy  may  said  to  have  mainly 
originated  from  his  conduct.  It  must  be  admitted  that  in  the  earlier  years 
of  his  reign,  Louis  was  a  liberal  patron  of  'etters,  and  many  of  the  most 


THE  TREASURy  OF  HISTORY.  g7 

celebrated  writers  flourished  ;  as  Corneille  and  Racine,  the  two  greatest 
tragic  poets  of  France,  and  Moliere,  the  first  comic  writer ;  Boileau,  the 
satirist;  Fontaine,  Fenelon,  Massilon,  and  others.  The  close  of  the  long 
career  of  Louis,  once  styled  by  the  French  "  the  great,"  was  disgraced  by 
gloomy  and  bigoted  intolerance. 

A.  D.  1715. — Louis  XV.  succeeded  his  grandfather  at  the  age  of  five 
years  and  a  half.  The  regency  was  conferred  on  his  uncle,  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  under  whose  auspices  the  unfortunate  Mississippi  scheme, 
planned  by  Law,  a  Scotchman,  took  place.  The  king  took  the  gov- 
ernment upon  himself  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  appointed  Cardinal 
Fleury,  his  preceptor,  prime  minister.  The  emperor  disturbing  the 
peace  of  Europe,  Spain  and  Sardinia  united  with  France,  and  declared 
war.  The  taking  of  Philipsburg,  the  victories  of  Parma  and  Placentia, 
and  the  conquests  of  Don  Carlos,  put  an  end  to  this  short  war,  which 
gave  Lorraine  to  France.  The  death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI. 
plunged  Europe  again  into  war.  France  favoured  the  pretensions  of  the 
elector  of  Bavaria.  The  combined  armies  of  France  and  Bavaria  sub- 
dued Upper  Austria,  and  possessed  themselves  of  Prague,  where  the 
elector  was  crowned  king  of  Bohemia.  But  a  sad  reverse  was  soon  after 
experienced.  Austria  and  Bohemia  were  torn  from  Charles  VIL,  who 
had  been  elected  emperor  by  the  assistance  of  France  ;  and  peace  was 
demanded  of  the  Hungarian  queen,  but  refused.  Louis  XV.,  who,  after 
the  death  of  Cardinal  Fleury,  governed  for  some  time  in  his  own  person, 
set  four  armies  on  foot,  and  marched  into  Flanders.  He  took  Menin, 
Ypres,  and  Furnes;  while  the  prince  of  Conti  signalized  himself  in  Italy. 
In  the  meantime  Alsace  was  attacked ;  Louis  flew  to  its  assistance,  aiid 
fell  sick  at  Mentz.  As  soon  as  his  health  was  re-established,  he  beseiged 
Friburg,  which  surrendered.  Several  campaigns  followed  with  various  suc- 
cess, until  peace  was  made  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748.  War  recommenced 
in  1755,  between  the  English  and  French.  In  Germany  it  was  carried  ou 
with  advantage  to  the  latter.  Hanover  was  taken,  and  the  duke  of  Cumber- 
land made  the  capitulation  of  Closterseven  disgraceful  to  the  English. 
The  king  of  Prussia  deffeated  the  French  and  Austrians  at  Rosbach, 
which  instantly  changed  the  face  of  aff'airs.  Hanover  was  retaken,  and 
the  French  beaten  at  Crevelt,  by  the  prince  of  Brunswick.  They  were 
defeated  at  Warburg,  and  at  Minden,  by  the  English,  who  proved  success- 
ful both  by  sea  and  land.  Spain,  alarmed  at  the  many  conquests  of 
their  arms,  joined  a  confederacy  of  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Bour- 
bon, known  by  the  name  of  the  "  family  compact ;"  and  the  flame  of  war 
raged  in  both  hemispheres,  to  the  glory  of  tlie  English  nation,  and  the 
loss  of  the  Bourbons.  The  peace  of  1763  put  an  end  to  this  war.  During 
the  interval  of  peace,  Louis  conquered  Corsica,  after  a  desperate  struggle 
on  the  part  of  that  brave  people  for  their  independence,  under  Pascal 
Paoli.  He  died  in  1774.  He  was  a  prince  of  very  moderate  parts,  and 
was  governed  in  a  great  measure  by  his  mistresses  and  favourites,  who 
also  governed  France. 

A.  D.  1774. — Louis  XVI.,  grandson  of  the  last  king,  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  and  soon  after  his  accession  married  Antoinette,  princess  of  Aus- 
tria. He  regenerated  the  marine,  much  weakened  by  the  successes  of  the 
English  in  the  late  war ;  and  the  navy  of  France,  in  a  few  years  after  his 
succession,  could  boast  of  one  hundred  sail  of  the  line.  He  assisted  the 
Anglo-Americans  to  throw  oft'  the  5"oke  of  the  mother  country,  which  they 
effected  ;  but  it  was  in  this  war  that  the  seeds  were  sown  of  that  revolu- 
tion which  proved  his  ruin.  The  war  of  American  independence  had,  in 
truth,  taught  the  people  of  every  country  to  know  their  power;  and  in 
France,  the  influence  of  the  nobility  and  the  crown  had  been  annihilated 
by  their  profligacy  in  the  preceding  reign.  A  set  of  powerful  but  intoler 
ant  writers  had  also  arisen,  at  the  head  of  whom  were  Voltaire  and  Rous- 
seau, who  attacked  all  existing  institutions  with  a  wit  and  eloquence  that 


>38  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

made  them  popular.  The  taxes  were  most  unjustly  distributed,  the 
clergy  and  nobility  being  exempt  from  taxation,  and  the  middling  classes 
and  the  poor  being  obliged  to  defray  the  whole.  Towards  the  close  ol 
the  year  178S,  when  famine  stared  the  miserable  peasants  in  the  face,  the 
greatest  difficulty  was  found  to  supply  the  enormous  expenses  which  were 
every  day  increasing.  The  king  was  advised  to  call  a  meeting  of  the 
st?.tes-general,  a  measure  seldom  recurred  to  but  in  cases  of  the  greatest 
necessity.  The  states-general,  consisting  of  the  nobles,  clergy,  and  others, 
assembled,  and  commenced  their  sittings  in  the  king's  royal  palace  at 
Versailles,  May  5th,  1789.  They  soon  discovered  the  situation  of  the 
country  ;  and  they  also  felt  their  power  and  their  consequence,  from  the 
eyes  of  all  France  being  directed  to  their  proceedings.  They  bound  them- 
selves, by  an  oath,  never  to  separate  until  the  constitution  of  the  king- 
dom, and  the  regeneration  of  public  order,  were  established  and  fixed  on 
a  solid  basis.  They  declared  themselves  inviolable,  by  a  majority  of  493 
against  34  ;  and  seemed  passionately  in  love  with  freedom  and  their 
country.  The  celebrated  Necker  was  dismissed  the  ministry,  and  re- 
tired from  France.  A  state  of  universal  agitation  was  now  on  the  eve  of 
commencing;  an  awful  scene  approached,  from  which  we  date  the  French 
revolution.  The  citizens  of  Paris,  who  had  assembled  on  Sunday  eve- 
ning, the  12th  of  July,  1789,  in  the  public  walks  of  the  Palais  Royal,  pro- 
ceeded from  thence  to  the  house  of  an  artist  on  the  Boulevards ;  and 
having  procured  a  bust  of  M.  Necker,  and  also  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  they 
adorned  them  with  crape,  and  carried  them  through  the  streets  in  triumph. 
When  they  came  to  the  square  of  Place  Vendome,  they  were  stopped 
by  the  German  regiment  of  horse,  who  dispersed  the  people,  and  broke 
the  bust  of  Necker.  Some  few  were  wounded,  but  they  soon  rallied  in 
increased  numbers.  The  army,  which  had  been  stationed  round  Paris, 
now  came  forward  in  full  force  with  a  body  of  cavalry,  and  the  Prince  de 
Lambesq,  of  the  house  of  Lorraine,  at  their  head.  He  had  received  orders 
from  Marshal  Broglio,  to  take  post  near  the  gardens  of  the  Tuilleries,  and 
maintain  himself  in  that  position,  without  doing  any  mischief  to  the  people  ; 
but  they  were  now  assembled  in  such  numbers,and  were  so  tumultuous,  that 
the  prince,  finding  himself  hemmed  in,  and  fearful  of  being  cut  off,  entered 
the  gardens  of  tlie  TuUeries  at  the  head  of  his  German  regiment,  and,  with 
his  drawn  sword,  v/ounded  a  peaceable  citizen  who  was  walking  there. 
The  disorder  from  that  time  became  universal ;  the  soldiers  fired  on  the 
people ;  and  what  with  the  shrieks  of  the  women,  the  groans  of  the 
wounded,  and  the  arbitrary  behaviour  of  the  military,  the  whole  city  was  in 
an  instant  thrown  into  a  convulsed  state.  The  general  cry  was,  "  To 
arms !"  Muskets,  and  other  weapons  of  defence,  were  soon  in  every 
hand.  The  French  guards  not  only  refused  to  fire  on  their  countrymen, 
but  united  in  their  cause.  They  marched  to  the  Place  of  Louis  XV.  to 
meet  the  German  regiment.  They  soon  came  up  with  them,  as  well  as 
with  some  hussars  of  the  Hungarian  light-horse,  who  had  joined  the  Ger- 
mans. A  smart  action  took  place,  and  the  Germans  were  driven  back  in 
disorder,  leaving  eleven  of  their  comrades  killed  or  wounded  behind  them. 
Oh  tlie  14th  of  July,  in  the  morning,  almost  every  person  in  Paris  was 
armed  ;  the  soldiers  mingled  with  the  populace,  and  all  at  once  a  numer- 
ous body  exclaimed,  "  Let  us  storm  the  Bastile."  They  immediately  pro- 
ceeded towards  it,  and  presented  themselves  before  the  tremendous 
fortress,  by  the  great  street  of  St.  Anthony.  M.  De  Launay,  the  governor, 
caused  a  flag  of  truce  to  be  hung  out,  upon  which  a  detachment  of  the 
patriotic  guards,  with  five  or  six  hundred  citizens,  introduced  themselves 
into  the  first  court.  The  governor  having  advanced  to  the  drawbridge, 
inquired  of  tlx;  people  what  they  wanted.  They  answered,  "  ammunition 
and  arms."  He  promised  to  furnish  them,  instead  of  which  he  caused 
the  drawbridge  to  be  rai-jcd,  and  a  discharge  of  artillery  on  all  those  men 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  89 

wno  were  m  the  first  court,  whereby  many  were  killed  and  wounded.  The 
governor  now  turned  his  cannon  on  the  city.  The  populace,  burning  with 
revenge,  sent  for  the  cannon  from  the  Invalids,  upon  which  five  pieces 
were  soon  brought,  and  delivered  to  experienced  gunners.  Three  pieces 
of  artillery,  under  the  direction  of  M.  Hulin,werealsobrought  into  the  court 
of  the  Saltpetriere,  contiguous  to  the  B-astile,  and  immediately  pointed  against 
that  fortress,  on  which  they  fired  with  great  vivacity.  The  governor  per- 
ceiving he  could  not  hold  out  against  such  a  phalanx  as  opposed  him,  threw 
out  a  white  flag.  The  besiegers,  however,  would  look  at  nothing  that  might 
lessen  their  resentment,  or  excite  pity  in  favour  of  the  besieged.  The  gov 
•srnormade  a  second  attempt  to  pacify  them,  but  in  vain.  He  acquainted 
them,  by  a  paper  introduced  througha  crevice  of  the  drawbridge,  that  he  had 
50,0001b.  weight  of  gunpowder,  and  would  blow  up  the  garrison,  and  all  its 
environs,  if  a  capitulation  was  not  accepted.  The  besiegers  despised  this 
menace,  and  continued  their  firing  with  additional  vigour.  Three  cannon 
were  brought  forward  to  beat  down  the  drawbridge.  The  governor  then 
demolished  the  little  bridge  of  passage  on  the  left-hand,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  fortress.  Hely,  Hulin,  and  Maillard,  leaped  on  the  bridge,  and  de- 
manded that  the  inmost  gate  should  be  instantly  opened.  The  besieged 
obeyed  ;  and  the  besiegers  pushed  forward  to  make  good  their  entrance, 
massacring  all  who  came  in  their  way,  and  soon  after  the  standard  of 
the  victors  was  seen  hoisted  on  the  highest  tower.  In  the  meantime  the 
principal  drawbridge  was  let  down ;  the  populace  rushed  in,  every  one 
eager  to  discover  the  governor,  and  to  plunge  his  sword  into  his  treacher- 
ous bosom.  One  Arne,  a  grenadier,  singled  him  out,  seized,  and  disarmed 
him,  and  delivered  him  up  to  Hulin  and  Hely.  The  deputy  governor,  the 
major,  and  the  captain  of  the  gunners,  were  also  seized.  The  victors 
proceeded  with  their  prisoners  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  but  they  were 
scarcely  arrived,  when  the  mob  tore  them  from  the  hands  of  those  who 
held  them  in  security,  and  trampled  them  under  foot,  and  De  Launay  and 
the  major,  pierced  with  countless  wounds,  expired. 

Thus  fell  the  Bastile,  after  a  siege  of  three  hours  only;  a  fortress  that 
the  most  experienced  generals  of  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  had  deemed  im- 
pregnable. It  was  began  by  Charles  V.  in  1369,  and  finished  in  1383. 
The  court,  utterly  astounded  at  these  proceedings,  now  ordered  the  dis- 
missal of  the  troops,  and  the  recall  of  Necker.  Bailly,  who  presided  at  the 
tennis  court,  was  nominated  mayor  of  Paris,  and  Lafayette  became  the 
commander  of  the  national  guards.  A  crowd  of  the  lowest  rabble,  ac- 
companied by  some  of  the  national  guards,  proceeded  to  Versailles,  and 
entered  the  palace  amid  threats  and  execrations  the  most  indecent  and 
revolting.  The  king  was  compelled  to  accompany  them  to  Paris,  and  to 
receive  from  the  hands  of  Bailly  the  tri-coloured  cockade,  as  a  mark  of 
his  union  with  the  people.  At  this  period  the  famous  Jacobin  club  was 
formed ;  an  illegal  and  violent  power,  which  raised  itself  at  the  side  of 
the  national  representation  in  order  soon  after  to  crush  it.  At  first  it  con- 
sisted of  a  few  well-disposed  deputies  and  patriots,  but  it  soon  changed 
its  character,  and  became  the  focus  of  insurrection  and  treasonable  excite- 
ment. 

The  French  Revolution. — The  Limited  Monarchy. 

A.  D.  1789. — W^e  now  come  to  the  month  of  August,  an  ever  memorable 
era  in  the  history  of  France.  The  new  constitution  was  finally  ushered 
into  the  national  assembly  on  the  1st  day  of  the  month.  The  articles 
being  all  discussed,  the  king  accepted  it  with  seeming  sincerity,  returning 
the  assembly  thanks  for  the  title  they  had  bestowed  on  him — that  of 
"restorer  of  the  liberties  of  France."  It  was  not  long  after  this,  how- 
ever, that  Louis,  probably  from  finding  his  power  circumscribed,  attempt- 
.  ed  to  leave  France,  with  the  queen  and  family,  and  had  actually  pro* 


90  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

ceeded  near  the  frontiers,  when  he  was  recognized  by  Drouet,  son  of  the 
postmaster  at  Varennes,  who  contrived  to  impede  his  journey  by  over- 
turning a  cart  in  the  way.  In  the  meantime  he  conveyed  the  intelligence 
to  the  guard.  The  king  was  now  fully  identified,  but  denied  having  any 
intention  of  leaving  France.  He  was,  however,  conveyed  back  to  Paris, 
where  he  had  been  but  a  very  short  time  missed.  His  brothers  escaped 
by  taking  different  routes.  This  attempt  of  Louis  to  leave  the  kingdom 
irritated  the  Parisians  almost  to  frenzy,  and  he  was  soon  after  conveyed 
to  the  Temple  as  a  prisoner,  together  with  his  queen,  his  children,  and 
his  sister,  Madame  Elizabeth.  Here  he  suffered  a  rigorous  confinement, 
until  he  was  brought  to  trial  before  the  national  convention — for  by  that 
appellation  the  national  assembly  was  then  known.  Being  convicted  of 
what  they  termed  treason  against  that  constitution  which  he  had  sworn 
to  defend,  he  was  condemned  to  die  by  the  guillotine,  which  death  he 
suffered  on  the  21st  of  January,  1793,  with  great  fortitude,  and  was  buried 
privately,  in  a  churchyard  of  Paris  ;  his  grave  was  filled  with  lime  in 
order  to  prevent  his  partizans  from  removing  his  body.  Thus  died  Louis 
XVJ.,  who,  if  not  the  greatest  of  the  French  monarchs,  was  certainly  one 
of  the  most  unoffending ;  but  he  was  irresolute,  brought  up  in  the  habits  of 
indolence,  and  of  a  court  famous  for  its  breach  of  faith.  He  was,  in  fact, 
in  every  respect,  unsuitable  to  the  government  of  the  French  nation, 
whether  as  a  despotism  or  a  free  government;  the  latter  he  himself  cer- 
tainly was  the  means  of  introducing,  by  the  part  he  took  in  the  contes* 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies. 

2.     The  Republican  Government. 

A.  D.  1792. — During  the  confinement  of  Louis,  the  constitution  was  mod- 
elled anew.  The  limited  monarchy  gave  way  to  the  republican  govern- 
ment, which  took  place  the  23d  of  September,  1792.  The  death  of  the 
queen  soon  followed ;  the  absurd  and  infamous  charges  brought  against 
her  astonished  all  Europe.  But  no  power  could  save  the  once  beautiful 
Marie  Antoinette  ;  her  doom  had  doubtless  long  been  decreed;  and  she 
suffered  by  the  axe  of  the  guillotine,  on  the  16th  of  October,  1793,  after 
having  been  treated  with  every  possible  indignity.  Her  body  was  imme 
diately  interred  in  a  grave  filled  with  quick-lime,  like  that  of  her  husband. 
This  highly  accomplished  woman,  who  is  described  as  a  model  of  grace 
and  beauty,  was  in  her  38th  year,  and  sister  of  Leopold  H.,  late  emperor  of 
Germany.  La  Vendee  rose,  and  the  continent  as  well  as  England  armed 
m  hostility  to  the  convention,  whom  nothing  seemed  to  intimidate.  Four- 
teen armies,  without  experience,  and  merely  with  the  aid  of  paper  money, 
Avere  set  in  motion.  Custine  took  Mentz  ;  Montesquieu  invaded  Savoy  , 
Lille  repulsed  the  Austrians,  who  bombarded  the  city;  and  Dumouriez, 
making  a  descent  upon  Belgium,  carried  the  redoubts  of  Jenappe  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  The  generals  had  only  to  sound  the  Marseillais 
hymn,  and  the  citizen  soldiers  saw  in  the  republic  a  futurity  of  peace  and 
prosperity,  although  the  roots  of  what  was  called  the  tree  of  liberty  were 
saturated  with  blood.  Lyons,  after  a  two  months'  siege,  surrendered  to 
the  republicans,  and  there  are  few  examples,  even  amid  the  horrid  scenes 
of  barbarous  warfare,  of  more  vindictive  cruelty  than  took  place  there. 
The  guillotine  being  deemed  too  slow  an  engine  of  destruction,  crowds 
were  driven  into  the  Rhone,  or  butchered  in  the  squares  by  discharges  o\ 
grape-shot.  Barrere  sent  a  flaming  account  to  the  convention,  which  de 
creed  that  the  walls  and  public  buildings  of  the  city  should  bo  razed,  anc 
Lyons  henceforth  called  La  Ville  Affranchie.  The  excesses  and  enormi- 
ties of  this  period  of  French  history  are  almost,  indeed,  too  incredible  foi 
the  sober  pen  of  history  to  record.  A  new  calendar  was  formed  ;  and  ip 
order  to  obliterate  the  remembrance  of  the  Christian  sabbath,  each  month 
was  subdivided  into  tliree  decades,  the  first  days  of  which  were  festivals 


•THE  TREASUllY  OF  HISTORY.  91 

or  days  of  rest.  A  few  days  after,  the  municipal  authorities  of  Paris  ap- 
peared in  the  convention,  attended  by  the  bishop  and  clergy,  decorated 
with  caps  of  liberty,  who  publicly  renounced  their  offices  of  Christian  pas- 
tors. The  bishop  of  Moulins  threw  down  his  mitre,  and  preached  the 
doctrine  that  "death  is  an  eternal  sleep."  Various  allegorical  creations, 
such  as  Liberty  and  Equality,  were  deified,  and  a  young  woman  of  aban- 
doned character  was  enshrined  as  the  Goddess  of  Reason  on  the  altar  of 
Notre  Dame,  to  receive  the  adoration  of  the  multitude.  But  the  reign  of 
Robespierre  was  now  in  its  plenitude  ;  a  tyrant  more  savage  and  bloody 
cannot  be  found  since  the  days  of  Nero  and  Caligula.  The  guillotine  was 
in  constant  action,  and  thousands  were  immolated  to  his  sanguinary  ven- 
geance. Royalists  and  republicans  indiscriminately  felt  the  axe ;  and 
among  his  victims  were  Madame  Ehzabeth,  sister  to  the  king,  and  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  the  king's  cousin,  who  had,  in  the  national  convention, 
voted  for  the  death  of  Louis.  The  latter  not  only  died  unpitied,  but  exe- 
crated by  both  parties,  for  the  infamous  part  he  had  acted  towards  his 
near  relation.  This  "bold  bad  man,"  who  had  renounced  his  title,  and 
adopted  the  name  of  Philip  Egalite,  was  in  his  46th  year,  and  met  death 
with  apparent  indifference.  Under  the  mask  of  patriotism  he  aspired  to 
the  throne,  but  met  his  just  reward  (though  not  for  his  regicidal  and  un- 
natural crime),  from  the  guillotine.  Who  at  that  time  could  have  ima- 
gined that  young  Egalite,  his  son,  who  had  fought  under  the  banners 
of  the  republic,  would  one  day  be  saluted  as  Louis  Philippe,  king  of  the 
French ! 

This  era  was  appropriately  termed  "  the  reign  of  terror."  But  the  power 
of  Robespierre  was  not  to  endure  forever.  Talien  had  the  virtue  and 
courage  to  denounce  him,  in  the  convention,  for  his  numberless  barbari- 
ties. The  members  well  knew  they  held  their  heads  by  the  slight  tenure 
of  his  will  only  ;  they  were  tlierefore  gratiged  by  the  opportunity  which 
now  offered  itself  for  his  destruction  ;  they  supported  the  denunciation 
against  him  ;  and  but  a  few  hours  elapsed  between  his  accusation  and  his 
death,  on  that  scaffold  where  he  had  so  recently  sent  his  victims  by  doz- 
ens. This  event,  which  gave  general  satisfaction,  took  place  the  28th  of 
July,  1794.  The  constitution  of  the  third  year,  was,  soon  after  the  death 
of  Robespierre,  put  into  force.  A  directory,  consisting  of  five,  forming 
the  executive  power,  was  appointed ;  it  consisted  of  Reubel,  Barras,  La 
Reveilliere,  Lepaux,  Merlin,  and  Treilliard  ;  and  two  councils  ;  the  first, 
of  the  "elders;"  and  the  latter,  of  "five  hundred,"  formed  the  legislative 
part.  One  third  of  each  chamber  was  to  be  renewed  annually ;  and  one 
of  the  "directors"  was  to  go  out  yearly,  and  be  replaced  by  the  election 
of  another.  The  armies  of  France  had  been  contending,  from  the  year 
1792,  with  those  of  almost  every  power  in  Europe.  Prussia  was,  indeed, 
early  drawn  off  from  the  contest ;  though  it  had  penetrated  the  French 
territory.  The  republican  arms  were  in  general  successful  by  land  ;  and, 
in  the  beginning  of  1795,  they  were  in  possession  of  all  the  Austrian 
Netherlands,  Holland,  and  Germany,  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  ;  they  were 
also  masters  of  Savoy  on  the  side  of  Italy. 

Early  in  1796,  Bonaparte,  a  young  man,  till  then  unknown  in  the  world 
of  politics,  was  appointed,  through  the  powerful  interference  of  the  direc- 
tor Barras,  to  the  command  of  the  army  of  Italy.  No  sooner  had  he  taken 
the  field,  than  victory  appeared  to  have  adopted  him  as  her  favourite  son. 
His  prodigious  successes  astonished  the  world.  He  defeated  the  Aus- 
trians  and  Piedmontese  in  the  battles  of  Montenotte  and  of  Milesimo,  in 
April,  1796  ;  compelled  the  king  of  Sardinia  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace, 
in  which  Savoy  and  Nice  were  given  up  to  France  ;  on  the  8th  of  May  he 
crossed  the  Po ;  on  the  succeding  day  he  forced  Parma  to  consent  to  an 
armistice ;  defeated  General  Wurmser  on  the  3d  of  August  at  Lonado, 
and  on  the  5th  at  Castiglione;   advanced  against  the  Tyrol;   defeated 


92  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

Alvinzi  at  Arcole  on  the  15th  of  November,  and  at  Rivoli  on  the  14th  of 
January,  1797;  concluded  the  peace  of  Tolentino,  in  which  the  pope 
yielded  Avignon  to  France,  and  Bologna,  Ferrara,  and  Romagna  to  the 
Cisalpine  republic,  on  the  19th  of  February  ;  and  defeated  the  archduke 
Charles  at  Lesonzo;  and  signed  preliminaries  of  peace  with  Austria  at 
Leoben  on  the  16th  of  April,  1797,  which  formed  the  peace  of  Campo 
Formio,  by  which  alone  the  Austrian  capital  was  saved  from  destruction. 

This  treaty  led  to  a  congress  to  be  held  for  the  adjustment  of  claims, 
and  to  bring  about  that  desirable  blessing,  peace.  Radstadt  was  the  place 
appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  ministers  of  the  different  powers  who 
were  to  assist.  Fifteen  months  elapsed  in  negotiation,  which  terminated 
in  delusion;  and  the  French  plenipotentiaries.  Bonnier  and  Roberjot,  were 
assassinated  by  some  German  soldiers  on  their  return  to  France.  Both 
parties  having  in  the  interim  recruited  their  strength,  renewed  the  war. 

During  the  above-mentioned  negotiation,  a  plan  was  laid  in  France  for 
the  conquest  of  Egypt.  They  accordingly  fitted  out  a  formidable  fleet  at 
Toulon,  on  board  of  which  were  embarked  42,000  troops,  the  flower  of  Bo- 
naparte's victorious  Italian  army.  All  Europe  was  interested  in  the  des- 
tination of  so  formidable  an  armament,  but  more  particularly  England. 
Bonaparte  it  was  generally  understood,  was  to  have  the  command ;  but 
the  great  secrecy  with  which  everything  relating  thereto  was  conducted, 
baflled  all  the  efforts  at  the  discovery  of  his  real  designs.  It  left  Toulon 
in  May,  1798,  under  the  command  of  Brieux  as  admiral,  and  Bonaparte  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  troops,  and  steered  to  the  eastward.  In  June, 
Malta  submitted  ;  and  on  the  2d  of  July,  it  reached  Alexandria,  in  Egypt ; 
having  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  the  vigilance  of  Admiral  Nelson, 
who  had  been  dispatched  in  search  of  it  as  soon  as  it  was  known  for  a 
certainty  that  it  had  gone  to  the  eastward.  Alexandria  was  taken  on  the 
3d  ;  and  the  beys  and  MameluJces  were  defeated  in  several  actions.  Egypt, 
including  its  capital,  Grand  Cairo,  was  in  the  possession  of  the  French  in 
twenty-one  days  from  their  landing.  Bonaparte  had  landed  his  forces  but 
a  short  time  before  the  English  fleet  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Egypt.  The 
French  fleet  lay  in  the  bay  of  Aboukir,  moored  in  the  greatest  security  ; 
Nelson  attacked  it  on  the  1st  of  August,  and  gained  a  victory  as  complete 
as  any  in  the  naval  annals  of  the  country.  Bonaparte  having  brought 
Egypt  under  his  power,  his  next  object  was  Syria,  for  the  invasion  of 
which  he  was  in  readiness  early  in  February,  1799.  He  marched  from 
Grand  Cairo  across  the  desert.  He  took  El  Arish,  Joppa,  and  Jerusalem, 
and  penetrated  the  country  as  far  as  Acre,  which  place  he  besieged.  Here 
he  met  with  an  unexpected  foe,  in  the  captains  and  crews  of  a  small  En- 
glish fleet,  commanded  by  Sir  Sydney  Smith,  which  had  come  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  pacha ;  and  after  many  most  daring  attempts  to  take  that 
city,  during  forty  days  and  upwards,  he  retired  with  considerable  loss. 

It  was  during  the  siege  of  Acre  that  Bonaparte  first  heard  of  the  re- 
verses of  the  French,  and  the  loss  of  the  greater  part  of  his  conquests  in 
Italy.  He  soon  afterwards  defeated  the  army  of  the  pacha  of  Natolia  at 
Aboukir,  and  his  departure  from  Egypt  followed  immediately  on  that  event. 
He  left  the  government  of  his  new  conquest  under  General  Kleber,  and, 
embarking  on  board  a  small  vessel,  with  a  few  of  his  principal  officers, 
had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  the  numerous  English  cruisers,  and  arrived 
at  Frejus  on  the  13th  of  October.  He  was  received  in  Paris  on  the  16th, 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  and  was  soon  made  acquainted 
with  the  external  and  internal  situation  of  France.  He  deplored  the  loss 
of  those  conquests  which  had  acquired  to  him  immortal  fame,  but  he 
further  deplored  the  state  of  the  country,  torn  into  a  variety  of  factions.  Au 
army  unclothed,  unfed,  and  unpaid ;  a  part  of  the  interior  of  the  republic 
in  rebellion ;  a  host  of  foes  from  without  pressing  it  on  all  sides  ;  the  finan- 
ces in  the  utmost  possible  state  of  derangement ;  and  the  resources  drained 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  93 

almost  to  the  last  livre.  The  quick  discernment  of  Bonaparte  told  him 
that  nothing  short  of  a  grand  effort  could  save  France  from  ruin.  He 
soon  made  up  his  mind  to  the  action,  and,  assisted  by  a  few  friends,  his 
generals,  and  his  army,  actually  assumed  the  government  on  the  9th  of 
November,  abolishing,  a-t  the  same  time,  the  constitution  of  the  third  year- 
He  vi^as  soon  after  elected  first  consul,  with  extraordinary  powers. 

^he  scene  that  took  place  on  this  memorable  occasion  is  well 
wa  ih  transcribing :  The  legislature  met  at  St.  Cloud ;  the  council  of 
elders  in  the  great  gallery,  and  that  of  five  hundred,  of  whom  Lucien 
Bonaparte  was  president,  in  the  orangery.  Bonaparte  entered  the  council 
of  elders,  and,  in  an  animated  address,  described  the  dangers  that  menaced 
the  republic,  and  conjured  them  to  associate  their  wisdom  with  the  force 
which  surrounded  him.  A  member  using  the  word  "  constitution,"  Bona- 
parte exclaimed,  "  The  constitution  !  It  has  been  trodden  under  foot,  and 
used  as  a  cloak  for  all  manner  of  tyranny."  Meanwhile  a  violent 
debate  was  going  on  in  the  orangery,  several  members  insisting  upon 
knowing  why  the  place  of  sitting  had  been  changed.  The  president 
endeavoured  to  allay  the  storm  ;  but  the  removal  had  created  great  heat, 
and  the  cry  was,  "  Down  with  the  dictator !  No  dictator !"  At  that  mo- 
ment Bonaparte  himself  entered,  bare-headed,  followed  by  four  grenadiers ; 
on  which  several  members  exclaimed,  "  Who  is  that  ?  No  sabres  here  ! 
No  armed  men  !"  While  others  descending  into  the  hall,  collared  him, 
calling  him  "  Outlaw^,"  and  pushed  him  towards  the  door.  One  member 
aimed  a  blow  at  him  with  a  dagger,  which  was  parried  by  a  grenadier. 
Disconcerted  at  this  rough  treatment,  General  Lefevre  came  to  his  aid ;  and 
Bonaparte  retiring,  mounted  his  horse,  and  addressed  the  troops  outside.  His 
brother  Lucien  also  made  a  forcible  appeal  to  the  military,  and  the  result 
was,  that  a  picket  of  grenadiers  entered  the  hall,  and  the  drums  beating 
the  pas  de  charge,  cleared  it  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  This  truly  Crom- 
"^wellian  argument  decided  the  affair,  and  in  the  evening  it  was  declared 
,  that  the  directory  had  ceased  to  exist ;  that  a  provisional  consular  com- 
mission should  be  appointed,  composed  of  citizens  Sieyes,  Ducos,  and 
Bonaparte  ;  and  that  the  two  councils  should  name  committees,  of  25 
members  each,  to  prepare  a  new  constitution.  In  the  interval  between 
the  abolition  of  one  constitution  and  the  creation  of  another,  the  consuls 
were  invested  with  a  dictatorship.  Lucien  Bonaparte  was  made  minister 
of  the  interior ;  Talleyrand,  of  foreign  affairs  ;  Carnot,  of  war ;  and 
Fouche,  of  police. 

The  Consular  Government. 

A.  D,  1809. — The  new  constitution  consisted  of  an  executive  composed 
of  three  consuls,  one  bearing  the  title  of  chief,  and  in  fact  possessing  all 
«  the  authority  ;  of  a  conservative  senate,  composed  of  80  members,  appoint- 
ed for  life,  the  first  60  to  be  nominated  by  the  consuls,  and  the  number 
to  be  completed  by  adding  two,  annually,  for  ten  years,  and  a  legislative 
body  of  300  members,  and  a  tribunate  of  100.  Bonaparte  was  nominated 
the  first  consul,  for  ten  years  ;  Cambaceres  and  Lebrun,  second  and  third 
consuls,  for  five  years.  Sieyes,  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  bringing 
about  the  revolution,  and  in  framing  the  new  constitution,  was  rewarded 
by  the  grant  of  an  estate  worth  15,000  francs  per  annum.  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  consulate  was  a  direct  overture  from  Bonaparte  to  the 
king  of  England  for  peace  ;  which  was  replied  to  by  the  English  minister, 
who  adverted  to  the  origin  of  the  war,  and  intimated  that  "the  restoration 
of  the  ancient  line  of  princes,  under  whom  France  had  enjoyed  so  many- 
centuries  of  prosperity,"  would  afford  the  best  guarantee  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  peace  between  the  two  countries.  This  was  of  course  construed, 
as  it  was  meant,  a  rejection  of  the  offer.  The  strength  and  energy  of  the 
new  government  made  itself  visible  in  the  immediate  union  of  the  best 


94  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

leaders  of  all  parties  ;  in  the  return  of  many  thousand  emigrants  in  the 
humbler  ranks  of  life,  and  in  the  activity  which  was  displayed  by  all  who 
held  office  under  the  consular  government.  Bonaparte  soon  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  army  of  Italy,  and  by  the  rapidity  of  his  operations  out- 
generalled  his  opponents.  Having  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Austrian  army,  encamped  in  a  valley  at  the  foot  of  Mount  St. 
Bernard,  he  formed  the  bold  design  of  surprising  them  by  crossing  that  part 
of  the  Alps  which  was  before  considered  inaccessible  to  a  regularly  equipped 
army.  It  was,  in  truth,  a  most  difficult  and  daring  exploit,  exceeding 
anything  that  had  occurred  since  the  days  of  Hannibal ;  but  in  proportion 
to  the  peril  of  the  undertaking,  was  the  glory  that  awaited  it.  The  battle 
of  Marengo,  which  was  fought  on  the  14ili  of  June,  1800,  decided  the  fate 
of  Italy.  Moreau,  who  was  at  this  lime  commanding  the  army  of  the 
Rhine,  gained  the  battle  of  Hohenlinden,  December  3d,  and  threatened 
Vienna.  These  great  victories  were  followed  by  the  conclusion  of  a 
treaty  with  Austria,  in  its  own  name,  and  that  of  the  German  empire,  but 
without  the  concurrence  of  England,  on  the  9th  of  February,  1801.  In 
this  peace,  the  course  of  the  Rhine  was  fixed  as  the  limit  between  France 
and  Germany.  Those  German  princes  who  lost  their  territories  beyond 
the  Rhine  by  this  new  arrangement,  were  to  be  indemnified  by  additional 
possessions  on  the  right  bank  of  that  river.  In  Italy  the  course  of  the 
Adige  was  fixed  as  the  boundary  between  Austria  and  the  Cisalpine  re- 
public, and  the  former  power  gave  the  Briesgau  and  Ortenau  to  the  duke 
of  Modena.  The  territories  of  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  were  erected 
into  the  kingdom  of  Etruria,  which  was  given  to  the  hereditary  prince  of 
Parma,  according  to  a  treaty  between  France  and  Spain,  the  grand  duke 
to  be  indemnified  in  Germany  for  the  loss  of  his  territories.  This 
peace  was  the  prelude  to  others.  On  the  29th  of  September,  1801,  Portu- 
gal concluded  a  treaty  with  France,  and  Russia  and  Turkey  on  the  8th 
and  9th  of  October. 

A.  D.  1802. — England  was  also  now  disposed  to  enter  into  negotiations 
for  peace,  and  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Amiens  were  soon  arranged. 
France  retained  her  acquisitions  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  and 
her  supremacy  in  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  Italy.  England  consented 
to  resign  Malta  to  the  knights  of  St.  John,  to  make  the  Ionian  islands  an 
independent  republic,  and  to  restore  all  the  colonies  she  had  taken  from 
France,  except  Ceylon  and  Trinidad.  France,  on  the  other  hand,  guaran- 
tied the  existence  of  the  kingdoms  of  Naples  and  Portugal.  The  treaty 
was  signeo  on  the  27ih  of  March,  1802,  and  for  a  short  time  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Europe  were  flattered  with  the  prospect  of  continued  tranquillity. 
Tn  May,  Bonaparte  founded  the  legion  of  honour,  and  soon  after,  he  was 
chosen  first  consul  for  life.  He  had  just  before  concluded  with  the  newly- 
elected  pope  a  concordat  for  the  Galilean  church,  the  articles  of  which 
were — the  establishment  of  the  free  exercise  of  the  catholic  religion;  a 
new  division  of  the  French  dioceses,  the  bishops  to  be  nominated  by  the 
first  consul,  and  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  republic.  He  also  put 
an  end  to  the  proscription  of  the  emigrants,  and  numbers  returned  to  end 
their  days  in  the  land  of  their  birth.  But  his  extraordinary  successes,  the 
adulation  of  the  army,  and  his  elevation,  intoxicated  the  chief  consul ;  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  it  was  not  long  before  he  took  an  opportunity  of 
openly  insulting  the  English  ambassador.  A  renewal  of  hostilities  was 
the  natural  result,  and  to  such  an  extent  did  Bonaparte  carry  his  animosity 
towards  England,  that  on  the  ground  that  two  French  ships  had  been 
captured  prior  to  the  formal  declaration  of  war,  he  issued  a  decree  for  the 
detention  of  all  the  English  in  France,  and  under  this  infringement  of  in- 
ternational law,  the  number  of  British  subjects  detained  in  France  amount- 
ed to  11,000,  and  in  Holland  to  1,300. 

A.  D.  1804. — In  February  a  plot  was  discovered  in  Paris  for  the  assas- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  OB 

sination  of  Bonaparte  and  the  overthrow  of  the  consular  government 
The  principals  in  this  conspiracy  were  General  Pichegru,  Georges,  an 
enthusiastic  loyalist,  and  Lajolais,  a  friend  of  General  Moreau,  who  also 
was  charged  with  disaffection  to  the  consular  government.  Pending  the 
trials  Pichegru  was  found  strangled  in  prison  ;  Georges  and  some  of  his 
accomplices  were  publicly  executed,  and  Moreau  was  sentenced  to  two 
years'  imprisonment,  which  was  commuted  to  banishment  to  America. 
One  of  the  foulest  atrocities  of  modern  times  was  next  perpetrated  by  the 
order  of  Bonaparte.  The  duke  d'Enghi^n,  eldest  son  of  the  duke  of  Bour- 
bon, was  seized  in  the  neutral  territory  of  Baden,  and  taken  first  to  Stras- 
burgh,  thence  to  Paris,  and  afterwards  to  the  castle  of  Vincennes,  where 
a  military  commission  met  on  the  night  of  his  arrival,  to  try  him,  on  the 
charges  of  having  served  in  the  emigrant  armies  against  France,  and  of 
being  privy  to  the  conspiracy  of  Georges.  It,  however,  signified  little 
what  the  charges  were  ;  he  was  destined  for  immediate  execution  ;  and, 
in  defiance  of  every  barrier  of  international  law,  he  was  taken  out  and 
shot  in  the  castle  ditch,  almost  immediately  after  his  midnight  trial  was 
concluded.  The  prince  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  brave  soldier  and  a 
virtuous  man,  hence  he  was  the  more  obnoxious  !  The  ambition  of  Bona- 
parte to  obtain  the  imperial  dignity,  and  his  denunciations  against  Eng- 
land, seemed  to  occupy  all  his  thoughts  ;  and,  truly,  these  were  objects 
of  no  little  magnitude.  At  length,  on  the  first  of  May,  a  motion  was 
made  in  the  tribunate  for  conferring  on  Napoleon  the  rank  of  emperor, 
with  hereditary  succession  in  his  family.  The  decree  of  the  tribunate 
was  adopted  by  the  senate,  and  power  given  to  Bonaparte,  if  he  had  no 
male  issue,  to  adopt  an  heir  from  the  children  of  his  brothers.  The  titles 
of  prince,  princess,  and  imperial  highness,  were  conferred  on  all  members 
of  the  Bonaparte  family.  Thus  ended  the  French  republic,  under  all  its 
phases.  It  had  lasted  eleven  years  and  four  months,  almost  the  exact 
duration  of  the  English  commonwealth  from  the  death  of  Charles  I. 

Pope  Pius  VII.  now  proceeded  to  Paris,  and  on  the  '2d  of  December 
solemnly  anointed  the  new  emperor,  who  himself  placed  the  imperial 
crown  upon  his  own  head.  The  Italian  republic  followed  the  example  of 
France;  and  on  the  15ih  of  March,  1805,  having  named  their  president 
king  of  Italy,  Napoleon,  on  the  26th  of  May,  with  his  own  hands  also 
placed  the  new  crown  of  the  Lombardian  kings  upon  his  own  head,  and 
was  anointed  by  the  archbishop  of  Milan.  During  his  presence  in  Italy,  the 
senate  of  the  Ligurian  republic  demanded  and  obtained  the  incorporation 
of  the  Genoese  state  with  the  French  empire,  on  the  4th  of  June  ;  and  the 
small  republic  of  Lucca  was  transformed  in  the  same  year  into  an  heredi- 
tary principality  for  Bonaparte's  sister,  the  princess  Eliza.  He  was 
already,  also,  preparing  thrones  to  establish  his  brothers.  The  threatened 
invasion  of  Britain  had  long  been  the  theme  of  every  tongue,  and  the  peo- 
ple of  France  had  been  diverted  from  all  other  thoughts  during  the  moment- 
ous changes  which,  with  a  magician's  wand,  had  taken  place  in  the  sys- 
tem of  government,  for  the  attainment  of  which  the  blood  of  Frenchmen 
nad  flowed  with  such  reckless  prodigality.  A  third  coalition  against  France 
was  concluded  at  Petersburgh,  between  England  and  Russia,  April  11. 
A.ustria  joined  the  confederacy  in  August ;  and  Sweden  likewise  was 
Blade  a  party  to  it,  and  received  a  subsidy.  But  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
felt  assured  that,  while  he  could  detach  Prussia  from  the  alliance,  which 
ne  did  by  promising  Hanover  to  the  king,  he  had  no  great  reason  to  appre- 
hend any  serious  injury  from  the  other  powers.  In  Italy,  the  archduke 
Charles  was  opposed  to  Marshal  Massena;  at  the  same  time  twenty-five 
thousand  French  marched  under  St.  Cyr  from  Naples  into  Upper  Italy, 
after  a  treaty  of  neutrality  had  been  concluded  between  France  and  Naples. 
The  Austrian  army  in  Germany  was  commanded  by  the  archduke  Ferdi- 
fland  and  General  Mack.     This  army  penetrated  into  Bavaria  in  Septera- 


96  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ber,  1805,  and  demanded  that  the  elector  should'^ither  unite  his  forces 
with  the  Austrians  or  disband  them  ;  upon  wliich  the  elector  joined  Napo- 
leon ;  and  a  similar  course  was  adopted  by  the  dukes  of  Wirtcmberg  and 
Baden. 

Forsaking  the  camp  of  Boulogne,  where  he  had  been  preparing  the 
"army  of  England"  for  the  projected  invasion,  Napoleon  hastened  towards 
Wirtemberg,  and  issued  a  declaration  of , war.  The  corps  of  Bernadotte 
and  the  Bavarians  having  marched  towards  the  Danube,  through  the  neu- 
tral province  of  Anspach,  belonging  to  Prussia,  the  latter  power,  which 
had  assembled  its  armies  in  the  neiglibourhood  of  the  Russian  frontier, 
renounced  its  obligations  to  France ;  and  by  the  treaty  of  Potsdam,  con- 
cluded on  on  the  3d  of  November,  during  the  stay  of  the  emperor  Alex- 
ander at  Berlin,  promised  to  join  the  enemies  of  Napoleon.  The  Prus- 
sian armies,  in  conjunction  with  the  Saxons  and  Hessians,  took  up  a  hostile 
position  extending  between  the  frontiers  of  Silesia  and  the  Danube.  But 
the  Austrian  armies  in  Suabia  had  been  rapidly  turned  and  defeated  by  the 
French,  in  a  series  of  operations  extending  from  the  Cth  to  the  13th  of  Octo- 
ber, upon  which  Mack,  in  the  infamous  capitulation  of  Ulm,  surrendered 
with  thirty  thousand  men,  but  the  archduke  Ferdinand,  by  constant  fight- 
ing, reached  Bohemia.  The  French  now  penetrated  through  Bavaria  and 
Austria  into  Moravia,  and  after  having  obtained  possession,  in  Novem- 
ber, of  the  defiles  of  the  Tyrol,  and  driven  back  several  Russian  corps  in  a 
series  of  skirmishes,  they  occupied  Vienna  on  the  13ih  of  November,  and 
afterwards  took  possession  of  Presburg.  The  next  great  battle,  fought  at 
Austerlitz  on  the  2d  of  December,  decided  the  war,  although  it  had  only 
lasted  two  months  ;  and  the  archduke  Charles,  having  received  informa- 
tion of  the  event  in  Suabia,  retired  through  the  German  provinces,  after 
having  fought  a  dreadful  battle  upon  the  Adige,  which  lasted  three  days. 
The  battle  of  Austerlitz,  in  which  Napoleon  so  signally  defeated  the  allies, 
was  well  contested  by  the  troops  on  both  sides.  The  Austro-Russian 
armies  amounted  to  eighty  thousand  men,  commanded  by  General 
Kutusoff  and  Prince  Lichenstein ;  one  hundred  pieces  of  cannon,  and 
thirty  thousand  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners  on  the  side  of  the  allies, 
was  an  irresistible  proof  of  the  desperate  nature  of  the  conflict,  as  well  as 
the  good  fortune  of  Napoleon.  An  immense  number  perished  in  a  lake 
by  the  ice  giving  way.  Davoust,  Soult,  Lannes,  Berthier,  and  Murat  most 
distinguished  themselves  among  the  French  marshals. 

An  interview  between  Napoleon  and  Francis  II.  immediately  followed, 
and  an  armistice  was  concluded  on  the  6lh.  By  the  treaty  of  peace  of 
Presburg,  Austria  yielded  its  Venetian  possessions  to  the  kingdom  of 
Italy;  the  Tyrol  and  several  German  countries  to  Bavaria;  Briesgau  to 
Baden,  and  other  Suabian  possessions  to  Wirteraberg.  She  also  recog- 
nized the  electors  of  Bavaria  and  Wirtemberg  as  kings,  and  the  elector 
of  Baden  as  sovereign  elector.  These  and  other  concessions  Austria  was 
compelled  to  make.  But  during  the  victorious  course  of  the  armies  ol 
France  by  land,  she  suffered  deeply  from  the  naval  power  of  England, 
the  united  fleets  of  France  and  Spain,  under  Villeneuve  and  Gravina, 
being  nearly  annihilated  by  Nelson  in  the  battle  of  Trafalgar.  This  took 
place  on  the  2151  of  October.  On  the  15th  of  December  the  emperor  con-- 
eluded  a  treaty  with  Prussia,  at  Vienna,  in  which  the  alliance  between 
both  these  powers  was  renewed,  and  a  reciprocal  guarantee  of  the  ancient 
and  newly-acquired  states  exchanged.  France  pretended  to  give  Hanover 
to  Prussia;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Prussia  yielded  to  France,  Anspach, 
Cleve,  and  Neufchatel.  Prussia  was  now  obliged  to  act  offensively 
against  England,  as  well  by  taking  possession  of  Hanover  as  by  excluding 
English  vessels  from  the  ports  under  her  control.  Joseph,  the  elder 
brother  of  Napoleon,  was  by  an  imperial  decree  named  king  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  which  had  been  conquered  by  Marshal  Masscna,  who  marcher^ 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  97 

with  an  army  from  Upper  Italy  into  Naples,  on  acconnt  of  a  pretended 
breach  of  neutrality,  occasioned  by  the  landing  of  the  English  and  Rus- 
sians. But  Ferdinand  IV.  look  refuge  in  Sicily  with  his  family;  and  that 
island  being  protected  by  the  English  fleet,  formed  merely  a  nominal 
appendage  to  the  crown  of  Joseph  Bonaparte.  Prince  Eugene  Beauhar- 
nois,  son  of  the  empress  Josephine  by  her  first  husband,  was  named  vice- 
roy of  Italy;  Talleyrand  received  the  nominal  title  of  prince  of  Bene- 
vento  ;  Bernadotte  was  proclaimed  princeof  Ponte  Corvo;  and  Louis,  the 
second  brother  of  the  emperor,  was  proclaimed  hereditary  and  constitu- 
tional king  of  Holland.  With  the  same  disregard  of  political  justice,  the 
constitution  of  the  German  empire,  which  had  lasted  for  above  a  thousand 
years,  was  overthrown  on  the  12th  of  July,  1806,  to  make  way  for  the 
Rhenish  confederation,  of  which  the  emperor  Napoleon  was  named  pro- 
tector. 

Prussia,  at  this  period  still  trembling  for  her  own  safety,  was  once  more 
excited  by  England  and  Russia  to  resistance;  upon  which  Napoleon  trans- 
ported his  immense  army  across  the  continent,  and  in  less  than  one  month 
he  arrived  at  Berlin,  having  gained  the  ever-memorable  battle  of  Jena,  in 
which  250,000  men  were  engaged  in  the  work  of  mutual  destruction.  More 
than  twenty  thousand  Prussians  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  forty 
thousand  taken  prisoners,  with  three  hundred  pieces  of  cannon.  Prince 
Ferdinand  died  of  his  wounds.  A  panic  seized  the  garrison,  and  all  the 
principal  towns  of  Prussia,  west  of  the  Oder,  surrendered  to  the  French 
soon  after  the  battle,  and  on  the  25th  of  October,  Napoleon  entered  the 
capitol.  Bonaparte  next  promulgated  the  celebrated  Berlin  decree,  or 
"  continental  system,"  by  which  the  British  islands  were  declared  in  a 
state  of  blockade ;  all  articles  of  British  manufacture  were  interdicted: 
and  all  vessels  touching  at  England,  or  any  English  colony,  excluded  from 
every  harbour  under  the  control  of  France.  Beyond  the  Vistula,  the  war 
between  France  and  Russia  was  opened  on  the  24th  of  December,  1806,  by 
the  fight  of  Czarnowo,  in  which  the  French  carried  the  Russian  redoubts 
upon  the  left  bank  of  the  Ukra.  On  the  succeeding  morning  Davoust 
drove  field-marshal  Kameuskji  out  of  his  position  ;  and  on  the  day  follow- 
ing the  marshal  renounced  the  command-in-chief,  in  which  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Bennigsen.  This  general  suddenly  transported  the  theatre  of 
war  into  Eastern  Prussia,  where  the  Russians,  an  the  23d  of  January, 
1807,  attacked  the  advanced  posts  of  the  prince  of  Ponte  Corvo,  who 
engaged  them  on  the  25th,  at  Mohrungen,  and  by  his  manoeuvres  covered 
the  flank  of  the  French  army  until  a  junction  was  formed.  After  con- 
tinual fighting  from  the  1st  to  the  7th  of  February,  the  battle  of  Eylan 
took  place.  The  slaughter  was  dreadful ;  both  parties  claimed  the  victory, 
and  both  were  glad  to  pause  while  they  recruited  their  respective  armies. 
The  next  operation  of  consequence,  was  the  seige  and  bombardment  of 
Dantzic,  by  Lefebvre  ;  and  General  Kalkreuth  was  compelled  to  capitulate 
on  the  24th  of  May,  after  Marshal  Lannes  had  defeated  a  body  of  Rus- 
sians who  had  landed  at  Weichselmunde  with  the  view  of  raising  the 
siege.  At  last,  after  a  series  of  skirmishes  between  the  diff'erent  divisions 
of  the  hostile  armies,  the  decisive  victory  of  the  French  over  the  Russians 
at  Friedland,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1807,  led  to  the  peace  of  Tilsit ;  which 
was  concluded  on  the  9th  of  July,  between  France  and  Prussia,  by  Talley- 
rand and  Count  Kalkreuth,  after  an  interview  between  the  three  monarchs 
upon  the  Niemen,  and  subsequently  at  Tilsit.  In  this  peace  Prussia  was 
shorn  of  territories  containing  upwards  of  one  half  of  the  former  popula- 
tion of  that  kingdom  ;  and  from  the  various  districts  which  fell  into  the 
conqueror's  hands  were  formed  two  new  states — the  kingdoms  of  West- 
phalia, and  the  dukedom  of  Warsaw.  The  former  was  given  to  Jerome 
Bonaparte,  and  the  king  of  Saxony  was  flattered  with  the  title  of  duke  of 
Warsaw.    Upon  the  intercession  of  Russia,  the  dukes  of  Mecklenburgh- 


«)3  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Schwerin,  Oldenburgh,  and  Cobiirg,  were  reinstated,  and  France  and 
Russia  exchanged  reciprocal  guarantees  of  their  possessions,  and  of  those 
of  the  other  powers  included  in  this  peace. 

Never  had  the  fortune  of  man  been  more  brilliant ;  the  whole  world  was 
struck  with  astonishment  at  victories  so  rapid,  and  seemed  to  bow  itself 
before  so  colossal  a  power.  But  his  ambition  was  boundless ;  no 
sovereign  could  be  more  absolute  ;  he  regarded  other  men  as  ciphers 
destined  to  increase  the  amount  of  that  unity  which  centered  in  himself. 
He  talked  of  the  glory  of  France  ;  but  he  re-established  the  imposts,  the 
abuses,  and  prodigality  of  the  ancient  monarchy.  The  aids  and  monopo- 
lies reappeared  under  the  name  of  united  duties.  The  press  was  kept 
under  by  a  censorship  ;  juries  were  perverted  ;  prefects  and  other  petty 
despots  assumed  the  administration  of  justice ;  the  emperor  nominated 
all  the  public  functionaries,  and  all  were  inviolable  ;  the  council  of  slate, 
a  dependent  and  removeable  body,  was  the  sole  arbiter  of  tneir  responsi- 
bility. The  election  of  the  deputies  was  ridiculous  in  this  pretended  rep- 
resentative government,  the  laws  of  which  were  the  dicta  of  the  empe- 
ror, under  the  name  of  decrees  or  senatorial  edicts.  Individjal  liberty  no 
longer  existed ;  a  police,  that  was  a  true  political  inquisition,  suspected 
even  silence  itself;  accused  the  thoughts  of  men,  and  extended  over 
Europe  a  net  of  iron.  All  this  time,  too,  the  conscription,  a  dreadful  tax 
upon  human  life,  was  levied  with  unsparing  activity ;  and  the  French 
youth  were  surrendered  to  his  will  by  the  senate  as  a  sort  of  annual  con- 
tribution. The  affairs  of  Spain  now  began  to  occupy  the  attention  of 
Napoleon  ;  one  of  his  first  objects,  however,  was  to  destroy  the  English 
influence  in  Portugal.  A  French  army,  in  concert  with  a  Spanish  one, 
marched  against  that  kingdom,  the  partition  of  which  had  been  concerted 
between  France  and  Spain,  on  the  27th  of  October,  1807,  the  northern 
part  being  given  to  the  house  of  Parma,  the  southern  part  to  Godoy, 
prince  of  peace,  and  the  middle,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  to  the  house 
of  Braganza.  Tuscany  was  to  be  given  to  France,  and  the  king  of  Spain 
to  be  declared  protector  of  the  three  states,  erected  out  of  Portugal ;  the 
Spanish  monarch  was  also  to  assume,  after  the  maritime  peace  should  be 
concluded,  the  title  of  emperor  of  both  Americas.  In  conformity  with 
this  treaty,  Tuscany  was  given  up  to  Napoleon  in  1807,  and  afterwards 
incorporated  with  France  ;  and  Marshal  Junot,  duke  of  Braganza,  entered 
Lisbon  on  the  30th  of  November,  after  the  royal  family  had  embarked 
with  their  treasures,  and  a  few  of  the  principal  nobility,  in  a  British  fleet, 
for  the  Brazils.  But,  in  1808,  the  Spanish  nobility,  tired  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  prince  of  peace,  formed  a  plot  to  raise  Ferdinand  VII.  to  the 
throne,  and  free  their  country  from  foreign  influence.  It  required  no  great 
effort  to  induce  Charles  to  resign  in  favour  of  his  son ;  but  this  was  an 
arrangement  to  which  Napoleon  would  not  consent ;  and  both  father  and 
son  now  became  pensioners  of  the  French  conqueror,  who  invested  his 
brother  Joseph,  at  that  time  king  of  Naples,  with  the  sovereignty  of  Spain 
and  India.  The  people  now  rose  to  vindicate  their  rights,  and  that  strug- 
gle commenced  in  which  patriotic  Spaniards  were  so  warmly  and  success- 
fully supported  by  the  British  under  Wellington,  during  the  long  and  ardu- 
ous military  operations  which  in  England  are  known  as  the  "  Peninsular 
war."  The  war  in  Spain  appeared  to  give  Austria  a  new  and  favour- 
able opportunity  for  attempting  the  re-establishment  of  her  former  in- 
fluence in  Germany.  The  emperor  Francis  accordingly  declared  war 
against  France,  and  sent  his  armies  into  Bavaria,  Italy,  and  the  dukedom  of 
Warsaw.  But  the  rapid  measures  of  Napoleon  baflded  Austrian  calcula- 
tions; and,  collecting  a  large  army,  he  defeated  the  archduke  Louis  so 
severely  at  Eckmuhl  and  Ratisbon,  on  the  22d  and  23d  of  April,  that  he 
was  compelled  to  cross  the  Danube.  Vienna  was  thus  opened  to  the  con- 
querors, and  Napoleon  took  possession  of  that  capital.    The  archduke 


THE  TREASURY  OF  fllSTORY.  99 

Charles  was,  however,  undismayed  ;  he   attacked  the  French  in  their 
position  at  Aspern,  on  the  21st  of  Maj^  and  the  battle  continuing  through 
the  next  day.  Napoleon  vvas  compelled  to  retreat  into  the  isle  of  Loban, 
where  his  army  was  placed  in  a  situation  of  great  jeopardy,  the  flood 
having  carried  away  the  bridge  that  connected  the  island  in  the  middle  of  the 
river  with  the  right  bank  of  the  Danube;  and  two  months  elapsed  before 
he  was  able  to  repair  the  disasters  of  the  battle,  and  again  transport  his 
army  across  the  river.     Then  followed  the  great  battle  of  Wagram,  which 
was  fought  on  the  5th  and  6th  of  July  ;  and  in  this  desperate  conflict  the 
loss  of  the   Austrians   was   so  great,  that  they  immediately  sought  an 
armistice  of  the  French  emperor,  which  led  to  the  peace  of  Vienna,  signed 
on  the  14th  of  October,  1809.     By  this  peace  Austria  was  obliged  to  re- 
sign territories  containing  three  millions  of  subjects.     Saltzburg,  Berch- 
tolsgaden,  &c.,  were  given  to  Bavaria;  all  western  and  part  of  eastern  Galli- 
cia,with  the  town  of  Cracow,  were  united  to  the  dukedom  of  Warsaw ;  and 
other  provinces,  with  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  were  destined  to  form 
the  new  state  of  the  Illyrian  provinces  ;  while  Austria  was  absolutely  cut 
off  from  all  communication  with  the  sea,  by  the  loss  of  her  ports  on  the 
Adriatic.     The  Tyrolese,  who  had  been  transferred  to  the  king  of  Bavaria 
by    the  treaty  of  Presburg,  finding  that  their  ancient  immunities   and 
privileges  had  been  violated,  and  that  they  were  crushed  by  severe  taxa- 
tion, seized  the  opportunity  of  the  Austrian  war  to  raise  the  standard  of 
revolt ;  and  in  their  early  operations  they  expelled  the  Bavarians  from  the 
principal  towns.     A  French  army  entered  the  country  and  laid  it  waste  with 
fire  and  sword ;  but  the  Tyrolese,  animated  by  a  heroic  peasant  named 
Hofer,  expelled  the  invaders  once  more,  and  secured  a  brief  interval  of 
tranquillity.     The  results  of  the  battle  of  Wagram,  however,  gave  the 
French  and  Bavarian  forces  an  opportunity  of  overwhelming  them  ;  they 
penetrated  their  mountain  fastnesses,  desolated  the  land,  executed  the 
leading  patriots  as  rebels,  and  the  land  was  again  subjected  to  the  tyranny 
of  Maximilian  Joseph,  the  puppet  of  Napoleon.     Several  efforts   were 
simultaneously  made  in  Germany  to  shake  off" the  French  yoke;  butafter 
the  overthrow  of  the  Austrians  there  were  no  longer  any  hopes  for  fliem, 
and  the  emperor  of  the  French  exercised  an  almost  unlimited  power  over 
the  northern  part  of  continental  Europe.     During  Napoleon's  residence  at 
Vienna,  he  abolished  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope,   and  united  the 
remaining  territories  of  the  stales  of  the  church  with  France,  to  which  he 
had  previously  united  Piedmont,  Liguria,  Tuscany,   and  Parma,  besides 
Savoy  and  Nice.     A  pension  was  assigned  to  his  holiness,  and  the  city  of 
Rome  declared  an  imperial  and  free  city.     The  pope  was  conducted  to 
Fontainebleau,  where  Napoleon  concluded  a  second  concordat  with  him, 
in  which,  though  the  pope  did  not  resume  his  temporal  jurisdiction,  he 
obtained  the  right  to  keep  ambassadors  at  foreign  courts,  to  receive  am- 
bassadors, and  to  appoint  to  certain  bishoprics.     One  of  the  consequences 
of  the  peace  of  Vienna  was  the  dissolution  of  the  marriage  between 
Napoleon  and  Josephine,  which  took  place  in  December,  1809  ;  and  his 
second  marriage  with  the  archduchess  Maria  Louisa,  daughter  of  the  em- 
peror of  Austria,   in  April,  1810.     When  Napoleon  declared  tbe  papal 
territory  a  province  of  France,  and  Rome  a  city  of  the  empire,  he  deter- 
mined that  the  heir-apparent  of  France   should  bear  the  title  of  king  of 
Rome,  and  that  the  emperor  of  France  should  be  crowned  in  Rome  within 
the  first  three  years  of  his  government.     The  firmness  with  which  he  was 
opposed  in  Spain,  the  perseverance  of  Great  Britain  in  maintaining  the 
orders  in  council,  to  counteract  the  decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan,  and  the 
daily  increasing  prospect  of  an  approaching  war  in  the  North,  where 
longer  submission  to  the  arbitrary  mandates  of  Napoleon  was  refused, 
did  not  augur  favourably  for  the  future  stability  of  his  vast  power.     The 
British   also  carried  on  an  important  commerce  with  Russia,  through 


100  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Qottcnburg  and  the  ports  of  the  Baltic,  of  which  complaint  was  made  to 
the  courts  of  Stockholm  and  Petersburg.  The  commercial  policy  of 
Russia  in  1810  and  1811,  and  its  disapprobation  of  the  treatment  of  the 
duke  of  Oldenburg  (a  near  relation  to  the  emperor  Alexander),  had 
excited  the  distrust  of  Napoleon;  and  he  spoke  the  language  of  offended 
confidence  in  remonstrating  with  "  his  brother  the  emperor."  At  length 
Russia  and  Sweden  made  common  cause  with  Great  Britain  in  opposing 
Napoleon's  darling  "  continental  system ;"  while  the  latter  arrayed  under 
his  banners  the  military  strength  of  western  and  southern  Europe,  and, . 
trusting  to  the  vast  number  of  his  victorious  legions,  he  crossed  the  Nie- 
men,  and  directed  his  march  to  the  capital  of  Lithuania.  As  the  French 
advanced  the  Russians  retired,  wasting  the  country  in  their  retieat. 
Napoleon  then  with  his  main  body  marched  upon  Moscow,  while  a  large 
division  of  his  forces  menaced  the  road  to  St.  Petersburg.  But  tlie  main 
force  of  the  invaders  advanced  to  Smolensko,  which  was  justly  regarded 
as  the  bulwark  of  Moscow.  This  strongly  fortified  position  was  taken 
by  storm  on  the  17th  of  August,  after  a  brief  but  bloody  struggle,  the 
Russian  general,  Barclay  de  Tolly,  firing  the  town  on  his  retreat.  But 
Moscow  was  not  to  be  abandoned  without'another  effort.  Kutusoff,  who 
now  assumed  the  command  of  the  Russians,  fixed  upon  a  position  near 
the  village  of  Borodino,  and  there  firmly  awaited  the  invading  host. 
Nearly  seventy  thousand  men  fell  in  this  furious  and  sanguinary  conflict ; 
and  as  the  French  were  joined  by  new  reinforcements  after  the  battle, 
Napoleon  entered  Moscow,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Kremlin,  the 
ancient  palace  of  the  czars.  The  citizens,  however,  under  the  direction, 
or  with  the  sanction,  of  the  governor,  Rostopchin,  not  only  determined  to 
abandon  their  beloved  metropolis,  but  to  consign  it  to  the  flames;  and 
scarcely  had  the  French  troops  congratulated  themselves  on  having 
secured  winter-quarters  in  that  cold  and  inhospitable  region,  ere  the  con- 
flagration burst  forth  in  every  direction,  and  notwithstanding  every 
device  was  tried  to  subdue  the  flames,  they  ceased  not  until  more  than 
three-fourths  of  the  city  was  a  mass  of  smoking  embers.  In  this  unex- 
pected and  embarassing  position.  Napoleon  gave  orders  for  a  retreat.  All 
the  horrors  that  the  imagination  can  conceive  were  now  felt  by  the  hap 
less  fugitives,  who  so  lately  were  the  boasted  conquerors  of  southern 
Europe.  The  winter  had  set  in  unusually  early,  and  brave  as  the  French 
soldiers  were,  the  climate  of  Russia  was  an  enemy  too  powerful  for  them 
to  contend  vvith.  Thousands  upon  thousands  perished  with  cold  and  hun- 
ger, and  an  immense  number  fell  beneath  the  swords  of  their  relentless 
pursuers,  who,  maddened  by  the  recollection  that  their  hearths  and  homes 
had  been  polluted  by  these  invaders,  and  that  their  ancient  city  lay 
smouldering  in  the  dust,  heeded  not  their  cries  for  mercy.  But  why 
should  we  repeat  the  tale  of  horrors?  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  wreck  of 
this  mighty  army  retreated  through  Prussia  and  Poland,  into  Saxony, 
while  Napoleon  hastened  to  Paris  with  all  the  speed  that  post-horses 
could  effect. 

Napoleon  appealed  to  the  senate  for  men,  money,  and  other  munitions 
of  war,  and  his  appeal  was  promptly  responded  to.  Notwithstanding  his 
recent  reverses,  he  felt  that  he  still  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  French 
nation  ;  and  a  large  conscription  was  ordered  to  supply  the  losses  of  the 
late  campaign  ;  as  soon,  therefore,  as  the  new  levies  were  organized,  he 
hastened  to  the  north ;  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  Europe,  the  army 
under  his  command  was  numerically^uperior  to  those  of  his  adversaries. 
The  public  voice  in  Prussia  loudly  demanded  war  with  France,  and  the 
Prussian  monarch  took  courage  to  assert  his  independence  and  enter  into 
alliance  with  Alexander.  The  armies  of  these  newly-united  powers  sus- 
tained a  considerable  loss  at  Lutzen  on  the  2d  of  May,  and  at  Bautzen  on 
the  21st  and  22d,  in  engagements  with  the  French  ;  but  neither  battle  was 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  lOl 

decisive ;  and  Napoleon,  alarmed  by  the  magnitude  of  his  losses,  and  the 
obstinacy  of  his  enemies,  consented  to  an  armistice.  During  the  truce 
the  British  government  encouraged  the  allies  by  large  subsidies  ;  but  vi^hat 
was  of  most  consequence,  the  emperor  of  Austria,  who  had  never  cordially 
consented  to  an  alliance  with  his  son-in-law,  now  abandoned  his  cause, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  confederation  against  him.  Napoleon 
established  his  head-quarters  at  Dresden,  and  commenced  a  series  of 
operations  against  his  several  foes,  which  at  first  were  successful ;  but  the 
tide  of  fortune  turned  ;  different  divisions  of  his  army  were  successively 
defeated,  and  he  collected  his  scattered  forces  for  one  tremendous  effort, 
which  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  Europe.  Retiring  to  Leipsic,  he  there 
made  a  stand,  and  under  the  walls  of  that  ancient  city  he  sustained  a  ter- 
rible defeat,  Oct.  18,  the  Saxon  troops  in  his  service  having  deserted  in  a 
body  to  the  allies  during  the  engagement.  Compelled  to  evacuate 
Leipsic,  he  retreated  upon  the  Rhine,  followed  by  the  allied  troops, 
and  after  a  severe  struggle  at  Hanau,  Oct.  30,  in  which  the  Bavarians, 
under  the  command  of  General  Wrede,  took  a  decisive  part  against  the 
French,  they  were  defeated,  and  multitudes  were  made  prisoners.  Ber- 
nadotte  undertook  the  task  of  expelling  the  French  from  Saxony.  The 
sovereign  governments  in  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia,  the  grand  dukedom 
of  Frankfort  and  Berg,  and  the  countries  of  the  princes  of  Isenburg  and 
Vonder-Leyen,  were  now  overturned  ;  the  elector  of  Hesse-Cassel,  the 
duke  of  Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel,  and  the  duke  of  Oldenburg,  returned 
to  their  own  country ;  the  Hanoverians  again  acknowledged  their  old 
government,  and  the  Russian  administration  was  re-introduced  into  the 
provinces  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe.  Considerable  masses  of  troops, 
partly  volunteers,  and  partly  drafted  from  the  Prussian  militia,  followed 
the  Austrians,  Russians,  and  Prussians  across  the  Rhine.  The  flame  of 
independence  spread  to  Holland,  and  the  hereditary  claims  of  the  house  of 
Orange  were  acknowledged. 

A.  D.  1814. — While  the  allies  were  thus  effecting  the  humiliation  of  Na- 
poleon, Wellington  advanced  slowly  towards  Bayonne.  As  he  advanced, 
the  old  partisans  of  the  Bourbons  began  to  revive,  the  exiled  family  was 
proclaimed,  and  the  white  flag  floated  on  the  walls  of  Bordeaux.  Napo- 
leon had  the  advantage  over  Blucher  at  Brienne  on  the  29th  of  January, 
but  was  forced  to  retreat  at  La  Rochiere,  where  the  allies  had  concentra- 
ted their  forces.  He  now  retired  between  the  Loire  and  the  Marne,  with 
the  view  of  covering  Paris  ;  and  it  was  not  without  difficulty  that  Blucher 
succeeded  in  penetrating  the  French  line.  But  the  order  of  march  was 
still  "  forward !  forward  !"  On  the  31st  of  March,  1814,  the  allied  troops 
entered  Paris,  and  Alexander  declared,  in  the  name  of  the  allied  sover- 
eigns, that  they  would  not  negotiate  with  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  nor  with 
any  of  his  family  ;  that  they  acknowledged  the  right  of  France  only  to  the 
territory  embraced  vvhhin  its  ancient  limits  under  its  kings ;  and,  finally, 
that  they  would  acknowledge  and  guaranty  the  government  which  the 
French  nation  should  adopt.  They  therefore  invited  the  senate  to  estab- 
lish a  provisory  government  for  the  administration  of  the  country  and  the 
preparation  of  a  constitution.  Accordingly,  the  senate  assembled,  April  1, 
under  the  able  presidency  of  Talleyrand,  (a  man  ever  skilful  in  taking 
advantage  of  circumstances),  whom,  with  four  other  members,  they 
charged  with  the  provisory  government.  On  the  next  day  it  declared 
that  Napoleon  and  his  family  had  forfeited  the  throne  of  France.  The 
legislative  body  ratified  this  decree,  and  the  recall  of  Louis  XVHL  to 
the  throne  of  France  was  soon  after  made  known.  Meanwhile,  April 
11,  Napoleon  had  resigned  the  crown  conditionally  in  favour  of  his 
son,  at  Fontair.ebleau ;  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  the  same  day, 
ceding  to  him  the  island  of  Elba. 

Wearied  with  continual  war,  France  hailed  the  return  of  peace  withaa 


102  TILE  TflEASUllY  OF  UlSTORY. 

clamalions  of  joy  and  hope.  The  seiiHtors,  in  conjunction  wiih  some 
others,  formed  a  chamber  of  peers.  At  the  same  time  was  convened  the 
legislative  body  of  the  empire,  which  formed  the  chamber  of  deputies; 
and  Louis,  who  had  declared  his  determination  to  adopt  a  liberal  constitu- 
tion, granted  the  charter,  which,  notwithstanding  omissions  and  imper- 
fections, contained  guaranties  for  liberty.  The  new  constitutional  char- 
ter was  presented  to  the  nation  by  the  king  on  tlie  4ih  of  June.  It  con- 
tained tlic  principles  of  a  limited  monarchy.  The  person  of  the  king  was 
declared  to  be  inviolable ;  the  legislative  power  was  vested  in  him  in 
conjunction  with  the  two  chambers.  The  chamber  of  deputies  was  to 
be  composed  of  deputies  chosen  by  the  electoral  colleges,  one  fifth  part 
to  be  renewed  yearly  ;  to  be  eligible  as  a  deputy,  it  was  necessary  to  be 
forty  years  old,  and  pay  1000  francs  of  direct  taxes.  On  the  4th  of  May 
Louis  created  the  new  ministry,  and  on  the  3d  of  August  a  new  council 
of  state.  The  royal  orders  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  military  merit,  the 
order  of  St.  Louis,  and  that  of  St.  Michael,  were  revived ;  the  legion  of 
honour  received  a  new  decoration  (the  portrait  of  Henry  IV.),  and  a  new 
organization,  and  the  order  of  the  silver  lily  was  founded.  There  were 
still,  however,  many  prejudices  in  favour  of  the  abdicated  emperor  to 
overcome,  and  many  restless  spirits  to  soothe.  It  was  soon  perceived 
that  a  great  difference  of  opinion  prevailed  among  the  members  of  the 
royal  family  and  among  the  ministers.  The  honours  conferred  on  the 
old  nobility  and  the  emigrants  who  had  returned  with  the  court,  excited 
great  discontent ;  and  the  national  pride  was  offended  by  the  public  de- 
claration of  the  king,  that  he  owed  his  crown  to  the  prince-regent  of 
Great  Britain.  The  army,  so  long  used  to  war  and  the  rewards  which 
awaited  a  successful  career,  was  in  a  state  of  the  highest  irritation;  the 
remembrance  of  him  by  whom  they  had  so  often  been  led  to  victory  was 
yet  fresh,  when  they  saw  their  corps  dissolved,  their  dotations,  their  pay, 
and  their  pensions  diminished,  their  importance  and  their  influence  de- 
stroyed, and  they  themselves  compelled  to  change  their  favourite  badges 
for  others,  on  which  they  had  formerly  trampled.  The  holders  of  the 
national  domains  feared  to  lose  them.  The  people  were  discontented 
with  the  burden  of  the  taxes,  the  alleviation  of  which  had  been  promised 
to  them.  In  this  slate  of  public  feeling  nothing  could  be  more  fatal  for 
the  royal  government  than  the  sudden  reappearance  of  Napoleon  on  the 
coast  of  France,  the  1st  of  March,  1815.  These  circumstances  explain 
why,  without  the  existence  of  an  actual  conspiracy  in  favour  of  Napoleon, 
the  measures  taken  to  oppose  his  progress  were  unsuccessful ;  why  the 
army  and  a  great  part  of  the  nation  declared  for  him ;  and  why,  after  a 
march  of  eighteen  days,  which  resembled  a  triumph,  he  was  able  to  enter 
Paris  without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood. 

The  king  and  his  adherents  left  the  country.  Napoleon  immediately 
annulled  most  of  the  royal  ordinances,  dissolved  the  two  chambers,  and 
named  a  new  ministry.  He  declared  that  he  should  content  himself 
with  the  limits  of  France,  as  settled  by  the  peace  of  Paris,  and  that  1  e 
would  establish  his  government  on  liberal  principles.  But  he  could  not 
s.itisfy  the  expectations  of  the  different  parties,  much  less  could  he  avert 
the  danger  of  a  war  with  Europe.  As  soon  as  the  news  of  Napoleon's 
landing  in  France  was  known  at  Vienna,  the  ministers  of  all  the  allied 
powers  who  were  assembled  in  congress  t-liere,  denounced  him  as  the 
enemy  and  the  disturber  of  the  repose  of  the  world,  and  declared  that  the 
powers  were  firmly  resolved  to  employ  all  means,  and  unite  all  their  ef- 
forts, to  maintain  the  treaty  of  Paris.  For  this  purpose,  Austria,  Russia. 
Britian,  and  Prussia  concluded  a  new  treaty,  on  the  basis  of  that  of  March 
1st,  1814,  whereby  each  power  agreed  to  bring  150,000  men  into  the  field 
against  Napoleon,  who,  on  his  part,  was  indefatigable  in  making  prepara- 
tions for  war.    At  the  same  time,  April  22:  he  published  the  additional 


TllE  TREASUltV  OF  HISTOUY.  103 

act  to  the  constitutions  of  the  empire,  and  summoned  the  meeting  of  tho 
Champ  de  Mai,  which  accepted  that  act,  June  1.  As  we  gave  in  the 
"  History  of  England,"  a  succinct  account  of  the  operations  of  the  French 
and  allied  armies,  which  ended  in  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  as  also  the  de- 
portation of  Napoleon  to  St.  Helena,  and  the  events  which  immediately 
followed  the  second  restoration  of  Louis  XVIII.,  we  shall  not  repeat  them 
in  this  place,  but  carry  on  our  narrative  to  the  period  when  the  two 
chambers  passed  the  law  of  amnesty  proposed  by  the  king,  by  which  all 
those  who  had  voted  for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.,  or  had  accepted  offices 
from  Napoleon,  during  the  "hundred  days,"  were  forever  banished  from 
the  kingdom.  With  the  evacuation  of  the  French  territory  by  foreign 
troops,  which  was  determined  on  by  the  congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the 
9th  of  October,  1818,  and  accomplished  in  the  course  of  the  same  year, 
,  was  connected  the  payment  of  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  of  the  indi- 
vidual claims  of  the  subjects  of  foreign  powers  on  the  French  govern- 
ment and  nation.  Here  French  diplomacy  was  successful,  and  a  small 
proportion  of  the  real  claims  was  accepted  as  a  liquidation.  France  was 
admitted  into  alliance  with  the  great  European  powers,  and  the  French 
cabinet  entered  deeply  into  the  continental  system.  But  the  return  of 
France  to  the  ancienregime,  was  far  from  satisfactory  to  the  bulk  of  the 
people ;  and  the  government  was  kept  in  a  continual  state  of  oscillation, 
now  a  set  of  ultra-royalists,  and  now  the  liberal  party,  directing  the  na- 
tional councils.  Under  these  circumstances  much  acrimonious  discussion 
took  place  in  the  chambers,  and  the  sessions  of  1819  and  1820  were 
agitated  by  the  most  violent  conflicts.  The  parties  attacked  each  other 
with  reciprocal  accusations,  and,  in  February,  1820,  the  assassination  of 
the  duke  of  Berri,  by  Louvel  (who,  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life,  ex- 
pressed his  fierce  hatred  of  the  whole  Bourbon  race)  drew  forth  the  most 
virulent  accusations  from  the  extreme  right.  The  minister  Decazcs  re- 
signed, and  the  duke  of  Richelieu  succeeded  him.  A  new  law  of  election 
was  carried,  amid  the  most  violent  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  doc- 
trinaires (members  who  defended  a  consistent  maintenance  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  charte)  and  the  liberals.  Many  officers  of  government,  by 
their  writings,  and  in  their  places  as  deputies,  opposed  the  new  system  : 
so  that,  with  every  new  ministry,  there  were  numerous  dismissions,  and 
many  names  were  even  erased  from  the  army  rolls  for  political  opinions. 
It  was  evident,  indeed,  that  conspirators  were  employed  to  excite  the 
troops  to  a  revolt,  and  some  were  tried,  found  guilt)^,  and  suffered  the 
penalty  due  to  treason. 

The  king  opened  the  session  of  1823  with  a  speech  announcing  the 
march  of  100,000  French  troops  to  Spain.  He  was  alarmed  lor  the  safety 
of  France  by  the  revolutionary  movements  of  his  neighbours ;  and  this 
army,  which  was  commanded  by  the  duke  of  Angouleme,  was  sent  express- 
ly to  restore  the  royal  authority.  The  invaders  encountered  no  effective 
opposition  ;  the  cortes  fled  before  them  to  Cadiz ;  and  when  King  Ferdi- 
nand approached  that  city,  they  permitted  him  to  resume  his  despotic 
sway.  During  the  last  fev/ years  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIII.,  he  was 
much  enfeebled  by  disease,  and,  consequently,  unable  to  act  with  the  en- 
ergy necessary  for  establishing  a  firm  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  conciliatory 
government.  He  died  in  September,  1824,  nine  years  subsequent  to  his 
restoration. 

On  the  accession  of  Charles  X.,  brother  of  the  deceased  king  he  declared 
liis  intention  of  confirming  the  charter,  appointed  the  dauphin  (duke  of 
Angouleme)  as  member  of  the  ministerial  council,  and  suppressed  the 
censorship  of  the  public  journals.  Villele  was  his  prime  minister.  In 
May,  1826,  the  splendid  coronation  of  Charles  took  place  at  Rheims,  ac- 
cording to  ancient  custom,  with  the  addition,  however,  of  the  oath  of  the 
king  to  govern  according  to  the  charter. 


104  THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY. 

On  Lafayette's  return  from  America  in  1825,  the  citizens  of  Havre  having 
received  him  with  demonstrations  of  joy,  the  government  manifested  their 
resentment  by  ordering  out  the  gen  d'armes,  who  charged  the  multitude  with 
drawn  sabres.  The  influence  of  the  Jesuits  was  seen  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  Constilutionnel  and  Courrier  Francois,  two  of  the  best  Hberal  journals. 
Villele,  who  had  discernment  enough  to  see  to  what  this  fanaticism  would 
lead,  and  who  was,  at  the  same  time,  obnoxious  to  the  liberals,  on  account 
of  his  anti-constitutional  principles,  and  his  operations  in  the  funds,  be- 
came less  secure.  The  parties  assumed  a  more  hostile  attitude  towards 
each  other.  The  royalists  and  the  supporters  of  the  Jesuits  became  more 
open  in  the  expression  of  their  real  sentiments ;  the  liberals  became 
stronger  and  bolder;  and  the  government  assumed  a  tone  ill  calculated  to 
conciliate  its  avowed  opponents.  On  the  opening  of  the  session,  Dec. 
12,  182G,  Damas,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  informed  the  chamber  that  all 
the  continental  powers  had  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  interference  of 
Spain  in  the  affairs  of  Portugal ;  that  France  had  co-operated  with  them, 
had  withdrawn  her  ambassador  from  Madrid,  and  had  entered  into  ar- 
rangements with  England  to  leave  Portugal  and  Spain  to  settle  their  af- 
fairs in  their  own  way.  Several  unpopular  measures  brought  forward  by 
the  ministers,  were  after  violent  discussions  rejected,  among  which  was 
a  proposed  law,  confirming  the  hberty  of  the  press.  The  withdrawal  of 
this  by  an  ordinance  was  regarded  as  a  popular  triumph.  This  event  was 
followed  by  the  disbanding  of  the  national  guards  of  Paris,  a  body  of 
45,000  men,  who,  at  a  review  at  the  Champ  de  Mars,  had  joined  the  cries 
of  hatred  against  the  ministry.  This  was  a  highly  unpopular  measure; 
and  Lafitte,  Benjamin  Constant,  and  some  other  members,  talked  of  im- 
peaching the  ministers ;  but  Vill61e  took  credit  to  himself  for  having  ven- 
tured upon  a  step  which  he  knew  to  be  unpopular,  but  considered  neces- 
sary. Every  proceeding,  however,  served  to  show  that  the  ministerial 
party  was  gradually  losing  ground,  and  that  no  trifling  concessions  to 
their  opponents  would  avail.  While  Charles  was  much  more  resolutely 
opposed  to  the  prevalence  of  democratic  principles  than  his  brother,  and 
yielded  to  the  councils  of  priests  who  were  intent  on  the  restoration  of  the 
church  to  the  power  it  possessed  some  centuries  before,  the  people  were 
taught  to  believe,  and  actually  dreaded,  that  a  plot  was  forming  to  deprive 
them  of  the  constitutional  privileges  which  they  had  gained  after  so  long 
a  struggle.  Thus  the  nation  became  alienated  from  the  court,  and  the 
court  from  the  nation  ;  a  new  ministry  was  forced  upon  the  king  by  the 
popular  party,  but  they  had  neither  the  ability  nor  influence  necessary  for 
steering  a  safe  course  between  the  extremes  of  royal  prerogative  on  one 
side,  and  popular  encroachment  on  the  other ;  the  consequence  was  that 
both  parties  treated  them  as  drivellers  and  incapables.  In  this  state  of 
feeling,  Charles  suddenly  dismissed  them,  and  entrusted  the  formation  of 
a  new  cabinet  to  Prince  Polignac,  when,  on  August  9,  1839,  the  following 
appointments  were  announced :  Prince  Polignac,  minister  of  foreign  af- 
fairs ;  M.  Courvoisier,  keeper  of  the  seals  and  minister  of  justice ;  Coun» 
Bourmont,  minister  of  war ;  Count  de  Bourdonaye,  minister  of  the  interior ; 
Baron  de  Montbel,  minister  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  and  public  instruction; 
and  Count  Chabrol  de  Crousol,  minister  of  finance.  To  these  was  after- 
wards added  M.  d'Haussey,  minister  of  marine  and  the  colonies,  in  lieu  of 
Admiral  Count  Rigny,  who  declined  the  offered  portfolio.  The  ministry 
was  ultra-royalist ;  and  nothing  could  convince  the  democrats  of  the  rec- 
titude of  the  intentions  of  either  Charles  or  his  ministers.  And  when  it 
was  seen  that  the  king  not  only  favoured  the  Jesuits  and  monastic  orders, 
but  that  he  showed  a  marked  dislike  to  those  who  had  acquired  eminence 
in  the  revolution,  or  under  Napoleon,  and  that  the  rigid  court-etiquette  <A 
former  days  was  revived,  they  were  ready  to  believe  the  most  absurd  ru- 
mours of  his  intended  designs,  not  merely  to  crush  the  rising  spirit  of  lib- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  105 

erty,  but  to  rule  over  France  with  the  most  absolute  despotism.  The 
nobles  had  ceased  in  France  to  form  an  aristocracy.  Their  great  numbers 
and  little  wealth,  the  mixture  of  political  elements  they  presented,  &c., 
had  left  the  noblesse  entirely  without  consequence,  and  it  was  apparent 
from  the  first  that  neither  the  king  nor  Polignac  comprehended  the  wishes 
or  wants  of  the  people,  but  trusted  that  something  might  arise  to  turn  the 
popular  current  in  their  favour. 

A.  D.  1830. — Though  they  knew  not  the  signs  of  the  times,  they  did  not 
forget  that  Frenchmen  were  notorious  for  their  love  of  military  glory. 
War  was  therefore  declared  against  Algiers,  on  account  of  insults  some 
time  before  offered  to  the  French  flag,  and  also  to  resent  a  personal  indig- 
nity committed  on  the  French  consul  by  the  dey,  who  struck  him  while 
at  a  public  audience.  An  armament  was  accordingly  prepared  with  ex- 
traordinary care,  and  the  success  which  attended  it  corresponded  with  the 
exertions  made  to  ensure  it.  On  the  10th  of  May,  the  army,  consisting  of 
37,577  infantry  and  4000  horse,  embarked  at  Toulon,  and  the  fleet,  con- 
sisting of  ninety-seven  vessels,  of  which  eleven  were  ships  of  the  line  and 
twenty-four  frigates,  set  sail.  June  14,  the  army  began  to  disembark  at  Sidi 
Ferrajh,  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  The  city  of  Algiers  was  taken  after  a 
slight  resistance,  the  dey  was  sent  prisoner  to  Italy,  and  his  vast  treasures 
remained  at  the  disposal  of  the  conquerors.  The  maritime  powers  of 
Europe  were  naturally  jealous  at  the  establishment  of  French  garrisons 
and  colonies  in  northern  Africa ;  and  to  allay  their  suspicions,  it  was  de- 
clared that  the  occupation  of  Algiers  would  be  merely  temporary ;  but 
the  French  nation  became  so  infatuated  with  their  conquest,  that  to  the 
present  hour  Algeria  is  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  most  important  acquisi- 
tion, although  it  causes  an  enormous  annual  waste  of  blood  and  treasure, 
without  conferring  advantage  either  on  Africa  or  on  France.  On  the  17th 
of  May  appeared  the  royal  ordinance  dissolving  the  chambers  ;  at  the  same 
time,  new  elections  were  ordered,  and  the  two  chambers  convoked  for 
August  3d.  The  Moniteur  of  June  15th  contained  a  proclamation  of  the 
king,  in  which  he  called  upon  all  Frenchmen  to  do  their  duty  in  the  col- 
leges, to  rely  upon  his  constitutional  intentions,  &c.  In  this  proclamation 
are  these  remarkable  words  :  "  Electors,  hasten  to  your  colleges.  Let  no 
reprehensible  negligence  deprive  them  of  your  presence  !  Let  one  senti- 
ment animate  you  all ;  let  one  standard  be  your  rallying  point !  It  is  your 
king  who  demands  this  of  you,  it  is  a  father  who  calls  upon  you.  Fulfil 
your  duties.  I  will  take  care  to  fulfil  mine."  Though  the  success  of  the 
army  in  Algiers  became  known  during  the  electoral  struggle,  and  though 
all  parties  exulted  in  the  success  of  the  French  arms,  the  ministry  ap- 
peared to  gain  no  popularity  by  it.  All  the  returns  of  the  new  elections 
indicated  a  strong  majority  against  the  ministry,  so  that,  in  the  beginning 
of  July,  men  spoke  of  a  change  in  the  administration  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence. A  blind  infatuation  seems  to  have  possessed  Polignac  and  his 
colleagues.  They  preferred  to  attack  the  charter,  violate  the  social  com- 
pact, and  expose  France  to  a  civil  war,  rather  than  yield.  During  this 
time  the  king  and  queen  of  Naples  visited  Paris,  and  many  festivals  took 
place,  strongly  in  contrast  with  the  state  of  political  affairs.  The  king 
also  ordered  Te  Deum  to  be  sung  in  all  the  churches  of  the  kingdom  for 
the  victory  of  his  army  in  Africa,  the  news  of  which  reached  Paris  four 
days  after  the  capture  of  Algiers.  Had  Charles  X.  dismissed  his  obnox- 
ious ministers,  and  formed  a  cabinet  of  moderate  men,  the  crisis  would,  in 
all  probability,  have  passed  over  without  danger.  Instead  of  which,  the 
ministers  made  a  report  to  the  king  (July  26),  setting  forth  at  length  the 
dangers  of  a  free  press,  and  calling  upon  him  to  suspend  the  liberty  of  the 
press.  "The  state,"  they  said,  "is  in  danger,  and  your  majesty  has  the 
right  to  provide  for  its  safety.  No  government  can  stand,  if  it  has  not 
*he  right  to  provide  fcr  its  own  safety;  besides,  the  8th  article  of  the  char- 


lOG  '  THE  TREASUIIY  OF  EflSTORY. 

ter  only  gives  every  Frenelmian  the  riffht  of  publishing  his  own  opinions, 
but  not,  as  llio  journals  do,  the  opinions  of  others;  the  charter  doea  not 
expressly  allow  journals  and  the  liberty  of  the  press.  The  journals  mis- 
represent the  best  intentions  of  the  government;  and  the  liberty  of  the 
press  produces  the  very  contrary  of  publicity,  because  ill-intentioned 
writers  misconstrue  everything,  and  the  public  never  knows  the  truth." 
This  report  was  accompanied  by  three  ordinances,  which  Virtually  sub- 
vorted  the  constitutional  privileges  of  the  charter.  The  first  dissolved  the 
newly-elcctcd  chamber  of  deputies  before  it  assembled ;  the  second  changed 
the  law  of  elections,  and  disfranchised  the  great  body  of  electors  ;  and  the 
third  subjected  the  press  to  new  and  severe  restrictions  which  would  have 
completely  annihilated  its  liberties.  Astonishment  and  indignation  seized 
the  people  of  I'aris,  but  no  tumult  occurred;  yet  while  the  ministers  were 
congratulating  themselves  on  the  apparent  tranquillity  of  the  citizens,  the 
latter  had  been  actively  employed  ia  summoning  the  deputies  of  their  party 
within  reach,  or  in  concerting  measures  for  a  vigorous  resistance.  'I'he 
principal  journalists  prepared  and  printed  a  spirited  protest  against  the 
restrictions  on  the  press,  declaring  their  right  to  publish  as  usual,  and  en- 
forcing that  right  upon  the  ground  that  property  in  a  journal  differed  in  no 
respect  from  any  other  kind  of  property,  and  that  it  could  only  be  attacked 
by  regular  judicial  proceedings  for  a  breach  of  the  law.  The  liberal  pa- 
pers, notwithstanding,  were  all  suppressed,  and  only  those  which  were 
known  to  be  favourable  to  the  government  allowed  to  appear. 

It  was  impossible  that  this  state  of  things  could  exist.  The  deputies 
representing  the  electors  of  the  city,  and  some  from  other  parts  of 
the  kingdom  who  were  then  in  Paris,  in  all  thirty-two,  assembled  at  the 
house  of  the  deputy,  M.  Lj  fitte,  the  banker,  to  take  the  subject  into  seri- 
ous consideration,  and  decide  on  some  immediate  course  of  action.  A 
number  of  constitutional  peers  also  met  at  the  Due  de  Choiseul's.  At  each 
of  these  meetings  it  was  resolved  not  to  submit.  The  peers  signed  a 
protest,  and  sent  it  by  a  deputation  to  the  king,  who  refused  to  receive  it. 
The  rejection  strengthened  the  resolution  of  the  deputies,  and  forty 
couriers  were  sent  with  dispatches  to  towns  and  villages  within  a  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  metropolis,  representing  the  outrageous  conduct  of 
government,  and  urging  the  inhabitants  to  co-operate  with  the  Parisians 
in  a  determined  stand  for  the  liberties  of  France.  In  the  meantime  the 
government  was  on  the  alert,  and  sent  a  general  oflicer  to  Grenelle  and 
another  to  Angers,  for  military  purposes.  The  military  command  of 
Paris  was  entrusted  to  .Marshal  INIarmont,  duke  of  llagusa.  Troops  were 
ordered  in  from  the  barrcks  within  fifty  miles  around  ;  and  the  guards  in 
the  city  were  doubled.  Towards  the  evening,  bodies  of  gendarmerie  were 
stationed  about  the  Bourse  and  on  the  Boulevards.  In  consequence  of  the 
bank  refusing  to  discount  bills,  the  manufacturers  perceived  it  had  not 
confidence  ,in  the  government,  and  they  immediately  discharged  their 
workmen.  These  artizans  congregated  in  the  different  streets  and  report- 
ed what  had  happened  to  the  listening  crowds.  An  ordinance  was  now 
issued  by  the  prefect  of  police,  declaring,  among  other  things  of  a  restrict- 
ive kind,  that  "  Every  individual  keeping  a  reading-room,  coffee-house, 
&c.,  who  shall  give  to  be  read  journals,  or  other  writings,  printed  contrary 
to  the  ordinance  of  the  king  of  the  25th  inst.  relative  to  the  press,  shall  be 
prosecuted  as  guilty  of  the  misdemeanours  which  these  journals  or 
writings  may  constitute,  and  his  establishment  shall  be  provisionally 
dosed/'  This  ordinance  showed  a  great  ignorance  of  character  ;  for  a 
newspaper  with  a  Frenchman's  coffee  is  rendered  by  habit  almost  as  in- 
dispensable as  his  morning's  meal.  Nevertheless,  the  officers  of  police 
cleared  the  coffee-houses,  reading-rooms,  &c.  and  shut  them  up.  By 
their  inteference  all  the  theatres  were  closed.  A  sullen  discor.tent  wa» 
Eeen  in  every  countenance,  and  occasionally  was  heard  the  cry  of  Vive  L 


THE  THEASUllY  OF  HISTORY.  107 

eharte;  yet  daring  aH  this  time,  it  would  seem,  the  ministers  had  no  idea 
of  the  mischief  that  was  brooding. 

On  Tuesday  the  27th,  in  the  Ibrenoon,  the  police  and  a  large  force  of 
gens  d'armes,  mounted  and  on  foot,  appeared  before  the  office  of  llie 
Nationnel,  a  popular  journal.  They  found  the  door  fast  closed,  and,  being 
refused  entrance,  broke  in,  seized  the  types,  and  carried  the  editor  to 
prison.  They  then  proceeded  to  the  office  of  the  Temps,  another  popular 
newspaper,  w'hich,  though  the  door-way  was  barricaded,  and  a  determin"d 
resistance  was  offered  by  the  printers,  they  forced,  and  seized  the  printed 
papers  and  types.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  resistance  to  the 
ordinances.  All  work  was  now  abandoned,  every  manufactory  was 
closed,  and  detachments  of  artizans  with  large  sticks  traversed  the  streets. 
Troops  of  gens  d'armes  patrolled  the  streets  at  full  gallop  to  disperse  the 
accumulating  crowds.  The  people  were  silent,  and  at  an  early  hour  the 
shops  throughout  Paris  were  closed.  Troops  of  the  royal  guard  and 
soldiers  of  the  line  came  pouring  in.  The  people  looked  sullen  and  de- 
termined. The  chief  points  of  rende^ous  were  the  Palais  Royal,  tiie 
Palais  de  Justice,  and  the  Bourse.  There  were  simultaneous  cries  of 
"  Vive  la  eharte  V  "Down  with  the  absolute  king!''  but  no  conversa- 
tion, no  exchange  of  words  with  each  other.  The  king  was  at  the 
Tuilleries.  In  the  Place  du  Carousel  there  were  stationed  several  thou- 
sands of  the  military,  with  a  great  number  of  cannon.  At  the  Vendome 
a  strong  guard  of  infantry  was  stationed  around  the  column,  to  guard  the 
ensigns  of  royalty  on  it  from  being  defaced;  and  there  w^ere  crowds  of 
people  upon  the  spot,  who  menaced  the  troops.  Several  smart  skirmishes 
between  the  citizens  and  the  soldiers  occurred  in  the  evening,  in  which 
the  latter  were  generally  successful,  so  that  Marmont  sent  a  note  to  the 
king,  congratulating  him  on  the  suppression  of  the  riots.  Bui  when  night 
closed  in,  tiie  citizens  destroyed  every  huup,  thus  securing  the  protection 
of  darkness  for  their  preparations  to  renew  tlie  struggle  in  the  morning. 
On  Wednesday,  at  an  early  hour,  all  Paris  was  in  arms  ;  the  shops  were 
closely  shut,  and  the  windows  fastened  and  barred,  as  if  the  inhabitants 
fully  anticipated  an  approaching  calamity.  The  tocsin  sounded,  and  the 
people  flocked  in  from  the  fauxbourgs  and  difTeront  quarters  of  the  city. 
The  press  had  been  in  active  operation  during  the  night ,  handbills  were 
profusely  distributed,  containing  vehement  philippics  against  Charles  and 
his  ministers,  and  summoning  every  man  to  arm  fbr  his  country,  and  to 
aid  in  ejecting  the  Bourbons.  Nor  had  the  citizens  in  general  been  idle 
during  that  eventful  night ;  they  were  ready  and  organised  for  a  decisive 
contest ;  they  were  in  possession  of  the  arsenal  and  powder  magazine  ; 
they  had  procured  arms  from  the  shops  of  the  gunsmiths  and  the  police 
stations  ;  they  had  thrown  up  rude  barricades  across  the  principal  streets 
to  prevent  the  attacks  of  cavalry,  and  had  selected  leaders  competent  to 
direct  their  exertions.  A  red  flag  was  hoisted  on  several  buildings, 
amid  the  shouts  of  the  people.  Tri-coloured  flags  were  promenaded 
in  the  streets,  and  tri-coloured  cockades  and  breast-knots  were  wo'n  by  all 
classes.  All  Paris,  in  short,  was  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  and  evciy 
movement  of  the  people  portended  a  terrible  conflict.  A  deputation  of 
the  most  influential  men  in  Paris  waited  upon  Marshal  ^I,armont,  and  rep- 
resented to  him  the  deplorable  state  of  the  capital;  stating,  at  the  same 
-me,  that  they  made  him  personally  responsible,  in  the  name  of  the  as- 
sembled deputies  of  France,  for  its  present  alarming  situation,  and  for  the 
fatal  consequences  which  must  inevitably  ensue.  The  marshal  replied, 
"The  honour  of  a  soldier  is  obedience;  but,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "what 
are  the  conditions  you  propose  V  To  this  M.  Lafitte  made  answer—"  The 
revocation  of  the  illegal  ordinances  on  the  25th  of  July,  the  dismissal  of 
the  ministers,  and  the  convocations  of  the  chambers  on  the  3d  of  August." 
The  marshal  replied,  that  though  as  a  citizen  he  might  even  participate  ia 


108  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  opinions  of  ihe  deputies,  as  a  soldier  lie  had  only  to  carry  his  or](  rs 
into  execution  ;  but  tliat  u  lliey  wislied  to  have  a  conference  with  M.  de 
Polijnac,  he  was  close  at  hand,  and  he  would  ao  and  ask  him  if  he  would 
receive  them.  A  quarter  of  an  hour  passed,  wiien  the  marshal  returned 
with  his  manner  nuich  clianged,  and  told  Ihe  deputies  that  M.  de  Poliynac 
had  declared  to  him  that  the  conditions  jjroposed  rendered  any  conference 
useless.  "  We  liave  tlien civil  war,"  said  M.  Lafitte.  The  marshal  bowed, 
and  the  deputies  retired.  As  soon  as  Polignac's  answer  was  made  known, 
all  the  stifled  feelings  of  resentment  burst  forth,  and  the  people  rushed 
eagerly  forward  to  oppose  the  troops  wherever  a  favourable  opportunity 
presented  itself.  With  a  disinclination  to  take  any  decisive  steps,  it  was 
noon  before  Alarshal  Marmont  determined  to  clear  the  streets  by  military 
force;  and  he  (hen  unwisely  divided  his  troops  into  four  columns,  which 
he  sent  in  difTerent  directions,  thereby  destroying  the  great  advantage 
they  possessed  in  being  able  to  act  in  concert.  The  drums  of  the 
national  guards  soon  beat  "  to  arms !"  and  the  struggle  began  in 
earnest.  Every  step  taken  by  the  columns  was  marked  by  a  series  of 
murderous  conflicts;  they  were  assailed  by  musketry  from  the  barricades, 
from  the  windows  and  tops  of  houses,  from  the  corners  of  streets,  and  from 
the  narrow  alleys  and  passages  which  abound  in  Paris.  The  hottest  en- 
gagement seems  to  have  been  in  the  Rue  St.  Honor6,  opposite  the  Palais 
Royal,  where  the  military  were  assembled  in  great  force,  and  the  people 
resisted  them  with  desperate  determination.  At  the  Place  de  Greve  they 
fiercely  contended  with  the  Swiss  guards,  and  compelled  them  to  retreat 
with  great  loss.  In  the  Hue  Montmarlre  an  attack  was  made  by  the  duke 
of  Ragusa  in  person  ;  but  the  obstacles  which  everywhere  presented  them- 
selves to  the  troops  were  so  formidable,  and  the  disinclination  of  the 
troops  of  the  line  to  engage  with  the  citizens  so  apparent,  that  the  insur- 
gents were  enabled  to  seize  many  important  posts ;  and  when  evening 
closed,  the  troops,  defeated  in  every  direction,  returned  to  their  barracks, 
weary,  hungry,  and  dispirited ;  for  while  they  had  been  the  whole  day 
without  food,  every  family  in  Paris  vied  with  each  other  in  supplying 
their  fellow  citizens  with  refreshment.  As  soon  as  the  firing  ceased,  the 
people  made  preparations  for  the  next  day  by  strengtheningthe  barricades 
and  increasing  their  number.  Excellent  materials  were  at  hand  in  the 
paving  stones,  which  were  dug  up  and  piled  across  the  street  in  walls 
breast  high,  and  four  or  five  feet  thick,  about  fifty  paces  distant  from  each 
other.  Besides  these  defences,  hundreds  of  fine  trees  were  cut  down  for 
blockades;  in  short,  nothing  was  left  undone  that  ingenuity  could  devise, 
or  perseverance  accomplish,  towards  making  an  energetic  and  determined 
stand  against  the  military  on  the  morrow. 

Thursday  morning  had  scarcely  dawned  when  the  tocsin  sounded  "  To 
arms !"  and  the  people  began  to  assemble  rapidly  and  in  great  crowds. 
The  military,  whose  guard-house  had  been  destroyed,  were  chiefly  quar- 
tered at  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuilleries,  the  Swiss  and  royal  guards  being 
posted  in  the  houses  of  the  Rue  St.  Honore  and  the  adjacent  streets.  At  the 
same  time  the  students  of  the  polytechnic  school  joined  the  citizens  near- 
ly to  a  man ;  they  then  separated,  proceeding  singly  to  different  parts  to 
take  the  command  of  the  people,  and  nobly  repaid  the  confidence  that  was 
reposed  in  them,  by  the  coolness  and  courage  they  displayed.  The  garden 
of  the  Tuilleries  was  closed.  In  the  Place  du  Carousel  were  three  squad- 
rons of  lancers  of  the  garde  royale,  a  battalion  of  the  3d  regiment  of  the 
guards,  and  six  pieces  of  cannon.  The  royal  guards  had  hardly  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  when  they  were  assailed  on  all 
sides  with  a  shower  of  bullets  from  the  windows  of  the  houses  of  the 
Place  de  Greve  and  the  streets  abutting  on  the  quay.  The  royal 
guards  resisted  vigorously,  but  were  ultimately  compelled  to  retreat  along 
the  quay,  their  firing  by  files  and  platoons  succeeding  each  other  with 


THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY.  109 

astonishing  rapidity.  They  were  soon  joined  hy  fresh  troops,  including 
one  hundred  cuirassiers  of  the  guard,  and  four  pieces  of  artillery,  each  of 
them  escorted  by  a  dozen  artillerymen  on  horseback.  With  thig  reinforce- 
ment they  again  advanced  on  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  a  frightful  firing  began 
on  all  sides.  The  artillery  debouching  from  the  quay,  and  their  pieces 
charged  with  canister  shot,  swept  the  Place  de  Greve  in  a  terrible  man- 
ner. They  succeeded  in  driving  the  citizens  into  the  Rues  de  INlatriot  and 
du  Mouton,  and  entered  for  the  second  time  that  day  into  their  position  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  ;  but  their  possession  of  it  did  not  continue  long,  for  they 
were  soon  again  attacked  with  a  perseverance  and  courage  that  was 
almost  irresistible. 

On  the  29th  General  Lafayette  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of 
the  national  guards  by  the  liberal  deputies,  and  was  received  with  enthu- 
siasm by  the  Parisians.  A  youth  of  twenty  years  of  age  belonging  to  the 
polytechnic  school,  led  an  attack  on  the  Louvre,  from  which  the  Swiss 
guards  retreated  to  the  Tuilleries.  This  place  was  also  taken  by  the  peo- 
pie,  with  one  of  these  youths  at  their  head.  The  Luxembourg  had  already 
fallen  into  their  hands.  The  young  men  of  this  school  rendered  the 
greatest  service  to  the  cause  of  the  nation,  and  afterwards  declined  the 
medals  granted  to  them,  and  also  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  offered  to  each, 
in  case  he  entered  the  army.  Many  of  the  soldiers  solemnly  vowed  they 
would  not  continue  to  act  against  the  people ;  others  were  disheartened 
and  discomfited  ;  and  two  whole  regiments  went  over  in  a  body  to  the 
side  of  the  Parisians.  At  length,  all  the  royal  troops  left  the  capital  by 
the  way  of  the  Champs  Elys6es,  and  in  their  retreat  were  fired  upon  by 
the  people.  At  night  the  city  was  partially  illuminated,  and  perfect  tran- 
quillity prevailed,  while  strong  patrols  silently  paraded  the  streets,  and 
passed  gently  from  barricade  to  barricade.  A  deputation  from  Charles  X. 
/It  St.  Cloud,  arrived  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  early  in  the  morning.  At 
eleven  o'clock,  the  deputies  and  peers  then  in  Paris  assembled  in  their  re- 
spective halls,  and  established  regular  communications  with  each  other. 
The  duke  de  Mortemart  was  introduced  to  the  chamber  of  deputies,  and 
delivered  four  ordinances  signed  the  previous  day  by  the  king.  One  of 
them  recalled  the  fatal  ordinance  of  the  25th ;  another  convoked  the 
chambers  on  the  3d  ;  the  third  appointed  the  duke  de  Mortemart  president 
of  the  council ;  and  the  fourth  appointed  Count  Gerard  minister  of  war. 
and  M.  Casimir-Perier  minister  of  finance.  The  reading  of  these  ordi- 
nances was  listened  to  with  the  greatest  attention.  But  at  the  termina- 
tion no  observation  was  made — the  most  profound  silence  was  for  a  time 
f>bserved — and  then  the  deputies  passed  to  other  business.  The  manner 
in  which  the  duke  and  his  communications  were  received  by  the  deputies 
was  an  announcement  that  Charles  X.  had  ceased  to  reign. 

On  the  31st  of  July  the  deputies  published  a  proclamation,  declaring 
that  they  had  invited  the  duke  of  Orleans  to  become  lieutenant-general  oi 
the  kingdom.  At  noon  of  the  same  day,  Louis  Philippe  d'Orleans  issued 
a  proclamation,  declaring  that  he  had  hastened  to  Paris,  wearing  the 
'  glorious  colours"  of  France,  to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  assembled 
deputies  to  become  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom.  A  proclamation  of 
the  same  date  appointed  provisional  commissaries  for  different  depart- 
ments of  government.  The  king,  with  his  family,  had  fled  to  St.  Cloud 
They  now  proceeded  to  Rambouillet,  a  small  place  six  leagues  w.  s.  w.  o. 
Versailles.  Three  commissioners  were  sent  from  Paris  to  treat  with  him  : 
who,  on  their  return,  informed  the  authorities,  that  the  king  wished  to  leave 
France  by  way  of  Cherbourg  ;  to  restore  the  crown  jewels,  which  he  had 
taken  from  Paris,  Sic.  These  concessions  were  produced  by  the  advrnce 
of  the  national  guard  towards  Rambouillet.  On  the  morning  of  Augu?t  9 
the  abdication  of  Charles  X.  and  the  dauphin,  Louis  Antoine,  was  plfcai 
in  the  hands  of  the  lieutenant-general;  the  abdication,    however,    Vaj 


IJO  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

made  in  favour  of  the  duke  of  Bordeaux.  A  letter  of  the  king,  bearing 
that  date,  appointed  the  duke  of  Orleans  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom, 
and  ordered  him  to  proclaim  the  duke  of  Bordeaux  king,  under  the  title  of 
Henry  V. 

The  abdication  of  Charles  was  announced  to  the  peers  and  the  deputies 
by  the  lieutenant-general  on  the  3d  of  August;  and  Casimir-Pcrier  was  at 
the  same  time  chosen  president  of  the  chamber.  On  the  6th,  the  cliamber 
of  deputies  declared  the  throne  of  France  vacant,  de  jure  and  defar.to,  and 
discussed  the  provisions  of  the  charter.  On  the  7th,  new  changes  were 
adopted  in  it ;  and  it  was  voted  to  invite  the  duke  of  Orleans  to  become 
king  of  the  French,  on  condition  of  his  accepting  these  changes.  On  the 
8th,  the  chamber  went  in  a  body  to  the  duke,  and  offered  him  the  crown, 
which  he  accepted  ;  and  on  the  9lh,  he  took  the  prescribed  constitutional 
oath.  The  spirit  of  order  manifested  by  the  people  during  the  struggle? 
in  Paris,  which  prevented  all  outrage  and  plundering,  was  still  further 
shown  in  the  unmolested  retreat  of  Charles  X.,  who  took  passage  for 
England  in  two  American  vessels.  On  arriving  he  was  received  merely 
as  a  private  person.  The  revolution  of  .luly,  18.30,  thus  drove  one  dynasty 
from  the  throne  of  France,  and  seated  another  in  its  place.  In  theory,  it 
sanctioned  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  dealt  a  fatal 
blow  to  the  ancient  notion  of  passive  obedience ;  but  in  practice,  it  disap- 
pointed the  "  movement  party,"  who  looked  to  see  a  monarchy  shorn  of  its 
prerogatives  and  surrounded  by  republican  institutions. 

Though  this  extraordinary  revolution  had  been  effected  with  such  com- 
parative ease,  justice  could  hardly  be  considered  as  complete  without  the 
trial  of  those  responsible  officers  of  government  who  had  originated,  or  at 
least  sanctioned,  this  war  on  the  liberties  of  France.  In  the  course  of  the 
month,  four  of  the  ex-ministers,  Peyronnet,  Guernon  de  Ranville,  Chante- 
lauze,  and  Polignac,  were  arrested,  tried  by  their  peers,  and  being  found  guilty, 
were  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life.  While  the  trial  was  going  on, 
the  Luxembourg  was  surrounded  by  a  clamorous  mob,  demanding  the 
death  of  the  prisoners,  and  threatening  vengeance  in  case  the  sentence 
was  not  satisfactory.  As  the  trial  proceeded,  and  it  began  to  be  suspect- 
ed that  a  capital  sentence  would  not  be  pronounced,  the  violence  of  the 
multitude  increased,  and  everything  seemed  to  menace  a  new  insurrection. 
The  troops  and  national  guards  were  kept  under  arms  by  night,  and 
bivouacked  in  the  public  places.  The  whole  personal  influence  of  the 
king  and  of  Lafayette  was  also  employed  to  soothe  the  populace  ;  still  the 
number  and  clamour  of  the  mob  became  so  alarming,  ifhat  it  was  deter- 
mined to  remove  the  prisoners  secretly  to  Vincennes  before  sentence  was 
pronounced;  and  the  jwse  succeeded. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1831,  the  public  mind  continued  to  be  agitated 
liy  conspiracies  of  Carlists,  or  partisans  of  the  exiled  family.  Nor  were  there 
wanting,  on  the  other  hand,  republicans  and  Bonapartists  to  fan  the  flame 
of  insurrection  both  in  the  capital  and  in  the  provinces.  In  the  midst  of 
tins  anarchy,  the  king  of  the  French,  with  that  prudential  foresight  and  con- 
ciliatory disposition  which  have  characterised  most  of  his  movements,  de- 
termined on  a  tour  through  his  domnions ;  one  of  his  objects,  doubtless, 
liaving  been  to  attach  to  his  person,  by  so  popular  a  course,  a  large  portion 
<if  his  subjects  who  might  otherwise  feel  disposed  to  join  the  disaffected, 
lu  allusion  to  the  feeling  of  republicanism.  Dr.  Taylor  forcibly  says: 
'•  When  any  of  the  apostles  of  sedition  were  brought  to  trial,  they  openly 
maintained  their  revolutionary  doctrines  ;  treated  the  king  with  derision  ; 
inveighed  against  the  existing  institutions  of  the  country;  entered  into 
violent  altercations  with  the  public  persecutor ;  menaced  the  juries  and 
insulted  the  judges.  The  very  extravagance  of  this  evil  at  length  worked 
out  a  remedy  ;  the  bombast  of  the  republicans  was  carried  to  such  an 
excess  of  absurdity,  that  it  became  ridiculous  ;  the  republicans  were  d is- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  lU 

armed  when  they  found  that  the  nonsense  of  their  inflated  speeches  pro- 
duced not  intimidation,  but  laughter.  Moderate  men  took  courage ;  the 
middle  classes,  to  whose  prosperity  peace  abroad  and  tranquility  at  home 
were  essentially  necessary,  rallied  round  the  monarchy,  and  the  republi- 
cans were  forced  to  remain  silent,  until  some  new  excitement  of  the  pub- 
lic mind  would  afford  an  opportunity  for  disseminating  mischievous  false- 
hoods." 

Beyond  the  period  to  which  we  have  brought  this  history,  nothing  of 
any  moment  has  occured  in  France,  that  is  not  incidentally  mentioned  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  history  of  England.  Whether  Louis  Philippe  is 
«pprehensive  that  the  peace  of  the  country  will  not  be  of  long  duration, 
or  whether  he  is  anxious  to  prevent  the  citizens  of  Paris  from  showing 
another  specimen  of  their  courage,  if  by  any  chance  they  should  be 
brought  into  collision  with  the  military — or  whether  it  be  to  provide 
equally  against  either  contingency — is  more  than  we  will  venture  to 
offer  an  opinion  on  ;  but  we  must  not  close  our  sketch  without  stating  that 
he  is  at  present  engaged  in  fortifying  Paris  in  a  manner  calculated  to 
afford  great  facilities  to  the  troops  in  either  emergency.  These  works 
were  begun  in  September,  1840,  and  are  not  yet  finished.  When  com- 
plete, the  city  and  suburbs  of  Paris  will  be  enclosed  with  a  thick,  high 
wall,  defended  by  bastions  and  moats  in  various  parts.  At  some  dis- 
tance from  this  wall,  exterior  works,  consisting  chiefly  of  detached  forts, 
will  serve  to  protect  the  inner  fortiilcations,  and  serve  to  prevent  an 
enemy  from  approaching  the  walls  of  the  town.  This  measure  at  first 
met  with  considerable  opposition;  but,  viewing  it  as  a  defensive  opera- 
tion, and  recollecting  how  lately  the  French  capital  was  compelled  to 
open  its  gates  to  an  invading  army,  these  defences  are  now  regarded  with 
more  satisfaction  than  displeasure. 

Subjoined  to  an  excellent  article  on  French  statistics,  (fee,  in  Mr. 
M'Culloch's  Dictionary,  are  the  following  pertinent  observations  on  "  the 
probable  continuance  of  the  existing  order  of  things  in  France  ;"  which, 
as  an  appropriate  conclusion  of  this  brief  history,  we  take  the  liberty  to 
transfer  to  our  pages  :  "  It  would  be  to  no  purpose  to  take  up  the  reader's 
time  by  making  any  observations  on  the  great  influence  exercised  by 
France  in  the  politics  of  Europe  and  the  world.  That  is  too  obvious,  and 
has  been  too  strikingly  exemplified  during  the  last  half  century,  to  re- 
quire being  pointed  out.  But,  since  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  France 
lias  been  rather  an  object  of  awe,  and  of  vague  apprehension,  from  a 
want  of  confidence  in  the  stability  of  her  existing  institutions,  than  from 
anj'  fear  of  what  she  might  be  able  to  effect  under  a  constitutional  and 
settled  form  of  government.  Under  all  the  circumstances,  this  feeling  is, 
perhaps,  not  very  unreasonable  ;  for,  were  anything  to  occur  to  subvert 
the  present  order  of  things,  and  to  excite  the  popular  enthusiasm,  it  is 
difficult  to  say  what  the  result  might  be.  There  are,  indeed,  many  per- 
sons who  are  inclined  to  regard  all  apprehensions  as  to  the  subversion  of 
t!ie  present  constitution  in  France  as  chimerical;  we  confess,  however, 
that  we  are  unable  to  participate  in  their  confidence.  Everything  in 
France  appears  to  be  tending  to  a  pure  democracy  ;  and  were  there  no- 
thing else,  the  law  of  equal  succession,  by  preventing  the  continuance  of 
large  fortunes  in  single  families,  would  suffice  to  bring  it  about.  What, 
III  fact,  is  there  in  France  to  oppose  a  revolution  ?  With  the  exception  of 
the  holders  of  funded  property,  and  of  those  in  the  immediate  employ- 
ment of  the  court,  hardly  any  one  could  apprehend  any  injury  from  it; 
and  it  is  most  probable  the  property  of  the  former  would  be  protected. 
There  are  no  longer  any  great  landholders  ;  and  it  is  immaterial  to  the 
holder  of  a  small  piece  of  land  who  is  at  the  head  of  affairs,  provided  the 
burdens  laid  on  him  be  not  increased.  Monarchy  in  France  is  without 
all  those  old  associations  and  powerful  bulwarks  whence  it  derives  almost 


1J2  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

all  its  support  in  Uiis,  and  most  other  countries ;  and  there  is  really  noth- 
ing to  hinder  a  hostile  majority  in  the  chamber  of  deputies,  or  anything 
that  should  powerfully  influence  the  public  mind,  from  at  once  subverting 
the  regal  branch  of  the  constitution.  The  peers  have  no  real  power; 
and  there  is  no  class  that  has  that  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  existing  institutions,  that  seems  indispensable  to  rescue  a 
government  from  sudden  popular  impulses,  and  give  it  security  and  free 
action.  Napoleon  will,  most  probably,  be  found  to  have  correctly  ap- 
preciated the  existing  state  of  things,  when  he  declared,  that  'the  destruc- 
tion of  the  aristocracy  had  proved  fatal  to  all  subsequent  efforts  for  es- 
tablishing a  constitutional  monarchy  in  France.  The  revolution  had  at- 
tempted the  solution  of  a  problem  as  impossible  as  the  direction  of  bal- 
loons. An  aristocracy  is  the  true  support  of  the  throne  ;  its  moderator, 
its  lever,  its  fulcrum.  The  state  without  it  is  a  vessel  without  a  rudder; 
a  balloon  in  the  air.'  Great  prudence  on  the  part  of  those  in  authority 
may,  no  doubt,  enable  a  government  like  that  of  France  to  exist  for  an 
indefinite  period,  but  still  it  must  be  deemed  of  a  precarious  character.  At 
present,  the  members  of  the  electoral  colleges  constitute  the  only  aris- 
tocratical  body  to  be  found  in  the  country  ;  and  there  is,  perhaps,  little  to 
fear  from  the  encroachments  of  power  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  licentious- 
ness on  the  other,  as  long  as  they  continue  on  their  present  footing.  But 
great  efforts  are  being  made  to  lower  the  qualifications  of  electors,  and, 
consequently,  to  extend  the  electoral  basis ;  and  should  these  be  success- 
ful, the  government  will  necessarily  be  rendered  still  more  dependent  on 
popular  impulse. 

"  But  though  monarchy  should  be  subverted  in  France,  we  look  upon 
it  as  the  merest  possible  delusion  to  imagine  that  there  can  be  anything 
like  a  repetition  of  the  enormities  and  outrages  that  accompanied  the 
revolution  of  1789.  Society  is  now  arranged  on  a  totally  new  basis ; 
there  are  few  or  no  abuses  to  rectify  ;  the  people  are  not  smarting  from 
the  oppressions  of  a  host  of  feudal  tyrants  ;  and,  though  that  is  most 
doubtful,  it  may  be  supposed  that  they  have  had  sufficient  experience  of 
the  folly  of  attempting  to  govern  the  world.  Provided,  therefore,  they 
are  left  to  arrange  their  internal  affairs  as  they  may  judge  best,  we  incline 
to  think  that  the  other  European  nati-ons  have  little  to  fear  from  any 
changes  that  may  take  place  in  the  form  of  government  in  France.     Al 

{>resent,  it  is  a  democracy  with  an  hereditary  head  ;  the  only  change  like- 
y  to  happen,  is  to  a  democracy  with  an  elective  head." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SPAIN. 

This  country,  situated  in  the  south-west  of  Europe,  and  bounded  by 
the  Atlantic,  the  Mediterranean,  Portugal,  and  France,  was  well  known 
to  the  Phoenicians  at  least  a  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era ;  yet 
.t  appears  to  have  been  very  imperfectly  known  to  the  Greeks  in  the 
lime  of  Herodotus.  As  far  as  history  or  tradition  makes  us  acquainted 
with  its  aboriginal  inhabitants,  they  were  the  CeltBe  and  Iberians,  who 
became  blended  in  the  common  name  of  Celtiberians.  Till  the  coming 
of  the  Carthaginians  into  Spain,  however,  nothing  certain  can  be  affirmed 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  this  happenednot  long  before  the  first  puiiic  war 


TH£  TilEAsUiiY  OF  HISTOaY.  II3 

n  ancient  times  Spain  was  regarded  as  a  country  replete  with  riches :  and 
though  at  the  time  of  the  Rom*an  conquest  prodigious  quantities  of  gold 
and  silver  had  been  carried  out  of  it  by  the  Carthaginia]is  anil  Tyrians,  it 
still  had  the  reputation  of  being  very  rich.  We  are  inforiiijd  by  Aris- 
totle, that  when  the  Phoenicians  first  arrived  in  Spain,  liiey  exchanged 
their  naval  commodities  for  such  immense  quantities  of  silver,  that  their 
ships  could  neither  contain  nor  sustain  their  load,  though  they  used  it  for 
ballast,  and  made  their  anchors  and  other  implements  of  silver.  Nor 
<;oiild  it  have  been  much  diminished  when  the  Carthaginians  came,  since 
the  inhabitants  at  that  time  made  all  their  utensils,  even  their  mangers, 
of  that  precious  metal.  In  the  time  of  the  Romans  this  am-azing  plenty 
was  greatly  reduced ;  still  their  gleanings  were  by  no  means  despicable, 
since  in  nine  years  they  carried  off  111,542  pounds  of  silver,  and  4,095 
()ounds  of  gold,  besides  an  immense  quantity  of  coin  and  other  things  of 
value. 

Although  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Spain  appear  to  have  consisted  ol 
Celtic  tribes,  which  probably  entered  the  peninsula  from  the  neighbouring 
country  of  Gaul,  and  occupied  the  northern  districts,  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  that  the  southern  part  of  the  country  was  possessed  by 
the  Mauritani  from  the  opposite  coast  of  Africa;  the  narrowness  of  the 
strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  the  valuable  products  of  Spain,  being  induce- 
ments quite  sufficient  for  the  African  barbarians  to  form  settlements 
there.  Accordingly,  the  Carthagenians,  whose  descent  from  the  Phoeni- 
cians led  thera  to  traffic  with  all  those  nations  who  could  supply  them 
with  useful  commodities,  early  directed  their  views  towards  Spain,  and 
about  the  year  300  b.  c,  had  established  a  colony  in  the  north-east  of  the 
peninsula,  and  founded  the  town  of  Barceno,  the  modern  Barcelona.  In 
the  course  of  the  same  century  their  ambition  and  jealousy  of  the  Ro- 
mans induced  them  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  a  country  so  advanta- 
geously situated  for  their  commercial  enterprises.  This  attempt  gave 
rise  to  the  second  punic  war.  The  result  was  the  gradual  annexation  of 
the  whole  peninsula  to  the  Roman  republic,  and  it  continued,  under  the 
name  of  Hispania,  to  form  an  important  province  of  the  empire  for  nearly 
seven  centuries.  It  was  usually  divided  into  three  great  portions,  Lusi- 
tania,  Boetica  or  Hispania  Ulterior,  and  Tarraconensis  or  flispania  Cite- 
rior.  The  Spaniards  were  naturally  brave,  and  though  the  inhabitants  of 
the  eastern  and  southern  coasts  had  been  reduced  to  a  state  of  servile 
subjection,  yet,  as  the  Romans  penetrated  farther  into  the  country  than 
the  Carthagenians  had  done,  they  met  with  nations  whose  love  of  liberty 
was  equal  to  their  valour,  and  whom  the  whole  strength  of  their  empiri 
was  scarcely  able  to  subdue.  Of  these  the  most  formidable  were  the  Nu 
mantines,  Cantabrians,  and  Asturians.  In  the  time  of  the  third  punic 
war,  one  Vieriathus,  a  celebrated  hunter,  and  afterwards  the  captain  of  a 
gang  of  banditti,  took  the  command  of  some  nations  who  had  been  in  al- 
liance with  Carthage,  and  ventured  to  oppose  the  Roman  power  in  that 
part  of  Spain  called  Lusitania,  now  Portugal.  The  prfetor  Vitelius,  who 
commanded  in  those  parts,  marched  against  him  with  ten  thousand  men, 
but  was  defeated  and  killed,  with  the  loss  of  four  thousand  of  his  troops. 
The  Romans  immediately  dispatched  another  praetor  with  ten  thousand 
foot  and  thirteen  hundred  horse  ;  but  Vieriathus,  having  first  cut  off  a  de- 
tachment of  four  thousand  of  them,  engaged  the  rest  in  a  pitched  battle, 
and,  having  entirely  defeated  them,  reduced  great  part  of  the  country. 
Another  praetor,  who  was  Sent  with  a  new  army,  met  with  the  same  fate ; 
so  that,  after  the  destruction  of  Carthage,  the  Romans  thought  proper 
to  send  their  consul,  Quintus  Fabius,  who  defeated  the  Lusitanians  in 
several  battles.  It  is  not,  however,  necessary  to  pursue  this  portion  of 
the  Spanish  history  witli  minuteness ;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  after  many 
severe  contests,  in  which  the  Romans  were  often  obliged  to  yield  to  the 


114  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

bravery  of  the  Celliberians,  Numantines,  and  Cantabrians,  Scipio  ^mili- 
aiius,  tlie  destroyer  of  Carthage,  was  sent  against  Numaiitia,  which,  after 
a  most  desperate  resistance,  submitted  to  the  Roman  commander,  though 
scarcely  an  inhabitant  survived  to  grace  the  conqueror's  triumph.  This 
was  a  final  overthrow,  and  the  wliole  of  Spain  very  speedily  became  a 
province  of  Koin-c,  governed  by  two  annual  praetors. 

Nothing  of  importance  now  occurred  m  the  history  of  the  peninsula  till 
ilie  civil  war  between  Marius  and  iSylla  ;  u.  c.  76.  The  latter  having 
lU'ushfcd  the  Marian  fw.-tion,  proscribed  all  those  who  had  joined  against 
him  whom  he  could  not  destroy.  Among  these  was  Sertorius,  who  had 
collected  a  powerful  army  from  the  relics  of  that  party,  and  contended 
with  great  success  against  Caius  Annius  and  Metellus,  who  were  sent 
against  him.  Sertorius  now  formed  a  design  of  erecting  Lusitania  into 
dn  independent  republic  ;  and  so  vigorously  were  his  measures  prosecuted, 
that  the  IJomans  became  seriously  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  their  empire 
ill  that  quarter.  On  the  death  of  Sylla,  the  most  eminent  generals  in  Rome 
i-'ontended  for  the  honour  of  having  the  command  of  the  army  which  it 
was  intended  to  send  against  this  formidable  enemy.  After  some  deliber- 
ation, the  management  of  tiiis  war  v/as  intrusted  to  Pompey,  afterwards 
surnamed  the  Great,  tliough  he  had  not  yet  attained  the  consular  dignity. 
iMetellus  was  not,  however,  recalled.  Sertorius  for  a  long  time  proved 
more  than  a  match  for  them  both;  and  after  establishing  himself  in  Lusi- 
tania, he  made  such  perpetual  attacks  on  their  united  armies,  that  they 
found  it  necessary  to  separate,  one  retreating  into  Gaul,  and  the  otlier  to 
the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees.  Treachery  at  length  effected  for  the  Roman 
cause  what  valour  tried  in  vain,  the  bold  and  skilful  Sertorius  being  as- 
sassinated at  an  entertainment  by  Perperna,  after  having  made  head  againsi 
the  Roman  forces  for  almost  ten  years.  Pompey  now  pressed  forward 
with  redoubled  ardour  against  the  insurgent  army,  and  the  troops,  deprived 
of  their  able  leader,  were  finally  subdued  by  him. 

Though  conquered,  Spain  was  not  altogether  in  a  state  of  tranquility ; 
many  of  the  most  warlike  nations,  particularly  the  Cantabrians  and  Astu- 
lians,  continuing,  wherever  opportunities  presented  themselves,  to  struggle 
U)r  their  independence.  But  from  the  time  of  Agrippa,  who  carried  on  a 
war  of  extermination  against  them,  till  the  dscline  of  the  western  empire, 
they  remained  in  quiet  subjection  to  the  Romans.  Augustus  himself 
founded  the  colony  of  Ctesar  Augusta  (Saragossa),  and  Augustus  Emerita 
(Merida).  For  four  hundred  years  the  Roman  manners  and  language  took 
root  in  the  Spanish  provinces,  which  in  C'cesar's  time  had  a  population  of 
torty  millions.  Tarragona  had  two  millions  five  hundred  thousand  inhab- 
itants ;  and  Merida  supported  a  garrison  of  ninety  thousand  men.  In  the 
arts  of  war  and  peace,  the  peninsula  at  that  period  rivalled  Rome,  and  it 
gave  birth  to  many  men  of  first-rate  character  and  abilities  ;  among  them, 
Pomponius  Mela,  Seneca,  Lucan,  Trajan,  and  Theodosius  the  Great. 

In  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Honorius,  the  Gothic  tribes  of  Vandals, 
Suevi,  and  Alans,  spread  themselves  over  the  peninsula.  About  the  year 
4-30  the  brave  Wallia  founded  the  kingdom  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain.  The 
Vandals,  from  whom  Andalusia  received  its  name,  could  not  withstand 
him,  and  withdrew  into  Africa  in  a  few  years  after.  The  Visigoths,  undet 
ICuric,  extended  their  kingdom  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Romans  in  464; 
and  at  length  Leovigiid,  in  583,  overthrew  the  kingdom  of  the  Suevi,  in 
(xalicia.  Under  his  successor,  Reccared  I.,  the  introduction  of  the  catho- 
I  ic  faith  gave  the  corrupt  Latin  language  the  predominance  over  the  Gothic  • 
and,  after  that  time,  the  unity  of  the  Spanish  nation  was  maintained  by 
the  catholic  religion  and  the  political  influence  of  the  clergy. 

'J'ovvards  the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  the  Saracens  (the  name  adopted 
')y  the  Arabs  after  their  settlement  in  >]urope),  having  overran  Barbary 
with  a  rapidity  which  nothing  could  resist,  and  possessed  themselves  o/ 


THE  TIIEASURY  OF  HISTORY.  115 

the  Gothic  dominions  in  Africa,  made  a  descent  upon  Spain.  Roderic, 
the  king  of  the  Goths,  was  a  usurper,  and  having  occasioned  great  disaf- 
fection among  his  subjects,  he  determined  to  come  to  an  engagement, 
knowing  that  he  could  not  depend  upon  the  fidehly  of  his  own  people  if 
he  allowed  the  enemy  time  to  tamper  with  them.  The  two  armies  met  in 
a  plain  near  Xeres,  m  Andalusia.  The  Goths  began  the  attack  with  great 
fury,  but  they  were  totally  defeated,  and  Roderic,  in  his  flight,  was  drowned 
in  the  Guadalquiver,  a.  d.  711.  Nearly  the  whole  of  Spain  was  brought 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Moors  (as  the  Arabs  of  Spain  are  usually  called), 
by  this  decisive  battle  ;  those  Goths  who  still  contended  for  independence 
retiring  into  the  mountainous  parts  of  Asturia,  Burgos,  and  Biscay.  But 
in  718  their  power  began  to  revive  under  Pelayo  (or  Don  Pelagio),  a  prince 
of  the  royal  blood,  who  headed  those  that  had  retired  to  the  mountains 
after  the  fatal  battle  of  Xeres.  In  the  most  inaccessible  parts  of  these  re- 
gions Pelayo  established  himself;  and  such  were  its  natural  defences, 
that  although  the  Moorish  governor,  Alakor,  sent  a  powerful  army  to  crush 
him,  the  followers  of  Pelayo  were  so  concealed  among  the  preciprces, 
that,  almost  unseen,  they  annihilated  their  enemies.  In  a  second  attempt 
the  Moors  were  equally  unsuccessful,  nearly  the  whole  of  their  army  being 
either  cut  in  pieces  or  taken  prisoners. 

At  this  time  the  greater  part  of  Spain  became  a  province  of  the  caliphs 
of  Bagdad ;  but  in  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  Abderahman,  the  ca- 
liph's viceroy  in  Spain,  threw  off  the  yoke,  and  rendered  himself  inde- 
pendent, fixing  the  seat  of  his  government  at  Cordova.  Abderahman's 
first  care  was  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  iiis  kingdom  ;  and  though  he  could 
not  alter  the  Mahommedan  laws,  which  are  unchangeable  as  tlie  koran 
wherein  they  are  written,  he  appointed  just  magistrates,  released  his 
(^'hristian  subjects  from  a  great  part  of  the  tribute-money  hitherto  exacted 
from  them,  and  patronised  commerce  and  tlie  arts.  At  Cordova  he  built 
one  of  the  most  superb  mosques  in  the  world,  and  it  stdl  remains  a  splendid 
monument  of  the  skill  and  magnificence  of  that  enlightened  people.  The 
descendants  of  Abderahman  continued  for  nearly  two  centuries  to  reign 
in  Spain,  at  their  capital  Cordova,  patronising  the  sciences  and  arts,  par- 
ticularly astronomy  and  medicine,  at  a  period  when  christian  Europe  was 
immersed  in  ignorance  and  barbarism.  In  778,  Charlemagne  entered 
Spain  with  two  great  armies,  one  passing  through  Catalonia,  and  the  other 
through  Navarre,  where  he  pushed  his  conquests  as  far  as  the  Ebro.  On 
his  return  he  was  attacked  and  defeated  by  the  Moors,  though  this  did  not 
prevent  him  from  keeping  possession  of  all  those  places  he  had  reduced. 

In  the  meantime  the  kingdom  founded  by  Pelayo,  now  called  the  king- 
dom of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  continued  to  increase  rapidly  in  strength,  and 
many  advantages  were  gained  over  the  Moors.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
tenth  century,  a  distinguished  general,  named  Mohammed  Ebn  Amir  Al- 
manzor,  appeared  to  support  the  sinking  cause  of  that  people.  He  took 
the  city  of  Leon,  which  he  reduced  to  ashes,  and  destroyed  the  inhabitants. 
Barcelona  shared  the  same  fate ;  Castile  was  reduced  and  depopulated ; 
Galicia  and  Portugal  ravaged  ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  overcome  the  Chris- 
tians in  fifty  different  engagements.  A  pestilence,  however,  having  at- 
tacked his  army  just  after  he  had  demolished  the  city  of  Compostella,  and 
carried  off  in  triumph  the  gates  of  the  church  of  St.  James,  the  Christians 
Buperstitiously  attributed  it  to  a  divine  judgment ;  and,  in  the  full  persua- 
sion that  the  Moors  were  destitute  of  all  heavenly  aid,  they  fell  upon  them 
with  such  fury  in  the  next  battle,  that  all  the  valour  of  Almanzor  and  his 
soldiers  could  not  save  them  from  a  terrible  defeat,  and,  overcome  with 
shame  and  despair,  he  starved  himself  to  death. 

During  this  period  a  new  Christian  principality  appeared  in  Spain,  name- 
ly, that  of  Castile,  which  lay  in  the  middle  between  the  Christian  kingiom 
of  Leon  and  Oviedo,  and  the  Moorish  kingdom  of  Cordova.     This  district 


116  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

soon  became  an  object  of  contention  between  tlie  kings  of  Leon  and  Cor- 
dova ;  but  by  degrees  Castile  fell  eniiroi}'  under  tlie  power  of  the  kings  ol 
Leon  and  Oviedo ;  in  1035,  Don  Sanchez  bestowed  it  on  his  son,  Don 
Ferdinand,  with  the  title  of  king,  and  by  this  event  the  territories  of  Cas- 
tile were  first  firmly  united  to  those  of  Loon  and  Oviedo,  and  the  sove- 
reigns were  from  that  time  styled  kings  of  Leon  and  Castile. 

Arragon,  another  Christian  kingdom,  was  set  up  in  Spain  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eleventh  century.  The  history  of  Arragon,  however,  during 
its  infancy,  is  but  little  known.  But  about  the  year  103.5,  Don  Sanchez, 
surnamed  the  Great,  king  of  Navarre,  erected  Arragon  into  a  kingdom  in 
favour  of  his  son,  Don  Ramira,  and  afterwards  it  became  very  powerful. 
At  this  time  the  continent  of  Spain  was  divided  into  two  unequal  parts,  by 
a  straight  line  drawn  from  east  to  west,  from  the  coast  of  Valentia  to  a 
little  below  the  mouth  of  the  Douro.  The  country  north  of  this  belonged 
to  the  Christians,  wlio,  as  yet,  had  the  smallest  and  least  valuable  share, 
and  all  the  rest  to  the  Moors.  In  point  of  wealth  and  real  power,  both  by 
land  and  sea,  the  Moors  were  greatly  superior;  but  their  continual  dissen- 
sions weakened  them,  and  every  day  faciliated  the  progress  of  the  Chris- 
tians. The  Moorish  governments,  indeed,  being  weakened  by  changes  of 
dynasties,  as  well  as  by  internal  dissensions,  the  Christian  kings  wrested 
from  them  one  portion  of  the  country  after  another,  till,  after  tlie  great 
victory  which  the  united  Christian  princes  gained  over  the  Moors,  in  1222, 
at  Tolosa,  in  Sierra  Morena,  there  remained  to  them  only  the  kingdom  of 
Granada,  which  was  likewise  obliged  to  acknowledge  the  Castilian  su- 
premacy in  1246,  and  was  finally  conquered  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

In  1080,  the  king  of  Toledo  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  king  of  Seville, 
another  Moorish  potentate,  which  being  observed  by  Alphonso,  king  of 
Castile,  he  also  invaded  his  territories,  and  in  four  years  made  himself 
master  of  the  city  of  Toledo,  with  all  the  places  of  importance  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood, and  from  that  time  he  made  Toledo  the  capital  of  his  dominions. 
In  a  short  time  the  whole  province  of  New  Castile  submitted,  and  Madrid 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians.  The  only  son  of  Alphonso  died 
without  heirs ;  and  Ferdinand,  the  son  of  his  daughter,  united  Castile  and 
Leon.  Having  thus  become  more  powerful  than  the  former  kings,  he  con- 
quered Baeza  and  Cordova,  and  after  a  difficult  siege  of  eighteen  months, 
made  himself  master  of  Seville,  a.  d.  1243.  Setting  out  thence,  he  gained 
possession  of  Cadiz.  In  vain  the  mountains  of  Jaens  opposed  them 
selves  to  his  career ;  the  coasts  no  longer  allowed  reinforcements  to  arrive 
from  Africa  to  the  Arabian  Spaniards,  and  Granada  was  henceforward  their 
chief  possession. 

Ferdinand  III.,  after  conquering  Cordova,  Murcia,  Jaen,  Seville,  Cadiz, 
and  subjecting  Granada  to  a  feudal  dependence  on  him,  became,  in  1252, 
the  true  founder  of  Castile,  by  establishing  the  rule  of  indivisibility  and 
primogeniture,  in  the  succession.  Still  the  whole  was  as  yet  an  imper- 
fect confederation.  The  privileges  granted  to  the  Jews  in  Spain,  in  the 
middle  ages,  had  an  injurious  influence  on  the  government  and  the  public 
welfare.  They  were  placed  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  nobles,  they  were 
appointed  ministers  of  finance,  farmers  of  the  public  revenues,  and  stew 
ards  to  the  great ;  thus  they  obtained  possession  of  all  the  money  in  the 
country,  and,  by  their  excessive  usury,  at  length  excited  a  universal  out 
cry  against  them  ;  and,  in  1492,  they  were  banished  forever,  to  the  num- 
ber of  eight  hundred  thousand,  from  Spain.  The  improvement  of  the 
country  was  much  retarded  by  the  defects  in  the  public  administration, 
particularly  in  regard  to  the  taxes,  by  powerful  vassais,  bad  kings,  and 
family  disputes ;  so  that  the  third  estate  was  not  formed  in  Castile  till 
A.  D.  1325,  two  hundred  years  later  than  that  of  Arragon,  and  with  inferior 
privileges.  Meanwhile  the  Cortes,  consisting  of  the  estates  of  the  kir.ii- 
dom,  namely,  the  clergy,  the  high  nobility,  the  orders  of  knights,  and 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  117 

cignteen  great  cities,  restricted  the  royal  power,  without,  however,  bring- 
ing- about  a  state  of  legal  order.  But,  in  Arragon,  of  which  Alphouso  ]., 
since  the  conquest  of  Saragossa,  in  1115,  had  been  in  complete  possession, 
the  third  estate  was  formed  before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century— 
sooner  than  in  any  other  European  country — and  a  well  settled  political 
order  ensued. 

In  the  time  of  Edward  III.  we  find  England,  for  the  first  time,  inter- 
fering with  the  affairs  of  Spain.  In  the  year  1284  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
varre had  been  united  to  that  of  France  by  the  marriage  of  Donna  Joanna, 
queen  of  Navarre,  with  Pliilip  the  Fair,  of  France.  In  1328,  however,  the 
kingdoms  were  again  separated,  though  the  sovereigns  of  Navarre  were 
still  related  to  those  of  France.  In  1350,  Charles,  surnamed  the  Wicked, 
ascended  the  throne  of  Navarre,  and  married  the  daughter  of  John,  king 
of  France.  Notwithstanding  this  alliance,  and  that  he  himself  was 
related  to  the  royal  family  of  France,  he  secretly  entered  into  a  negotia- 
tion with  England  against  the  French  monarch,  and  even  drew  into  his 
schemes  the  dauphin  Charles,  afterwards  surnamed  the  Wise.  When 
the  young  prince  was  made  sensible  of  the  danger  of  his  connexions,  by 
way  of  atonement  he  promised  to  sacrifice  his  new  associates.  Accord- 
ingly, he  invited  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  some  of  the  principal  nobiUty  of 
the  same  party,  to  a  feast  at  Rouen,  where  he  betrayed  them  to  his  father. 
The  most  obnoxious  were  executed,  and  the  king  of  Navarre  was  thrown 
into  prison.  In  this  extremity,  the  party  of  the  king  of  Navarre  had 
recourse  to  England.  The  prince  of  Wales,  surnamed  the  Black  Prince, 
invaded  France,  defeated  King  John  at  Poictiers,  and  took  him  prisoner, 
which  unfortunate  event  produced  the  most  violent  disturbances  in  that 
kingdom.  The  dauphin,  tlien  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  naturally  assumed 
the  royal  power  during  his  father's  captivity.  In  order  to  obtain  supplies, 
he  assembled  the  states  of  the  kingdom ;  but  that  assembly,  instead  of 
supporting  his  administration,  demanded  limitations  of  the  prince's  power, 
the  punishment  of  past  malversations,  and  the  liberty  of  the  king  of  Na- 
varre. A  rebellion  ensued ;  and  amid  the  disorders  that  convulsed  the 
kingdom,  the  king  of  Navarre  made  his  escape  from  prison,  and  presented 
a  dangerous  leader  to  the  malcontents.  Those  of  the  French  people 
who  wished  to  restore  peace  to  their  country,  turned  their  eyes  towards 
the  dauphin.  Marcel,  the  seditious  provost  of  Pans,  was  slain  in  at- 
tempting to  deliver  that  city  to  the  king  of  Navarre.  The  capital  imme- 
diately returned  to  its  duty  ;  considerable  bodies  of  the  mutinous  peasants 
were  dispersed  or  put  to  the  sword ;  some  bands  of  military  robbers  under- 
went the  same  fate,  and  France  began  once  more  to  assume  the  appear- 
ance of  civil  government. 

In  the  thirteenth  century,  during  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
the  cities  in  the  kingdoms  of  Arragon  and  Castile  had  formed  themselves 
into  an  association,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Holy  Brotherhood.  They 
exacted  a  certain  contribution  from  each  of  the  associated  towns;  they 
levied  a  considerable  body  of  troops,  in  order  to  protect  travellers  and  pur- 
sue criminals;  and  they  appointed  judges,  who  opened  courts  in  various 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  nobles  often  murmured  against  tliis  salutary 
institution  ;  they  complained  of  it  as  an  encroachment  on  their  most  valua- 
ble priviliges,  and  endeavoured  to  have  it  abolished.  But  their  catholic 
majesties  (for  such  was  the  title  they  now  bore),  sensible  of  the  beneficial 
effects  of  the  Brotherhood,  not  only  in  regard  to  the  peace  of  their 
kingdom,  but  in  its  tendency  to  abridge,  and  by  degrees  annihilate  the  ter- 
ritorial jurisdiction  of  the  nobility,  countenanced  the  institution  upon 
every  occasion,  and  supported  it  with  the  full  force  of' royal  authority  ;  by 
which  means  the  prompt  and  impartial  administration  of  justice  was  re- 
stored, and  with  it  tranquillity  and  order.  But  at  the  same  time  that  they 
were  giving  vigour  and  justice  to  their  civil  government,  and  securing 


113  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

their  subjects  from  violence  and  oppression,  an  intenipcrale  zeal  led  them 
to  establish  an  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  eciually  contrary  to  the  natural 
rights  of  humanity  and  the  mild  spirit  of  the  gospel ;  and  thus  originated 
the  most  baneful  of  all  institutions,  the  Inquisition.  Wherever  the  foot- 
steps of  the  "  HOLY  office"  may  be  traced,  the  path  is  marked  with 
blood  ;  but  in  no  part  of  the  world  has  it  run  such  a  sanguinaiy  career 
as  in  Spain. 

Of  all  the  Mahomniedan  possessions  in  Spain,  the  kingdom  of  Granada 
now  alone  remained.  Princes  equally  zealous  and  ambitious  naturally 
wished  to  add  that  fertile  territory  to  their  hereditary  dominions,  by  expel- 
ling the  enemies  of  Christianity  and  extending  its  doctrines.  Everything 
conspired  to  favour  their  project ;  the  Moorish  kingdom  was  a  prey  to  civil 
wars;  when  Ferdinand,  having  obtained  the  bull  of  Sixtus  IV.,  authori- 
sing a  crusade,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and  entered  Granada. 
Its  subjugation  quickly  followed.  When  the  capital  surrendered,  it  was 
stipulated  that  their  king  should  enjoy  the  revenue  of  certain  places  in 
the  fertile  mountains  of  Alpujarros;  tliat  the  inhabitants  should  retain  un- 
disturbed possession  of  their  houses,  goods,  and  inheritances,  tiieir  laws 
and  religion.  Thus  ended  the  empire  of  tlie  Arabs  in  Spain,  which  had 
flourished  for  more  than  eight  hundred  years. 

During  the  period  of  Arabian  power,  agriculture,  commerce,  the  arts, 
and  sciences,  flourished  in  Spain.  The  universities  and  libraries  at  Cor- 
dova and  other  places  were  resorted  to  by  the  Christians,  as  the  seat  of 
the  Greco-Arabic  literature  and  the  Aristotelian  philosophy.  From  these 
institutions  Europe  received  the  knowledge  of  the  arithmetical  characters, 
of  gunpowder,  and  of  paper  made  of  rags  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
among  the  Gothic  Spaniards,  the  blending  of  the  chivalrous  and  religious 
spirit  gave  occasion  to  the  foundation  of  several  military  orders.  We 
ma}'  here  remark,  that  Don  Rodrigo  Diaz  de  Vival  el  ('ampeador,  the 
hero  without  an  equal,  has  been  celebrated  since  the  end  of  tiie  eleventh 
century  as  the  hero  of  his  age.  The  romantic  elevation  of  national  feel- 
ing, which  found  its  support  in  the  religious  faith  and  national  church, 
preserved  the  Christian  Gothic  states  of  Navarre,  Arragon,  and  Asturia, 
from  many  internal  and  external  dangers.  It  was  in  the  reign  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  and  through  the  patronage  of  the  latter,  that  Columbus, 
a  Genoese  navigator,  discovered  America.  The  country  was  afterwards 
subdued  by  Cortez  and  Pizarro;  and' its  valuable  mines  of  gold  and  silver 
continued,  until  of  late,  to  fill  the  cofl'ers  of  Spain  ;  but  riches  so  easily 
acquired  in  the  new  world  withdrew  much  of  the  activity  of  the  nation 
from  the  improvement  of  the  mother  country  ;  and  avarice,  united  with 
fanaticism,  established  an  impolitic  colonial  system.  Still,  the  extensive 
conquests  which  were  made  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  new  world,  though 
obtained  by  the  fiercest  cruelty  and  the  most  flagrant  injustice,  tended,  for 
a  time  at  least,  to  raise  the  Spanish  monarch  above  any  other  in  Europe. 

On  the  death  of  Isabella,  which  took  place  in  1506,  Philip,  archduke  ol 
Austria,  came  to  Castile,  in  order  to  take  possession  of  that  kingdom  as 
heir  to  his  mother-in-law;  but  he  dying  in  a  short  time  after,  his  son, 
Charles  V.,  afterwards  emperor  of  German}^  became  heir  to  the  crown 
of  Spain.  His  father,  at  his  death,  left  the  king  of  France  governor  to  the 
young  prince;  and  Ferdinand  at  his  death  left  Cardinal  Ximenes  sole 
regent  of  Castile,  till  the  arrival  of  his  grandson.  This  man,  whose  char- 
acter is  no  less  singular  than  illustrious,  who  united  the  abilities  of  a  great 
statesman  with  the  devotion  of  a  superstitious  monk,  and  the  magnifi- 
cence of  a  prime  minister  with  the  severity  of_.  a  mendicant,  maintained 
order  ancj  tranquillity  in  Spain,  notwithstanding  the  discontents  of  a  tur- 
bulent and  high-spirited  nobility  ;  and  when,  in  1517,  he  resigned  into  the 
hands  of  the  young  king  the  power  he  had  so  worthily  held  for  him 
he  was  able  to  do  so  with  honour  and  integrity. 


THE  TREASURY  OE"  HISTORY.  119 

"  Never  yet,"  observes  Dr.  Von  Rotteck,  "  the  old  Roman  emperors, 
and  perhaps  Charles  Martel  excepted,  had  providence  accumulated  such 
great  power  in  Europe  upon  one  head,  as  Charles  V.  inherited.  The  two 
momentous  marriages — that  of  Maximilian  I.  with  the  hereditary  princess 
of  Burgundy,  and  that  of  his  son,  Philip  I.,  with  Joanna  of  Spain  (upon 
whom,  however,  the  great  inhentance  of  her  parents  did  not  devolve 
until  the  death  of  three  nearer  heirs),  made  Charles,  Joanna's  first-born,  thu 
master  of  immense  countries ;  they  gave  by  that  means  the  political 
relations  and  efforts  of  Europe  their  principal  figure  and  determination 
for  centuries."  Charles  had  scarcely  taken  possession  of  his  throne,  when 
the  emperor  Maximilian  assembled  a  diet  at  Augsburg,  and  endeavoured 
to  prevail  on  the  electors  to  choose  that  young  prince  as  his  successor. 
But  though  he  could  not  prevail  upon  the  German  electors  to  confer  on 
him  that  dignity,  other  circumstances  conspired  to  his  exaltation.  Th<' 
imperial  crown  had  so  lon^  continued  in  the  Austrian  line,  that  it  began 
to  be  considered  as  hereditary  in  that  family  ;  and  Germany,  torn  by 
religious  disputes,  stood  in  need  of  a  powerful  emperor,  not  only  to  pre- 
serve its  own  internal  tranquillity,  but  also  to  protect  it  against  the  vic- 
torious arms  of  the  Turks,  who,  under  Selim  I.,  threatened  the  liberties  of 
Europe.  This  fierce  and  rapid  conqueror  had  already  subdued  the  Mame- 
lukes, and  made  himself  master  of  Egypt  and  Syria.  The  power  of 
Charles  appeared  necessary  to  oppose  that  of  Selim.  The  extensive 
dominions  of  the  house  of  Austria,  which  gave  him  an  interest  in  the 
preservation  of  Germany ;  the  rich  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands 
and  Franche  Compte;  the  entire  possession  of  the  great  and  warlike 
kingdom  of  Spain,  together  with  that  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  all  united  to 
hold  him  up  to  the  first  dignity  among  Christian  princes ;  and  tlie  new- 
world  seemed  only  to  be  called  into  existence  that  its  treasures  miglil 
enable  him  to  defend  Christendom  against  the  infidels.  Such,  at  least, 
was  the  language  of  his  partisans. 

Francis  I.,  king  of  France,  was  also  a  candidate  for  the  empire,  and  he 
put  forth  his  claims  with  equal  confidence,  and  scarcely  less  plausibility. 
The  electors,  whose  deliberations  were  directed  by  Frederic  the  Wise,  of 
Saxony,  who  himself  refused  the  offered  throne  from  purely  political 
motives,  united  finally  in  favour  of  Charles,  as  a  German  prince,  and  whose 
position  promised  the  empire  the  most  certain  protection,  especially  against 
the  menacing  power  of  the  Turks.  Yet  he  was  required,  by  solemn  ac- 
ceptation of  a  convention  with  the  electors,  to  guarantee  the  most  precious 
of  ancient  rights,  and  to  promise  such  innovations  as  appeared  useful. 
Although  the  two  candidates  had  hitherto  conducted  their  rivalship  witli- 
out  enmity,  the  preference  was  no  sooner  given  to  Charles,  than  Francis 
discovered  all  the  passions  natural  to  disappointed  ambition,  and  could 
not  suppress  his  chagrin  and  indignation  at  being  rejected.  We  shall 
find  in  the  sequel,  that  the  jealousy  between  those  potentates  cost  Europe 
four  sanguinary  wars.  The  first  act  of  Charles'  administration  was  to 
appoint  a  diet  of  the  Empire,  to  be  held  at  Worms,  in  order  to  concert 
with  the  princes  proper  measures  for  checking  the  progress  of  "  those 
new  and  dangerous  opinions  which  threatened  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
Grermany,  and  to  overturn  the  religion  of  their  ancestors."  This  subject, 
iowever,  does  not  properly  belong  to  the  history  of  Spain,  and  as  our 
jotice  of  the  reformation  appears  elsewhere,  we  here  merely  allude  to  it. 

Not  long  after  Charles'  coronation  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  an  insurrection 
■»roke  out  in  Spain,  which  was  highly  dangerous  for  the  power  of  the 
iinf,  and  extremely  remarkable  in  its  origin,  spirit,  and  object.  The  com- 
mencement of  the  reign  of  Charles,  whose  partiality  for  his  Dutch  Aivour- 
ites  wounded  the  Spanish  pride,  was  already  attended  with  disorders  ;  and 
all  the  courage  and  all  the  wisdom  of  Cardinal  Ximenes,  whom  Ferdi- 
nand the  Catholic  had  appointed  in  his  last  moments  administrator  of  Iha 


120  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

kingdom,  had  been  necessary  to  allay  the  storm,  wJiich  the  nobility  had 
jnainly  raised.  Tiie  arrival  of  Charles  in  Spam  would  iiave  restored 
complete  tranquillity,  had  he  not  wantonly  wounded  the  hearts  of  his  peo- 
ple, who  were  beconiinir  favourably  disposed  towards  him,  by  his  scornful 
and  despotic  manners,  and  harshly  violated  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
country  by  his  imperious  tone,  by  disregard  of  customary  forms,  and  by 
extraordinary  demands.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  he  had  gone  to  Germany, 
to  take  possession  of  the  new  throne,  tlie  cities  of  Castile  arose  for  the 
defence  of  their  ancient  rights.  These  cities,  jealous  of  their  indepen- 
dence, refused  to  acknowledge  Cardinal  Adrian,  bishop  of  Utrecht,  whom 
Charles,  his  former  pupil,  had  appointed  regent.  They  concluded  among 
themselves  a  "  holy  league,"  got  possession  of  the  person  of  the  queen- 
mother,  to  administer  in  the  name  of  her,  as  the  legitimate  sovereign,  the 
government  of  the  kingdom,  and  sent  to  the  king  a  detail  of  their  well- 
founded  grievances,  of  which  they  demanded  redress.  Cliarles  refused  to 
receive  the  deputies  of  the  league,  and  thus  augmented  the  exasperation 
of  the  people.  The  league  then  raised  its  head  still  more  boldly,  and 
formed  plans  for  liberating  the  common  people  from  the  ancient  feudal 
oppression  of  the  nobility.  The  democratic  spirit  spread  rapidly  ;  but  it 
was  by  this  very  means  the  cause  was  lost ;  for  the  nobles  in  all  the 
provinces,  feeling  that  spirit  far  more  than  the  abuse  of  the  royal  power 
rallied  around  the  throne,  which  they  had  previously  risen  against,  and 
around  the  regent  Adrian,  whom  they  had  hitherto  hated,  in  order  to  frus- 
trate the  projects  of  the  rebels.  The  citizen-warriors  of  the  leagu",  not- 
withstanding the  high  courage  and  devotednessof  individuals,  were  enable 
to  withstand  the  shock  of  the  forces  brought  against  them ;  and  though 
the  noble  city  of  Toledo  defied  their  power  for  nearly  a  year  after  all  the 
others  had  submitted,  it  was  at  length  taken  by  stratagem,  and  royalty 
triumphed.  The  most  precious  of  ancient  privileges  were  abolished  oi 
forgotten;  the  cortes,  once  so  venerated  and  influential,  degenerated  int« 
tame  assemblies,  the  principal  business  of  which  was  to  grant  taxes,  bul 
the  voice  of  which  was  unable  to  produce  salutary  reform.  This  revolt 
seemed  to  Francis  a  favourable  juncture  for  reinstating  the  family  of  John 
d'Albert  in  the  kingdom  of  Navarre.  Charles  was  at  a  distance  from  that 
part  of  the  dominions,  and  the  troops  usually  stationed  there  had  been 
called  away  to  quell  the  commotion  in  Spain.  A  French  army,  under 
Andrew  de  Foix,  speedily  conquered  Navarre  ;  but  that  young  and  inex 
[)erienced  nobleman,  pushed  on  by  military  ardour,  ventured  to  enter 
Castile.  The  Spaniards,  though  divided  among  themselves,  united  against 
a  foreign  enemy,  routed  his  forces,  took  him  prisoner,  and  recovered  Na- 
varre in  a  shorter  time  than  he  had  spent  in  its  reduction. 

Hostilities  thus  begun  in  one  quarter  between  the  rival  monarchs,  soor 
spread  to  another.  The  king  of  France  encouraged  the  duke  of  Bouillon 
to  make  war  against  the  emperor,  and  to  invade  Luxembourg.  Charles, 
after  humbling  tlie  duke,  attempted  to  enter  France  ;  but  was  repelled  and 
worsted  before  Mezieres,  by  the  famous  Chevalier  Bayard,  distinguished 
among  his  cotemporaries  by  the  appellation  of  "  The  knight  without  fear 
and  without  reproach,"  and  who  united  the  talents  of  a  great  general  to 
the  punctilious  honour  and  romantic  gallantry  of  the  heroes  of  chivalry. 
During  these  operations  in  the  field,  an  unsuccessful  congress  was  held 
at  Calais,  under  the  mediation  of  Henry  VIH.  of  England.  It  served  only 
to  exasperate  the  parties  which  it  was  intended  to  reconcile.  A  league 
was  soon  after  c  .ncluded,  by  the  intrigues  of  Wolsey,  between  the  pope 
Henry,  and  Charles,  against  France;  and  after  a  severe  contest,  in  which 
Francis  conf.nued  to  lose  ground  in  Italy,  the  authority  of  the  emperor 
and  his  confederates  was  everywhere  established  there.  Following  up 
the  advantages  he  had  gained  in  the  field  by  political  manoeuvre  Charles 
paid  a  visit  to  the  court  of  England  in  his  way  to  Spain,  where  his  pres- 


The  Chevaliee  Bayakd 


THE  TREASUHY  OF  HISTORY.  121 

ence  was  become  necessary.  In  this  he  was  more  fortunate  than  he 
had  any  right  to  expect ;  for  he  not  only  gained  the  cordial  friendship  of 
Henry,  but  disarmed  the  resentment  of  Wolsey,  (who  had  been  grossly 
deceived  and  offended  by  the  share  which  Charles  took  in  conferring  the 
papacy,  vacant  at  Leo's  death,  on  Adrian),  by  assuring  him  of  it  on  the 
decease  of  the  present  pontiff,  whose  age  and  infirmities  seemed  to  render 
it  not  far  distant.  But  the  negotiation  between  Charles  and  Henry  proved 
of  little  value  to  either  ;  for  the  army  under  the  earl  of  Surrey,  that  was 
sent  to  invade  France,  was  obliged  to  retire  at  the  end  of  the  campaign, 
without  being  able  to  take  one  place  within  the  French  frontier. 

Francis  had  prepared  not  only  for  the  most  energetic  defence  of  his 
kingdom,  but  was  resolved  also  upon  reconquering  Milan.  This,  perhaps, 
would  have  succeeded,  had  he  not  at  the  instigation  of  his  intriguing 
mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  incurred  the  enmity  of  Prince  Charles  of  Bour- 
bon, constable  of  France.  Impelled  by  passion,  this  prince  fled  to  the 
(;mperor,  in  order  to  fight  under  his  banners,  and  thereby  revenge  the 
wrong  which  had  been  inflicted  on  him.  Thus  France  lost  its  best 
General,  and  secured  the  triumph  of  its  enemy,  by  the  hand  of  its  natural 
defender.  In  the  meantime  the  imperial  army,  under  the  command  of 
Pescara  and  Bourbon,  had  penetrated  into  Provence,  and  was  besieging 
Marseilles.  But  Francis,  never  more  energetic  than  in  misfortune,  forced 
these  arrogant  generals  to  retreat,  and  entered  once  more  as  conqueror 
the  plains  of  Milan  and  their  brilliant  capital.  The  strong  city  of  Pavia, 
on  the  preservation  of  which  almost  the  last  hope  of  the  emperor  hung, 
lie  now  besieged  with  all  the  impetuosity  of  passion,  and  with  all  the 
resources  of  the  art  of  war.  Great  destinies  seemed  to  depend  on  the 
issue  of  this  siege.  Already  the  friends  of  Charles  began  to  waver- 
already  threatening  clouds  seemed  to  portend  some  dire  political  calamity. 
Pope  Clement  VII.  (Medicis),  previously  the  enemy  of  the  French, 
having  signed  a  treaty  of  neutrality,  abandoned  the  cause  of  Charles ; 
and  England,  ministering  to  the  passions  of  Wolsey,  its  prime  minister, 
had  grown  cold  in  the  emperor's  interest.  The  French  army  no  sooner 
appeared  in  Piedmont  than  the  whole  Milanese  was  thrown  into  con- 
sternation. The  capital  opened  its  gates.  The  forces  of  the  emperoi 
and  Sforza  retired  to  Lodi ;  and  had  Francis  pursued  them,  they  must 
have  abandoned  that  post,  and  been  totally  dispersed.  But  fortune  sud- 
denly rescued  her  favourite  son  from  such  a  disaster,  by  a  most  decisive 
blow.  The  evil  genius  of  Francis  led  him  to  besiege  Pavia,  which  almost 
miraculously  withstood,  during  the  winter,  the  immense  force  that  was 
brought  against  it,  until  the  generals  of  Charles,  strengthened  by  rein- 
forcements, hastened  to  its  relief.  The  soldiers  of  the  emperor,  eager  for 
plunder,  longed  to  engage ;  and  the  chivalrous  pride  of  Francis  would  not 
permit  him  to  decline  a  battle,  although  in  this  he  acted  contrary  to  the 
advice  of  his  most  experienced  generals.  Under  the  walls  of  Pavia, 
February  23,  1525,  the  emperor's  army  gained  the  most  brilliant  victory  ; 
Francis  himself,  after  the  most  valiant  resistance,  being  taken  prisoner. 

The  news  of  this  victory,  and  of  the  captivity  of  Francis  more  especially, 
filled  all  Europe  with  consternation.  The  French  army  was  nearly  des- 
troyed, Milan  was  immediately  abandoned,  and  in  a  few  weeks  not  a 
French  soldier  was  left  in  Italy.  The  power  of  the  emperor,  and  still 
more  his  ambition,  became  an  object  of  universal  terror,  and  resolutions 
were  everywhere  taken  to  set  bounds  to  it ;  while  France,  governed  at 
such  a  calamitous  juncture  by  the  queen-mother,  a  princess  of  a  mascu- 
line and  courageous  character,  prepared  for  a  desperate  contest.  The 
emperor  saw  a  prospect  of  unbounded  glory,  and  immediately  meditated 
plans  for  realizing  it.  It  was  not,  however,  by  pursuing  his  victory  with 
energy,  but  by  recurring  to  artful  negotiation,  that  Charles  sought  to  gain 
his  object.     He  designed  to  humble  Francis,  who  rejected  with  indignation 


122  THE  TREASURY  OF  lildTORY. 

tlio  ignominious  terms  of  deliverance  which  were  oflTercd  to  him,  and 
spent  one  long  sad  year  in  Madrid  under  the  strictest  custody.  Finally 
his  desire  for  lilxrty  overcame  him,  and  he  signed,  on  the  14th  of  January, 
152G,  the  treaty  called  ttie  peace  of  Madrid,  in  wliicli  he  ceded  Burgundy, 
and  renounced  his  claims  to  Milan  and  all  other  Italian  countries.  He 
also  relinquished  his  feudal  sovereignty  over  Flanders  and  Artois  ;  pro- 
mised to  restore  to  tiie  duke  of  Bourbon  and  his  adherents  all  their  pos- 
sessions, to  abandon  the  cause  of  the  king  of  Navarre,  and,  by  surrender- 
ing his  two  elder  sons  as  hostages,  and  taking  his  oath  if  all  this  was  not 
fulfilled  he  would  return  into  captivity,  guarantied  the  inviolability  of  the 
whole  treaty.  But  we  must  not  forget  to  state,  that  a  few  hours  before 
le  signed  this  instrument.  King  Francis  had  protested  before  some  of  his 
faithful  friends,  secretly,  although  by  writing,  against  this  treaty,  which  he 
said  he  was  compelled  by  unjust  force  to  conclude,  and  by  which  he  thought 
he  was  nowise  bound.  And  let  us  not  forget,  also,  that  Pope  Clement  11. 
soon  afterwards  formally  released  him  from  the  obligation  of  his  oath  ! 

After  Francis  had  returned  to  his  kingdom,  the  imperial  ambassadors 
in  vain  demanded  the  fulfilment  of  this  treaty.  The  deputies  of  the  states 
of  Burgundy,  having  been  called  into  their  presence  at  the  same  time,  de- 
clared that  the  king  had  passed  the  limits  of  his  power  by  ceding  their 
country,  and  that,  if  he  abandoned  them,  they  would  avert  from  themselves 
foreign  dominion  with  their  own  power.  At  the  same  time  the  news  was 
spread  of  the  alliance  concluded  between  the  king  of  France  and  the  pope, 
in  which  the  Venetians,  the  duke  of  Milan,  and  the  king  of  England  also 
participated.  It  was  designed  by  force  of  arms  to  make  Charles  subscribe 
10  more  moderate  terms  ;  and  the  alliance  was  called  the  holy  league.  But 
Francis,  having  become  disheartened  by  his  previous  misfortunes,  nego- 
tiated instead  of  fighting,  while  his  Italian  allies  succumbed  to  the  superior 
forces  of  the  emperor.  In  the  meantime  Charles  had  strengthened  his 
armies  by  new  levies,  and  they  were  now  under  Bourbon's  command.  But 
his  troops  were  a  mixture  of  Spaniards,  Italians,  and  Germans,  who,  devoid 
of  national  feeling,  and  without  love  for  the  cause,  served  only  for  pay  and 
booty.  So  badly  managed  were  the  finances  of  the  emperor,  that  he,  be- 
fore whose  power  Europe  trembled,  could  not,  at  that  time,  furnish  money 
sufficient  to  pay  twenty-five  thousand  men.  In  that  dilemma  the  general 
led  the  army  against  Rome,  and  promised  to  enrich  them  with  the  spoils 
of  the  eternal  city.  Nor  did  he  make  an  idle  boast;  for  though  Bourbon 
himself  was  shot  while  planting  a  scaling-ladder  against  the  walls,  the  sol- 
diers, infuriated  rather  than  discouraged  by  the  death  of  their  beloved 
commander,  mounted  to  the  assault,  took  the  city,  and  pillaged  it  with  all 
the  atrocities  of  rapacity  and  brutality. 

Never  did  Rome  in  any  age  suffer  so  many  calamities,  not  even  from 
the  barbarians  by  whom  she  was  often  subdued,  the  Huns,  Vandals,  or 
Goths,  as  now  from  the  subjects  of  a  Christian  and  Catholic  monarch. 
During  this  storm  the  pope  had  taken  refuge  in  the  'castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
and,  not  making  his  escape  in  time,  was  taken  prisoner.  He  was  con- 
fined till  he  should  pay  an  enormous  ransom  imposed  by  the  victorious 
army,  and  surrender  to  the  emperor  all  the  places  of  strength  belonging 
to  the  papal  dominions.  Well  knowing  the  horror  which  his  Spaftisli 
subjects  would  feel  at  the  indignity  thus  offered  to  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
Charles  not  only  repressed  all  outward  demonstration  of  joy  at  this  new 
triumph,  but  literally  put  himself  and  his  court  into  mourning,  and,  with 
unexampled  hypocrisy,  had  prayers  offered  up  in  all  the  churches  of 
Spain  for  the  recovery  of  the  pope's  liberty,  when  an  imperial  order 
nould  have  instantly  procured  his  freedom! 

A.  D.  1529. — Charles  had,  however,  more  to  apprehend  from  the  resent- 
ment of  other  powers  than  from  his  own  subjects ;  and  it  was  not  long 
before  his  old  competitor,  Francis,  with  the  aid  of  English  money,  was 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  123 

able  to  send  a  formidable  army  into  Ttalj',  under  the  command  of  Mar- 
shal Lautrec.  Clement  then  regained  liis  freedom;  but  the  death  of  the 
French  marshal,  and  the  revolt  of  Andrew  Doria,  a  Genoese  admiral  in 
the  service  of  France,  were  serious  disasters,  which  inclined  Francis  to 
try  the  effect  of  negotiation  in  lieu  of  the  force  of  arms.  The  progress 
of  ihe  reformation  in  Germany — to  which  Charles  was  ever  most  stren- 
uously opposed — at  this  time  threatened  the  tranquillity  of  the  empire ; 
while  the  victorious  suUan,  Solyman,  who  had  overrun  Hungary,  was 
ready  to  break  in  upon  the  Austrian  territories  with  an  overwhelming 
force.  In  this  state  of  things,  a  pacific  accommodation  was  too  desirable 
to  be  refused  by  Charles,  notwithstanding  he  had  lately  gained  such  ad- 
vantages;  and  it  was  agreed  that  Margaret  of  Austria  (Charles'  aunt),  and 
Louisa  (the  mother  of  Francis),  sliould  meet  at  Cambray,  with  a  view  of 
adjusting  the  terms  of  a  treaty  between  the  two  monarchs.  The  result 
was,  that  Francis  agreed  to  pay  two  millions  of  crowns  as  the  ransom  of 
his  two  sons,  to  resign  the  sovreignty  of  Flanders  and  Artois,  and  to 
forego  all  his  claims  on  Italy ;  and  Charles  ceased  to  demand  the  restitu- 
tion of  Burgundy.  On  this  occasion,  Henry  VIII.  was  so  generous  to  his 
friend  and  all}',  Francis,  that  he  sent  him  an  acquittal  of  near  600,000 
crowns,  in  order  to  enable  him  to  fulfil  his  agreement  witli  the  emperor. 
The  terrors  of  the  Turkish  arms  were  at  this  time  greatly  increased  by 
the  cruelties  exercised  on  the  subjects  of  Christian  states  who  were  so 
unfortunate  as  to  fall  into  the  power  of  the  Algerine  pirate,  Barbarossa. 
This  man  was  the  son  of  a  potter  at  Lesbos,  and  by  deeds  of  violence 
had  raised  himself  to  the  throne.  He  regulated  with  much  prudence  the 
interior  police  of  his  kingdom,  carried  on  his  piracies  with  great  vigour, 
and  extended  his  conquests  on  the  continent  of  Africa;  but  perceiving 
that  the  natives  submitted  to  his  government  with  nnpatience,  he  put  his 
dominions  under  the  protection  of  llie  grand  seignior.  Solyman,  flatter- 
ed by  such  an  act  of  submission,  and  considering  him  the  only  adversary 
worthy  of  being  opposed  to  the  renowned  Doria,  appointed  him  to  the 
command  of  the  Turkish  fleet.  Thus  assisted,  he  not  only  strengthened 
his  former  kingdom  but  usurped  that  of  Tunis,  and  now  carried  on  his 
depredations  against  the  Christian  states  with  more  destructive  violence 
than  ever.  Willing  to  support  the  exiled  king  of  Tunis,  Muly  Hassan, 
but  far  more  desirous  of  delivering  his  dominions  from  so  dangerous  a 
neighbor  as  Barbarossa,  the  emperor  readily  concluded  a  treaty  with  the 
former,  and  set  sail  for  Tunis  with  a  formidable  armament.  This  was 
the  most  brilliant  exploit  of  his  life.  He  sailed  from  Cagliari  to  the  Af- 
rican coast,  took  the  strong  seaport  town  of  Golelta  by  storm,  with  three 
hundred  pieces  of  cannon  and  all  Barbarossa's  fleet,  defeated  the  tyrant 
in  a  pitched  battle,  and  ten  thousand  Christian  slaves  having  overpowered 
the  guards  and  got  possession  of  the  citadel,  he  made  his  triumphant 
entry  into  Tunis.  Muly  Hassan,  on  being  reinstated,  agreed  to  acknowl- 
edge himself  a  vassal  of  the  crown  of  Spain,  to  put  the  emperor  in  pos- 
session of  all  the  fortified  seaports  in  the  kingdom  of  Tunis,  and  to  pay 
annually  twelve  thousand  crowns  for  the  subsistence  of  the  Spanish  gar- 
rison in  Goletta.  These  points  being  settled,  and  twenty  thousand  Chris- 
tian slaves  freed  from  bondage,  either  by  arms  or  treaty,  Charles,  covered 
with  glory,  returned  to  Europe,  and  was  received  as  the  deliverer  of 
Christendom.  Barbarossa,  who  had  retired  to  Bona,  lost  no  time  in  gath- 
ering around  him  the  necessary  means  of  becoming  again  the  tyrant  of 
the  ocean.  While  Charles  was  fighting  in  so  glorious  a  manner  against 
the  hereditary  enemy  of  the  Christian  name,  the  king  of  France  took  ad-' 
vantage  of  his  absence  to  revive  his  pretensions  in  Italy.  Glorious  as  the 
result  had  been,  the  temerity  of  the  Algerine  expedition  at  first  portended 
nothing  but  misfortune,  and  Francis  thought  such  an  opportunity  of  turn- 
ing the  political  scale  might  not  again  occur.     How  quickly  did  the  orf? 


124  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

pect  change!  Barbarossa  defeated  and  obliged  to  fly — tlie  barbarian 
prince  for  whom  C^harlos  liad  interested  himself,  replaced  upon  the  throne 
of  Tunis,  and  that  kingdom  made  tributary  to  Spain — while  altars  were 
erected  there  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  the  triumph  of  the  conqueror 
adorned  with  the  broken  chains  of  slavery. 

A.  D.  153G. — Francis  now  invaded  Italy,  occupied  Savoy  and  Piedmont, 
and  threatened  Milan.  Cliarles,  again  roused  to  exertion,  arrived  with  a 
superior  force,  and  drove  tiie  French  from  the  greatest  part  of  Savoy,  in- 
vaded Provence,  and  besieged  Marseilles.  But  the  great  talents  of  the 
Marshal  de  Montmorency,  who  commanded  the  French  army,  and  still 
more  the  determined  energy  of  the  people,  who  now  arose  to  defend  their 
homes  and  property,  compelled  Charles  to  raise  the  siege  and  make  a 
most  deplorable  retreat  across  the  Alps.  After  other  feats  of  arms,  at- 
tended with  changing  success,  a  truce  was  concluded,  through  the  media- 
tion of  the  pope,  for  ten  years  (.lune  18,  1538),  according  to  which  each 
of  the  belligerents  retained  what  lie  possessed.  Savoy  was  therefore  di- 
vided, but  Milan  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  empe.ror,  although  under 
equivocal  promises  in  favor  of  France.  These  conditions  were  not  ful- 
filled. For  Charles,  having  invested  his  son  Philip  with  Milan,  had  given 
his  adversary  a  new  cause  for  animosity;  and  the  second  expedition  of 
the  emperor  to  Africa,  which  was  this  time  very  unfortunate,  furnished 
Francis  with  a  favourable  occasion  for  a  new  rupture.  The  audacious 
piracies  of  Barbarossa,  which  were  renewed  with  all  their  horrors,  ap- 
peared finally  to  require  an  avenging  sword;  and  Charles,  full  of  the 
proudest  hopes,  undertook  this  crusade  in  October,  1.541,  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army,  well  equipped  and  stored.  Hardly  had  they  arrived  on 
the  coast  of  Algiers,  when  a  storm  arose  which  destroyed  the  fleet,  and 
left  the  discouraged  troops  exposed  to  the  fierce  attacks  of  an  exasperated 
enemy.  The  battalions,  relieved  by  abandoning  their  baggage  and  muni- 
tions, marched  from  the  gates  of  Algiers  amid  a  thousand  dangers  and 
hardships,  to  Cape  Metafuz,  where  the  vessels  that  had  escaped  the  storm 
awaited  them,  and  the  miserable  remnant  of  the  army  embarked. 

A.  D.  1542. — Francis  thought  that  the  moment  had  at  length  arrived  for 
prostrating  his  enemy.  He  took  the  field  against  Charles  with  five  ar- 
mies, on  live  different  boundaries— towards  Spain,  Luxembourg,  Brabant, 
Flanders,  and  Milan.  Nor  did  he  blush  to  admit  the  auxiliary  fleet  of  the 
sultan  into  the  harbour  of  Marseilles,  or  to  let  the  French  flag  float  be- 
side that  of  the  pirate  Barbarossa  in  the  line  of  battle  against  the  impe- 
rial and  papal  fleets.  But  all  this  w^as  of  little  avail.  Andrew  Doria  re- 
mained master  at  sea,  and  the  five  armies  of  France,  notwithstanding 
their  success  in  the  beginning  (and  notwithstanding  even  the  brilliant 
victory  of  Cerisoles),  in  which  ten  thousand  of  the  emperor's  best  troops 
fell,  yielded  at  last  to  the  perseverance,  prudence,  and  fortune  of  Charles 
and  his  generals.  On  the  other  hand,  Charles  having  renewed  his  old  al- 
liance with  Henry,  king  of  England,  had  already  penetrated  into  Cham- 
pagne, and  menaced  the  heart  of  France,  while  Henry  was  advancing 
through  Picardy,  in  order  to  unite  with  Charles  at  Paris.  At  length,  mu- 
tually tired  of  harassing  each  other,  the  rival  monarchs  concluded  a 
treaty  of  peace  at  Crespy  (1544),  which,  in  the  main,  renewed  the  con 
ditions  of  the  earlier  one  at  Cambray,  but  contained  also  the  project  of  a 
matrimonial  connexion  between  the  two  houses.  Francis  died  in  1547. 
In  consequence  of  the  emperor's  resolution  to  humble  the  protestant 
princes,  he  concluded  a  dishonourable  peace  with  the  porte,  stipulating 
that  his  brother  Ferdinand  should  pay  tribute  for  that  part  of  Hungary 
which  he  still  possessed,  while  the  sultan  enjoyed  undisturbed  possession 
of  the  rest.  At  the  same  time  he  entered  into  a  league  with  Pope  Paul  HI. 
for  the  extirpation  of  heres}^  but  in  reality  to  oppress  the  liberty  of  Ger- 
many.    But  he  failed  in  his  object,  and  ^vas  obliged,  in  1552,  to  conclude 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  125 

a  peace  with  the  protestants  on  their  own  terms.  By  this  peace  the  em- 
peror lost  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun,  which  had  formed  the  barrier  of  the 
empire  in  that  quarter;  he  therefore,  soon  after,  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  an  army,  in  order  to  recover  these  three  bishoprics.  In  this  he  was 
unsuccessful.  The  defence  of  Metz  was  committed  to  Francis  of  Lor- 
raine, duke  of  Guise,  who  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  all  the  qual- 
ities that  render  men  great  in  military  command ;  and  although  the  em- 
peror marched  into  Lorraine  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men,  and  laid 
siege  to  Metz,  attempting  all  that  was  thought  possible  for  art  or  valour 
to  effect,  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  enterprise,  with  the  loss  of  one 
half  of  his  troops. 

Breathing  vengeance  against  France,  and  impatient  to  efface  the  stain 
his  reputation  had  received,  Charles  retired  to  the  Low  Countries,  and 
took  Terouanne  and  Hesdin.  In  Italy  and  Hungary,  however,  the  impe- 
rial arms  were  less  successful;  still,  by  efforts  of  wisdom,  celerity,  and 
prudence,  he  again  snatched  the  laurel,  from  his  enemy's  brow.  At 
length,  after  having  reigned  over  Spain  for  thirty-nine  years,  this  mighty 
monarch,  whose  life  had  been  one  continued  scene  of  ardent  pursuits, 
either  disgusted  with  the  pomp  of  power  and  the  projects  of  ambition,  or 
sickened  by  repeated  disappointments,  resigned  the  empire  to  his  brother 
Ferdinand,  and  his  hereditary  dominions  (Spain,  Italy,  Flanders,  and  the 
American  possessions),  to  his  son  Philip.  He  then  sought  happiness  in 
quiet  obscurity,  and  retired  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Juste,  in  the  province 
of  Estremadura,  where,  after  two  years  tranquillity,  he  closed  one  of  the 
most  tumultuous  lives  that  is  to  be  met  with  in  history;  a.  d.  1558.  Ex- 
traordinary penetration,  astonishing  skill,  unwearied  application  to  busi- 
ness, a  profound  knowledge  of  men,  and  of  the  art  of  placing  them  prop- 
erly ;  a  mind  calm  in  prosperity  and  unshaken  m  adversity  ;  an  activity 
which  continually  hurried  him  from  one  extremity  of  his  empire  to  the 
other,  were  the  talents  that  distinguished  Charles,  and  raised  him  to  the 
first  rank  among  those  who  governed  the  world.  He  was  inferior  to  his 
rival,  Francis,  in  the  qualities  of  the  heart,  but  far  exceeded  him  in  abil- 
ities, and,  independent  of  superiority  of  power,  was  formed  to  triumph 
over  him.  Ambitious,  artful,  and  prudent;  little  scrupulous  in  point  of 
religion,  and  always  affecting  to  appear  the  reverse ;  prodigal  of  his 
promises  in  danger,  and  preferring  the  advantages  of  breaking  to  the 
honour  of  keeping  them ;  affable  and  open  with  subjects,  who,  in  a  man- 
ner, adored  him  ;  a  dissembler  with  his  enemies,  whom  he  flattered  only 
to  destroy — this  prince  possessed  all  the  virtues  and  vices  necessary  for 
the  conquest  of  Europe,  and  would  in  all  probability  have  subjected  it, 
but  for  the  courage  of  Francis  and  the  capacity  of  Solyman. 

When  Charles  V.  resigned  his  dominions  to  his  son  Philip  II.,  anxious 
that  he  should  pursue  the  same  plans  of  conduct  and  principles  of  policy, 
he  put  into  his  hands  all  the  political  observations  which  he  had  written 
down  during  his  long  reign,  and  which  formed  a  system  of  the  art  of  gov- 
ernment both  in  peace  and  in  war.  Philip  treated  his  father  with  great 
disrespect  after  he  had  abdicated  the  crown,  yet  he  highly  valued  and 
carefully  studied  this  his  political  testament,  which  being  the  result  of  long 
experience,  and  dictated  by  great  abilities,  might  be  thought  an  inestima- 
ble gift;  but  the  event  has  proved  that  the  maxims  adopted  and  principles 
laid  down  were  in  their  tendency  destructive  of  the  true  interests  of  Spain, 
whose  power  has  been  gradually  weakened,  and  wealth  exhausted,  by  the 
system  of  aggrandizement  therein  recommended,  and  pursued  during  the 
two  succeeding  reigns.  The  Spaniards,  even  to  this  time,  retain  the 
memory  of  this  fact,  on  which  they  have  founded  a  proverbial  expression, 
that  "in  all  great  emergencies,  their  ministers  aire  wont  to  consult  the 
spirit  of  Charles  V." 

At  the  period  to  which  we  are  now  at'iived,  how  powerful  was  the  throne 


125  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  Spain !  Besides  that  fine  and  warlike  country,  it  governed  also  in  Eu- 
rope the  two  Sicilies,  the  Milanese,  the  seventeen  provinces  of  the  Low 
Countries,  and  Franche  Conipte ;  in  Africa,  Tunis  and  Oran,  with  theii 
territories,  the  Canaries  and  some  of  the  Cape  Verd  islands ;  in  Asia,  the 
Philippines,  tiie  islands  of  Snndi,  and  a  part  of  the  Moluccas  ;  in  America, 
the  empires  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  New  Spain,  Chili,  and  almost  all  the 
islands  situated  between  these  two  continents.  The  troops  of  Spain  were 
the  first  in  Europe ;  th(;ir  armies,  reckoned  invincible,  were  composed  of 
veterans  trained  in  actual  service,  inured  to  fatigue,  and  animated  by  the 
remembrance  of  various  triumphs.  They  were  commanded  by  the  dukes 
of  Alva  and  Savoy,  both  pupils  of  Ciiarlcs  V.,  who  had  been  broui^lit  uj) 
in  his  camp,  and  were  already  distinjjuished  by  their  victories,  llcr  im- 
mense fleets,  which  m  a  maimer  covered  the  seas,  had  been  taught  to  con 
tend  with  Barbarossa,  and  to  triumph  under  Doria;  the  mines  of  Polosi 
and  Chili,  lately  opened,  were  in  full  vigor,  and  enriched  Cadiz  with  an 
annual  tribute  of  twenty  millions  sterlmg.  Philip  II.  was  master  of  all 
those  possessions.  He  had  recently  married  the  queen  of  England  ;  and 
the  passionate  fondness  of  Mary  for  a  husband  who  made  no  return  to  her 
affection,  gave  him  the  command  of  all  the  forces  of  her  kingdom.  This 
monarch  had  neither  the  valour  or  activity  of  his  father,  nor  that  affability 
which  made  the  emperor  the  idol  of  his  subjects;  but  he  had  all  his  ambi- 
tion, and  supported  it  with  those  talents  and  vices  which  make  tyrants  so 
formidable.  His  penetration  and  capacity  were  extensive;  but  lie  was 
callous  to  every  generous  feeling,  full  of  duplicity  and  suspicion,  cruel, 
vevengeful,  and  superstitious.  A  truce  of  five  years,  settled  by  the  man- 
agement of  Charles  V.,  had  given  some  repose  to  Europe,  and  seemed  tc 
promise  a  lasting  peace.  An  aged  pontiff  revived  the  animosity  of  nations 
and  kindled  the  flames  of  a  general  war.  Paul  IV.,  impatient  to  be  re 
venged  on  Philip,  sent  his  nephew  to  Henry  II.,  in  order  to  persuade  hin. 
to  take  up  arms.  Montmorency  in  vain  urged  him  to  reject  the  solicita 
tions  of  an  ambitious  old  man;  Guise,  who  ardently  wished  to  display 
his  talents,  prevailed  on  the  monarch  to  assist  the  pope,  and  hostilities 
were  renewed.  Henry,  who  always  found  a  faithful  ally  in  Solyman,  wat 
joined  by  the  sultan  and  the  pontiff'  against  Philip.  The  latter,  who,  not- 
withstanding the  indifference  which  he  showed  for  his  consort,  still  pre- 
served an  absolute  empire  over  her,  found  no  great  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing the  assistance  of  English  forces.  Thus  Italy,  Hungary,  and  the  fron- 
tiers of  France,  were  at  the  same  time  in  a  flame.  Tranquillity,  however, 
soon  revived  in  Italy,  where  the  misfortunes  of  Henry,  the  defeats  of 
Guise,  and  the  abilities  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  obliged  the  pontiff  to  abandon 
the  monarch  whose  assistance  he  had  implored.  In  Flanders  Philip  ap- 
peared in  person,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army  ;  the  operations  being 
directed  by  Philibert  of  Savoy,  a  prince  of  great  abilities,  which  he  was 
particularly  desirous  of  exerting  on  this  occasion,  from  motives  of  re- 
sentment against  the  oppressors  of  his  country.  The  flower  of  the  French 
troops  advanced  to  meet  the  Spaniards,  and  a  splendid  train  of  nobles  fol- 
lowed their  warlike  leader;  the  king  was  prepared  to  join  them,  and  the 
city  of  St.  Quentin  became  the  general  rendezvous  of  those  numerous  for- 
ces. PhiUbert  laid  siege  to  it ;  and  it  was  defended  by  the  gallant  Coligiiy, 
nephew  of  the  constable.  The  prodigious  efforts  of  the  inhabitants,  ani- 
mated by  the  young  hero,  confounded  Philip,  and  he  already  began  to 
dread  that  he  should  be  under  the  necessity  of  raising  the  siege  in  a 
shameful  manner,  when  the  impetuous  ^Montmorency  appeared  under  the 
walls,  and  offered  battle.  The  French  fought  valiantly,  but  their  courage 
was  useless;  the  capacity  of  the  Spanish  general  triumphed  over  the  rash 
valour  of  his  opponent;  a  bloody  defeat  threw  Montmorency  into  chains, 
and  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  nobles  under  his  command.  The 
'•apture  of  the  city  immediately  followed. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  127 

France,  unprotected  on  all  sides,  thought  herself  undone,  and  Paris 
trembled  with  apprehensions  of  soon  seeing  the  enemy  at  her  gates. 
Ctjarles,  who  was  informed  in  his  retreat  of  the  success  of  his  son,  no 
longer  doubted  of  the  destruction  of  his  ancient  rivals,  and  the  French 
monarch  was  preparing  to  fly  for  shelter  to  some  remote  province.  The 
duke  of  Guise,  who  had  been  recalled  from  Italy,  was  the  only  person 
that  did  not  despair  of  preserving  the  state.  With  incredible  diligence  h^ 
collected  the  scattered  remains  of  the  vanquished  army,  and  when,  by  ju- 
dicious marches  and  continued  skirmishes,  he  had  given  a  check  to  the  ar- 
dour of  the  enemy,  and  revived  the  courage  of  the  French,  he  suddenly 
turned  towards  Calais,  and  after  a  vigorous  and  well-concerted  attack,  de- 
prived the  English  of  a  place  that,  for  three  centuries,  had  given  them  a 
ready  entrance  to  the  continent.  Philip  fixed  his  residence  at  Madrid,  and 
governed  his  vast  dominions  without  the  aid  of  any  ostensible  minister, 
in  perfect  despotism.  By  his  intrigues  the  popedom  was  conferred  on 
Cardinal  Medicis,  who  was  attached  to  the  house  of  Austria,  and  became 
the  minister  of  his  designs.  The  new  pontiff  loaded  him  with  favours,  and 
declared  him  the  protector  of  the  church,  which  title  the  monarch  justified 
by  extraordinary  condescension.  lie  submitted  to  bulls  and  pr.pal  edicts 
that  affected  the  majesty  of  the  throne,  and  paid  a  blind  defercn.ce  to  the 
clergy.  He  raised  immense  and  magnificent  monasteries,  rigorously  per- 
secuted the  enemies  of  Rome,  and  presided  at  those  horrid  rites  which 
bigotry  and  enthusiasm  dignified  with  the  name  of  acts  of  faith.  He  gave 
orders  for  establishing  that  court  in  all  the  provinces  under  his  anthoriiy, 
and  published  decrees  to  inflame  the  zeal  of  the  tyrants  who  presided  over 
it.  Can  it  be  wondered  at  that  the  oppressive  severity  of  tliis  execrable 
court  should  cause  disaffection  \ 

The  Moors,  who  remained  in  Spain  on  the  faith  of  treaties,  were  enraged 
to  see  their  privileges  violated,  their  liberty  continually  menaced,  and  the 
blood  of  their  dearest  friends  flowing  beneath  the  hands  of  pul)lic 'execu- 
tioners. Despair  supplied  the  place  of  strength  ;  they  considered  nothing 
but  the  excess  of  tiieir  misery,  and  endeavoured  to  break  their  chains,  th(! 
weight  of  which  was  become  insupportable.  The  execution  of  one  of 
their  countrymen,  whom  they  had  crowned,  did  not  terrifjMlicm ;  they 
supplied  his  place  by  another,  and  implored  the  assistance  of  strangers 
who  professed  the  religion  of  their  ancestors.  A  general  rebellion  rent 
the  southern  parts  of  the  kingdom,  which  now  became  once  more  the 
theatre  of  an  ancient  animosity.  AH  Spain  was  alarmed;  Philip  alone 
secretly  exulted  at  the  revolt  he  had  produced.  The  valour  of  his  troops 
and  the  abilities  of  his  generals  triumphed  over  the  desperate  resolution 
of  the  Moors,  and  these  unfortunate  people  were  obliged  to  submit  to  the 
mercy  of  the  king;  they  lost  their  rights  and  possessions,  and  were  trans- 
planted to  the  provinces  that  lay  most  remote  from  their  former  settle- 
ments. The  people  of  Arragon,  at  the  same  time,  demanded  a  restoration 
of  their  violated  privileges  :  Naples  threatened  to  shake  of!"  the  yoke,  and 
Milan,  so  long  remarkable  for  fidelity,  was  endeavouringlikewi.se  to  break 
her  fetters.  The  establishment  of  the  inquisition  terrified  tlie  inhabitants, 
and  prompted  them  to  take  up  arms.  But  the  same  crafty  measures  also 
appeased  those  disturbances,  and  the  eflTorts  exerted  by  so  many  nations 
for  the  recovery  of  their  liberty,  served  only  to  rivet  their  cliains  the  faster. 
The  tumults  and  confusion  in  Flanders  were  still  more  violent.  The 
people  were  extremely  jealous  of  their  privileges,  which  they  had  preserved 
under  their  counts  and  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  ;  they  compelled  Charles 
V.  to  respect  them,  and  that  prince,  after  despairing  to  subject  them  by 
terror,  adopted  the  more  generous  method  of  conciliating  their  affection. 
Philip,  who  never  had  a  heart  to  relish  such  an  expedient,  was  passion- 
ately desirous  of  bending  the  stubborn  necks  of  this  people  to  tlie  most  op- 
pressive and  humiliating   yoke ;   their  privileges  were  obnoxious  to  hia 


128  THE  TllEASUHY  OF  IILSTOllY. 

pride,  and  tlieir  immense  riches  inflamed  his  cupidity.  When  he  quitted 
that  country,  with  a  resokition  never  to  return,  lie  seemed  inclined  to  con- 
tinue the  mildness  of  his  father's  rule  ;  he  appointed  Margaret,  the  daughter 
of  Charles  V.,  and  widow  of  Ociavius,  duke  of  Parma,  its  ruler.  The  wit, 
charms,  and  clemency  of  tliis  princess,  were  well  calculated  to  gain  the 
hearts  of  a  generous  people,  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  unfeeling  cardinal 
Granville,  who  made  no  distinction  between  policy  and  perfidy,  or  zeal 
and  persecution,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  council.  This  ecclesiastic 
was  the  depository  of  the  secrets  of  the  cabinet,  and  while  he  appeared 
to  perform  but  a  secondary  part,  was  actually  employed  in  the  first.  He 
treated  the  nobles  with  contempt,  issued  extravagant  edicts  that  were 
prejudicial  to  industry  and  commerce,  multiplied  taxes,  trampled  on  the 
laws,  and  punished  tlie  most  humble  remonstrances  and  timid  representa- 
tions as  crimes.  The  Flemings,  thus  oppressed  under  the  yoke  of  a 
stranger,  contented  themselves  with  lamenting  their  distress  in  private ; 
but  the  sight  of  the  tribunal  of  the  inquisition,  erected  in  their  principal 
cities,  raised  a  general  indignation;  the  people  forgot  their  weakness,  and 
thought  nut  of  their  duty  ;  protestanls,  impelled  by  rage  and  fury,  pulled 
down  churches,  subverted  altars,  and  obliged  the  clergy  to  fly.  Margaret 
trembled  at  those  increasing  tumults,  and  endeavoured  to  appease  them  dy 
a  prudent  compliance  with  the  desires  of  the  people ;  the  cardinal  over- 
turned all  her  measures,  and  published  a  decree  of  council,  equally  ridicu- 
lous and  cruel,  against  those  seditious  proceedings,  which  condenmed  all 
the  citizens  indiscriminately — the  heretics  for  having  destroyed  the  tem- 
ples, and  the  catholics  because  they  did  not  prevent  them.  The  nobles, 
foreseeing  the  consequences  of  the  ill-advised  acts  of  the  minister,  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  him  from  such  inconsiderate  conduct;  but  being 
dismissed  with  haughtiness,  and  finding  themselves  disappointed  in  their 
hopes  of  meeting  with  justice  from  the  throne,  they  determined,  if  possi- 
ble, t9  save  their  country,  by  a  resolute  opposition  to  the  council,  that 
should  re-establish  the  vigour  of  the  laws. 

At  the  head  of  those  nobles  was  William,  prince  of  Orange,  descended 
from  the  illustrious  house  of  Nassau,  that  three  centuries  before  had 
swayed  the  imperial  sceptre.  With  every  necessary  qualification  for  ef- 
fecting a  revolution,  William  had  ambition,  capacity,  and  courage  to  un- 
dertake anything,  and  saw,  with  secret  pleasure,  that  the  imprudent  haught- 
iness of  the  Spanish  minister  was  opening  a  road  to  give  him  independence. 
In  order  to  conceal  his  ambitious  designs,  he  assumed  an  air  of  submis- 
sion and  respect,  ajid  talked  of  nothing  but  carrying  the  complaints  of  his 
countrymen  to  Madrid;  but  he  secretly  concerted  a  more  extensive  plan. 
With  this  view  he  conciliated  the  friendship  of  the  great,  and  ingratiated 
himself  in  a  particular  manner  with  the  counts  Egmont  and  Horn.  These 
two  noblemen  were  descended  from  very  ancient  families,  and  were  both 
excellent  citizens  and  faithful  subjects ;  Egmont  was  distinguished  for 
victories  he  had  gained  for  the  house  of  Austria  ;  Horn  was  respected  for 
his  virtues  by  all  parties.  The  cries  of  the  nation  carried  to  the  throne 
by  such  venerable  advocates  seemed  to  aff'ect  Philip ;  Granville  was  re- 
called, and  the  people  flattered  themselves  with  the  hope  of  seeing  their 
grievances  redressed  by  a  new  minister.  In  some  men  the  most  valuable 
powers  of  the  mind  are  united  with  the  basest  passions.  Thus  it  was  with 
Alva,  whom  Philip  had  appointed  to  succeed  Granville.  As  soon  as  he 
arrived  in  Flanders,  by  an  aflfected  show  of  lenity  and  moderation  that 
silenced  all  diffidence  and  apprehensions,  he  appeased  and  united  the  Flem- 
ings, disarmed  them,  and  decoyed  the  principal  nobility  to  Brussels.  The 
governor,  thus  master  of  their  fate,  threw  oft'  the  mask  that  till  then  con- 
cealed his  despotic  and  sanguinary  sentiments,  confined  tl^  most  distin- 
guished persons  in  a  dungeon,  and  appointed  a  special  commission  for 
their  trial.     Tudges,  devoted  to  his  mandates,  condemned  eighteen  noble- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  129 

men  to  death,  and  a  few  days  after  pronounced  the  like  sentence  against 
Egmont  and  Horn.  I'hese  executions,  conducted  with  the  most  awful 
solemnity,  were  a  prelude  to  many  others.  Executioners  were  dispatched 
from  one  city  to  another,  and  in  the  space  of  one  month  thousands  per- 
ished under  their  hands..  Terror,  which  at  first  chilled  the  courage  of  the 
people,  at  length  gave  place  to  despair,  by  which  it  was  relieved.  Nu 
merous  armies  appeared  on  every  side,  all  animated  by  the  desire  of  aveng- 
ing the  blood  of  their  friends  and  fellow-citizens  shed  on  the  scaffold,  and 
all  made  desperate  by  the  certainty  of  having  no  hope  of  pardon.  Alva, 
no  less  great  as  a  commander  than  he  was  barbarous  as  a  minister,  has- 
tened at  the  head  of  a  small  body  of  Spaniards  to  the  different  provinces, 
fought  and  triumphed  at  every  step,  dispersed  the  confederates,  beat  down 
the  walls  of  the  cities,  and  deluged  the  streets  with  blood.  One  head. 
however,  escaped  the  governor's  snare;  William,  prince  of  Orange,  hav 
ing  more  penetration  than  his  unfortunate  friends,  did  not  give  way  to  the 
flattering  invitations  of  the  Spaniard.  He  retired  to  Germany,  where  he 
learned,  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  miseries  of  his  country;  proscribed 
as  he  was,  and  his  fortune  confiscated,  without  friends  or  support,  he  ven- 
tured to  declare  himself  openly  the  avenger  of  his  countrymen.  A  gen- 
eral hatred  against  Philip,  whose  enormities  he  laid  open,  horror  and  de- 
testation against  the  duke  of  Alva,  whose  tyrannical  excesses  he  painted 
in  strong  colours,  the  interest  of  the  protestant  religion,  the  alliances  of 
the  house  of  Nassau  with  so  many  sovereigns,  his  prayers,  his  patience 
and  resolution,  procured  him  a  small  army,  and  his  two  brothers  who  joined 
him  gave  increase  to  his  hopes.  He  scarce  raised  the  standard  of  liberty, 
when  the  people  flocked  round  him  ready  to  obey  his  orders.  His  first 
attempts  were  unsuccessful,  and  gave  way  to  the  superior  fortune  of  the 
duke  of  Alva;  he  returned  to  Germany,  collected  another  army,  made  his 
appearance  in  Holland  again,  and  was  once  more  obliged  to  fly.  Haarlem, 
Flushing,  Leyden,  and  most  of  tlie  maritime  towns  renounced  all  obedi- 
ence to  the  duke  of  Alva;  the  love  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  animated 
every  breast,  and  the  Hollanders,  till  then  obscure  and  insignificant,  seemed 
to  become  a  nation  of  heroes.  Courage  and  skill  were  in  vain  opposed 
to  them  ;  the  love  of  liberty  supplied  the  place  of  numbers,  policy,  experi- 
ence, and  riches.  At  length  the  sovereignty  of  Philip  was  abjured,  the 
Roman  catholic  religion  abolished,  the  state  erected  into  a  repubhc,  and 
William  declared  tiieir  chief,  under  the  title  of  stadlholder.  But  he  did  not 
long  enjoy  the  title.  An  assassin  employed  by  Philip  gratified  his  revenge 
against  William,  and  the  sudden  death  of  that  great  man  seemed  to  threaten 
the  extinction  of  the  republic  he  had  created  ;  but  Maurice,  his  worthy  son 
inherited  his  dignity,  his  talents,  and  his  zeal.  The  new  stadlholder  was 
not  dismayed  at  the  approach  of  the  duke  of  Parma,  though  that  hero  pos- 
sessed all  the  capacity  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  and,  with  more  knowledge  and 
experience,  had  many  excellent  qualities.  Though  reduced  to  the  last 
extremity  by  the  amazing  efforts  of  their  enemies,  they  would  listen  to  no 
accommodation,  and  contented  themselves  with  soliciting  succours  from 
Queen  Elizabeth.  Their  persevering  efforts  were  rewarded;  the  republic 
revived,  her  fleets  returned  from  distant  countries  richly  laden,  and  fur- 
nished her  with  new  resources  for  repelling  her  tyrants  and  securing  her 
liberty  on  a  solid  foundation. 

While  Philip  was  pursuing  the  war  against  these  obstinate  revolters, 
an  unexpected  revolution  procured  him  a  new  kingdom.  John  HI.,  who 
during  a  long  reign  saw  Portugal  enjoy  a  most  splendid  prosperity,  left 
only  a  grandson  for  his  successor,  who  was  still  an  infant,  and  promised 
to  be  the  model  of  happy  monarchs.  A  peaceful  and  wise  regency  aug- 
mented those  expectations,  which  were  confirmed  by  the  great  qualities 
thai  appeared  in  Sebastian.  This  prince,  in  peace  with  all  Europ(\  mins- 
ter of  the  most  extensive  commerce  till  then  carried  on,  idolized  bv  hi.s 
9 


130  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

people,  who  fancied  the  great  kinijs  his  predecessors  were  revived  in  him, 
appeared  to  liavo  nothing  that  could  prevent  him  from  enjoying  an  envia* 
ble  felicity.  But  a  vain  passion  for  glory  having  suddenly  captivated  the 
mind  of  Sebastian,  hurried  him  to  the  tomb,  and  with  him  the  glory  and 
prosperity  of  the  nation  vanished  forever.  One  of  those  scenes  of  ambi- 
tion so  frequent  among  barbarians,  had  lately  been  cxliiltited  at  Morocco. 
The  ruler  of  that  country  was  both  weak  and  odious,  and  bis  uncle  taking 
advantage  of  his  unpopularity,  obtained  the  crown.  The  unfortunate  mon- 
arch having  no  ho[)es  of  assistance  from  subjects  that  had  suffered  by  his 
oppression,  applied  to  the  (Christian  princes,  and  endeavoured  to  interest 
them  in  his  cause  by  the  most  specious  promises.  Philip  was  too  prudent 
to  engage  in  a  war  from  which  he  could  derive  but  little  advantage,  and 
therefore  rejected  the  solicitations  and  offer  of  the  African.  Sebastian 
eagerly  embraced  them,  and  resolved  to  employ  all  his  forces  in  restoring 
the  tyrant.  Deaf  to  all  advice,  and  blind  to  every  other  consequence,  he 
could  see  nothing  in  the  prosecution  of  his  design  but  the  honour  of  being 
the  protector  of  kings,  the  glory  of  having  an  emperor  for  his  vassal,  and 
of  planting  the  standard  of  Christianity  in  the  capital  of  one  of  the  most 
powerful  enemies  of  the  cross,  lie  led  the  army  in  person  to  Africa,  and 
having  landed  with  such  success  as  seemed  to  presage  still  greater  advan- 
tages, he  exulted  in  the  general  consternation  that  appeared  around  him. 
But  his  fond  hopes  wen;  speedily  dissipated,  for  when  on  the  plains  of  Al- 
cassar  the  armies  of  Europe  and  Africa  contested  the  prize  of  valour,  the 
vanquished  Christains  suffered  a  memorable  defeat;  half  the  Portuguese 
nobility  fell  beneath  the  Moorish  scimetar,  and  three  kings  were  slain. 

The  cardinal  Henry  immediately  ascended  the  throne  of  Portugal,  but  he 
survived  his  accessiononly  two  years,  and  Philip,  being  in  the  same  degree 
v)f  affinity  with  Catharine,  duchess  of  Braganza,  who  then  claimed  liie 
sceptre,  supported  his  pretensions  by  force  of  arms,  and  proved  victorious 
iU  many  a  sanguinary  encounter.  Lisbon  was  taken,  plundered,  and  de- 
lUged  with  blood.  Executioners  succeeded  to  the  soldiery ;  the  whole 
kingdom  was  subjected  to  Philip,  and  his  good  fortune  at  the  same  time 
gave  him  possession  of  all  the  appendages  of  the  crown — the  Portuguese 
colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  Brazil,  and  the  richest  islands  of  the  In- 
dies. Yet,  rich  and  extensive  as  were  his  possessions,  valiant  as  were 
his  troops,  and  inflexible  as  he  was  in  all  that  he  undertook,  the  brave 
Flemings,  assisted  by  Elizabeth  of  England,  carried  on  the  war  in  support 
of  their  independence  with  unconquerable  fortitude.  Impatient  of  this 
long  protracted  struggle,  so  disgraceful  to  him  who  could  boast  the  best 
troops  and  most  able  generals  in  the  world,  Philip  resolved,  by  one  stu- 
pendous effort,  to  subdue  the  spirit  of  revolt,  and  chastise  the  powers 
which  had  abetted  it.  He  fitted  out,  in  the  year  1588,  the  most  formidable 
fleet  that  had  ever  sailed,  and,  that  religious  zeal  might  give  greater  force 
to  the  weapons  of  war,  the  pope  (Sixtus  V.)  bestowed  on  it  his  benedic- 
tion, and  styled  it  "the  invincible  armada."  Three  years  had  been  spent 
in  preparing  this  armament,  which  was  destined  for  the  conquest  of  Eng- 
land. It  consisted  of  130  ships,  most  of  which,  from  their  large  size,  were 
unwieldly  ;  nor  was  the  skill  of  the  Spaniards  in  maritime  affairs  equal  to 
the  management  of  such  a  fleet.  No  sooner  had  the  armada  entered  the 
narrow  seas,  than  it  was  beset  with  violent  tempests ;  while  the  whole 
naval  foi'ce  of  England,  then  composed  of  light  fast-sailing  ships,  was 
drawn  together  to  oppose  the  attack.  Lord  Effiingham  had  the  chief 
command,  and  Sir  Francis  Drake,  the  circumnavigator,  who  was  vice-ad- 
miral, performed  signal  services.  The  superior  seamanship  of  the  English 
was  very  successfully  displayed  in  this  important  contest,  in  which  great 
advantages  were  obtained  from  the  use  of  fire-ships,  which  were  first 
brought  into  use  upon  this  memorable  occasion.  Such  were  the  conse- 
quences, both  from  the  elementary  war  and  the  attacks  of  their  enemies, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORl.  13| 

mat  in  the  course  of  a  month  from  the  time  they  left  Corunna,  no  more 
than  fifty-three  ships  had  escaped  destruction,  and  about  twenty  thousand 
persons  perished  in  the  expedition. 

Philip  died  in  the  year  1598,  having  reigned  forty-three  years.  He  has 
been  compared,  and  in  some  respects  with  justice,  to  Tiberius.  Both 
these  tyrants  attempted  and  accomplished  the  abasement  of  the  character 
of  their  people  ;  both  were  equally  dreaded  by  their  own  families  and  by 
their  subjects;  both  were  full  of  the  deepest  dissimulation;  both  were 
severe  towards  others,  and  licentious  in  their  own  habits.  But  Philip 
possessed  great  perseverance,  admirable  firmness  under  adverse  circum- 
stances, and  an  appearance  of  devotion  calculated  to  make  a  strong  im- 
pression on  the  people,  together  with  that  stately  reserve  which  the  mul- 
titude mistakes  for  dignity.  Notwithstanding  this  severity  of  deportment, 
his  manners  were  affable  and  gracious  when  he  chose  to  assume  that  char- 
acter. He  suflfered  nothing  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  undertakings  ;  he 
regarded  religion  and  crime  as  two  instruments,  of  which  he  equally  availed 
himself  without  hesitation,  according  as  either  was  suitable  to  his  pur- 
poses ;  for  he  seemed  to  think  that  the  performance  of  certain  exterior 
rites  of  devotion,  and  a  strict  adherence  in  religious  opinions  to  the  dog- 
mas of  Rome,  gave  him  unbounded  license  in  all  other  respects.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Piiilip  HI.,  his  son  by  his  fourth  wife,  Anna  of  Austria; 
Don  Carlos,  his  eldest  son,  who  was  accused  of  a  conspiracy  against  the 
'ife  of  his  father,  having  ended  his  days  in  1568. 

Philip  HI.  was  not  less  bigoted  or  superstitious  than  his  predecessoi, 
out  he  was  less  stained  with  crime,  and  without  the  dangerous  ambition 
of  his  father.  A  peace  with  England  was  concluded  in  1604,  and  an 
armistice  for  twelve  years  with  the  Netherlands,  in  1609 ;  but  Spain 
suffered  an  irreparable  loss  in  population  and  wealth  by  the  expulsion 
of  the  Moriscoes  or  descendants  of  the  Moors.  They  wore  allowed 
thirty  days  to  banish  themselves,  and  death  was  the  punishment  appoint- 
ed for  such  as  remained  behind  after  the  specified  time.  By  this  im- 
politic act,  and  the  subsequent  expulsion  of  the  Jews,  Spain  lost  six 
hundred  thousand  of  her  most  industrious  inhabitants,  besides  those  who 
were  successively  butchered,  a  loss  which  transferred  five-sixths  of  her 
commerce  and  manufactures  to  other  countries,  and  reduced  the  public 
revenue  from  thirty  to  fourteen  millions  of  ducats.  After  a  reign  of 
twenty-two  years  he  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  ;  a.  d.  1621. 

Under  the  reign  of  Philip  IV.  Portugal  shook  off  its  bonds  by  a  hap- 
pily conducted  revolution,  which  placed  the  house  of  Braganza  on  the 
throne  in  1640.  The  war  in  the  Netherlands  was  renewed,  but  to  no 
other  purpose  than  to  bring  about  a  peace,  in  1648,  by  which  the  king 
of  Spain  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  Seven  United  Provinces. 
During  the  thirty  years'  war  France  acted  against  Spain,  which  was 
allied  to  Austria ;  and  this  struggle  was  not  even  terminated  by  the  peace 
of  Westphalia,  but  continued  till  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  in  1659,  by 
which  Rousillon  and  Perpignan  were  ceded  to  France,  and  a  marriage 
was  concerted  between  the  infanta,  Maria  Theresa,  Philip's  daughter, 
and  Louis  XIV.  In  1665  Philip  IV.  died,  leaving  for  his  successor  an 
infant  son  (Charles  II.),  only  four  years  of  age,  during  whose  minority 
the  queen-dowager,  Mary  Anne  of  Austria,  governed  the  kingdom,  while 
she  resigned  herself  to  the  government  of  her  confessor,  a  Jesuit,  and 
by  birth  a  German,  named  Nitard,  whom  she  caused  to  be  appointed  in- 
quisitor-general. The  king,  when  eighteen  years  of  age,  married  a 
daughter  of  Philip,  duke  of  Orleans,  who  by  her  mother  was  grand- 
daughter to  Charles  I.  of  England  ;  but  this  marriage  producing  no  issue, 
on  the  death  of  the  king,  which  happened  in  1700,  the  succession  to  the 
crown  of  Spain  v,'as  contested  between  Philip,  duke  of  Anjou,  second 
Bon  of  the  dauphin,  and  grandson  to   Lou  s  XIV.  by  Maria  Thereau 


132  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

whom  the  deceased  king  had  in  his  will  named  for  his  immediate  suc- 
cessor, and  the  archduke  Charles  of  Austria,  brother  to  the  emperor  Jo- 
seph. On  this  occasion,  the  jealousy  which  prevailed  of  the  increasing 
power  of  the  French  monarchy,  occasioned  a  strand  alliance  to  be  formed 
between  the  maritime  powers  and  the  house  of  Austria,  to  prevent  the 
duke  of  Anjou  from  obtaining  the  crown  of  Spain,  and  to  place  that  dia- 
dem on  the  head  of  the  archduke  Charles.  This  occasioned  a  long  and 
destructive  war;  but  tiie  unexpected  death  of  the  emperor  Joseph,  in  1711, 
when  he  was  in  the  33d  year  of  his  age,  entirely  changed  the  political  as- 
pect of  Europe  ;  and  Charles,  who  had  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Spain, 
and  entered  Madrid  in  triumph,  in  consequence  of  the  wonderful  successes 
of  the  earl  of  Peterborough  succeeding  his  brother  in  the  empire,  that 
idea  of  maintaining  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  which  had  procured 
the  archduke  such  powerful  support  against  the  pretensions  of  Philip,  now 
pointed  out  the  bad  policy  of  suffering  the  empire  and  the  kingdom  of 
Spain  to  be  again  held  by  the  same  sovereign.  This,  together  with  the 
reverse  of  fortune  which  had  happened  to  Charles,  by  the  defeat  at  Al- 
manza,  brought  about  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  which  confirmed  the  crown 
gf  Spain  to  Philip,  but  stripped  it  of  all  those  valuable  European  appen- 
dages which  had  for  many  years  been  annexed  to  that  monarchy ;  Bel- 
gium, Naples,  Sicily,  and  MUan  being  resigned  to  Austria;  Sardinia  to 
Savoy,  and  Minorca  and  Gibralter  to  England. 

To  prevent,  as  much  as  possible,  the  danger  apprehended  from  two 
kingdoms  being  possessed  by  one  prince  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  Philip 
V.  solemnly  renounced  his  right  to  the  crown  of  France,  in  case  the  suc- 
cession should  happen  to  devolve  upon  him  ;  and  his  brothers,  the  dukes 
of  Berri  and  Orleans,  on  their  parts  renounced  all  claim  to  the  crown  of 
Spain;  but  as  there  has  not  been  wanting  lineal  decendants  to  succeed  to 
the  sovereignty  of  each  kmgdom,  the  collateral  branches  have  not  had  oc- 
casion to  make  known  to  the  world  how  far  they  consider  themselves 
bound  by  these  solemn  acts  to  deprive  themselves  of  their  natural  rights, 
which  acts  might  otherwise  have  been  found  weak  restraints  upon  their 
ambition.  Many  important  conquests  were  made  by  the  navy  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  Mediterranean,  during  the  war  for  the  succession,  and  the 
strength  and  resources  of  Spain  were  in  every  respect  greatly  exhausted 
by  it.  The  provinces  of  Valencia,  Catalonia,  and  Arragon,  which  had 
adhered  to  the  interest  of  Charles,  severely  felt  the  resentment  of  Philip, 
when  he  became  established  on  the  throne  ;  all  the  remains  of  liberty  which 
those  people  had  been  allowed  to  retain  since  the  Gothic  kings,  were 
abolished,  and  the  sovereign  assumed  an  absolute  power  over  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  his  subjects. 

Cardinal  Alberoni,  an  Italian,  who  became  minister  to  Philip  IV.  soon 
after  he  married  his  second  wife,  the  princess  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the 
duke  of  Parma  (1714),  was  formed  for  enterprize  and  intrigue  ;  he  laboured 
indefatigably  to  restore  the  kingdom  to  something  of  its  former  conse- 
quence ;  and  by  his  attention  and  superior  talents  the  Spanish  navy  was 
greatly  augmented.     His  designs  were  so  bold  and  extensive,  that  for  f^ 
short  time  they  seemed  likely  to  effect  great  changes  in  the  political  s)'s 
tern  of  Europe;  and  in  1717  Spain  refused  to  ratify  the  peace  of  Utrecht 
AH  these  ideal  projects  were,  however,  at  once  disconcerted  by  the  Britisl 
court,  in  sending  a  fleet  into  the  Mediterranean,  which,  without  any  pre 
vious  declaration  of  war,  attacked  the  naval  force  of  Spain,  at  Cape  Pas 
saro,  near  Sicily  (August,  1718),  and  took  or  destroyed  the  greatest  partol 
their  ships.     This  decided  step  on  the  part  of  England  soon  procured  the 
dismissal  of  Alberoni,  and  at  the  same  time  gave  birth  to  the  quadruple  al- 
liance between  Great  Britain,  France,  Holland,  and  Germany. 

In  1739  great  misunderstandings  arose  between  the  courts  of  Madrid 
and  London,  in  respect  to  the  right  which  the  subjects  of  the  latter 


THE  TREASURY  OF   HISTORY.  133 

f.laimed  to  cut  logwood  on  the  Spanish  mahi,  and  from  the  conduct  of  the 
guarda-coslas  of  the  former  in  the  West  Indies,  in  seizing  upon  and  confis- 
cating British  merchant-ships  there.  These  disputes  gave  rise  to  a  war, 
the  principal  event  of  which  was  the  taking  of  Porto  Bello  by  the  English. 
Philip  V.  died  in  1746,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ferdinand  VI.,  his  son  by 
Ids  first  queen,  who  reigned  thirteen  years,  and  dying  without  issue,  was 
succeeded  by  his  half-brother  Charles  III.,  then  king  of  the  two  Sicilies. 

Under  the  reign  of  Charles  III.  the  Bourbon  family  compact  of  1761  in 
volved  Spain,  to  its  injury,  in  the  war  between  England  and  France.^  The 
expedition  against  Algiers  likewise  miscarried  ;  as  did  the  siege  of  Gibral- 
tar, in  the  war  of  1797-83.  Yet  the  internal  administration  improved,  as 
was  seen  in  the  advancement  of  agriculture,  commerce,  and  the  useful  arts, 
while  the  population  was  considerably  on  the  increase.  The  power  of  the 
inquisition  also  was  restricted,  and  the  secret  opposition  of  the  Jesuits 
annihilated  at  a  blow,  by  the  "pragmatic  sanction"  of  1767,  which  banished 
them  from  all  the  Spanish  dominions,  and  confiscated  their  property.  The 
grossest  superstition,  however,  still  abounded,  and  a  strict  observance  of 
the  most  frivolous  ceremonies  of  the  church  was  regarded  as  obligatory 
and  indispensable.  Charles  IV.  ascended  the  throne  in  1788.  The  pro- 
gress of  improvement  was  still  observable  while  the  aWe  Florida  Blanca 
conducted  the  aflfairs  of  the  nation.  But  he  was  superseded,  in  179-2,  by 
Godoy,  whose  administration  was  as  void  of  plan  as  it  was  injurious  to 
the  state,  and  greatly  exasperated  the  people  ;  so  that  the  fall  of  the  most 
fortunate  and  proudest  favourite  of  modern  times,  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  the  royal  family,  Spain  at  first  entered  with  zeal  into 
the  war  against  the  French  republic;  but  the  favourite  ruined  all,  by  hast- 
ening to  conclude  the  discreditable  peace  of  Basle,  by  which  Spain  re- 
signed half  of  St,  Domingo ;  on  which  occasion  Godoy  received  the  title 
of  "  Prince  of  Peace."  He  then  concluded  with  the  republic  the  important 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  of  St.  Ildcfonso,  in  17-96,  and  declared  war 
against  Great  Britain  ;  but  being  defeated  at  sea,  Spain  lost  Trinidad,  by 
the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1802.  The  prince  withdrew  from  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  but  retained  his  influence,  and  rose  to  high  dignities.  In  1801 
military  operations  were  commenced  against  Portugal,  which  was  obliged 
to  cede  Olivenga,  at  the  peace  of  Badajos ;  while  France  took  possession 
of  Parma,  and  made  its  duke  king  of  Etruria,  in  1801  ;  in  consequence 
of  wliich  Spain  ceded  Louisiana  to  Napoleon,  who,  in  1803,  sold  it  to  the 
United  States. 

Charles  IV.,  in  the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  France  in  180.3,  hav- 
ing purchased  permission  to  remain  neutral,  by  the  payment  of  a  monthly 
tribute  of  one  million  piastres  to  Napoleon,  the  British  seized  the  Spanish 
frigates  which  were  carrying  the  products  of  the  American  mines  to  Cadiz, 
in  1804,  and  Spain  was  compelled  to  declare  war.  The  victory  of  the 
British  at  Trafalgar,  October  21,  1805,  destroyed  its  naval  power;  the 
bold  Miranda  excited  the  desire  for  independence  in  Spanish  America,  in 
1806;  and  Napoleon  overthrew  the  throne  of  the  Bourbons  in  Naples. 
The  prince  of  peace  now  o-alled  on  the  Spanish  nation  to  arm  against  "the 
common  enemy;"  and  Napoleon,  therefore,  sent  a  Spanish  army,  under 
Romana,  to  Denmark,  and  another,  under  O'Farrill,  to  Tuscany.  Octo- 
ber 27,  1807,  he  concluded  a  secret  treaty  at  Fontainbleau,  respecting  the 
division  of  Portugal ;  and  twenty-eight  thousand  French  soldiers,  main- 
tained by  Spai-n,  inarched  over  the  Pyrenees,  and  were  joined  by  eleven 
thousand  Spaniards.  The  family  quarrels  of  the  royal  family  favoured 
the  plans  of  the  French  ruler  in  Spain.  At  the  instigation  of  Godoy, 
Charles  IV.  wrote  to  Napoleon,  stating  that  his  son  Ferdinand,  prince  of 
Astiirias,  had  intended  to  dethrone  him,  and  to  deprive  his  mother  of  life, 
so  that  he  ought  to  be  excluded  from  the  succession.  The  junta,  however, 
unanimously  acquitted  the  prince  and  the  other  prisoners ;  but  Godoy  in- 


134  THE  TUEASUllY  OF  HISTORY. 

duced  Ferdinand  to  ask  pardon  of  the  king  and  queen ;  on  which  the  ki  ig 
caused  the  letter  to  be  published  in  the  gazette  of  Madrid,  and  issued  a 
decree  gnniliiig  pardon  to  the  prince  on  account  of  liis  repentance.  The 
other  prisoners  were  banished,  and  thus  ended  the  process  of  the  Escurial. 
In  the  meanwhile  French  troops  entered  Spain.  Charles  IV.  received 
them  as  allies ;  but,  on  a  sudden,  the  court  prepared  to  leave  Aranjuez  for 
Seville  ;  and  it  was  rumoured  that  the  royal  family  intended  to  go  to  Mex- 
ico. Nothing  would  now  satisfy  the  people  but  the  dismissal  of  the  prince 
of  peace.  This  was  done;  on  the  next  day,  March  19,  1808,  Charles  IV. 
resigned  the  crown  in  favour  of  his  son,  and  on  the  24th  Ferdinand  made 
his  public  entry  into  Madrid,  which  had  been  occupied  by  Murat,  comman- 
der of  the  French  troops,  the  day  previous.  Ferdinand  informed  Napo- 
leon of  his  assumption  of  the  royal  power,  while  Charles  made  it  knowii 
to  him  that  he  had  retracted  his  resignation.  It  required  not  the  keen 
eye  of  the  emperor  to  discern  that  the  affairs  of  the  royal  family  were 
most  wretchedly  embroiled,  and  he  failed  not  to  profit  bj  it,  but  caused 
the  whole  family  to  be  conveyed  to  Bayonne,  where  he  himself  arrived 
April  15.  During  the  meeting  at  Bayonne,  a  commotion,  attended  with 
bloodshed,  took  place  at  Madrid  between  the  French  and  Spaniards,  the 
latter,  excited  by  the  arrogance  of  their  visitors,  having  attacked  them. 
Joseph  Bonaparte,  accompnied  by  all  the  ministers  of  Ferdinand  VII., 
entered  Madrid,  as  tlje  future  monarch  of  Spain ;  but  some  parts  of  the 
country  would  not  acknowledge  him  so  easily.  Supine  as  the  Spaniards 
appeared  in  the  first  instance,  it  could  not  be  expected  that  a  change  o. 
dynasties,  or  rather  a  transfer  of  one  large  country  to  the  dominions,  ol 
another,  could  be  effected  without  some  opposition ;  yet  had  it  not  beer 
for  the  energetic  support  of  Great  Britain,  the  struggle  could  not  havt 
lasted  long. 

The  historian  of  the  Peninsular  war  forcibly  and  truly  observes,  tha 
"the  imbecility  of  Charles  IV".,  the  vileness  of  Ferdinand,  and  the  corrup 
tion  of  Godoy,  were  undoubtedly  the  proximate  causes  of  the  calamities 
that  overwhelmed  Spain ;  but  the  primary  cause,  that  which  belongs  to 
history,  was  the  despotism  arising  from  the  union  of  a  superstitious  court 
with  a  sanguinary  priesthood  ;  a,despotism  which,  by  depressing  knowl- 
edge and  contracting  the  public  mind,  sapped  the  foundation  of  all  military 
as  well  as  civil  virtues,  and  prepared  the  way  for  invasion.  No  foreign 
potentate  would  have  attempted  to  steal  into  the  fortresses  of  a  great 
kingdom,  if  the  prying  eyes,  and  the  thousand  clamorous  tongues  belong, 
ing  to  a  free  press,  had  been  ready  to  expose  his  projects,  and  a  well  dis- 
ciplined army  present  to  avenge  the  insult ;  but  Spain,  being  destitute  of 
both,  was  first  circumvented  by  the  wiles,  and  then  ravaged  by  the  arms 
of  Napoleon.  She  was  deceived  and  fettered  because  the  public  voice 
was  stifled ;  she  was  scourged  and  torn  because  her  military  institutions 
were  decayed. 

"From  the  moment  that  an  English  force  took  the  field,  the  Spaniards 
ceased  to  act  as  principals  in  a  contest  carried  on  in  the  heart  of  their 
country,  and  involving  their  existence  as  an  independent  nation.  They 
were  self-sufficient,  and  their  pride  was  wounded  by  insult;  they  were 
superstitious,  and  their  religious  feelings  were  roused"  to  fanatic  fury  by 
an  all-powerful  clergy,  w-ho  feared  to  lose  their  own  rich  endowments ; 
but  after  the  first  burst  of  indignation  the  cause  of  independence  created 
little  enthusiasm.  Horrible  barbarities  were  exercised  on  all  French  sol- 
diers thrown  by  sickness  or  the  fortune  of  war  into  the  power  of  the  in- 
vaded, and  a  dreadful  spirit  of  personal  haired  was  kept  alive  by  the  ex- 
actions and  severe  retaliations  of  the  invaders;  yet  no  great  and  general 
exertion  to  drive  the  latter  from  the  soil  was  made,  at  least  none  was  sus- 
tauied  with  steadfast  courage  in  the  field.  Manifestoes,  decrees,  and  lofty 
boasts,  like  a  cloud  of  canvass  covering  a  rotten  hull,  made  a  gallant  »> 


THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY.  135 

pcarance,  when  real  strength  and  firmness  were  nowhere  to  be  found. 
The  Spanish  Insurrection  presented,  indeed,  a  strange  spectacle.  Patriot- 
ism was  seen  supporting  a  vile  system  of  government ;  a  popular  assembly 
working  for  the  restoration  of  a  despotic  monarch;  the  higher  classes 
seeking  a  foreign  master;  the  lower  armed  in  the  cause  of  bigotry  and 
misrule.  The  upstart  leaders,  secretly  abhorring  freedom  though  govern- 
ing in  her  name,  trembled  at  the  democratic  activity  they  had  themselves 
excited  ;  they  called  forth  all  the  bad  passions  of  tlie  multitude,  and  re 
pressed  the  patriotism  that  would  regenerate  as  well  as  save.  The  coun- 
try suffered  the  evils,  without  enjoying  the  benefits  of  a  revolution ;  for 
while  tumults  and  assassinations  terrified  or  disgusted  the  sensible  part  ot 
the  community,  a  corrupt  administration  of  the  resources  extinguished 
patriotism,  and  neglect  ruined  the  armies.  The  peasant-soldier,  usually 
flying  al  the  first  onset,  threw  away  his  arms  and  returned  to  his  home, 
or,  attracted  by  the  license  of  the  panidas,  joined  the  banners  of  men  who, 
for  the  most  part,  originally  robbers,  were  as  oppressive  to  the  people  as 
the  enemy,  and  these  guerilla  chiefs  would,  in  their  turn,  have  been  as 
quickly  exterminated,  had  not  the  French,  pressed  by  Wellington's  bat- 
talions, been  obliged  to  keep  in  large  masses ;  this  was  the  secret  of  the 
Spaiiish  constancy.  It  was  the  copious  supplies  from  England,  and  the 
valour  of  the  Anglo-Portuguese  troops,  that  supported  the  war,  and  it  was 
the  gigantic  vigour  with  which  the  duke  of  Wellington  resisted  the  fierce- 
ness of  France,  and  sustained  the  weakness  of  three  inefficient  cabinets, 
that  delivered  the  peninsula." 

The  people  in  Asturias  first  took  up  arms;  Arragon,  Seville,  and  Bada- 
JDS  followed.  Palafox  carried  from  IJayonne  to  Saragossa  the  order  of 
the  prince  of  Asturias  that  the  people  should  arm  ;  and  the  supreme  junta 
received  permissioti  to  assemble  the  cortes.  Early  in  June  the  junta  a"t 
Seville  had  issued  a  proclamation  of  war,  and  the  French  squadron  at 
Cadiz  surrendered  to  the  Spaniards.  Six  days  later  an  insurrection  broke 
out  in  Portugal,  and  the  alliance  of  Great  Briiian  with  the  Spanish  nation 
was  proclaimed.  The  great  struggle  now  commenced.  Marshal  Bes- 
sieres  was  successful  in  the  battle  at  Medina  del  Rio  Secco  over  General 
Cuesta;  but  the  previous  defeat  of  Dupont  at  Baylen,  decided  the  retreat 
of  the  French  from  Madrid,  and  Castanos  entered  the  city.  General  Ro- 
mana  had  secretly  embarked  his  troops  at  Funen,  and  landed  in  Spain ; 
and  Wellesley  was  victorious  over  the  French  under  Junot,  at  Vimeira, 
on  which  the  French  general  capitulated  the  day  after  at  Cintra,  and  soon 
after  evacuated  Portugal.  Napoleon  advanced  with  a  new  army  as  far  as 
the  Ebro,  and  on  the  10th  of  September  Soult  defeated  the  centre  of  the 
great  Spanish  army.  Victor  and  Lefebvre's  victory  on  the  11th,  at  Espi- 
nosa,  opened  the  way  to  Asturia  and  the  northern  coast ;  and,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  success  of  Lannes  at  Toleda,  great  numbers  of  fugitives 
took  shelter  in  Saragossa.  The  mountain  pass  of  Somo  Sierra  was  taken 
by  assault,  by  the  French  and  Poles,  under  Napoleon  and  Bessieres,  and 
the  French  army  appeared  before  Madrid,  which  surrendered  December4. 
The  French  gained  many  victories  and  took  many  fortresses;  but  the  con- 
querors remained  masters  only  of  the  places  which  they  occupied,  as  the 
guerillas  everywhere  surrounded  and  harassed  them. 

Austria  now  declared  war,  and  Napoleon  was  obliged,  in  January,  1809, 
to  leave  the  conduct  of  the  war  to  his  marshals.  Two  objects  chiefly  oc-" 
cupied  the  French  generals  in  that  and  the  following  year — the  re-conquest 
of  Portugal,  and  the  march  over  the  Sierra  Morena  to  Cadiz.  The  Brit- 
ish had  become  masters  of  Portugal.  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  advanced 
from  Lisbon,  by  the  way  of  Alcantara,  up  the  Tagus,  and  Cuesta  joined 
him  near  Truxillo,  while  general  Sir  Robert  Wilson  advanced  over  Placen- 
zia,  and  Venegas,  and  the  Spanish  general,  from  the  Sierra  Morena,  towards 
Madrid.    Tliis  bold  plan  of  attack  was  frustrated  by  the  battle  of  Talavera- 


136  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

The  British,  indeed,  were  victorious  over  Joseph,  Victor,  and  Joiirdan  ;  but 
not  beincr  sufficiently  supported  by  the  Spaniards,  and  being  threatened  by 
Soult  and  Ney  advancing  on  either  flank,  tliey  were  obliged  to  retire  to 
the  frontiers  of  Portugal;  after  which  Vcnegas  also  began  to  retreat,  and 
was  defeated  by  Joseph  at  Ahnonacid,  as  was  Wilson  by  Ney  in  the  pas- 
ses of  Baros.     Madrid  tlnis  escaped  a  siege,  and  the  central  junta  at  Seville 
now  resolved  to  yield  to  the  universal  wish,  to  assemble  the  cortes  and 
to  nominate  a  regency.     New  armies  were  created,  and  Arezaga  advanced 
with  fifty-five  thousand  men  as  far  as  Ocana,  where,  however,  he  was  en- 
tirely defeated  by  Mortier.     Madrid,  therefore,  was  again  saved,  but  in 
Catalonia,  Arragon,  and  Biscay,  the  most  desperate  struggle  was  carried 
on  with  the  bands  of  the  patriots.     The  Empecinado's  troops  advanced 
even  to  the  vicinity  of  Madrid.     In  Old  Castile  several  guerilla  parties 
hovered  on  the  Frencli,  and  in  Navarre  the  troops  of  Mina  were  an  abso- 
lute terror  to  them.     The  largest  company  of  them,  under  the  dreaded 
Marquesito,  formerly  a  colonel  in  the  army,  encountered  several   generals 
in  the  open  field.     In  vain  did  the  French  establish  fortresses  on  their  lines 
of  communication,  and  endeavour  to  protect  their  rear  by  moveable  col- 
umns.    Yet  their  plan  against  Andalusia  succeeded.     With  twenty-two 
thousand  men,  the  rash  Arezaga  thought  he  could  maintain  the  Ime  on  the 
Sierra  Morena,  fifteen  leagues  long,  entrenched  and  mined,  and  having  in 
its  centre  the  fortified  pass  of  Peraperos,  against  sixty  thousand  troops, 
commanded  by  the  best  generals  of  France.      Dessolles  and  Gazan,  in 
January,  1810,  took  the  pass  of  Despenna-Peras ;  Sebastiani  stormed  the 
defile  of  St.  Estevan,  and  took  tlie  bridges  over  the  Guadalquiver ;  and  on 
the  21st  of  January  Joseph  Bonaparte  entered  Baylen.     Jaen  was  con- 
quered; Cordova  submitted.     Sebastiani  occupied  Granada,  and  Joseph 
entered  Seville  on  the  1st  of  February,  from  which  the  junta  had  fled  to 
Cadiz.     This  place,  the  only  one  which  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  which  was  defended  by  sixteen  thousand  men  under  Albu- 
querque, and  four  thousand  Knglish  soldiers  under  Graham,  besides  the 
combined  British  and  Spanish  fleets,  was  besieged  in  February,  but  all  the 
eflforts  and  offers  of  the  French  were  in  vain.     The  war  in  Catalonia  and 
Arragon  continued.     In  Leon,  the  French  conquered  Astorga,  and  then 
directed  their  arms  against  Portugal.     In  this  country,  to  the  north  of  the 
Tagus,  Wellington  commanded  a  British  army  of  thirty  thousand  men, 
and  Beresford  a  Portuguese  army  nearly  sixty  thousand  strong,  besides 
fifty-two  thousand  militia.     The  right  wing  of  Wellington,  at  Badajos,  was 
joined  by  twenty  thousand  Spaniards  under  Romana,  and  eight  thousand 
under  Ballasteros.     The  main  body  of  the  allied  force  was  posted  on  the 
heights  of  Lisbon,  which  had  been  rendered  impregnable.     The  plan  of 
the  British  commander,  therefore,  was  defensive.     Massena  began  his  un- 
dertaking in  June,  by  the  siege  of  Cuidad-Rodrigo,  which  surrendered  on 
the  10th  of  July,  and  Ney  entered  Portugal  over  the  river  Coa ;    but  Al- 
meida detained  Massena  "till  the  27th  of  August,  when  it  was  obliged  to 
capitulate.     Wellington  ordered  the  whole  country  through  which  Mas- 
sena could  follow  him,  to  be  laid  waste ;  and  the  latter  was  consequently 
compelled  to  defer  his  march  some  time.     He  was  afterwards  beaten  at 
Busaco;  and  Wellington  now  entered  the  strong  position  of  Torres- Ve- 
•dras,  which  consisted  of  two  lines  on  the  heights  of  Lisbon,  defended  by 
one  hundred  and  seventy  w-ell  placed  works  and  four  hundred  and  forty- 
four  cannons.     Massena  found  this  position  unassailable,  and  retreated, 
after  several  engagements  of  little  importance,  in  November,  to  Santarem. 
Here  he  remained  till  March,  1811,  when  he  was  compelled,  by  want  of 
provisions,  to  evacuate  Portugal  entirely.     But  the  French  were  victorious 
at  other  points.     Suchet,  in  January,  1811,  took  the  important  fortress  of 
Tortosa,  in  Catalonia;  and  in  the  following  June,  after  a  murderous  as- 
sault of  five  days,  the  fortress  o.f  Tarragona     Soult  took  the  frontier  for- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTUHY.  137 

tresses  towards  Portugal — Olivenga,  and  Badajos,  and  Victor  defeated 
General  Graham  at  Ciiiclana.  In  the  autumn,  Suchet  marched  against 
Valencia ;  and  after  having  defeated  tlie  army  under  General  Blake, 
Saguntum  fell  on  the  26th  of  October,  and  Valencia  surrendered  in  Jan- 
uar3%  1612. 

Lord  Wellington  now  again  entered  Spain.  He  took  Cuidad-Rodrigo 
Hnd  Badajos  ;  but  he  was  ill  supported  by  the  cortes  and  the  regency.  At 
this  time  Marmont  was  at  the  head  of  the  French  army  in  Portugal ;  but 
the  loss  of  the  decisive  battle  of  Salamanca,  on  the  22d  of  July,  1812, 
obliged  him  to  give  up  the  defence  of  Madrid.  Wellington  entered  the 
city  on  the  22d  of  August,  and  the  French  retired  from  before  Cadiz  about 
the  same  time,  thus  withdravting  their  forces  from  the  south  of  Spain, 
and  concentrating  them  in  the  eastern  and  northern  parts.  After  the  oc- 
cupation of  Madrid,  Wellington  followed  the  enemy  to  Burgos ;  but  he 
gave  up  the  siege  of  the  castle  of  Burgos,  after  several  unsuccessful  as- 
saults, as  the  Spaniards  afforded  him  insufficient  support,  and  tlie  French 
had  received  succours.  After  several  engagements,  he  transferred  his 
head-quarters  to  Freynada,  on  the  frontier  of  Portugal,  and  the  French 
again  entered  Madrid.  At  length  Napoleon's  disasters  in  Russia  decided 
the  fate  of  the  peninsula.  Soult  was  recalled  in  the  beginning  of  1813, 
with  thirty  tliousand  n^en,  from  Spain.  Suchet  left  Valencia  in  July,  but 
delivered  Tarragona,  which  was  besieged  by  Benlinck,  in  August,  and 
withstood  Clinton  on  the  Lobregat.  But  Joseph  had  been  obliged  to  leave 
Madrid  again,  and  Wellington  had  occupied  Salamanca.  The  French 
army,  commanded  by  Joseph  Bonaparte  and  Jourdan,  retreated  to  Vitloria. 
Here  Wellington  overtook  the  enemy,  and  gained  the  splendid  victory  of 
Vittoria ;  after  which  the  French  army,  pursued  by  Graham  and  Hill,  re- 
tired in  disorder  over  the  Pyrenees  to  Bayonne,  and  lost  all  its  baggage. 
The  victors  immediately  invested  Pampeluna.  Count  Abisbal  occupied 
the  pass  of  Pancorbo.  Graham  besieged  St.  Sebastian,  and  Wellington 
entered  France  on  the  9th  of  July.  In  the  meantime,  Napoleon,  then  in 
Dresden,  had  appointed  Marshal  Soult  his  lieutenant,  and  commander-in- 
chief  of  his  armies  in  Spain.  He  united  the  beaten  corps,  and  opposed  a 
considerable  force  to  the  victor.  On  the  24th  of  July  the  struggle  began 
in  the  Pyrenees,  and  was  maintained  until  August  on  every  point.  Wel- 
lington took  St.  Sebastian  by  assault,  after  having  several  times  repulsed 
the  enemy,  who  approached  to  deliver  the  garrison.  It  was  not,  however, 
till  the  7th  of  October  that  he  left  the  Pyrenees,  and  passed  the  Bidassoa. 
A  Iter  Pampeluna  had  fallen,  no  French  soldier  was  left  on  the  Spanish 
territory,  except  in  Barcelona,  and  a  few  other  places  in  Catalcftiia.  Wel- 
lington now  attacked  the  enemy  on  the  fortified  banks  of  the  Nivelle,  and 
Soult  retreated  into  tlie  camp  of  Bayonne.  But  until  Wellington  had 
passed  the  Nive,  and  had  repulsed  several  attacks,  it  was  not  possible  for 
him  to  obtain  a  secure  fooling  in  the  hostile  country.  His  head-quarters 
were  at  St.  Jean  de  Luz.  Thence  he  repulsed  Suchet's  attacks  on  the 
Gave.  On  the  28th  of  February  he  fought  a  battle  with  Soult  at  Orthes, 
by  which  the  latter  was  driven  from  his  strong  position,  and  obliged  to 
retreat,  in  great  disorder,  to  the  Upper  Garonne.  Wellington  foflowed 
the  French,  under  Soult,  to  Toulouse,  where  a  sanguinary  engagement 
took  place  on  the  10th  of  April ;  and  the  occupation  of  France  by  the  allied 
armies  put  an  end  to  the  war. 

The  cortes  had  already  held  its  first  session,  and  had  resolved  that  Fer- 
dinand Vll.  should  swear  to  preserve  the  constilution,  before  he  should  be 
recognized  as  king.  The  treaty  of  Valengay,  between  Ferdinand  and  Na- 
poleon, was  made  void  by  declaring  all  the  acts  of  the  king  during  his  cap- 
tivity null.  On  the  14th  of  May,  1814,  he  entered  Madrid;  the  people, 
dissatisfied  with  the  new  taxes  which  had  been  imposed  by  the  cortes,  re- 
ceivBd  him  with  acclamation,  and  the  friends  of  the  cortes  and  King  Joseph 


138  THE  TliEASUIlY  OF  HISTORY. 

were  persecuted  with  the  greatest  rigour.  Freemasonry  was  abolished, 
and  the  inquisition  revived;  the  conventual  estates  were  restored,  and  the 
Jesuits  recalled,  and  reinstated  in  all  the  rights  and  property  of  which  they 
had  been  deprived  since  1767.  And,  although  the  king  had  solemnly 
promised  a  new  constitution,  liberty  of  the  press,  &c.,  he  regarded  none  of 
his  promises,  and  reigned  with  absolute  power.  The  army,  however,  was 
highly  dissatisfied  with  these  proceedings,  and  guerillas,  or  bands  of  sol- 
diers, infested  the  interior.  Even  the  lower  classes,  though  averse  to 
liberal  principles,  were  discontented  with  the  severity  of  the  government, 
while  the  better  classes  were  divided  into  the  hostile  factions  of  the  ser- 
viles  and  the  liberals.  Those  councillors  who  ventured  to  remonstrate 
with  the  king,  as  Kmpecinado,  Ballasteros,  &c.,  were  banished  or  thrown 
into  prison.  From  1814  to  1819,  there  were  twenty-five  changes  in  the 
ministry,  mostly  sudden,  and  attended  with  severities.  They  were  pro- 
duced by  the  camarilla,  or  persons  in  the  personal  service  of  the  king. 
Every  attempt  to  save  the  state  was  frustrated  by  such  counsellors,  and 
the  overthrow  of  this  ancient  monarchy  was  accelerated  by  the  loss  of  the 
American  colonies.  The  army  was  the  instrument  of  its  fall ;  several 
conspiracies  had  been  organized  by  the  officers  for  the  restoration  of  the 
constitution  of  the  cortes;  and  Portier,  Mi'na,  Lacy,  and  Vidal,  were  suc- 
cessively the  leaders  of  the  conspirators.  Mina  had  been  obliged  to  save 
himself  by  flight;  the  others  had  been  executed,  and  their  friends  had  suf- 
fered on  the  rack,  or  been  thrown  into  prison. 

The  army  was  indisposed  to  the  American  service,  for  which  it  was  des- 
tined, and  the  officers  favourable  to  the  constitution  of  the  cortes  took  ad- 
vantage of  this  state  of  feeling  to  effect  their  own  purposes  ;  whole  regi- 
ments had  determined  not  to  embark,  and  the  commander  himself,  O'Don- 
nel,  conde  del  Abisbal,  was  in  the  secret.  But,  finding  his  ambitious  pro- 
ject of  becoming  dictator  of  the  monarchy  frustrated  by  the  civil  authority, 
he  caused  a  division  of  troops  which  had  given  the  signal  of  insurrection 
to  be  disarmed  (July  8,  1819),  and  the  officers,  123  in  number,  to  be  ar- 
rested. The  einbarkation  of  the  troops  was  fixed  for  January  ;  but  on  the 
1st  of  the  month,  four  battalions  under  Riego,  proclaimed  the  constitution 
of  1812,  surrounded  the  head  quarters  of  General  Callejo,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded O'Donnel  in  the  command,  took  possession  of  the  town  of  Isla  de 
Leon,  and  delivered  the  officers  arrested  in  July,  among  whom  was  Qui- 
roga.  The  insurgents  were  unsuccessful  in  iheir  attack  on  Cadiz,  but 
occupied  La  Caracca,  where  the  naval  arsenal,  a  ship  of  the  line,  and 
other  vessels  of  war,  with  some  transports,  fell  into  their  hands.  Quiroga 
declared,  in  the  name  of  the  army  of  the  nation — the  title  assumed  by  the 
insurgents — that  it  was  their  purpose  to  obtain  from  the  king  the  accept- 
ance of  the  constitution.  Riego,  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  two  thousand 
five  hundred  men,  now  occupied  Ajgesiras,  entered  Malaga,  and  after  some 
fighting  with  O'Donnel,  advanced  through  Ecija  and  Cordova  to  Antequera; 
while  the  national  army,  under  Quiroga,  in  addresses  to  the  king  and  to 
the  nation,  declared  their  only  object  was  to  save  their  country  by  the  re- 
storation of  the  constitution,  which  had  already  been  accepted  by  the  na- 
tion. Risings  now  took  place  in  all  quarters  in  favour  of  the  constitution 
of  the  cortes  ;  the  royal  forces  joined  the  insurgents  ;  Freyre  himself  was 
obliged  to  proclaim  the  constitution  in  Seville,  and  Ferdinand,  abandoned 
by  his  own  troops,  was  compelled  to  yield  to  the  general  cry,  and,  by  pro- 
clamation, declared  himself  ready  to  summon  the  cortes  of  1812,  and  ac- 
cept the  constitution  of  that  year.  On  the  same  day  a  general  amnesty 
was  proclaimed.  On  the  9lh  a  provisorj^  junta  of  eleven  members  was 
named,  to  conduct  affairs  till  tlie  meetings  of  the  cortes,  and  Ferdinand 
swore  to  observe  the  constitution  in  presence  of  this  body,  and  of  the  mu- 
nicipal authorities  of  Madrid.  The  inquisition  was  abolished,  as  incon- 
sisteiit  with  the  constitution,  and  obnoxious  ministers,  &c.,  were  succeedeti 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  139 

by  olTiers  favourable  to  constitutional  principles.  In  place  of  the  council 
of  Castile  and  tliat  of  the  Indies,  a  supreme  judicial  tribunal,  with  appro- 
priate subordinate  courts,  was  established,  national  guards  were  organized 
in  the  provinces,  the  municipal  authorities  were  made  to  conform  to  the 
constitution,  and  the  cortes  finaUy  assembled.  Much  was  done  to  heal 
the  wounds  of  the  country;  but  an  apostolical  junta  established  itself  on 
the  frontiers  of  Portugal,  and  bands  of  peasants,  monks,  and  guerilla  sol- 
diers were  formed,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  privileges  of  the  crown 
and  the  clergy. 

The  second  session  of  the  cortes  began  in  March,  1821,  who  declared 
the  whole  country  in  danger,  and  in  a  slate  of  siege.  Tire  command  of  the- 
armed  force  was  now  given  to  Morillo,  and  quiet  was  in  some  measure 
restored.  But  the  ultra-liberals,  or  exaltados,  as  they  were  called,  were 
not  a  little  excited  by  the  events  in  Naples  and  Piedmont,  in  1821,  and  the 
kingdom  was  in  so  disturbed  a  state  that  an  extraordinary  cortes  was 
8ummoned  in  September.  At  the  same  time  Mexico  declared  itself  inde- 
pendent; Lima  was  occupied  by  the  Chilians,  under  San  Martin;  and  the 
Spanish  part  of  the  island  of  St.  Domingo  was  lost  by  its  union  with  Hayti. 
Upon  which  the  cortes  urged  the  king  to  appoint  an  abler  ministry,  and, 
after  some  contention,  his  majesty  yielded  to  their  wishes.  In  January, 
1822,  the  cortes  declared  themselves  ready  to  acknowledge  America  as  a 
kingdom  independent  of  Spain,  but  united  with  her  under  Ferdinand  VII. , 
their  common  sovereign.  The  deputies  sent  to  America,  however,  could 
effect  nothing  on  these  conditions,  and  the  session  of  the  cortes  was  con- 
cluded on  the  14th  of  February. 

At  tlic  outset  of  the  third  session  the  moderate  liberal  party  prevailed, 
and  tranquillity  was  gradually  restored  to  the  internal  affairs  of  the  country, 
when  it  began  to  be  threatened  from  without.  The  strong  sanitary  cordon 
of  French  troops  along  the  Pyrenees,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  exiles,  led 
the  government  to  suspect  that  the  disturbances  excited  among  tlie  peas- 
ants in  Navarre  and  Catalonia,  and  the  bands  of  "soldiers  of  the  faith," 
so  called,  were  instigated  by  the  French  government.  The  cortes  there- 
fore armed  the  volunteer  national  guards ;  but  the  pecuniary  resources 
were  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  tiie  supporters  of  despotism.  The  royal 
guards,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Morillo,  their  commander,  entered 
Madrid,  July  7,  but  Ballasteros,  at  the  head  of  the  national  guards,  defeated 
them,  and  they  fled  into  the  royal  palace  ;  but  the  king,  who  favoured  them 
originally,  now  showed  himself  irresolute.  They  were  unable  to  resist 
the  popular  force,  but  would  have  been  allowed  to  retire,  if  they  had  not 
again  fired  on  the  national  guards,  who  then  fell  upon  them,  and  killed  or 
wounded  the  greater  part.  The  anilleros,  or  moderate  party,  who  had 
been  in  favour  of  a  chamber  of  peers  and  the  extension  of  the  royal 
power,  now  joined  the  communeros,  or  popular  party,  and  all  the  ministers 
resigned. 

The  new  ministers  acted  in  conformity  with  the  views  of  the  commu- 
neros; and  the  king,  whose  authority  had  sunk  entirely,  consented  to  all 
they  proposed.  Many  persons  of  rank,  including  bishops,  were  banished. 
General  Elio  was  executed ;  but  the  guards  v/ere  treated  with  great  le- 
niency. Tlie  kmg  again  declared  his  adherence  to  the  constitution ;  but 
the  apostolical  troops  in  Biscay,  Navarre,  and  Catalonia,  continued  their 
revolting  cruelties.  Under  the  marquis  Mataflorida  a  regency  of  the 
friends  of  absolute  government  was  established  at  Seo  d'Urgel,  near  the 
French  frontier,  in  August,  1832.  It  issued  orders,  in  the  name  of  the 
"imprisoned  king,"  for  the  restoration  of  everything  to  the  state  in  which 
it  had  been  before  the  7th  of  March,  1820.  The  troops  of  the  apostolical 
party,  after  much  bloodshed,  were  beaten  by  Mina  and  Milans.  Generals 
Espinosa,  Torrijos,  and  El  Pastor  distinguished  themselves  against  Que- 
sada,  a  Trappist,  and  others.     The  regency  fled  to  France  in  November, 


140  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

1822,  and  it  was  obvious  that  its  cause  was  not  that  of  the  nation.  No 
troops  of  the  line  or  national  guards,  no  important  cities  nor  individuals, 
went  over  to  them.  Some  "soldiers  of  the  faith,"  however,  still  continued 
in  Spain,  particularly  those  of  Bessieres,  UUmaim,  &;c.  At  no  period  was 
Spain  in  a  more  unsettled  state  than  now,  and  nothing  less  than  a  desper- 
ate struggle  between  despotism  and  revolution  could  be  calculated  on. 
The  French  had  acceded  to  the  principle  of  an  armed  intervention  pro- 
nounced by  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  in  relation  to  Spain ;  and  the 
Frencli  ambassador  at  Madrid  received  orders  to  advise  a  change  in  the 
constitution,  as  the  condition  on  which  the  continuance  uf  peace  between 
the  two  countries  must  depend;  and,  in  order  to  enable  Ferdinand  VII. 
to  make  such  changes  freely,  he  must  first  of  all  be  restored  to  the  full 
enjoyment  of  sovereign  power.  The  same  demand,  and  even  in  bolder 
terms,  was  made  by  the  ministers  of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia,  while 
Great  Britain  advised  the  cortes  to  yield,  and  offered  her  mediation.  The 
Spanish  government  repelled  with  indignation  the  interference  of  the  for- 
eign powers,  and  the  threatened  discontinuance  of  diplomatic  intercourse 
took  place.  The  foreign  ambassadors  were  recalled  from  Madrid.  One 
hundred  thousand  French  soldiers  were  assembled  with  the  soldiers  of  the 
faith  at  Perpignan  and  Bayonne,  and  the  cortes  summoned  the  national 
guards  to  serve  with  the  troops  of  the  line  ;  but  the  attempts  to  raise  an 
army  were  unsuccessful,  because  the  bands  of  the  absolutists  gave  full 
employment  to  the  troops  of  the  line  and  the  national  guards  in  the  various 
provinces. 

The  duke  of  Angouleme,  at  the  head  of  the  French  army,  issued  a  pro- 
clamation to  the  Spaniards,  declaring  the  object  of  the  French  was  only 
to  aid  ihem,  and  that  France  desired  nothing  but  the  deliverance  of  Spain 
from  the  evils  of  revolution.  His  army  then  passed  the  Bidassoa;  a  junta 
was  established,  who  formed  a  provisional  government,  declared  the  king 
the  sole  depository  of  sovereign  power,  and  that  no  change  in  the  govern- 
ment should  be  recognized  but  such  as  the  king  should  make  of  his  own 
free  choice  ;  and  all  the  decrees  of  the  cortes  were  declared  void.  Great 
Britain  remained  neutral,  or  rather  affected  neutrality,  for  the  government 
allowed  the  exportation  of  arms  and  ammunition  to  Spain,  and,  in  return, 
the  ports  of  the  New  World  were  opened  to  her  ships.  A  long,  tedious, 
and  cVuel  warfare  was  now  kept  up  by  the  Spanish  troops  under  the  con- 
trol of  Ballasteros,  Mina,  L'Abisbal,  and  Morillo,  against  the  French,  and 
the  supporters  of  the  "absolute  king."  On  the  24th  of  IMay,  the  duke  of 
Angouleme  entered  Madrid  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  populace.  He 
nominated  a  regency,  consisting  of  the  duke  of  Infanlado,  the  duke  of 
Montemar,  the  bishop  of  Osma,  the  baron  d'Eroles,  and  Don  Gomez  Cal- 
deron ;  but  they  had  no  pecuniary  resources,  and  no  power,  if  they  had 
the  will,  to  prevent  the  furious  eruption  of  party  hatred. 

The  cortes  had  in  vain  tried  to  excite  a  general  guerilla  war.  On  ac- 
count of  the  want  of  money,  they  decreed  the  seizure  of  all  the  property 
of  persons  of  the  opposite  party,  a  forced  loan  of  200,000,000  of  reals,  and 
the  coining  of  the  superfluous  church  plate,  by  which  measures  the  hatred 
of  the  people  was  still  more  increased.  Yet  the  ministers  did  not  dare  to 
propose  to  the  cortes  the  mediation  offered  by  England,  through  Sir  W. 
A'Court,  the  British  minister.  The  king  refused  to  go  to  Cadiz;  and  a 
regency  of  three  members,  with  royal  powers,  was  appointed,  because  the 
case  of  mora!  incapacity  on  the  part  of  the  king,  provided  for  by  the  con- 
stitution, had  occurred.  On  the  12th  of  June,  the  cortes  and  the  king, 
with  the  regency,  departed  for  Cadiz;  but  the  people  were  so  furious 
against  the  constitutionalists,  that  the  authorities  called  in  the  aid  of  the 
French.  Meanwhile  the  regency  in  Madrid  declared  all  the  members  of 
the  cortes  who  had  participated  in  the  session  of  the  11th,  when  the  king 
was  declared  morally  incapable,  to  be  traitors ;  but  more  it  could  not  do  • 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  141 

't  was  so  destitute  of  resources  that  it  was  even  supported  by  French 
money.  The  duke  of  Angouleme  took  possession  of  Cadiz  on  the  4th  of 
October.  An  act  of  the  cortes  had  already  reinvested  the  king  with  abso- 
lute power,  and  requested  him  to  retire  to  the  French  camp,  where  he  had 
been  received  ii.  form  by  the  duke,  with  cries  of  "  Viva  el  rey,"  "  Viva  la 
religion  !"  "Muera  la  nacion  !"  &c.  Ferdinand's  first  measure  was  to  de- 
clare all  the  acts  of  the  constitutional  government,  from  March  7,  1820,  to 
October  1,  1823,  void,  on  the  ground  that  during  that  time  the  king  was 
acting  under  compulsion.  The  partizan  warfare  still  continued  to  rage 
with  great  fierceness,  particularly  in  Catalonia;  but  the  defection  of  some 
of  the  leaders  soon  after  taking  place,  it  appeared  fast  drawing  to  a  termi- 
nation; and  on  the  22d  of  October,  1823,  the  duke  of  Angouleme  took  his 
leave  of  the  army  of  the  Pyrenees,  which  had  so  successfully  accomplished 
the  military  objects  of  its  mission. 

The  political  objects  of  the  expedition,  to  secure  a  system  of  mildness 
and  moderation,  were  frustrated  by  the  bad  faith  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment. In  direct  violation  of  the  terms  of  the  military  capitulaiions,  a  per- 
secuting and  vindictive  policy  was  adopted  towards  the  former  partizans 
of  the  constitution.  Among  the  crowds  of  fugitives  were  Mina,  the  count 
del  Abisbal,  Morillo,  &c.  Riego  was  executed  at  Madrid,  and  the  king 
made  his  entry  into  the  capital  on  a  triumphal  car  twenty-five  feet  high, 
drawn  by  a  hundred  men,  and  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  people.  It  was 
not,  however,  to  be  expected  that  the  excesses  of  political  and  religious 
bigotry  would  suddenly  subside,  or  that  the  people  would  quietly  submit 
to  the'heavy  taxation  which  the  bad  state  of  the  finances  rendered  neces- 
sary. A  treaty  was  therefore  concluded  with  France,  stipulating  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  French  force  of  forty-five  thousand  men  in  the  country, 
until  the  Spanish  army  could  be  organized ;  and  the  debt  due  to  France 
for  the  expenses  of  the  French  expedition  was  fixed  at  thirty-four  mil- 
Jions  of  francs. 

The  year  1825  was  disturbed  by  several  insurrections  of  the  Carlists, 
who  were  anxious  to  effect  the  abdication  of  Ferdinand,  and  place  his 
brother,  Don  Carlos,  on  the  throne.  Numerous  executions  and  frequent 
changes  of  ministry  took  place,  all  plainly  indicative  of  the  weakness  of 
the  government,  while  the  independence  of  the  colonies  was  acknowledged 
by  foreign  powers,  and  a  general  interruption  of  commerce  and  industry 
throughout  Spain  was  manifest.  In  this  state  the  country  continued  for 
several  subsequent  years.  In  1827,  Spanish  subjects  were  permitted  to 
trade  with  the  Spanish  American  republics,  but  under  foreign  flags,  and 
in  the  following  year  Spain  was  evacuated  by  the  French  troops.  The 
sword,  the  scaffold,  exile,  and  the  dungeon  had  done  so  much  to  subdue 
the  national  spirit,  and  to  reduce  the  numbers  of  the  constitutionalists,  that 
when,  in  1830,  the  French  revolution  produced  such  effects  in  Belgium, 
and  excited  so  much  alarm  in  Germany  and  other  neighbouring  countries, 
it  scarcely  awakened  the  popular  feeling  on  this  side  the  Pyrenees;  the 
troubles  of  Spain  were  now  mostly  confined  to  the  struggle  for  power  be- 
tween the  more  or  less  absolute  of  the  absolutists,  the  former  having  been 
favoured  by  the  views  of  Don  Carlos,  then  heir-presumptive  to  the  throne, 
and  the  latter  by  the  king.  But  on  the  birth  of  a  royal  princess,  in  1830, 
by  Maria  Christina,  his  fourth  wife,  a  royal  decree  rendered  the  crown 
hereditary  in  the  female  line,  in  default  of  male  heirs,  and  entirely  changed 
the  relation  of  the  prince  to  the  throne.  During  a  severe  attack  of  illness, 
Ferdinand,  at  the  instigation  of  the  friends  of  Don  Carlos,  in  1832,  renewed 
the  Salic  law,  which  rendered  the  throne  of  Spain  hereditary  only  in  the 
male  line,  but,  with  that  vacillating  conduct  which  is  the  sure  mark  of  a 
weak  mind,  his  majesty,  on  his  recovery,  formally  protested  against  the 
decree,  which  he  stated  to  have  been  extorted  from  him,  and  he  then  again 
declared  his  daughter  to  be  his  only  legitimate  successor  to  the  throne  of 


142  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Spain.  Shortly  after  this,  Don  Carlos  was  banished  from  the  kingdom  , 
and  Ferdinand,  who  was  in  his  fiftieth  year,  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy,  ou 
the  29th  of  September,  1833. 

The  death  of  Ferdinand  VII.  became  the  signal  for  the  breaking  out  of 
fresh  dissensions.  In  order  still  further  to  fortify  the  right  of  his  daughter 
to  the  throne,  ho  had  exercised  the  prerogative  of  naming  her  his  succes 
sor  in  his  will ;  and  by  the  same  instrument  he  appointed  the  queen  re- 
gent till  the  infanta  Isabella  attained  the  age  of  eigliteen  years.  Don  Car- 
los, however,  claimed  the  throne  in  virtue  of  the  Salic  law,  although  it  had 
been  repealed,  and  was  never,  in  fact,  practically  in  force.  The  rights  of 
Isabella  II.  were  supported  by  the  liberals,  the  pretensions  of  Don  Carlos 
by  the  absolutists.  Guided  by  the  counsels  of  M.  Ilea,  the  chief  minister, 
the  queen  depended  upon  the  support  of  the  constitutionalists  for  securing 
the  succession  to  her  infant  daughter.  The  strength  of  the  Carlists  lay 
chiefly  in  Navarre,  Catalonia,  the  Biscayan  provinces.  Old  Castile  and 
Estremadura.  The  chief  strength  of  the  constitutionalists  was  m  Madrid, 
and  tiie  provinces  of  Andalusia,  iMurcia,  Valencia,  and  other  districts  bor- 
dering on  the  Mediterranean.  The  queen  regent  was  not  slow  in  adopting 
vigorous  and  popular  measures  to  counteract  the  Carlists.  With  the  aid 
of  the  provincial  militia  and  the  volunteers,  she  disbanded  the  royalist  vol- 
unteers of  the  capital,  and  in  Toledo ;  she  also  remodelled  the  post-office 
laws,  the  censorship  of  the  press,  and  public  education  ;  while  at  the  same 
time  care  was  taken  not  to  disturb  existing  interests  and  prejudices. 
Meantime  several  contests  took  place  between  the  rival  parties,  accom- 
panied with  the  exercise  of  great  cruelties  on  both  sides  ;  but  the  queen's 
party  was  generally  successful,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  the  civil  war 
appeared  nearly  at  an  end. 

The  reciprocal  massacre  of  prisoners  had  several  times  occurred,  and 
the  deadliest  hatred  and  revenge  was  manifestly  encouraged  by  both  par- 
ties ;  in  short,  so  savagely  was  the  Spanish  contest  carried  on,  that  the 
duke  of  Wellington,  from  motives  of  humanity,  sent  Lord  Elliot  and  Colo- 
nel Gurwood  on  a  mission  to  Spain,  to  endeavour  to  put  a  stop  to  the  cru- 
elties practised  by  the  belligerents,  and  render  the  war  less  bloody  and 
revengeful.  Tiie  Christines  hesitated  at  first  to  enter  into  any  terms  with 
the  Carlists,  whom  they  deemed  rebels;  and  although,  at  length,  it  was 
mutually  agreed  upon  to  treat  the  prisoners  taken  on  either  side  according 
to  the  ordinary  rules  of  war,  a  few  months  only  elapsed  before  similar 
barbarities  were  practised  with  all  their  former  remorselessness. 

In  the  spring  of  1834  a  treaty  was  concluded  in  London,  by  the  courts 
of  Grea'.  Britain,  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  having  for  its  object  the 
pacification  of  the  peninsula.  By  this  quadruple  treaty  it  was  agreed — 
that  Spain  and  Portugal  should  assist  each  other  in  the  expulsion  from 
their  respective  territories  of  Don  Carlos  and  Don  Miguel ;  that  Britain 
should  co-operate  by  employing  a  naval  force,  and  that  France  should  as- 
sist tlie  contracting  parties  in  any  way  that  they  in  common  accord  might 
determine  upon.  The  war  thus  continued  to  rage  with  unabated  fury; 
but  the  queen's  party  obtained  an  auxiliary  force  in  England,  denominated 
the  "British  legion,"  without  the  sanction,  though  with  the  connivance 
of  ministers.  They  were  ill-equipped  and  ill-clad,  nor  could  anything  be 
managed  worse  than  their  commissariat.  Notwithstanding,  they  fought 
bravely,  and  contributed  in  no  slight  degree  to  the  success  of  the  queen's 
cause.  On  the  5ih  of  May,  1836,  some  fortified  works,  which  had  cost  the 
Carlists  three  or  four  months  to  erect,  and  through  the  centre  of  which 
ran  the  high  road  to  Hernani,  were  gallantly  carried  by  the  auxiliary  le- 
gion ;  while  two  armed  steamers,  commanded  by  Lord  John  Hay,  lent 
very  opportune  aid.  On  this  occasion  the  loss  of  the  British  in  killed  and 
wounded  amounted  .to  eight  hundred,  among  whom  were  upwards  of  sev- 
enty officers.     About  this  time  Mendizabel,  the  Spanish  prime  minister 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY".  143 

Irom  whose  abilities  much  had  been  anticipated,  but  who  had  not  been 
xealously  supported  by  the  cortes,  resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by  M.  Is- 
turitz.  Another  violent  change  was,  however,  near  at  hand.  At  Malaga, 
Cadiz,  Seville,  and  Cordova,  the  Cadiz  constitution  of  1812  had  been  pro- 
claimed, and  provincial  juntas  established,  wholly  independent  of  ihe 
queen's  authority.  On  the  3d  of  August  a  movement  commenced  in  Mad- 
rid ;  but  it  was  put  down,  and  the  capital  declared  in  a  state  of  siege ;  but 
on  *he  12th  the  insurrection  became  more  serious,  and  a  regiment  of  pro- 
vincial militia  forced  their  way  into  the  apartments  of  the  queen-regent, 
and  obtained  from  her  a  promise  of  the  acceptance  of  the  constitution. 
This  produced  a  revolution  in  the  metropolis.  Isturitz,  the  prime  minis- 
ter, made  his  escape  to  Lisbon,  and  thence  to  England.  General  Que- 
sada,  the  military  governor  of  Madrid,  was  seized  by  the  populace,  and 
inhumanly  put  to  death.  Ultimately,  the  constitution  was  proclaimed  by 
the  queen-regent,  subject  to  the  revision  of  the  cortes,  and  a  new  ministry 
of  decided  liberals  formed,  of  which  Mendizabel  was  minister  of  finance. 
The  new  government  commenced  with  vigour.  The  sum  of  2,000.000^. 
was  sought  to  be  raised  by  a  forced  loan  ;  a  conscri.ption  of  fifty  thousand 
men  was  called  for,  to  send  against  the  Carlists ;  the  property  of  emigrant 
Carlists  was  confiscated,  and  the  example  of  France  and  Portugal  was 
proposed  to  be  followed,  by  the  extinction  of  the  remaining  moiety  of 
tithe,  leaving  the  clergy  stipendaries  of  the  state,  or  dependent  on  volun- 
tary contributions. 

On  the  IGth  of  June,  1837,  the  revised  constitution  of  the  Spanish  mon- 
archy was  proclaimed.  Its  articles  appear  to  be  of  a  popular  character. 
Among  them  are  the  following: — 1.  All  Spaniards  may  print  and  publish 
freely  their  opinions,  without  submitting  them  to  previous  censorship,  by 
merely  conforming  to  the  laws.  2.  All  Spaniards  are  admissible  to  offices 
and  public  functions  according  to  their  merit  and  capacity.  3.  The  power 
of  making  laws  resides  in  the  cortes  and  tlie  king.  The  cortes  to  consist 
of  two  legislative  assemblies  equal  in  rights  and  power — a  senate  and  a 
congress  of  deputies  ;  the  senators  must  be  forty  years  old,  possessed  of 
an  independent  fortune,  and  are  chosen  for  life.  To  the  congress  of  dep- 
uties each  province  to  return  one  deputy,  at  least,  for  every  fifty  thousand 
souls  of  its  population;  the  deputies  are  elected  for  three  years.  4.  The 
person  of  the  king  sacred  and  inviolate,  and  not  responsible;  the  minis- 
ters to  be  held  responsible.  The  powers  of  the  crown  are  analogous  to 
those  of  the  British  sovereign.  5.  The  civil  list  of  the  king  and  royal 
family  to  be  fixed  at  the  commencement  of  each  reign.  6.  The  succes- 
sion to  be  in  the  order  of  primogeniture,  preferring  the  male  to  the  female 
branch.  7.  The  cortes  may  exclude  from  the  succession  persons  they 
deem  incapable  to  govern,  or  who  have  been  guilty  of  any  act  for  vvhich 
they  ought  to  lose  their  right  to  the  crown.  8.  Independence  of  the 
judges  and  judicial  administration  are  secured. 

In  .Tune,  1835,  Colonel  De  Lacy  Evans  was  appointed  by  the  Spanish 
authorities  to  command  the  said  British  auxiliary  legion  to  co-operate 
with  the  queen's  troops  against  Don  Carlos.  On  the  1st  of  October,  1836, 
a  vigorous  assault  was  made  on  the  lines  of  the  British  legion  at  Sebastian 
by  the  Carlists,  who  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry  them.  Both 
parties  fought  bravely.  The  Carlists  charging  down-hill,  frequently  sal- 
lied from  their  works  in  force,  but  each  time  were  driven  back  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet.  The  conflict  lasted  twelve  hours.  General  Evans  lost 
three  hundred  and  seventy-six  men  and  thirty-seven  officers  killed  and 
wounded.  The  loss  of  the  Carlists  in  killed  and  wounded  was  estimated 
at  one  thousand  men.  In  December,  1836,  the  siege  of  Bilboa  was  raised, 
by  the  operations  of  the  combined  British  and  Christinos  forces.  General 
Espartero,  assisted  by  a  small  band  of  British  engineers,  artillerymen,  and 
•ailors,  entered  the  city  of  Bdboa  on  Christmas-day,  at  the  head  of  his 


144  THE  TR-EASUaY  OF  HLSTORT. 

army,  after  a  series  of  contests  with  the  enemy.  The  works  raised  by 
the  Carlists  were  of  great  strength,  and  nothing  but  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
troops  could  have  enabled  them  to  overcome  the  difficulties.  A  vote  o 
thanks  to  the  liberators  of  liilboa  was  moved  in  the  cortes,  and  the  official 
gazette  of  January  4,  1837,  contained  a  royal  decree,  in  which  the  queen- 
regent  expressed,  in  the  name  of  her  daughter,  her  gratitude  to  General 
Espartero  and  his  army,  the  national  and  auxiliary  British  force,  and  to  all 
those,  whether  Spaniards  or  Knglish,  who  took  part  in  the  engagements 
of  the  2Uh  and  25th  of  December.  A  month  had  scarcely  elapsed,  how- 
ever, before  the  affairs  of  Don  Carlos  appeared  to  revive;  General  Evans 
having  sustained  a  defeat  before  St.  Sebastian,  and  the  queen's  armies 
under  generals  Saarsfield  and  Espartero  having  found  it  necessary  to  make 
simultaneous  retreats.  These  reverses  made  such  an  impression,  that  at 
a  secret  sitting  of  the  cortes  on  tlie  .30ih  of  March,  the  acting  war-minister 
described  Spain  to  be  "without  credit  at  home  or  abroad — with  a  depre- 
ciated and  ill-concocted  revenue — with  an  army  in  the  worst  state  as  to 
subordination  or  military  dicipline — while  the  chiefs  were  at  variance  with 
each  other."  It  was  originally  arranged  that  Espartero,  Saarsfield,  and 
p]vans,  should  move  simultaneously  to  the  points  of  attack;  but  owing  to 
mismanagement  or  treachery,  this  plan  was  not  carried  into  operation. 
On  the  10th  of  Mandi,  General  Evans  broke  ground  from  St.  Sebastian, 
and  commencing  his  operations  by  an  attack  upon  the  heights  of  Ametza- 
gana,  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  chain  of  hills,  carried  that  position. 
On  the  IGth  he  prepared  to  make  his  decisive  attack  upon  the  town  of 
Hernani,  and  succeeded  in  gaining  possession  of  the  wooded  heights  which 
rise  above  it  on  the  north.  All  was  prepared  for  a  forward  movement, 
when  he  discovered,  most  unexpectedly,  that  the  Carlists  had  been  so 
powerfully  reinforced  as  to  render  an  advance  desperately  hazardous,  and 
almost  at  the  same  moment  the  whole  of  his  left  wing  was  thrown  into 
confusion,  by  the  appearance  in  its  rear  of  three  battalions  of  Carlists,  who, 
under  cover  of  the  night,  had  been  brought,  by  a  circuitous  march,  to 
the  right  bank  of  the  Urumea,  and  having  passed  that  river  at  Axterra- 
gaga,  again  moved  in  the  direction  of  the  north-west.  The  regiment  on 
the  extreme  left  of  the  Anglo-Christinos'  line,  thus  finding  itself  attacked 
in  front,  on  the  left  flank  and  in  the  rear,  made  a  rapid  lateral  movement 
to  the  right,  which  was  soon  accelerated  to  a  panic  flight.  The  Anglo- 
Christinos  are  said  to  have  lost  between  fifteen  hundred  and  two  thousand 
in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners — and  immeasurably  more  in  moral  in- 
fluence. 

The  next  accounts  from  Spain  showed  that  the  cause  of  the  queen  was 
somewhat  improving.  After  an  obstinate  defence  by  the  Carlist  troops. 
General  Evans  succeeded  in  carrying  Irun,  where  a  dreadful  scene  of  pil- 
lage and  massacre  ensued.  Fontarabia  soon  afterwards  capitulated.  On 
the  13th  of  May,  Espartero  entered  Hernani,  after  having  beaten  the  Car- 
lists,  and  taken  six  hundred  of  them  prisoners.  In  several  other  engage- 
ments he  was  also  successful.  Yet  such  was  the  uncertainty  of  this  con- 
test, that  in  the  following  month  the  forces  of  Don  Carlos  were  almost 
everywhere  successful.  On  one  occasion — the  battle  of  Barbastro — the 
Carlists  gained  a  great  victory,  upwards  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
Christines  being  put  hors  du  comlat.  This  was  the  most  sanguinary  en- 
gagement that  had  been  fought  since  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war. 
While  Don  Carlos  was  advancing  towards  Upper  Catalonia,  and  prepar- 
ing to  place  himself  in  the  centre  of  the  mountains  of  that  province,  the 
revolutionary  hydra  had  raised  its  head  with  more  hardihood  than  ever. 
And,  to  add  to  the  calamities  of  the  Christinos,  General  Evans,  with  the 
t;reatest  part  of  the  officers  belonging  to  the  legion,  had  abandoned  the 
cause  as  hopeless,  and  returned  to  England;  only  fifteen  hundred  remain- 
ing behind,  who  foi-med  a  brigade  under  the  command  of  Colonel  O'Don- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  145 

nell.  The  cause  of  the  queen  now  wore  a  most  unpromising  aspect.  Her 
iroops  had  sustained  severe  defeats,  and,  in  September,  the  forces  of  Car- 
los were  actually  investing  the  capital.  On  the  24th  of  August,  General 
Buerens  was  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  M'hile  en- 
deavouring to  repel  one  of  the  armies  of  Don  Carlos,  twelve  thousand 
strong,  which  was  attempting'  to  pass  between  Daroca  and  Saragossa. 
On  the  14th  of  September,  the  remains  of  the  British  legion,  under  Gen- 
eral O'Donnell,  after  their  advance  to  Pampeluna,  were  attacked  by  a 
superior  body  of  Carlists,  who  carried  Andoain,  where  O'Donnell  had  for- 
tified himself,  and  drove  the  queen's  troops  back  to  Hernani.  The  British 
auxiliaries  bore  the  whole  brunt  of  the  attack,  and  twenty-five  English  of- 
ficers were  killed. 

On  the  lllh  of  September,  the  Spanish  government  received  intelligence 
that  Cabrera  was  preparing  to  march  against  the  capital,  and  that  his 
movement  was  to  be  supported  by  the  bulk  of  Don  Carlos'  army.  Mar- 
tial law  was  immediately  proclaimed.  The  troops  and  national  guard 
mustered  ;  a  "sacred  battalion"  was  formed  to  guard  the  two  queens  ;  and 
cannon  was  stationed  in  the  most  exposed  and  dangerous  quarters  of  the 
city.  Again  the  fortune  of  war  inclined  to  the  Christinos  side.  Don  Car- 
los, who  had  invested  Madrid,  was  compelled  to  make  a  precipitate  retreat, 
with  great  loss,  and  was  closely  pursued  by  Espartero.  In  Navarre  and 
Valladolid,  also,  the  queen's  troops  gained  some  considerable  advantages  ; 
and  Carlos  was  driven  to  his  old  quarters  in  the  north,  and  Espartero,  hav- 
ing taken  possession  of  many  strong  places,  appeared  confident  of  success- 
ful results  from  the  next  winter  campaign.  In  November,  the  dissolution 
of  the  cortes  took  place,  and  a  new  cabinet  was  formed,  in  which  Espar- 
tero was  appointed  minister  of  war,  and  at  the  same  time  continued  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  north.  The  English  legion  had 
been  wholly  disbanded,  after  a  correspondence  between  its  commander, 
O'Donnell,  and  the  Spanish  general,  which  had  reached  the  height  of 
asperity.  The  men  composing  the  legion  had  given  up  their  arms,  and 
were  in  the  most  deplorable  state  of  destituiion. 

At  the  commencement  of  1838,  the  town  of  Morella  was  captured  by 
the  Carhsts.  This  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  them,  as  it  consti- 
tuted the  point  of  junction  between  the  kingdoms  of  Valencia  and  Arragon, 
and  was  admirably  fortified.  Twelve  hundred  prisoners,  twelve  pieces  of 
cannon,  and  provisions  for  three  months,  were  the  fruits  of  this  capture. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Carlists  had  been  defeated  in  an  attempt  to  obtain 
possession  of  Saragossa.  and  in  some  minor  engagements  elsewhere.  To 
which  we  may  add,  that  on  the  26th  of  April,  Espartero  attacked  and  en- 
tirely defeated,  near  Burgos,  the  force  of  Count  Negri ;  making  two  thous- 
and prisoners,  of  whom  two  hundred  and  fifteeen  were  chiefs  and  officers. 
Thus  for  many  succeeding  months  did  victory  continue  to  alternate  be- 
tween the  contending  parties,  though  inclining  generally  to  the  constitu- 
tional side.  We  shall  therefore  pass  on  till  we  come  to  an  affair  of  con- 
siderable moment,  namely,  the  surrender  of  Morella— the  last  stronghold 
of  Cabrera — to  the  queen's  troops,  in  May,  1840;  the  garrison  remain- 
ing prisoners  of  war.  Espartero  had  no  less  than  fifty  thousand  men,  in- 
cluding two  thousand  cavalry,  and  seventy-two  pieces  of  artillery,  to  reduce 
this  fortress.  Balinaseda,  the  worthy  rival  of  Cabrera  in  ferocity  and  ra- 
pacity, fell  into  the  snare  laid  for  him  by  the  queen's  generals.  Believing 
that  he  was  not  pursued,  he  passed  the  Douro,  and  conceived  the  bold 
project  of  surprising  the  two  queens  on  their  way  to  Madrid  and  Saragos 
sa,  when  he  was  attacked,  on  the  25th  of  June,  by  the  constitutional  gen 
eral,  Concha,  and  driven  to  the  Pyrenees.  He  then  retreated  into  France, 
but  made  his  appearance  again  on  the  30th,  at  the  head  of  about  five  thous- 
and men.  He  had  retired  before  the  queen's  troops,  fighting  to  the  last; 
and  although,  like  almost  every  other  chieftain  .n  this  sanguinary  and 
long-protracted  struggle,  he  was  a  monster  of  cruelty,  his  firm  adherence 
10 


I4C  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

to  his  master's  cause  until  tliere  was  no  longer  any  hope  of  success,  meriti 
admiration.  He  appeared  in  nearly  the  last  stage  of  exhaustion,  from 
fatigue  and  from  his  wounds,  of  which  he  had  received  no  less  than  four- 
teen. At  this  time  it  was  said  that  but  little  more  than  the  name  of  roy- 
alty existed  in  Spain  ;  a  military  despotism,  headed  by  Espartero,  dictating 
the  whol3  affairs  of  the  nation.  The  queen-regent  Christina,  being  stripped 
of  nearly  every  particle  of  power,  made  up  her  mind  to  leave  Spain  before 
lOspartero  and  the  new  ministers  arrived.  She  saw  them,  however,  at 
Valencia,  and  expressed  her  determination  to  abdicate  the  regency,  in 
consequence  of  the  difficulties  which  environed  her.  She  was  then  told, 
that  if  she  insisted  upon  abdicating,  and  on  retiring  to  Naples,  she  must 
leave  the  young  queen  Isabella  to  the  guardianship  of  the  nation,  and  must 
also  give  up  the  public  property  vested  in  her  as  queen  and  regent.  To 
this  she  consented,  and  the  ministers  accordingly  announced  the  event  to 
the  nation.  Shortly  afterwards,  the  young  queen  Isabella  II.  made  her 
public  entry  into  Madrid,  attended  by  Kspartero,  &c  ,  amid  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  inhabitants. 

In  May,  1841,  the  duke  of  Victory  (Kspartero)  was  elected  by  a  major 
ity  of  76  votes  as  sole  regent  of  Spain  during  the  minority  of  Isabella  ;  the 
queen-mother,  Christina,  having  previously  sought  refuge  in  France.  For 
a  considerable  time  after  this  event,  the  new  regent  possessed  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people,  and  effected  many  useful  reforms  in  the  state ;  but 
having  given  offence  to  the  clergy  by  the  appropriation  of  part  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical revenues  to  secular  purposes,  a  powerful  party  continued  to 
harass  and  distract  his  government;  till,  at  length,  the  insurrectionary 
movements  in  various  parts  of  the  country  denoted  that  another  crisis  was 
approaching.  In  Juno,  1843,  Corunna,  Seville,  and  many  other  towns  de- 
clared against  Kspartero,  and  Madrid  surrendered  on  the  24th  of  July.  On 
receiving  this  information,  the  duke  immediately  raised  the  siege  of  Seville, 
and  started  for  Cadiz,  with  four  hundred  cavalry.  He  was  pursued  to 
Port  St.  Mary's  by  General  Concha,  at  the  head  of  five  hundred  horse,  who 
arrived  on  the  strand  only  five  minutes  after  the  regent  had  embarked  in 
a  boat  for  the  English  ship  Malabar,  of  72  guns.  Nogueras,  Gomez,  and 
a  few  other  officers  escaped  with  him.  A  manly  and  patriotic  manifesto 
was  addressed  by  Espartero  to  the  nation  prior  to  his  departure  for  Eng-  * 
land;  which  thus  concludes :—" A  military  insurrection,  without  the 
slightest  pretext,  concluded  the  work  commenced  by  a  mere  few  ;  and, 
abandoned  by  those  whom  I  so  often  had  led  to  victory,  I  am  compelled 
to  seek  refuge  in  a  foreign  land,  fervently  desiring  the  felicity  of  my  be- 
loved country.  To  its  justice  I  recommend  those  who  never  abandoned 
the  cause  of  legitimacy,  loyal  to  the  last,  even  in  the  most  critical  moments. 
In  these  the  state  will  ever  find  its  most  decided  assistants."  His  ene- 
mies also  addressed  a  manifesto  to  the  people  of  Spain,  with  the  alledged 
view  of  explaining  and  justifying  the  revolution,  and  also  of  vindicating 
themselves  and  those  who  co-operated  with  them  in  procuring  the  defec- 
tion of  the  army,  and  the  consequent  overthrow  of  Espartero,  by  means  of 
foreign  gold.  On  the  30th  of  July,  the  duke  of  Baylen  assumed  the  func- 
tions of  guardian  of  the  queen  and  the  princess  her  sister.  The  new  min- 
istry adopted  the  decided  course  of  declaring  Queen  Isabella  of  age  after 
the  meeting  of  the  cortes,  which  was  appointed  to  take  place  on  the  15th 
of  October ;  to  which  proposal  the  queen  gave  her  consent.  Espartero 
left  Spain,  on  his  voyage  to  England,  on  board  the  Prometheus  steam-ves- 
sel ;  and  on  his  arrival  at  Woolwich  he  was  received  with  respect  by  Lord 
Blomfield,  commandant  of  the  royal  arsenal,  Sir  F.  BoUyer,  &c.  Spain, 
however,  still  continues  subject  to  unhappy  dissensions,  which  are  the 
inevitable  results  of  her  degrading  submission  to  a  bigoted  priesthood. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  147 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PORTUGAL. 

Portugal,  anciently  called  Lusitania,  is  supposed  to  have  been  origin' 
Blly  colonized  by  the  Phoenicians  and  Carthaginians ;  but  was  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  Romans  about  250  years  before  Christ,  and  became  a 
Roman  province  under  the  emperor  Augustus.  Towards  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth  century  the  Alans,  and  afterwards  the  Suabians  and  the  Visi- 
goths, successively  made  themselves  masters  of  this  country.  In  the 
eighth  century  it  was  overrun  by  the  Moors  and  Saracens,  but  was  gradu- 
ally wrested  from  them  by  the  Christians.  Henry,  duke  of  Burgundy, 
distinguishing  himself  by  his  eminent  services  against  the  Moors,  Alphonso 
II.,  king  of  Castile,  gave  him  his  daughter  Theresa  in  marriage,  created 
him  earl  of  Portugal,  and  in  1110  left  him  that  kingdom.  Alphonso  Hen- 
riques,  his  son  and  successor,  obtaining  a  signal  victory,  in  1136,  over  tlie 
Moors,  was  created  king  by  the  people;  and  in  1181,  at  an  assembly  of 
the  states,  the  succession  of  the  crown  was  settled.  Alphonso  III.  added 
.\lgarve  to  the  crown  of  Portugal.  In  1383  the  legitimate  male  line  of 
this  family  becoming  extinct  in  the  person  of  Ferdinand,  John  I.  his  nat- 
ural son,  was,  two  years  after,  admitted  to  the  crown,  and  in  his  reign  the 
Portuguese  made  settlements  in  Africa,  and  discovered  the  islands  of  tlie 
Azores.  In  1482,  his  great-grandson,  John  II.,  received  the  Jews  who  had 
been  expelled  from  Spain,  and  gave  great  encouragement  to  navigation 
and  discoveries.  Afterwards,  in  the  reign  of  King  Emanuel,  Vasco  do 
Gama  discovered  a  passage  to  the  East  Indies  by  doubling  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

In  1600,  Brazil  was  discovered  by  Don  Pedro  Alvarez,  and  the  Portu- 
guese made  most  valuable  discoveries  in  the  East  Indies,  where  they  soon 
erected  forts,  subdued  the  neighbouring  inhabitants,  and  at  the  same  time 
carried  on  a  sanguinary  war  in  Africa.  The  power  of  Portugal  was  then 
at  its  height ;  but  in  1580,  on  the  decease  of  Henry  the  Cardinal,  the  male 
line  of  the  royal  family  became  extinct,  and  in  the  succeeding  year  the 
kingdom  was  subdued  by  Spain.  The  Portuguese  now  lost  most  of  the 
advantages  they  had  obtained  under  their  own  monarchs ;  their  posses- 
sions in  the  East  Indies,  in  Brazil,  and  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  were  neg- 
lected,  and  many  of  them  wrested  from  them  by  the  new  republic  of  Hol- 
land, and  by  the  other  maritime  powers,  while  at  home  the  Portuguese 
were  much  oppressed ;  but  in  16^0,  they  shook  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  by 
electing  John,  duke  of  Braganza,  a  descendant  of  the  old  royal  family,  for 
their  king.  This  prince,  who  assumed  the  title  of  John  IV.,  drove  the 
Dutch  out  of  Brazil ;  and  from  him  all  the  succeeding  kings  of  Portugal 
have  been  descended.  Alphonso  VI.  the  son  of  John  IV.,  was  dethroned 
by  his  brother  Peter,  who  in  1668,  concluded  a  treaty  with  Spain,  by  which 
Portugal  was  declared  an  independent  kingdom.  This  was  brought  about 
by  the  mediation  of  Charles  II.  of  Great  Britain,  who  had  married  the  in- 
fanta Catherine,  sister  to  Alphonso  and  Peter.  In  1706,  John  V.  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  on  the  death  of  his  father.  In  1792  a  double  marriage 
took  place  between  the  courts  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  a  prince  of  eacli 
court  marrying  a  princess  of  the  other  court.  Although  Brazil  again  be- 
longed to  Portugal,  its  former  greatness  could  not  now  have  been  restored 
even  had  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Braganza  displayed  as  much  vigour 
and  wisdom  as  some  of  them  showed  good  intentions.  A  commercial 
ireaty  had  been  concluded  under  the  first  prince  of  this  line,  and  in  17  03 


148  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

a  new  treaty  was  concluded  by  the  English  ambassador,  which  secured  to 
England  the  advantages  of  the  newly-disc;overed  gold  mines  in  Brazil- 
From  this  time  the  relations  with  England  continued  to  become  more  in- 
timate, until  Portugal  was  no  longer  in  a  condition  to  maintain  an  inde- 
pendent attitude  in  European  politics-  During  the  long  reign  of  John  V,, 
from  1707  to  1750,  some  vigour  was  exerted  in  regard  to  the  foreign  rela- 
tions, and  something  was  attempted  for  the  promotion  of  the  national 
welfare  at  home  (the  restriction  on  the  power  of  the  inquisition,  and  the 
formation  of  an  academy  of  Portuguese  history,  for  example) ;  but  in  tlie 
former  case,  without  decisive  consequences,  and,  in  the  latter,  without  a 
completion  of  the  plans  proposed.  On  the  death  of  John,  in  17f  ?,  his  son 
Joseph  1.,  prince  of  the  Brazils,  succeeded  him,  and  the  marquis  of  Pombal, 
a  vigorous  reformer,  administered  the  government,  to  the  universal  satis- 
faction of  the  people.  He  attacked  the  Jesuits  and  the  nobility,  who  dur- 
ing the  precedmg  reigns  had  exercised  a  secret  influence  in  the  govern- 
ment. The  exposure  of  the  power  of  the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay,  their  con- 
duct at  the  time  of  the  earthquake  in  Lisbon  (17.5-5),  and  the  conspiracy 
against  the  life  of  the  king  (1756),  led  to  the  suppression  of  the  order;  in 
1757  they  had  been  deprived  of  the  post  of  confessors  to  the  royal  family, 
and  forbidden  the  court.  Two  years  after,  all  the  Jesuits  were  banished 
the  kingdom,  and  their  estates  were  confiscated-  The  brave  count  of 
Schauenburg-Lippe,  to  whose  services  against  Spain,  in  1760,  Portugal 
was  so  much  indebted,  likewise  reformed  the  Portuguese  army  ;  but  soon 
after  his  departure,  the  effects  of  his  improvements  disappeared. 

On  the  accession  of  Maria  Francisca  Isabella,  eldest  daughter  of  Joseph 
(in  1777),  the  marquis  of  Pombal  lost  the  influence  which  he  had  possessed 
for  twenty-five  years.  To  him  Portugal  owed  her  revival  from  her  pre- 
vious lethargy;  and  although  many  of  his  useful  regulations  did  not  sur- 
vive his  fall,  yet  the  enlightened  views  he  introduced,  and  the  national 
feeling  which  he  awakened,  were  not  without  permanent  eff'ecfs.  In  1792, 
on  account  of  the  sickness  of  the  queen,  Juan  Maria  Joseph,  prince  of 
Brazil  (the  title  of  the  prince-royal  until  1816),  was  declared  regent;  and, 
in  1799,  her  malady  having  terminated  in  a  confirmed  mental  aberration, 
the  prince  was  declared  regent  with  full  regal  powers,  but  made  no  change 
in  the  policy  of  the  government.  His  connexions  with  England  involved 
him  in  the  wars  of  that  country  against  France  ;  and  the  Portuguese  troops 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  valour  in  the  peninsular  campaigns. 
Commercial  distress,  the  accumulating  debt,  and  the  threatening  language 
which  Spain  was  compelled  by  France  to  adopt,  led  to  a  peace  with  France 
in  1797  ;  but  the  disasters  of  the  French  arms  in  1799  encouraged  the  re- 
gent to  renew  hostilities,  in  alliance  with  England  and  Russia. 

As  soon,  however,  as  Bonaparte  had  established  his  authority,  Spain  was 
obliged  to  declare  war  against  Portugal ;  but  it  was  terminated  the  same 
year  (1801)  by  the  treaty  of  Ba^ajos,  by  which  Portugal  was  obliged  to 
cede  Olivenga,  with  the  payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money  to  Spain.  Por- 
tugal, meanwhile,  preserved  a  mere  shadow  of  independence  by  the  great- 
est sacrifices,  until  at  last  Junot  entered  the  couniry,  and  the  house  ol 
Braganza  was  declared,  by  Napoleon,  to  have  foifeited  the  throne ;  this 
impudent  declaration  arising  from  the  refusal  of  the  prince  to  seize  the 
English  merchandise  in  his  dominions.  The  regent  now  threw  himselt 
entirely  into  the  arms  of  the  English,  and  on  the  9th  of  November,  1807 
embarked  for  Brazil.  Junot  entered  the  capital  the  next  day,  and  Portu- 
gal was  treated  as  a  conquered  countrj'.  An  English  force  was  landed, 
and,  in  the  northern  provinces,  numerous  bodies  of  native  troops  deter 
mined  to  maintain  the  stniggle  for  freedom;  a  junta  was  also  established 
in  Oporto  to  conduct  the  government.  After  some  hard  fighting,  the  de- 
cisive battle  of  Vimeira  took  place  (August  21,  1608),  which  was  followed 


THE  THEASUEY  OF  HISTORY.  I49 

by  the  convention  of  Cintra,  and  the  evacuation  of  the  country  by  the 
French  forces. 

During  1808,  1809,  and  1810,  Portugal  was  the  chief  scene  of  the  mili- 
tary contest  between  Great  Britain  and  France ;  and  the  Portuguese  sub- 
sequently also  took  an  active  part  in  the  war  of  Spanish  independence. 

On  the  death  of  Maria,  John  VI.  ascended  the  throne  of  Portugal,  and 
Brazil.  This  transference  of  the  court  of  Lisbon  into  an  American  colony 
was  followed  by  important  consequences :  firstly,  that  Brazil  attempted 
to  withdraw  itself  from  dependence  on  England ;  and  secondly,  that  the 
colony  gradually  became  a  separate  state.  In  Portugal,  on  the  contrary 
the  influence  of  England  continued,  and  the  condition  of  the  kingdom  was 
not  essentially  changed.  In  1816,  John  VI.  refused  to  return  to  Lisbon, 
whither  a  squadron  under  Sir  John  Beresford  had  been  sent  to  convey  him  ; 
partly,  it  is  said,  because  he  was  displeased  at  the  disregard  to  his  rights 
shown  by  the  congress  of  Vienna  ;  partly  because  the  unpopularity  of  the 
commercial  treaty  had  alienated  him  from  England;  but,  probably,  still 
more  because  he  was  influenced  by  the  visible  growth  of  a  Brazilian  party 
which  now  aimed  at  independence.  Henceforward,  indeed,  the  separation 
of  Portugal  from  Brazil  manifestly  approached.  The  Portuguese  of 
Europe  began  to  despair  of  seeing  the  seat  of  monarchy  at  Lisbon ;  the 
regency  there  were  without  strength,  all  appointments  were  obtained  from 
the  distant  court  of  Rio  Janeiro ;  men  and  money  were  drawn  away  for 
the  Brazilian  war  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata ;  the  army  left  behind  was  unpaid ; 
in  fine,  all  the  materials  of  formidable  discontent  were  heaped  up  in  Por- 
tugal, when  the  Spanish  revolution  broke  out,  in  the  beginning  of  1820. 
Six  months  elapsed  without  its  communicating  to  Portugal ;  but  in  August 
the  garrison  of  Oporto  declared  for  a  revolution,  and,  being  joined  on  their 
march  to  the  capital  by  all  the  troops  on  their  line,  were  received  with 
open  arms  by  the  garrison  of  Lisbon  ;  and  it  was  determined  to  bestow  on 
Portugal  a  still  more  popular  constitution  than  that  of  Spain. 

This  revolution  was  unattended  by  violence  or  bloodshed.  A  provis- 
ional government  was  established,  which,  on  the  first  of  October,  formed 
a  union  with  the  junta  of  Oporto.  Count  Palmella,  the  head  of  the  royal 
regency,  was  despatched  to  Rio  Janeiro  with  an  account  of  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  a  petition  that  the  king  or  the  prince  royal  would  return  to 
Lisbon.  The  mode  of  electing  the  cortes  was  settled  chiefly  in  imitation 
of  the  Spanish  constitution  ;  and  the  liberal  party,  which  was  desirous  of 
the  immediate  adoption  of  that  constitution,  obliged  the  supreme  junta 
(November  11)  to  administer  the  oath  of  obedience  to  it  to  the  troops. 
The  regency  of  Lisbon,  by  the  advice  of  a  Portuguese  minister,  at  once 
faithful  to  his  sovereign  and  friendly  to  the  liberty  of  his  country,  made 
an  attempt  to  stem  the  torrent  by  summoning  an  assembly  of  the  cortes. 
The  attempt  was  too  late ;  but  it  pointed  to  the  only  means  of  saving  the 
monarchy.  The  same  minister,  on  his  arrival  in  Brazil,  at  the  end  of  1820, 
advised  the  king  to  send  his  eldest  son  to  Portugal  as  viceroy,  with  a  con- 
stitutional charter,  in  which  the  legislature  was  to  be  divided  into  two 
chambers.  He  also  recommended  an  assembly  of  the  most  respectable 
Brazilians  at  Rio  Janiero  to  organize  their  affairs.  But  a  revolution  in 
that  capital  speedily  brought  matters  to  a  crisis ;  and  the  popular  party, 
headed  by  Don  Pedro,  the  king's  eldest  son,  declared  for  the  constitution 
of  Portugal,  and  the  separation  of  Brazil  at  the  same  time. 

On  the  9th  of  March,  1821,  the  articles  of  the  new  constitution,  securing 
freedom  of  person  and  property,  the  liberty  of  the  press,  legal  equality, 
and  the  abolition  of  privileges,  the  admission  of  all  citizens  to  all  offices, 
and  the  sovereignty  of  the  nation,  were  adopted  almost  unanimously. 
There  was  more  diversity  of  opinion  concerning  the  organization  of  the 
chambers,  and  the  royal  veto  ;  but  large  majorities  finally  decided  in  favour 
of  one  chamber  and  a  conditional  veto.    After  some  disturbances  in  Brazil, 


150  THK  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

•he  kin^  sailed  for  Portugal,  but  was  not  permitted  to  land  until  he  had 
given  his  cons/  it  to  the  several  acts  of  the  cortes,  imposing  restrictions 
«n  his  pciver.  On  landing,  he  immediately  swore  to  observe  the  new  con- 
stitution and  c  incurred,  without  opposition,  to  all  the  succeeding  acts  of 
the  cortex.  Tlie  revolutionary  cortes  were  as  tenacious  of  the  authority 
of  the  mother  country  as  the  royal  administration;  and  they  accordingly 
recalled  the  h sir-apparent  to  Lisbon.  But  the  spirit  of  independence 
arose  among"  tiie  Brazilians,  who,  encouraged  by  the  example  of  the  Span- 
ish Americans,  presented  addresses  to  the  prince,  beseeching  him  not  to 
yield  to  the  demands  of  the  Portuguese  assembly,  who  desired  to  make 
him  a  prisoner,  as  they  had  made  his  father;  but,  by  assuming  the  crown 
of  Brazil,  to  provide  for  his  own  safety,  as  well  as  for  their  liberty.  In 
truth,  it  is  evident  he  neither  could  have  continued  in  Brazil  without  ac- 
ceding to  the  popular  desire,  nor  have  then  left  it  without  insuring  the 
destruction  of  monarchy  in  that  country.  lie  acquiesced,  therefore,  in  the 
prayer  of  these  petitions  ;  the  independence  of  Brazil  was  proclaimed,  and 
the  Portuguese  monarchy  thus  finally  dismembered. 

In  the  summer  of  1823,  the  advance  of  the  French  army  into  Spain  ex- 
cited a  revolt  of  the  Portuguese  royalists;  and  now  the  infant  Don  Miguel, 
the  king's  second  son,  attracted  notice,  by  appearing  at  the  head  of  a  bat- 
tallion  who  declared  against  the  constitution ;  and  the  inconstant  soldiery, 
equally  ignorant  of  the  objects  of  their  revolts  against  the  king  or  the 
cortes,  were  easily  induced  to  overthrow  their  own  slight  work.  After  a 
short  interval,  the  possessors  of  authority  relapsed  into  the  ancient  and 
fatal  error  of  their  kind  : — that  of  placing  their  security  in  maintaining  un- 
limited power.  A  resistance  to  the  constitution,  which  grew  up  in  the 
interior  of  the  court,  was  fostered  by  foreign  influence ;  and,  after  a  strug- 
gle of  some  months,  prevented  the  promulgation  of  a  charter  well  consid- 
ered and  digested. 

In  April,  1824,  part  of  the  garrison  of  Lisbon  surrounded  the  king's 
palace,  and  hindered  the  access  of  his  servants  to  him;  some  of  his  min- 
isters were  imprisoned,  and  the  diplomatic  body,  including  the  papal  nun- 
cio, the  French  ambassadors,  and  the  Russian  as  well  as  the  English  min- 
ister, were  the  only  means  at  last  of  restoring  him  to  some  degree  of  lib 
erty ;  which  was,  however,  so  imperfect,  that,  by  the  advice  of  the  French 
ambassador,  the  king,  accompanied  by  his  two  daughters  (May  9),  took 
refuge  on  board  of  an  English  ship  of  war  in  the  Tagus,  where,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  whole  diplomatic  corps,  he  was  at  length  able  to  re-estab- 
lish his  authority.  In  all  the  transactions  which  rendered  this  step  neces- 
sary, Don  Miguel  had  acted  a  most  conspicuous  part.  He,  however,  de- 
clared that  his  object  was  to  frustrate  a  conspirac)',  which  was  on  the 
point  of  breaking  out,  against  the  life  of  the  king  and  the  queen ;  and  so 
well  inclined  was  the  king  to  pardon  his  son,  that  he  accepted  his  explan- 
ation, and  forgave  these  youthful  faults  as  involuntary  errors.  The  king, 
at  length,  issued  a  proclamation  (June  4),  for  restoring  the  ancient  con- 
stitution of  the  Portuguese  monarchy,  with  assurances  that  an  assembly 
of  the  cortes,  or  three  estates  of  the  realm,  should  be  speedily  held  with 
all  their  legal  rights,  and  especially  with  the  privilege  of  laying  before  the 
king,  for  his  consideration,  the  heads  of  such  measures  as  they  might 
deem  necessary  for  the  public  good,  for  the  administration  of  justice,  and 
for  the  redress  of  grievances,  whether  public  or  private.  To  that  assem- 
bly was  referred  the  consideration  of  the  periodical  meetings  of  succeeding 
cortes,  and  the  means  of  progressively  ameliorating  the  administration  of 
the  state.  On  the  14th  of  May  the  king  returned  ashore;  and  on  the  4th 
of  the  following  month  he  proclaimed  an  act  of  amnesty  for  the  adherents 
of  the  cortes  of  1820,  from  which  only  a  few  exceptions  were  made ;  on 
the  same  day  appeared  the  decree  of  June  4,  reviving  the  old  constitution 
of  the  estateSj  and  summoning  the  cortes  of  Lamego.    At  the  same  time 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  151 

the  junta  for  the  preparation  of  a  constitution  was  superseded  by  another, 
which  was  directed  to  make  preparations  for  the  election  of  the  deputies 
of  the  old  cortes.  But  Spain  opposed  the  convocation  of  the  old  cortes, 
and  the  influence  of  the  queen  was  thus  revived.  New  conspiracies  were 
formed  against  the  king,  and  the  ministry  was  divided  in  its  views,  prin- 
cipally in  regard  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued  towards  Brazil. 

In  January,  1825,  a  new  ministry  was  formed ;  and  a  negotiation  was 
opened  in  London,  under  the  mediation  of  Austria  and  England,  to  adjust 
the  differences  between  Portugal  and  Brazil.  The  Brazihans  had  tasted 
independence,  and  it  was  soon  evident  that  no  amicable  issue  of  such  ne- 
gotiation was  possible  which  did  not  involve  acquiescence  in  tiie  separa- 
tion of  the  two  countries.  Accordingly,  a  treaty  was  concluded,  and  finally 
ratified  at  Lisbon  (November  5),  recognizing  the  independence  and  separ- 
ation of  Brazil,  acknowledging  the  sovereignty  of  that  country  to  be  vested 
in  Don  Pedro;  allowing  the  king  of  Portugal  also  to  assume  the  imperial 
title ;  and  binding  the  emperor  of  Brazil  to  reject  the  offer  of  any  Portu- 
guese colony  to  be  incorporated  with  his  dominions. 

The  death  of  John  VI.  took  place  March  10,  1826,  after  having  named 
the  infanta  Isabella  regent,  who  governed  in  the  name  of  the  emperor  of 
Brazil,  as  king  of  Portugal.  In  the  following  month,  Don  Pedro  granted 
a  constitution,  establishing  two  chambers,  and  in  other  respects  resemb- 
ling the  French  charter.  May  2,  he  abdicated  the  Portuguese  throne,  in 
favour  of  his  daughter.  Donna  Maria  (he  remaining  king  during  her  minori- 
ty), on  condition  of  her  marryingher  uncle  Miguel.  But  a  party  was  formed, 
which  aimed  at  the  overthrow  of  this  constitution,  and  proclaimed  the 
prince  absolute  king  of  Portugal.  The  marquis  of  Chaves  and  the  marquis 
of  Abrantes  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  insurgents ;  and  Spain,  which 
alone  had  not  acknowledged  the  new  order  of  things,  assembled  an  army 
on  the  Portuguese  frontiers.  In  this  emergency  Portugal  appealed  to 
England,  and  fifteen  thousand  British  troops  were  landed  in  Lisbon.  Thus 
assisted,  the  insurrection  was  completely  put  down ;  Spain  was  forced  to 
yield,  and  the  cortes,  which  had  been  convened  in  October,  1826,  closed 
its  session  in  March,  1827.  In  July,  Don  Pedro  named  his  brother  Miguel 
lieutenant  and  regent  of  the  kingdom,  with  all  the  rights  established  by  the 
charter,  according  to  which  the  government  was  to  be  administered.  The 
prince  accordingly  left  Vienna,  and  arrived  at  Lisbon  in  February,  1828. 
The  cortes  was  then  in  session,  and,  on  the  26th,  Miguel  took  the  oath  to 
observe  the  charter,  in  the  presence  of  the  two  chambers.  But  the  apos- 
tolicals  or  absolutists,  to  whom  the  disposition  of  the  regent  was  well 
known,  already  began  to  speak  openly  of  his  rights  to  the  throne,  and  to 
hail  him  as  absolute  king.  His  ministers  were  all  appointed  from  that 
party,  except  the  count  Villa  Real ;  and  the  populace  were  permitted  to 
add  to  their  cry,  "Long  live  the  absolute  king,"  that  of  "Down  with  the 
constitution."  It  was  now  determined  that  Miguel  should  go  to  Villa 
Vigosa,  a  town  near  the  Spanish  frontier,  where  he  could  be  supported  by 
the  troops  of  the  marquis  of  Chaves,  and  be  proclaimed  absolute  king; 
but  this  project  was  frustrated  by  the  decision  of  Mr.  Lamb,  the  British 
minister,  who  counteracted  the  order  for  the  departure  of  the  British 
troops,  and  prevented  the  payment  of  the  loan  made  to  Don  Miguel  under 
the  guarantee  of  the  British  government.  The  cortes,  being  opposed  to 
the  designs  of  the  prince,  was  dissolved  March  14,  and  the  recall  of  the 
British  troops  in  April  removed  another  obstacle  from  his  path.  He  ac- 
cordingly, on  the  3d  of  May,  issued  a  decree  in  his  own  name,  convoking 
the  ancient  cortes  of  lamego,  which  had  not  met  since  1697.  The  mili- 
tary in  general  was  not  favourable  to  the  projects  of  the  prince,  and  the 
garrison  of  Oporto  proclaimed  Don  Pedro  and  the  charier,  May  18.  Other 
garrisons  joined  them,  and  the  constitutional  army,  six  thousand  strong, 
advanced  towards  Lisbon.    But  they  were  unable  to  cope  with  the  abso- 


162  THE  TKEASUEY  OF  HISTORY. 

lutists,  and  after  sustaining  a  severe  defeat  towards  the  end  of  June,  the 
troops  either  forced  their  way  to  the  Spanish  frontiers,  or  embarked  for 
England.  Thus  terminated  the  first  efforts  of  the  constituiionaUsts  in 
Portugal,  and,  with  the  extinction  of  that  party,  the  influence  of  England 
with  the  Portuguese  government  ceased.  Don  Miguel  now  turned  his  at- 
tention to  the  consolidation  of  his  power;  severity  and  cruelty  were  his 
expedients;  the  prisons  were  crowded  with  the  suspected,  and  foreign 
countries  were  filled  with  fugitives.  Many  noblemen  who  were  known 
to  be  attached  to  the  cause  of  the  young  queen,  fortunately  made  their 
escape,  and  some  of  them  came  to  England,  where  they  were  supported 
by  money  sent  from  Brazil  by  the  emperor,  for  that  purpose,  to  his  am- 
bassador in  London.  The  cortes  met  June  23,  and  declared  Don  Miguel 
lawful  king  of  Portugal  and  Algarve ;  chiefly  on  the  grounds  that  Don 
Pedro  had  forfeited  his  right  by  becoming  a  Brazilian  citizen,  and  was  not 
a  resident  in  the  country,  and  that  therefore  he  could  neither  succeed  tc 
the  throne  himself,  nor  name  the  person  who  should  reign  in  his  stead 
On  the  4th  of  July,  18'28,  Don  Miguel  confirmed  the  judgment  of  the  cortes, 
and  assumed  the  royal  title.  He  immediately  established  a  special  com- 
mission to  punish  all  who  had  taken  a  part  in  the  Oporto  insurrection,  the 
members  of  the  commission  to  be  paid  from  the  confiscations  they  should 
make ;  and  in  the  colonies  the  same  course  of  condemnation  was  pursued 
that  had  been  practised  at  home. 

Portugal  now  became  the  prey  of  political  and  religious  bigots.  In 
March,  1830,  the  regency  appointed  by  Don  Pedro,  as  guardian  of  his 
daughter,  was  installed  in  Terceira,  consisting  of  Palmella,  Villa  Flor, 
and  Guerreiro.  The  other  islands  were  afterwards  reduced  by  the  forces 
of  the  regency ;  and  subsequently  to  the  return  of  Don  Pedro  to  Europe, 
it  was  well  known  that  he  was  making  preparations  for  displacing  Miguel 
from  his  usurped  seat.  Meanwhile  insurrections  repeatedly  broke  out  at 
home,  but  were  suppressed  by  the  vigour  of  the  government  and  the  want 
of  concert  in  the  insurgents.  In  1830,  it  was  estimated  that  the  number 
of  prisoners  confined  for  political  causes  were  above  forty  thousand,  and 
that  the  number  of  persons  concealed  in  different  parts  of  the  country  was 
about  five  thousand.  In  consequence  of  some  acts  of  violence,  and  a  re- 
fusal of  redress  on  the  part  of  the  government,  a  British  fleet  was  sent  to 
the  Tagus  (May  4,  1831);  but  on  its  appearance  the  required  concessions 
were  made.  In  July,  Miguel  was  obliged  to  suffer  a  second  humiliation 
of  this  nature ;  a  French  fleet  having  forced  the  passage  of  the  Tagus, 
*id  taken  possession  of  the  Portuguese  fleet,  in  consequence  of  the  de- 
mands of  the  French  government,  for  satisfaction  for  injuries  to  French 
subjects  committed  by  the  Portuguese  authorities,  not  having  been  com- 
plied with.  In  August,  an  insurrection  of  the  troops  broke  out  against 
Miguel.  At  that  time  Don  Pedro  had  arrived  in  Europe,  having  embarked 
on  board  an  English  ship  of  war  in  the  spring  of  1831,  and  reached  France 
in  June.  From  thence  he  proceeded  to  Oporto,  and  immediately  com- 
menced operations  for  displacing  Don  Miguel  from  the  throne,  and  estab- 
lishing Donna  Maria  as  queen,  under  a  regency.  Previous  to  this,  large 
bodies  of  volunteers  had  embarked  from  Britain  and  Ireland  in  the  cause 
of  Don  Pedro,  the  greater  number  of  whom  were  garrisoned  in  Oporto. 
Don  Miguel,  meanwhile,  was  not  inactive,  but  advanced  with  his  adherents 
towards  that  city,  which  he  attacked  several  times  without  success ;  on 
one  occasion  (September  21,  1832),  hs  loss  was  fifteen  hundred  men,  while 
that  of  Don  Pedro  was  not  more  than  a  third  of  the  number.  In  July  of 
the  same  year,  a  naval  battle  took  place  between,  the  fleet  of  Don  Pedro, 
imder  the  command  of  Admiral  Napier,  and  that  of  Don  Miguel,  in  which 
the  latter  was  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  two  ships  of  74  guns,  a  frigate  of 
56,  a  store-ship  of  48,  and  two  smaller  vessels.  This  event,  with  other 
successes  of  the  Pedroite  party,  led  to  Miguel's  abandonment  of  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  I53 

throne,  consenting  at  the  same  time  to  leave  the  kingdom,  on  condition  of 
receiving  an  income  for  life  suited  to  his  rank.  Donna  Maria  da  Gloria 
was  proclaimed  queen  of  Portugal,  and  in  1835  was  married  to  the  duke 
of  Leuchtenberg,  son  of  Eugene  Beauharnois.  This  prince  died  in  March 
of  the  same  year,  after  having  been  married  about  a  month. 

Don  Pedro  died  a  few  months  after  his  daughter  had  assumed  the  regal 
power  ;  but  his  short  reign  was  distinguished  by  two  remarkable  acts,  one 
of  which  is  likely  to  have  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  commerce  of  the 
country,  the  other  not  less  likely  to  have  an  influence  over  the  religion 
and  social  habits  of  the  people.  By  the  former,  the  abolition  of  the  Oporto 
wine  company,  which  was  a  most  injurious  monopoly,  was  effected,  there- 
by giving  the  grower  a  fair  recompense  for  encouraging  the  cultivation  of 
the  grape,  and  thus  producing  wine  of  a  better  quality  ;  while,  owing  to 
the  competition  of  merchants  who  export  the  wine,  it  could  be  bought  at 
a  lower  price.  The  English  being  great  buyers  of  wine,  the  decree  of 
Don  Pedro  was  advantageous  to  them,  as  well  as  to  the  Portuguese.  We 
must  not,  however,  forget  to  state,  that  the  young  queen  was  prevailed 
upon,  in  1838,  to  grant  a  new  charter  of  monopoly  to  the  Oporto  wine 
company  for  twenty  years,  thereby  frustrating  the  benefits  which  were  to 
be  expected  from  its  previous  abolition.  The  other  memorable  act  of  the 
regent  was  the  suppression  of  all  the  monasteries  and  convents  in  the 
kingdom,  and  the  seizure  of  all  lands  belonging  to  them  ;  a  measure  which 
was  considered  as  retaliatory  for  the  assistance  given  to  Don  Miguel  by 
the  monks,  &c.,  during  the  contest  between  the  rival  brothers.  This 
was,  notwithstanding,  an  act  of  unmerited  severity ;  for  although  small 
pensions — none  exceeding  fifty  pounds  a  year — were  granted  to  those  who 
had  not  openly  avowed  themselves  in  favour  of  Don  Miguel,  it  was  so 
easy  to  accuse  them  of  having  done  so,  that  very  few  actually  received 
the  pittance.  The  lands  thus  confiscated  were  ordered  to  be  sold  for  the 
benefit  of  the  state ;  and  after  the  death  of  Don  Pedro,  the  cortes  divided 
them  into  very  small  lots,  allowing  labouring  people  to  become  the  pur- 
chasers on  easy  terms.  The  sale  took  place  in  1835,  and  among  the  buy- 
ers were  many  foreigners,  who  have  settled  in  Portugal  on  these  small 
estates,  and  who,  as  well  as  the  Portuguese  peasantry  thus  converted  into 
landed  proprietors,  will  be  the  means  of  promoting  industry,  and  thereby 
increasing  the  comforts  of  a  large  class  of  the  inhabitants. 

To  pursue  this  sketch  of  the  history  of  Portugal  farther  is  needless ;  for 
though  several  attempts  have  been  made  to  overturn  the  existing  govern- 
ment, and  although  the  political  horizon  wears  an  unsettled  aspect,  the 
events  which  have  subsequently  occurred  present  few  features  worthy  of 
comment.  The  queen's  second  marriage  with  a  prince  of  the  family  of 
Saxe-Coburg  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten;  neither  should  we  omit 
that  Portugal,  so  early  and  so  constantly  foremost  among  the  slave-dealing 
nations  of  Europe,  has  followed  the  example  of  Great  Britain,  and  decreed 
its  abolition. 

The  government  of  Portugal  is  an  hereditary  monarchy,  with  an  upper 
and  a  lower  representative  chamber,  both  of  which  are  elective,  the  fran- 
chise being  vested  in  the  holders  of  a  certain  small  amount  of  fixed  prop- 
erty. The  cortes  meet  and  dissolve  at  specified  periods,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  the  sovereign,  and  the  latter  has  no  veto  on  a  law  passed 
twice  by  both  houses.  Each  province  has  a  governor,  to  whom  the  details 
of  its  government  arc  entrusted,  but  great  abuses  exist  in  almost  every 
department,  both  in  the  judicial  and  administrative  branches,  the  inade 
quacy  of  the  salaries  leading  to  the  acceptance  of  bribes.  And  with  regard 
to  the  prevalence  of  crime,  it  may  be  trulj  ^aid,  that  so  common  is  assas- 
sination, and  so  numerous  are  thefts,  that  the  law  and  the  police  are  im 
potent  alike  to  secure  either  property  or  life. 

The  Portuguese  language  differs  but  litHe  from  the  Spanish ;   and,  in 


154  THE  TREASUUY  OF  HISTORY. 

Southey's  "Peninsular  War,"  the  author  says,  "add  hypocrisy  to  a  Span- 
iard's vices,  and  you  have  the  Portuguese  character."  But  we  are  inclined 
to  think  iiini  shuiderous.  The  fifteenih  century  was  the  era  of  the  heroic 
age  in  Portugal,  at  which  time  its  literature  vied  with  the  Spanish;  at 
present,  the  Italian  opera  is  the  chief  attraction  in  Lisbon.  Though  Por- 
tugal has  lost  Brazil,  she  still  retains  the  Azores,  Madeira,  Cape  de  Verd. 
and  Guinea  islands ;  the  settlements  of  Angola  and  Mozambique,  in  Af- 
rica; and  those  of  Goa,  Dilli,  Macao,  &c.,  in  Asia. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    GERMANY. 

[AUSTRIAN  EMPIRE,  GERMAN  STATES,  &c.] 

From  all  that  can  be  collected  of  the  early  history  of  Germany,  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  divided  into  many  petty  nations  and  principalities,  some 
governed  by  kings  whose  power  was  limited,  others  by  such  as  were  ab- 
solute;  some  of  their  princes  were  elective,  and  others  hereditary;  and 
some  aristocratical  and  democratical  governments  were  also  found  among 
them.  Many  of  these  states  and  kingdoms  frequently  united  under  one 
head  or  general,  both  in  their  offensive  and  defensive  wars.  This  was  the 
state  of  the  Germans  before  they  were  conquered  by  the  Romans.  At 
that  time  the  children  went  naked,  and  the  men  hung  the  skin  of  some 
wild  beast  upon  their  shoulders,  fastening  it  with  a  thong;  and  persons  of 
the  best  quality  wore  only  a  little  woolen  mantle,  or  a  coat  without  sleeves. 
Their  usual  bed  was  the  ground,  a  little  straw,  with  the  skins  of  wolves 
or  bears.  Their  food  was  bread,  meat,  butler,  and  fruit,  as  at  present,  and 
their  drink,  water,  milk,  and  beer ;  for  in  those  early  ages  they  were 
strangers  to  the  use  of  wine.  They  were  accustomed  to  convivial  enter- 
tainments, sitting  in  a  semi-circle,  with  the  master  of  the  family  in  the 
middle,  and  the  rest  on  the  right  and  left,  according  to  their  quality ;  but 
to  these  feasts  no  women  were  admitted,  nor  a  son  under  twenty  years 
of  age.  They  expressed  an  extraordinary  regard  for  morality,  and  were 
very  strict  in  divine  worship,  choosing  their  priests  out  of  the  nobility, 
who  were  not  entirely  ignorant  of  moral  philosophy  and  physics,  and 
were  usually  called  to  councils  of  state.  Women,  we  are  told,  were  like- 
wise admitted  to  the  priestly  office,  and  both  the  one  and  the  other  were 
treated  with  the  most  profound  respect  by  the  laity.  The  doctrine  of 
transmigration  prevailed  in  Germany ;  they  believed  that  departed  souls, 
when  they  had  left  these  bodies,  animated  other  creatures  ;  and,  according 
as  they  behaved  in  this  life,  were  happy  or  miserable.  Cluverius  observes, 
that  they  worshiped  the  sun  with  such  devotion,  that  they  seemed  to  ac- 
knowledge that  planet  as  the  supreme  God,  and  to  it  dedicated  the  first  day 
of  the  week.  They  also  worshiped  Woden,  or  Godan,  after  whom  the 
fourth  day  of  the  week  was  called  Wednesday.  It  is  said  that  this  word 
Godan,  becoming  afterwards  contracted  into  God,  the  Germans  and  Eng- 
lish gave  that  name  to  the  Deity.  They  also  worshiped  the  god  Faranes, 
the  same  with  *-he  Danish  Thar,  the  Thunderer,  from  whom  our  Thursday 
has  its  name.  The  goddess  Freia,  or  Venus,  gave  her  name  to  Friday ; 
and  Tuisco,  ihr  same  with  Mars,  gave  name  to  Tuesday. 


THE  TRKASURY  OP  HISTOB-Y.  155 

Like  the  ancient  Britons,  they  performed  their  sacrifices  in  groves,  the 
oak  being  usually  chosen  for  an  altar ;  and,  instead  of  a  temple,  they 
erected  an  arbour  made  of  the  boughs  of  the  oak  and  beech.  The  priests, 
as  well  as  the  sacrifice,  were  always  crowned  with  wreaths  of  oak,  or  of 
some  other  sacred  tree.  They  sacrificed  not  only  beasts,  but  men;  and 
these  human  sacrifices  were  taken  from  among  their  slaves  or  malefactors. 
Their  belief  that  their  souls  should  animate  other  bodies  after  death,  it  is 
said,  made  them  fearless  of  danger,  and  upon  extraordinary  occasions  they 
made  no  scruple  of  sacrificing  their  own  lives.  They  burnt  their  dead 
bodies,  and,  having  gathered  up  the  bones  and  ashes  of  the  funeral  pile, 
buried  them  together ;  at  the  funerals  of  the  great,  warlike  exercises  were 
exhibited  with  all  the  rude  pageantry  of  barbaric  splendour,  and  songs  were 
sung  in  memory  of  the  heroic  actions  of  the  deceased. 

These  were  the  manners  of  the  Germans,  before  they  were  subdued  by 
the  Romans,  who  met  with  such  resistance,  that  they  were  contented  with 
making  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  the  boundaries  of  their  conquests ;  they 
accordingly  built  fortresses,  and  stationed  garrisons  on  the  banks  of  both 
those  rivers,  to  prevent  the  incursions  of  what  they  termed  the  barbarous 
nations ;  but  within  about  a  hundred  years  after  Constantine  the  Great, 
the  Franks,  Burgundians,  Alemanni,  and  other  German  nations,  broke 
through  those  boundaries,  passed  the  Rhine,  and  dispossessed  the  Romans 
of  all  Gaul,  Rhaetia,  and  Noricum,  which  they  shared  among  themseves; 
but  the  Franks  prevailing  over  the  rest,  at  length  established  their  empire 
over  all  modern  Germany,  France,  and  Italy,  under  the  conduct  of  Charle- 
magne, or  Charles  the  Great.  This  celebrated  man  was  crowned  at  Rome 
by  Pope  Leo  IIL  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  on  Christmas-day,  800,  amid 
the  acclamations  of  the  clergy  and  the  people.  Nicephorus,  at  that  time 
emperor  of  the  East,  attended  at  the  coronation ;  and  these  princes  agreed 
that  the  state  of  Venice  should  serve  as  the  limit  to  each  empire.  Charle- 
magne now  exercised  all  the  authority  of  the  Caesars ;  the  whole  country 
from  Benevento  to  Bayonne,  and  from  Bayonne  to  Bavaria,  acknowledging 
his  power. 

The  Germans  had  previously  been  converted  to  Christianity  by  one 
Winfred,  an  Englishman,  who  also  collected  them  in  towns,  and  thus  in- 
troduced the  elements  of  civilization  among  them.  The  Saxons  were 
made  Christians  by  Charlemagne,  after  a  long  and  bloody  warfare. 

After  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  and  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  his  son 
and  successor,  the  empire  was  divided  between  the  four  sons  of  Louis ; 
Lothaire  was  emperor;  Pepin,  king  of  Aquitaine;  Louis,  king  of  Ger- 
many; and  Charles  the  Bald,  king  of  France.  This  partition  was  a  con- 
tinual source  of  discontent  among  the  parties.  The  French  enjoyed  the 
empire  under  eight  emperors,  until  the  year  912,  when  Louis  IIL,  the  last 
prince  of  the  race  of  Charlemagne,  dying  without  male  issue,  Conrad, 
count  of  Franconia,  son-in-law  to  Louis,  was  elected  emperor,  but  was 
not  acknowledged  in  Italy  nor  in  France.  The  reign  of  Conrad  produced 
no  change  whatever  in  Germany ;  but  it  was  about  this  period  that  the 
German  bishops  fixed  themselves  in  the  possession  of  their  fiefs ;  and 
many  cities  began  to  enjoy  the  right  of  natural  liberty;  following  the  ex- 
ample of  the  cities  of  Italy,  some  bought  these  rights  of  their  lords,  and 
others  procured  them  with  arms  in  their  hands.  Questions  affecting  the 
general  interests  of  the  Germanic  body  were  determined  in  a  diet,  con- 
sisting of  the  emperor,  the  electors,  and  the  representatives  of  the  princes, 
and  of  the  free  cities.  There  were  also  minor  diets  in  the  difl'erent  cities 
or  divisions  of  the  empire.  It  may,  however,  be  proper  to  mention  in  this 
place,  that  the  constitution  of  the  empire  has  undergone  a  total  change. 
There  is  no  emperor  of  Germany ;  the  title  is  sunk  in  that  of  emperor  of 
Austria,  which  that  sovereign  holds  by  inheritance,  not  election.  The 
ecclesiastical  electorates  have  been  taken  possession  of  by  secular  princes. 


i56  THE  TREASUaV  OP  HISTORY. 

Bohemia  is  united  to  Austria;  the  palatinate  has  disappeared  ;  Saxony  is 
given  to  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  formerly  the  electorate  of  Brandenburg; 
and  the  electorates  of  Hanover  and  Bavaria  are  also  converted  into  king- 
doms.    Most  of  these  changes  are  the  work  of  the  late  wars. 

Conrad  was  succeeded  by  Henry,  duke  of  Savoy,  whom  on  his  death- 
bed he  recommended  to  the  states.  And  in  Henry  H.  the  male  race  of 
the  Saxon  kings  and  emperors  ended,  in  1024.  The  states  then  elected 
Conrad  H.,  who,  by  means  of  his  son,  afterwards  Henry  III.,  annexed 
the  kingdom  of  Burgundy  to  the  empire,  rendered  Poland  subject  to  his 
dominion,  and,  in  a  treaty  with  Denmark,  appointed  the  river  Eider  as 
the  boundary  of  the  German  empire.  Henry  III.  is  regarded  as  the 
most  powerful  and  absolute  of  the  German  emperors.  He  deposed  three 
popes  who  had  set  up  against  each  other,  and  supported  a  fourth  against 
them  ;  from  which  time  the  vacancy  of  the  papal  chair  was  always  inti- 
mated to  the  emperor,  and  it  became  an  established  form  for  him  to  send 
a  deputation  to  Rome,  requesting  that  a  new  pope  might  be  elected. 
Henry  IV.,  his  son,  was,  however,  put  under  the  ban  by  the  pope,  Greg- 
ory VII.,  and  his  subjects  and  son  excited  to  rebel  against  him ;  on  which 
he  was  deposed  by  the  states.  Henry  V.  succeeded  his  father,  but  was 
obliged  to  renounce  all  pretensions  to  the  investiture  of  bishoprics, 
which  had  been  claimed  by  his  ancestors ;  and  in  him  became  extinct  the 
male  line  of  the  Frank  emperors.  Upon  this  the  pope  caused  Lotharius, 
duke  of  Saxony,  to  be  elected ;  but  he  was  not  acknowledged  by  all  Ger- 
many for  their  sovereign  till  after  a  ten  years'  war.  Frederic  I.,  who  be- 
came emperor  in  1152,  effectually  exercised  his  sovereignty  over  the  see 
of  Rome,  by  virtue  of  his  coronation  at  Aries,  reserving  also  his  do- 
minion over  that  kingdom,  and  obliging  Poland  to  pay  him  tribute  and 
take  an  oath  of  allegiance.  To  him  succeeded  Henry  VI.,  Philip  III., 
and  Otho  ;  the  latter  of  whom,  being  deposed  by  the  pope,  was  succeeded 
by  Frederic  II.,  whom  historians  extol  for  his  learning,  wisdom  and  res- 
olution; he  was  five  times  excommunicated  by  three  popes,  but  prevailed 
so  far  against  Pope  Gregory  IX.  as  to  depose  him  from  the  papal  chair. 
These  continual  contests  between  him  and  the  popes  gave  rise  to  the 
two  famous  factions  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibelines ;  the  former  adhering 
to  the  papal  see,  and  the  latter  to  the  emperors. 

About  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  empire  was  rent  asun- 
der by  factions,  each  of  which  supported  a  particular  candidate  for  the 
imperial  dignity ;  these  were  William,  earl  of  Holland,  Henry  of  Thurin- 
gia,  Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  to  Henry  HI.  of  England  ;  and 
Alphonso,  king  of  Castile.  At  this  time  the  great  officers  of  the  house- 
hold laid  claim  to  a  right  of  electing  the  emperor,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
princes  and  great  towns,  or  without  consulting  any  other  members  of  the 
empire ;  the  distracted  state  of  the  empire  served  to  confirm  to  them  this 
claim  ;  and  Gregory  X.,  who  then  filled  the  pontifical  chair  at  Rome, 
either  considering  such  claim  as  valid,  or  desirous  of  rendering  it  so,  di- 
rected a  bull  to  those  great  officers,  the  purport  of  which  was  to  exhort 
them  to  choose  an  emperor,  and  by  that  means  to  end  the  troubles  in 
Germany.  From  that  time  they  have  been  considered  as  the  sole  elect- 
ors ;  and  their  right  to  this  privilege  was  established  beyond  all  contro- 
versy in  the  reign  of  Charles  IV.,  by  the  glorious  constitution  known  by 
the  title  of  the  golden  bull,  published  in  the  year  1357,  which  decreed 
that  the  territories  by  virtue  of  which  the  great  offices  were  held,  should 
descend  to  the  heirs-male  forever,  in  perpetual  entail,  entire  and  indi- 
visible. 

Germany  began  to  recover  from  its  distracted  state  in  the  year  1273, 
when  Count  Rodolph  of  Hapsburgh,  the  founder  of  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria, was  advanced  to  the  imperial  dignity.  Charles  IV.  of  the  Austrian 
family  lived  to  see  his  son  Wenzel,  or  Wenceslaus,  elected  king  of  <;be 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  I57 

Romans.  This  prince,  who  was  the  fourth  son  of  Charles,  at  his  father's 
desire  succeeded  to  the  empire ;  but,  being  dissolute  and  cruel,  was  de- 
posed, after  he  had  reigned  twenty-two  years.  Charles  was  succeeded 
by  three  other  princes,  whose  reigns  were  short;  at  length,  in  1411,  Si- 
gismund  was  unanimously  chosen  emperor,  and  in  1414  he  proclaimed  a 
general  council  to  be  held  at  Constance,  in  which  three  popes  were  de- 
posed and  a  new  one  was  set  up.  At  this  council  the  reformers,  John 
Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  were  condemned  and  burnt,  although  the 
emperor  had  granted  them  a  passport,  and  was  engaged  in  honour  and 
conscience  for  their  safe  return  to  their  country ;  which  so  exasperated 
the  Hussites  of  Bohemia,  that  they  raised  a  formidable  army,  and  under 
the  conduct  of  Zisca,  their  general,  defeated  his  forces  in  fourteen  bat- 
tles. Frederic,  duke  of  Austria,  son-in-law  to  the  emperor  Sigismund, 
was  chosen  emperor  upon  the  death  of  his  father,  and  reigned  fifty-three 
5'ears.  His  son  Maximilian  was  chosen  king  of  the  Romans  during  the 
life  of  his  father,  and  afterwards  obtained  from  the  pope  the  imperial 
crown.     During  his  reign  the  empire  was  divided  into  ten  circles. 

Charles  V.,  surnamed  the  Great,  son  of  Philip,  king  of  Spain,  and 
grandson  to  Maximilian,  was  elected  emperor  in  1519.  He  caused  Lu- 
ther's doctrine  to  be  condemned,  and  in  his  reign  the  disciples  of  that 
great  reformer  obtained  the  name  of  Protestants.,  from  their  protesting 
against  a  decree  of  the  imperial  diet  in  favour  of  the  Catholics.  He  is 
-said  to  have  been  victorious  in  seventy  battles  ;  he  had  the  pope  and 
French  king  prisoners  at  the  same  time,  and  carried  his  arms  into  Africa, 
where  he  conquered  the  kingdom  of  Tunis,  but  was  disgrnced  in  the  war 
>vith  the  piratical  states.  He  compelled  the  Turks  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Vienna,  made  war  on  the  protestant  princes,  and  took  the  elector  of 
Saxony  and  the  prince  of  Hesse  prisoners ;  but,  after  a  reign  of  thirty- 
eight  years,  he  resigned  the  empire  to  his  brother  Ferdinand,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Spain  to  his  son,  Philip  II.,  himself  retiring  to  the  convent 
of  St.  Juste,  in  Spain.  The  abdication  of  this  prince  left  the  power  of 
the  princes  of  Germany  more  firm.  The  house  of  Austria  was  divided 
into  two  branches,  one  of  which  reigned  in  Spain,  and  which,  by  the  con- 
quests in  the  New  World,  had  become  much  superior,  in  power  and 
riches,  to  the  Austrian  branch.  Ferdinand  I.,  successor  to  Charles  V., 
had  great  possessions  in  Germany  ;  Upper  Hungary,  which  he  also  pos- 
sessed, could  aff"ord  him  little  more  than  the  support  of  the  troops  neces- 
sary to  make  head  against  the  Turks ;  Bohemia  seemed  to  bear  the  yoke 
with  regret ;  and  Livonia,  which  had  hitherto  belonged  to  the  empire, 
was  now  detached  and  joined  to  Poland. 

Ferdinand  I.  distinguished  himself  by  establishing  the  aulic  council  of 
the  empire ;  he  was  a  peaceful  prince,  and  used  to  assign  a  part  of  each 
day  to  hear  the  complaints  of  his  people.  Maximilian  II.,  and  his  son, 
Rodolph  II.,  were  each  elected  king  of  the  Romans,  but  the  latter  could 
not  be  prevailed  upon  to  allow  a  successor  to  be  chosen  in  his  lifetime. 
Under  Maximilian  II.,  as  under  Ferdinand  I.,  Lombardy  was  not,  in  ef- 
fect, in  the  power  of  Germany  ;  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Philip,  appertain- 
ing rather  to  an  ally  than  a  vassal.  During  this  time  the  legislative 
authority  resided  always  in  the  emperor,  notwithstanding  the  weakness 
of  the  imperial  power ;  and  this  authority  was  in  its  greatest  vigour, 
when  the  chief  of  the  empire  had  not  diminished  his  power  by  increasing 
that  of  the  princes.  Rodolph  II.  found  these  obstacles  to  his  authority, 
and  the  empire  became  more  weak  in  his  hands.  The  philosophy,  or 
rather  the  effeminacy,  of  this  prince,  who  possessed  particular  virtues, 
but  not  those  of  a  sovereign,  occasioned  many  fermentations.  Luther- 
anism  had  already  spread  itself  in  Germany  for  the  space  of  a  century ; 
princes,  kings,  cities  and  nations,  had  embraced  this  doctrine.  In  vain 
Charles  V.  and  his  successors  had  endeavoured  ♦o  stop  its  progress ;  it 


158  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

manifested  itself  more  and  more  every  day,  till  at  length  it  broke  all 
bounds,  and  menaced  Germany  with  a  general  war.  Henry  IV.  having 
nullified  the  measures  of  the  party  formed  against  the  house  of  Austria, 
the  protestants  and  catholics  appeared  reciprocally  to  fear  each  other; 
and  hostilities  ceased  after  the  taking  of  Juliers.  Germany,  however, 
continued  to  be  divided  into  two  parties.  The  first,  which  was  named 
the  angelic  union,  had  for  its  chief  the  elector  palatine,  united  to  whom 
were  all  the  protestant  princes,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  imperial  cities. 
The  second  was  called  the  catholic  league,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the 
duke  of  Bavaria.  The  pope  and  king  of  Spain  joined  themselves  to  this 
party;  and  it  was  further  strengthened  by  the  elector  of  Saxony,  and  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse  Darmstadt;  the  first  because  he  was  jealous  of  the 
elector  palatine,  and  the  latter  because  he  had  his  particular  reasons  for 
keeping  fair  with  the  emperor.  Rodolph  died  in  1612.  The  electors, 
after  an  interregnum  of  some  months,  bestowed  the  empire  on  the  arch- 
duke Matthias,  brother  to  the  late  emperor.  This  prince  had  already 
mounted  the  thrones  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  as  a  friend  to  the  protest- 
ant cause.  But  he  had  no  sooner  ascended  the  imperial  throne,  than  he 
laid  aside  the  mask  and  renounced  the  reformed  religion.  It  was  not 
long  before  he  received  the  proper  reward  of  his  dissimulation.  An  ir- 
ruption being  made  into  Hungary  by  the  Turks,  he  applied  to  the  protest- 
ants for  succour,  who  refused  him  assistance. 

In  1619  Matthias  died,  leaving  no  issue.  The  protestant  party  used  its 
utmost  endeavors  to  prevent  the  empire  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  a 
catholic  prince,  especially  one  of  the  house  of  Austria ;  notwithstanding 
which,  Ferdinand  II.,  cousin  to  the  late  emperor,  was  elected,  and  for  a 
time  he  was  the  most  happy  as  well  as  the  most  powerful  monarch  in 
Europe :  not  so  much  from  his  personal  efforts  or  abilities,  as  from  the 
great  success  of  his  generals,  Walstein  and  Tilly.  The  power  of  Aus- 
tria menaced  equally  the  catholics  and  the  protestants,  and  the  alarm 
spread  itself  even  to  Rome.  The  pope  thought  it  advisable  to  unite  with 
France,  in  order  to  check  the  growing  power  of  Austria.  French  gold, 
and  the  entreaties  of  the  protestants,  brought  into  this  confederacy  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden,  the  only  monarch  of  his  day  who  had 
the  smallest  pretension  to  the  name  of  a  hero.  The  arrival  of  Gustavus 
in  Germany  changed  the  face  of  affairs  in  Europe.  In  1631  he  gained 
the  battle  of  Leipsic,  defeating  General  Tilly.  Many  of  the  new  manoeu- 
vres introduced  at  that  time  by  the  Swedish  monarch  into  the  art  of  war, 
are  even  now  practised  by  most  of  the  European  powers,  and  are  esteem- 
ed by  military  men  chef-d'cEuvres  in  military  art.  Ferdinand,  in  1632, 
had  nearly  lost  Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  the  empire  ;  but  his  good  fortune 
saved  him;  his  enemy,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  was  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Lutzen,  in  the  midst  of  victory.  The  house  of  Austria,  which  had  sunk 
under  the  arms  of  Adolphus,  now  felt  new  spirits,  and  succeeded  in  de- 
taching the  most  powerful  princes  of  the  empire  from  the  alliance  of 
Sweden.  These  victorious  troops,  abandoned  by  their  allies  and  deprived 
of  their  king,  were  beaten  at  Nordlingen ;  and  although  more  fortunate 
afterwards,  they  were  less  feared  than  when  under  Gustavus. 

Ferdinand  II.  died  at  this  conjuncture;  he  left  all  his  dominions  to  his 
son  Ferdinand  III.  In  the  reign  of  this  prince  the  celebrated  treaty  of 
Westphalia  was  solemnly  signed  at  Munster,  October  24th,  1648.  It  was 
the  basis  of  all  subsequent  treaties,  and  is  esteemed  as  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  empire.  It  was  by  this  treaty  that  the  quarrels  of  the  emperors^ 
and  the  princes  of  the  empire,  which  had  subsisted  seven  hundred  years, 
and  the  disputes  about  religion  (although  of  less  duration,  not  less  dan- 
gerous), were  terminated.  Germany  appeared  to  recover  insensibly  its 
losses ;  the  fields  were  cultivated,  and  the  cities  rebuilt.  Leopold,  the 
son  of  Ferdinand,  succeeded.     His  first  war  was  very  unfortunate,  and  he 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  159 

received  the  law  by  the  peace  of  Nimeguen.  The  interior  of  Germany 
was  not  materially  injured ;  but  the  frontiers,  on  the  side  of  the  Rhine, 
suffered  considerably.  Fortune  was  less  unequal  in  the  second  war,  pro- 
duced by  the  league  of  Augsburg;  Germany,  England,  Spain,  Savoy,  and 
Sweden,  against  France.  This  war  ended  with  the  peace  of  Ryswick, 
(vhich  deprived  Louis  XIV.  of  Strasburg. 

The  third  war  was  the  most  fortunate  for  Leopold,  and  for  Germany  ; 
when  Louis  XIV.  had  considerably  increased  his  power;  when  he  gov- 
erned Spain  under  the  name  of  his  grandson;  when  his  armies  not  only 
possessed  the  Netherlands,  and  Bavaria,  but  were  in  the  heart  of  Italy 
and  Germany.  The  battle  of  Hochstadt,  in  1704,  changed  the  scene,  and 
every  place  he  had  acquired  was  lost.  Leopold  died  the  following  year, 
with  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  powerful  emperor  since  Charles  the 
Fifth.  The  reign  of  Joseph  I.,  his  son,  was  yet  more  successful  than  thai 
of  Leopold.  The  gold  of  England  and  Holland,  the  victories  of  Prince 
Eugene  and  the  duke  of  Marlborough,  and  his  good  fortune,  rendered  him 
almost  absolute.  He  put  to  the  ban  of  the  empire  the  electors  of  Bavaria 
and  Cologne,  partizans  of  France,  and  took  possession  of  their  dominions. 
Joseph  died  in  1711,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Charles  VI. 
Although  powerful  as  he  was,  by  the  possession  of  all  Hungary,  of  the 
Milanese,  of  Mantua,  of  Naples,  and  of  Sicily,  and  the  nine  provinces  ol 
the  Low  Countries,  and  the  flourishing  state  of  his  hereditary  German  do- 
minions, he  was  obliged  to  sign,  on  receiving  the  imperial  crown,  an 
obligation  to  conserve  and  augment  the  rights  of  the  Germanic  body. 
The  empire  vas  tranquil  and  flourishing  under  the  last  emperor  of  the 
house  of  Austria.  The  war  cf  1716,  against  the  Turks,  was  principally  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  Ottoman  territory,  and  terminated  gloriously.  Ger- 
many had  changed  its  face  during  the  times  of  Leopold  and  Joseph ;  but, 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  VI.  it  may  be  said  to  have  arrived  almost  at  per- 
fection. Previous  to  this  epoch,  the  arts  were  uncultivated ;  scarcely  a 
house  was  well  built,  and  manufactures  of  fine  articles  unknown;  the 
thirty  years'  war  had  ruined  all. 

The  aff'airs  of  Charles  were  uniformly  successful  until  1734.  The  cel- 
ebrated victories  of  Prince  Eugene  over  the  Turks  at  Temeswar,  and  ac 
Belgrade,  secured  the  frontiers  of  Hungary  from  molestation ;  and  Italy 
became  safe  in  consequence  of  Don  Carlos,  son  of  Philip  V.,  havmg  con- 
sented to  become  his  vassal.  But  these  prosperities  had  their  termination. 
Charles,  by  his  credit  in  Europe,  and  in  conjunction  with  Russia,  endeav- 
oured to  procure  the  crown  of  Poland  for  Augustus  III.,  elector  of  Saxony. 
The  French,  who  supported  Stanislaus,  had  the  advantage,  and  Stanislaus 
was  elected  king.  Don  Carlos  being  declared  king  of  Naples,  after  the 
battle  of  Bitonto.  took  possession  also  in  1735.  Charles,  to  obtain  peace, 
renounced  the  two  kingdoms,  and  dismembered  the  Milanese  in  favour  of 
the  king  of  Sardinia.  New  misfortunes  aflHicted  him  in  his  latter  years. 
Having  declared  war  against  the  Turks  in  1737,  his  armies  were  defeated, 
and  a  disadvantageous  peace  was  the  consequence.  Belgrade,  Temeswar 
Orsova,  and  all  the  country  between  the  Danube  and  the  Saave,  Vv^ere  ceded 
to  the  Turks.  He  died  broken-hearted,  in  1740.  The  death  of  Charles 
plunged  Europe  in  one  general  and  ruinous  war.  By  the  "pragmatic 
sanction,"  which  he  had  signed,  and  which  was  guaranteed  by  P'rancc, 
the  arch-duchess  Maria  Theresa,  his  eldest  daughter,  had  been  named  as 
heiress  to  all  his  possessions.  This  princess  married,  in  1736,  Francis 
Stephen,  last  duke  of  Lorraine.  She  solicited  the  imperial  throne  for  her 
husband,  and  sued  for  the  inheritance  of  her  father.  They  were  both  dis 
puted  by  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  who,  supported  by  the  arms  of  France, 
was  elected  emperor,  in  1742. 

Charles  VII.  died  in  1745,  and  was  succeeded  by  Francis  L,  the  husband 
ol  Maria  Theresa.    He  died  in  1765,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 


]G0  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

^oseph  II.,  who  had  been  elected  king  of  the  Romans  the  preceding  yeai. 
When  this  prince  attained  to  the  imperial  dignity,  he  was  considered  as 
distinguished  by  a  steady  and  active  attention  to  every  department  of  gov- 
ernment ;  and  he  actually  introduced  a  variety  of  bold  and  salutary  reforms 
in  the  state.  A  noble  liberality  of  mind,  and  enlarged  views  of  politics, 
were  imputed  to  him  when  he  rendered  the  condition  of  the  lower  orders 
of  men  in  his  hereditary  dominions  less  wretched  and  servile,  by  alleviat- 
ing that  cruel  vassalage  in  which  they  were  held  by  the  feudal  lord:?  of  the 
soil;  while  a  free  and  unreserved  toleration  was  granted  to  all  sects  and 
denominations  of  Christians;  but  these  hopes  were  frustrated  by  a  more 
full  developement  of  his  character,  in  which,  activity  without  efficiency, 
enacting  laws  and  abrogating  them,  forming  great  designs  and  terminating 
them  in  mean  concessions,  appeared  conspicuous.  On  the  death  of  the 
elector  of  Bavaria,  in  1777,  the  emperor  laid  claim  to  a  considerable  part 
of  that  electorate,  founded  on  a  vague  right  which  had  been  set  up,  but 
not  contended  for,  so  long  ago  as  the  year  1425,  by  the  emperor  Sigismund. 
The  king  of  Prussia,  as  elector  of  IJrandenburgh,  opposed  these  preten- 
sions, on  the  ground  of  protecting  the  empire  in  its  rights,  privileges,  and 
territorial  possessions,  against  all  encroachments  upon,  or  diminutions  of 
them;  but  the  emperor  not  being  induced  by  negotiation  to  relinquish  his 
designs,  in  1778  the  two  most  powerful  monarchs  in  Europe  led  their  for- 
midable armies  in  person,  to  decide  the  dispute  by  arms  ;  nearly  half  a 
million  of  men  appearing  in  the  field,  to  fight  for  a  territory  which  would 
have  been  dearly  purchased  at  the  sum  expended  on  one  year's  support  of 
those  vast  armies — so  little  is  the  ambition  of  princes  regulated  by  the  in- 
trinsic worth  of  the  object  at  which  they  aim  !  The  kingdom  of  Bohemia 
was  the  scene  of  action,  and  the  greatest  generals  of  the  age  commanded; 
as.  Marshal  Count  Laudohn,  on  the  side  of  Austria;  Prince  Henry  ol 
Prussia,  and  the  hereditary  prince  (afterwards  duke)  of  Brunswick,  on  the 
side  of  Prussia.  The  horrors  and  the  eclat  of  war  were  then  expected  to 
be  revived,  in  all  their  tremendous  pomp,  but  the  campaign  was  closed 
without  any  general  action,  or  any  brilliant  event  whatever;  and  during 
the  following  winter  the  courts  of  Petersburgh  and  Versailles  interposing 
their  good  offices  to  make  up  the  breach,  terms  of  peace  were  soon  ad- 
justed at  Teschen,  in  Austrian  Silesia.  The  territory  acquired  to  the  house 
of  Austria  by  virtue  of  this  treaty  extends  about  seventy  English  miles, 
and  in  breadth  is  about  half  that  space.  The  court  of  Vienna,  being  thus 
put  into  possession  of  this  territory,  renounced,  in  the  fullest  and  most  ex- 
plicit terms,  all  other  claims  whatever  on  the  electorate,  by  which  every 
latent  spark  that  might  kindle  future  contentions  and  wars  was  supposed 
to  be  extinguished.  In  the  year  1781,  the  court  of  Vienna  endeavoured 
to  procure  for  the  archduke  Maximilian,  brother  to  the  emperor,  the  elec- 
tion to  a  participation  of  the  secular  bishoprics  of  Cologne  and  Munster, 
together  with  the  reversion  of  the  former :  this  measure  was  strenuously 
opposed  by  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  remonstrated  against  it  to  the  reign- 
ing elector,  and  to  the  chapters,  in  whom  the  right  of  election  is  lodged ; 
but  notwithstanding  the  power  of  the  prince  who  thus  interposed,  the  house 
of  Austria  carried  its  point.  After  this  the  views  of  the  emperor  were 
directed  to  the  restoration  of  the  commerce  formerly  carried  on  by  the 
ancient  city  of  Antwerp ;  and  also  to  invite  foreign  ships  to  the  port  of 
Ostend,  by  which  he  hoped  to  render  the  Austrian  Netherlands  flourishing 
and  opulent;  nor  was  he  less  attentive  to  abridge  the  power  of  the  clergy 
and  the  authority  of  the  church  of  Rome,  in  every  part  of  his  hereditary 
dominions. 

Joseph  II.  died  February  20,  1790,  in  the  49th  year  of  his  age,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother,  Leopold  II.,  then  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  who 
became  emperor  of  Germany,  and  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  This 
prince  severely  felt  the  thorns  which  encompassed  a  diadem  :  although  a 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  161 

lover  of  peace,  he  was  compelled  to  wage  war  with  the  French  republic  . 
while  lie  ^'aw  his  sister,  the  queen  of  France,  degraded  from  her  rauk, 
kept  a  close  prisoner,  and  in  continual  danger  of  an  untimely  end ;  but 
death  closed  his  eyes  upon  these  conflictive  scenes  in  March,  1791,  five 
months  after  his  advancetijent,  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  Fran- 
cis had  no  sooner  been  declared  emperor,  than  he  joined  in  the  hostilities 
carrying  on  against  France,  on  account  of  his  hereditary  states,  as  well 
as  the  empire.  He  soon  lust  the  Netherlands  ;  and  the  empire  all  its 
territory  west  of  the  Rhine  ;  the  Austrian  possessions  in  Italy  followed 
in  1797.  The  progress  of  the  French  arms  was  arrested  only  by  the  treaty 
of  Campo  Formio.  A  congress  v\as  afterwards  held  at  Rastadt,  which 
continued  sitting  for  many  months,  and  at  length  broke  up  without  pro- 
curing peace.  During  the  year  179J  the  Austrians,  joined  by  the  Russians 
under  Suwarrow,  penetrated  into  Italv,  and  deprived  the  French  of  the 
greater  part  of  their  conquests  acquired  by  the  military  skill  of  Bonaparte. 

In  1800,  Bonaparte  having  returr.ed  fiom  Egypt,  raised  an  army,  and 
crossed  the  Alps,  with  a  view  to  recover  Italy,  lost  in  his  absence. 
Fortune  favoured  his  arms,  and  all  the  possessions  of  Francis  fell  into  his 
hands  by  the  famous  battle  of  Marengo.  Piedmont  also  submitted  to  the 
conqueror,  and  was,  with  Parma,  Placentia,  c^nd  some  imperial  fiefs,  in- 
corporated with  France.  The  peace  of  Lur.eville,  in  1301,  made  the 
Rhine  the  boundary  between  France  and  Germany ;  the  latter  thus  lost 
more  than  26,000  square  miles  of  territory,  and  nearly  4,000,000  inhabi- 
tants. The  Austrian  monarch  founded  the  hereditary  empire  of  Austria 
in  1804  ;  and  the  first  consul  of  France  was  declared  emperor  of  the 
French,  under  the  title  of  Napoleon  I.  Austria  and  Russia  soon  after 
united  against  Napoleon ;  and  the  peace  of  Presburg,  which  took  place 
on  the  26th  of  December,  1805,  terminated  the  war,  in  which  three  states 
of  the  German  empire,  Bavaria,  Wirtemberg,  and  Baden,  had  taken  part 
as  allies  of  France.  In  the  following  year,  sixteen  German  princes  re- 
nounced their  connexion  with  the  German  empire,  and  entered  into  a 
union  under  the  name  of  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine,  which  acknow- 
ledged the  emperor  of  France  as  its  protector.  This  decisive  step  was 
followed  by  a  second.  The  German  empire  was  dissolved  ;  the  emperor 
Francis  resigned  the  German  crown,  renounced  the  title  of  emperor  of 
Germany,  and  declared  the  hereditary  dominions  separated  from  the  Ger- 
man empire.  The  first  year  of  the  existence  of  this  "  confederation  "  had 
not  elapsed,  when  its  armies,  united  with  those  of  France,  were  marched 
to  the  Saale,  the  Elbe,  and  the  Oder,  against  the  Prussians,  and  afterwards 
to  the  Vistula,  against  the  Russians.  After  the  peace  of  Tilsit  the  con- 
federation was  strengthened  by  the  accession  of  eleven  princely  houses 
of  northern  Germany.  The  kingdom  of  Westphalia  was  established,  and 
Jerome,  the  brother  of  Napoleon,  put  upon  the  throne.  Four  kings,  five 
grand-dukes,  and  twenty-five  dukes  and  other  princes,  were  united  in  the 
new  confederation. 

The  peace  of  Vienna  increased  its  extent  and  power.  The  north-west- 
ern parts,  however,  and  the  Hanseatic  cities,  Bremen,  Hamburg,  and 
Lubeck,  were  united  with  France  in  1810.  When  Napoleon,  in  1812, 
undertook  his  fatal  expedition  to  Russia,  the  contingents  of  the  Rhenish 
confederation  joined  his  army  ;  and  not  less  than  100,000  Germans  found 
their  graves  in  the  snows  of  Russia.  The  Russians  pursued  their  advan- 
tages to  the  frontiers  of  Germany.  Prussia,  wearied  with  her  long  suf- 
ferings, joined  them  with  enthusiasm,  and,  at  the  same  time,  some  of  the 
states  of  the  north  of  Germany  united  with  them.  Lubeck  and  Hamburg 
rose  against  the  French,  and  all  Germany  was  animated  with  the  cheering 
hope  of  liberation.  Austria  next  joined  the  grand  alliance;  and  the  war. 
owing  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people,  soon  assumed  a  most  favourable 
appearance  fo»  'he  allies.  On  the  8th  of  October,  1813,  Bavaria  joined  the 
11 


lb'2 


THE  TREASURY  CF  HISTORl. 


allied  arms  :  and,  ten  days  afterwards,  the  battle  of  Leipsic  destroyed  the 
French  dominion  in  Germany,  and  dissolved  the  confederation  of  th« 
Rhine.  The  king  of  Wirtemberg,  and  the  other  princes  of  the  south,  soon 
after  followed  the  example  of  Bavaria  ;  and  after  the  battle  of  Hanau,  Oct. 
30,  the  French  arms  had  retreated  over  the  Rhine,  p]  very  where  in  Ger 
many  the  French  power  was  now  annihilated;  neither  the  kingdom  of 
Westphalia  nor  the  grand-duchy  of  Berg  any  longer  existed.  Through- 
out Germany  immense  preparations  were  made  for  the  preservation  ot 
the  recovered  independence.  The  victorious  armies  passed  the  Rhine  on 
the  first  days  of  the  following  year,  and  all  the  territory  which  the  French 
had  conquered  from  Germany  since  1793,  was  regained  and  secured  by 
the  events  of  the  campaign  in  France  and  peace  of  Paris.  It  was  stipula- 
ted, by  the  articles  of  the  peace,  that  the  German  states  should  be  inde- 
pendent, but  connected  together  by  a  federative  system.  This  provision 
(jf  the  treaty  was  carried  into  effect  by  the  congress  of  Vienna,  Nov.  1, 
1814,  and  by  the  statutes  of  the  Germanic  confederation  in  1H15. 

In  the  new  system  of  Europe,  established  at  the  congress  in  1815,  and 
by  the  treaty  concluded  with  Bavaria,  at  Munich,  in  April,  181G,  the  Aus- 
trian monarchy  not  only  gained  more  than  4238  square  miles  of  territory, 
but  was  also  essentially  improved  in  compactness  ;  and  its  commercial 
importance  was  increased  by  the  accession  of  Dalmatia  and  Venice.  The 
influence  of  this  power  among  the  states  of  Europe,  in  consequence  ofthe 
congress  of  Vienna,  as  the  first  member  of  the  great  quadruple  alliance 
(changed,  by  the  congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  to  a  quintuple  alliance,) 
and  as  the  head  ofthe  German  confederation,  has  since  been  gradually  in- 
creasing. Of  the  foreign  aflfairs  ofthe  government,  which  have  been  con- 
ducted by  the  prince  Von  Metternich,  the  most  important  is  the  connexion 
of  Austria  with  the  German  confederation.  The  termination  of  the  war 
with  Russia,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  Germany,  "  the  war  of  liberation,"  re- 
stored Germany  to  its  geographical  and  political  position  in  Europe,  but 
not  as  an  empire  acknowledging  one  supreme  head.  A  confederation  of 
thirty-five  independent  sovereigns  and  four  free  cities  has  replaced  the 
elective  monarchy,  that  fell  inider  its  own  decrepitude.  In  the  choice  of 
the  smaller  princes,  who  were  to  become  rulers,  as  well  as  of  those  who 
were  obliged  to  descend  to  the  rank  of  subjects,  more  attention  was  paid 
to  family  and  political  connection  than  to  the  old  territorial  divisions 
under  the  empire.  The  clerical  fiefs,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  free  im- 
perial cities,  were  incorporated  into  the  estates  of  the  more  powerful 
princes,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  empire,  and  were  not  re-established. 
Only  four  cities  remained  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  political  rights.  The 
following  territories,  with  the  population  of  each,  according  to  the  sta- 
tistics of  1838,  are  comprised  in  the  present  German  confederation: 


States.  Population. 

1.  Austrian  empire     .     .     .     11,713,950 

2.  Kingdom  of  Trussia    .     .     10,903,810 

3 Bavaria  .     .       4,338,490 

4 Saxony    .     .       1,605,590 

5 Haiinver       .       1,737,500 

« Wirtemberg        l,646,78o 

7.  Grand  duchy  of  Baden    .       1,237,260 

8.  Electorate  of  Hesse    .     .     .     721,550 

9.  Hesse  Darmstadt  ....     793,130 

10.  Duchy  of  llolstein      .     .     .     476,950 

11.  Grand  duchy  of  Luxemburg     184,760 

Leinburg    .     147,530 

12.  Duchy  of  Branswick  .     .     .     269,000 

13.  Grand  duchy  of  Mecklenburgh 

Scwerin    ......     478,800 

1 4    Duchy  of  Nassau   ....     387,490 


States.  Population. 

15.  Grand  duchy  of  Saxe-Weimar  245,590 

16.  Duchy  of  Saxe-Cobm-g  Gotha  140,040 

17.  .     .     .       Saxe-Meiningen .     140,590 

18.  .     .     .       Saxe-Altenburg  .     121,590 

19.  Grand  duchy  of  Mecklenbm-g- 

Sti-elitz 87,820 

20.  i Oldeubiu-g  and 

Kniphausen      ....     267,660 

21.  Duchy  of  Anhah  Dessau     .       61,480 

22.  .     .     .       Bemburg  .     .     .       46,920 

23.  Duchy  of  Kothen  ....       40,200 

24.  Pi-incipality  of  Schwarzburg- 
Sonderhausen  ....       55,810 

25 Rudolstadt  .       86.130 

26 Hohenzolterii 

Hechinjren      20.200 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  ^63 

States.  Population.!  States.  Population. 

•27 Lichtenstein    .     6,520 '33.  Principality  of  LippeDetmold  82,970 

34.  Laudgravate  of  Hesse-Hom- 
burg 23.400 

35.  Free  city  of  Lubeck  .  .  .  47,200 

36 Frankfort  .  .  G4,570 

37 Bremen  .  .  .  57,400 

38 Hamburg  .  .  153,500 


Total    .     .     33,715,600 


28 Hohenzoltern- 

Sigmaringen    42,990 

29 Waldeck  .     .     56,480 

30 Reuss  (elder 

branch) .     .     31,500 
31.  .     .     .     Reuss  (younger 

branch)       .     .     ,     72,050 
32         ....     Schaumburg- 

Lippe 27,600 

The  present  emperor,  Ferdinand  I.,  succeeded  his  father,  Francis  I.,  on 
the  2nd  of  March,  1835.  The  accession  of  Ferdinand  to  the  throne  has 
been  marked  by  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  Austrian  cabinet  to  an  en- 
lightened course  of  domestic  and  foreign  policy,  the  steady  prosecution  of 
which  must  prove  of  incalculable  advantage  for  the  empire  andforElurope. 
Of  the  provinces  which  make  up  the  grand  imperial  dominions  of  Austria, 
many  of  them  have  constitutions  different  from  each  other.  Hungary,  as 
an  hereditary  and  limited  monarchy,  has  been  in  the  house  of  Austria  ever 
since  the  year  1437,  when  the  archduke,  having  married  the  only  daughter 
of  King  Sigismund,  succeeded  to  the  crown.  The  nation,  however,  shares 
the  legislative  and  executive  power  with  the  emperor,  who  exercises  his 
authority  only  through  the  medium  of  the  states,  a  kind  of  parliament  as- 
sembling at  fixed  periods  for  the  transaction  of  public  business.  The  Hun- 
garian nobility  also  possess  great  power;  and  they  alone,  in  state  lan- 
guage, are  included  under  the  appellation  of  the  Hungarian  people,  the 
rest  being  included  as  an  inferior  race  of  beings.  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and 
the  Tyroiese,  also  have  an  influence  in  the  general  government,  and  pos- 
sess, to  a  certain  degree,  the  privileges  of  Hungary.  But  in  most  of  the 
provincial  diets,  the  authority  of  the  crown  is  so  great,  that  the  represen- 
tation can  determine  little  else  than  the  mode  of  raising  taxes,  so  that  the 
emperor  is  in  a  considerable  degree  unlimited  in  his  sovereignty.  In  the 
ancient  diet  of  the  empire,  Austria,  independent  of  her  electoral  vote  for 
Bohemia,  had  seven  votes  in  the  college  of  princes  for  the  seven  states  of 
Austria  Proper,  Carinthia,  Styria,  Brixen,  Trent,  Tyrol,  and  Carniola.  In 
the  new  diet,  or  "confederation  of  the  sovereigns  and  free  towns  of  Ger- 
many," Austria,  without  having  any  superiority  over  the  other  states  in 
point  of  rank,  was  declared  by  the  congress  of  Vienna,  to  have  the  presi- 
dency with  a  vote.  In  the  general  assembly  Austria  had  now  four  votes. 
The  executive  government  consists  of  four  great  departments,  established 
at  Vienna,  organized  originally  by  the  councils  of  Maria  Theresa.  One  of 
these  regulates  the  internal  concerns  of  the  empire,  another  its  foreign  af- 
fairs, a  third  its  military  conduct,  and  the  fourth  the  government  of  Hun- 
gary. These  different  parts  of  the  administration  are  identified  in  numer- 
ous boards,  chanceries,  councils,  ministries,  &c.  The  laws  and  jurispru- 
dence of  his  imperial  and  royal  apostolic  majesty's  dominions  are,  taken 
altogether,  very  vague  and  complicated.  Bohemia  and  Moravia  are  divi- 
ded into  circles,  each  under  a  separate  court  of  judicature,  from  which 
lies  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  supreme  tribunal  in  the  provincial  capital. 
Kvery  county  in  Hungary  has  its  ruling  assembly  and  court  of  justice, 
subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  district  judicature,  thence  to  the  royal  tribunal 
at  Buda,  and  thence  to  the  king  in  person.  A  new  code  of  mild  and  salu- 
tary laws  was,  however,  drawn  up  at  the  instance  of  the  government,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century  ;  which  arc  made  the  universal  code 
of  jurisprudence  for  the  Austrian  empire. 

"  The  importance  of  Austria  in  a  political,  not  less  than  in  a  commer- 
rial  point  of  view,"  says  Mr.  M'Culloch,  "  is  evident;  and  as  that  impor- 
tance depends  altogether  upon  her  power  and  the  judicious  developement 
of  her  resources,  the  western  states  are  deeply  interested  in  her  prosper- 


164  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ity.  From  the  nature  of  the  various  states  united  under  the  imperial  sceptre, 
it  is  clear  that  Austria  divides  the  rule  over  the  Sclavonic  nations  of  Europe 
with  Russia;  it  must  consequently  be  for  her  interest  to  attach  to  her 
sway  so  numerous  a  portion  of  her  subjects,  who  have  a  strong  band  of 
sympathy  with  a  growing  and  very  powerful  rival.  A  mild  government 
and  a  sincere  attention  to  the  material  as  well  as  moral  condition  of  her 
subjects,  will  prove  the  best  means  of  linking  together  provinces  differing 
so  much  from  each  other,  and  each  of  which  is  too  powerful  to  be  long 
retained  by  any  other  than  gentle  means.  The  conduct  of  the  cabinet 
at  Vienna  justifies  the  expectation  that  its  leading  members  are  aware  ol 
the  part  which  they  are  called  upon  to  play,  and  of  the  true  sources  of 
their  own  influence,  and  of  that  of  the  nation  in  European  politics.  If 
unity  at  home  be  promoted,  and  the  material  and  moral  condition  of  the 
people  be  improved,  the  power  of  Austria  will  be  such  that  she  need  fear 
nothing  even  if  she  had  to  contend  single-handed  with  Russia  or  France. 
The  variety,  however,  of  her  population,  and  the  different,  or  supposed 
different  interests,  of  her  various  provinces,  are  sufficient  guarantys  to  the 
rest  of  Europe,  that  the  power  of  Austria  will  not  be  abused.  The  pacific 
policy  which  her  cabinet  has  generally  observed  is  dictated  by  the  pecu- 
liar composition  of  the  state,  and  cannot  safely  be  departed  from.  While 
Austria  may  thus  be  looked  upon  as  a  most  useful  ally  by  the  other  states 
of  Europe,  and  as  their  grand  bulwark  against  the  power  and  ambition  of 
Russia,  her  friendship  will  be  courted  in  proportion  to  her  increase  of 
power.  Her  worst  enemies  are  those,  who,  by  fostering  disunion  at 
home,  or  keeping  her  people  in  ignorance  of  their  true  interests,  tveaken 
her  influence,  and  prevent  her  from  attaining  a  position  to  command  tL« 
respect  of  her  neighbours  without  exciting  their  apprehensions." 


HUNGARY 


As  this  country  now  forms  a  part  of  the  Austrian  empire,  but  a  short 
notice  of  it  is  necessary  in  this  place.  The  Huns  are  described  by  the  old 
historians  as  a  nation  of  ferocious  savages,  emanating  from  Scythia,  or 
Western  Tartary.  They  lived  upon  roots,  and  flesh,  half  raw  ;  they  had 
neither  houses  nor  cities;  and  their  wives  and  children  dwelt  under  tents. 
They  fought  without  order,  and  without  discipline  ;  and  trusted  much  to 
the  swiftness  of  their  horses.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  been  known  to 
the  Romans,  until  about  the  year  209  of  the  Christian  era,  at  which  time 
the  Romans  called  them  Pannonians. 

The  people  of  Hungary  consist  of  seven  distinct  races,  viz :  Magyars, 
Slowacks,  Croatia.ns,  Germans,  Wallachians,  Rusniacks,  and  Jews ;  of 
whom  the  Magyars  are  by  far  the  most  considerable.  In  their  own 
country  their  oriental  denomination  of  Magyars  is  usually  given  to  them, 
the  name  of  Hungarians  being  used  only  by  other  nations.  Under  Attila, 
they  penetrated  into  Gaul,  and  became  masters  of  the  finest  cities  ;  and 
Avere  approaching  towards  Paris,  when  Actius,  the  Roman  general,  defeat- 
ed them  near  Troyes,  in  Campagne.  After  this  battle  Attila  retired  into 
Pannonia ;  but  as  soon  as  he  had  repaired  his  losses,  he  ravaged  Italy : 
and  was  preparing  anew  to  enter  Gaul,  when  death  put  an  end'^to  his  vic- 
tories, in  the  year  454. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 


165 


Attila  was  really  what  he  had  named  himself,  "  the  terror  of  men,  and 
the  scourge  of  God."  After  his  death,  great  divisions  took  place  among 
the  Huns,  who  no  longer  kept  that  name,  but  assumed  the  appellation  of 
Hungarians ;  but  of  their  history  during  the  time  of  the  Western  and 
Eastern  empires,  and  the  various  wars  and  invasions  which  are  said  to 
have  taken  place  between  the  third  and  tenth  centuries,  there  is  no  infor- 
mation upon  which  reliance  can  be  placed.  They  began  to  embrace 
Christianity  under  the  guidance  of  German  missionaries  ;  Stephen,  chief 
of  the  Hungarians,  who  had  married  the  sister  of  the  emperor  Henry,  was 
baptized  at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century.  The  pope  bestowed 
upon  him  the  title  of  "  apostolic  king ;"  and  idolatry  soon  after  disappeared 
in  Hungary. 

Stephen,  thus  honoured  by  the  pope  for  his  services  in  converting  the 
heathens,  endeavoured  to  strengthen  his  kingdom  by  the  power  of  the 
hierarchy  and  the  aristocrary.  He  established  ten  richlv  endowed  bishop- 
rics, and  divided  the  whole  empire  into  seventy  counties.  These  officers 
and  the  bishops  formed  the  senate  of  the  kingdom,  with  whose  concur- 
rence King  Stephen  granted  a  constitution,  the  principal  features  of  which 
are  still  preserved.  The  unsettled  state  of  the  succession  to  the  crown, 
and  the  consequent  interference  of  neighbouring  princes,  and  of  the  Roman 
court,  in  the  domestic  concerns  of  Hungary;  the  inveterate  hatred  of  the 
Magyars  against  the  Germans,  who  were  favoured  by  Peter,  the  success- 
or of  Stephen  ;  the  secret  struggle  of  paganism  with  Christianity,  and  par- 
ticularly the  arrogance  of  the  clergy  and  nobility,  long  retarded  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country. 

The  religious  zeal  and  bravery  of  St.  Ladislaus,  and  the  energy  and 
prudence  of  Colomann,  shine  amid  the  darkness  of  this  period.  These 
two  monarchs  extended  the  boundaries  of  the  empire ;  the  former  by  the 
conquest  of  Croatia  and  Sclavonia,  the  latter  by  the  conquest  of  Dalmatia. 
They  asserted  with  firmness  the  dignity  of  the  Hungarian  crown,  and  the 
independence  of  the  nation,  against  all  foreign  attacks  ;  and  restored 
order  and  tranquillity  at  home  by  wise  laws  and  prudent  regulations.  The 
introduction  of  German  colonists,  from  Flanders  and  Alsace,  into  Zips  and 
Transylvania,  by  Geysa  H.,  in  1148,  had  an  important  influence  on  those 
districts  ;  and  the  connexion  of  Hungary  with  Constantinople  during  the 
reign  of  Bela  HI.,  who  had  been  educated  in  that  city,  had  a  favourable 
effect  on  the  country  in  general.  The  Magyars,  who  had  previously  pass- 
ed the  greater  part  of  the  year  in  tents,  became  more  accustomed  to  living 
in  towns,  and  to  civil  institutions.  On  the  other  hand,  Hungary  became 
connected  with  France  by  the  second  marriage  of  Bela  with  Margaret, 
sister  to  Henry,  king  of  France,  and  widow  of  Henry,  king  of  England. 
She  introduced  French  elegance  at  the  Hungarian  court,  and  at  this  time 
we  find  the  first  mention  of  Hungarians  studying  at  Paris  ;  but  these  im- 
provements were  soon  checked,  and  the  kingdom  was  reduced  to  a  most 
deplorable  condition  by  the  invasions  of  the  Mongols  in  the  middle  of  the 
13th  century.  After  the  retreat  of  these  wild  hordes,  Bela  IV.  endeavour- 
ed to  heal  the  wounds  of  his  country.  He  induced  Germans  to  settle  in 
the  depopulated  provinces,  and  elevated  the  condition  of  the  citizens  by 
increasing  the  number  of  the  royal  free  cities.  The  king,  Ladislaus, 
having  been  killed  in  1290,  by  the  Tartars,  the  emperor  Rodolph  of  Haps- 
burg,  pretending  that  Hungary  was  a  fief  of  the  empire,  gave  the  crown  to 
one  of  his  sons  ;  but,  in  1319,  Pope  Boniface  VHI.,  supposing  it  to  be  his 
right  to  dispose  of  the  kingdom,  invested  Charibert,  who  supported  his 
appointment  with  his  sword.  Under  him  Hungary  became  powerful;  he 
added  to  his  kingdom  Croatia,  Servia,  Transylvania,  Moldavia,  and  part  of 
Dalmatia. 

In  1437,  Albert  of  Austria  ascended  the  Hungarian  throne.  Under  him 
oommenced  the  intestine  divisions  which,  joined  to  the  irruptions  of  the 


16G  THE  TREASUllY  OF  HISTORY. 

Turks,  almost  depopulated  the  country.  The  civil  war  between  the  peo- 
ple and  the  nobles,  in  the  reign  of  Ladislaus  V.  and  the  Corvins,  weakened  it 
so  much,  that  it  was  not  in  a  state  to  resist  the  Ottoman  power;  and  the 
army  of  Solyman  entirely  destroyed  that  of  Hungary  in  1526  ;  when  the 
king,  Louis  II.,  was  killed.  Two  hundred  thousand  captives  were  taken 
away  by  the  Turks.  Ferdinand  I.,  emperor  of  Germany,  was  elected  king 
of  Hungary  by  the  states  in  1627.  He  found  the  country  weak  in  popula- 
tion, very  poor,  divided  by  the  catholic  and  protestant  factions,  and  occu 
pied  by  the  Turkish  and  German  armies.  It  was  in  a  deplorable  state 
under  all  the  kings  of  the  house  of  Austria,  but  more  particularly  so  under 
Leopold,  elected  in  1655.  In  his  reign,  Upper  Hungary  and  Transylvania 
were  the  theatre  of  revolution,  bloody  war,  and  devastation.  The  Hun- 
garians defended  their  liberties  against  Leopold ;  and  the  consequence 
was,  the  death  of  the  principal  nobility  on  the  scaffohl,  at  Vienna.  A  man 
named  Emeric  Tekeli,  whose  father  and  friends  had  fallen  under  the  hands 
of  the  executioner,  in  order  to  avenge  their  deaths,  raised  a  force  in  Hun- 
gary, in  1683,  and  joined  Mahomet  IV.,  tlien  besieging  Vienna.  John 
Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine,  and  the  princes  of 
the  empire,  had  the  good  fortune  to  oblige  Mahomet  to  retire,  and  thus 
relieved  the  emperor  and  his  capital.  Leopold  was  resolved  to  be  re- 
venged on  the  Hungarians  ;  he  erected  a  scaffold  in  the  month  of  March, 
1687,  and  it  remained  until  the  close  of  the  year,  during  which  time  vic- 
tims without  number  were  immolated  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner. 
The  shocking  butcheries  which  the  Hungarians  saw  practised  on  their 
countrymen,  filled  them  with  horror  and  intimidated  them.  The  Turks 
were  twice  repulsed  and  Hungary  submitted.  Transylvania  was  con- 
quered, and  in  possession  of  the  Imperialists.  The  crown,  which,  since 
the  time  of  Ferdinand  I.  had  been  elective,  was  now  declared  hereditary  ; 
and  Joseph,  son  of  Leopold,  was  crowned  king  at  the  close  of  the  year 
1687.  It  continued  in  the  possession  of  the  Old  Austrian  House  until  the 
death  of  Charles  VI.,  1740, 

After  his  death,  Maria  Theresa,  his  daughter,  who  had  married  into  the 
House  of  Lorraine,  and  was  by  right  heiress  to  his  hereditary  states,  was  in 
great  danger  of  being  deprived.  France  and  Bavaria  overran  her  domin- 
ions ;  but  at  length  she  overcame  all  her  difficulties  ;  her  husband,  after 
the  death  of  Charles  VII.  of  Bavaria,  was  also  invested  with  the  joint 
sovereignty.  She  dying  in  1780,  her  son,  Joseph  II.,  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, succeeded-  He  dying  in  1790,  his  next  brother,  Peter  Leopold, 
grand-duke  of  Tuscany,  became  king  of  Hungary  ;  but  died  five  months 
after  his  elevation,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son  Francis. 

By  the  constitution  of  Hungary  the  crown  is  still  held  to  be  elective. 
This  point  is  not  disputed.  All  that  is  insisted  on  is,  that  the  heir  of  the 
House  of  Austria  should  be  elected  as  often  as  a  vacancy  happens. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PRUSSIA. 

The  name  of  Prussians  was  unknown  till  the  tenth  century ;  and  ita 
etymology  is  very  uncertain ;  some  authors  suppose  that  the  former  in- 
habitants, alluding  to  their  proximity  to  the  Russians,  called  themselves 
Porussi,  or,  bordering  on  the  Russians;  forpo,  in  the  old  Prussian  lau- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  167 

guage  signifies  near.  In  that  age  the  king  of  Poland  took  great  pains,  and 
even  made  use  of  fire  and  sword,  for  the  conversion  of  the  pagan  Prus- 
sians to  Christianity.  Boleslaus  I.  began  with  chastising  the  Prussians 
for  the  murder  of  St.  Albert,  or  Adelbert,  called  the  apostle  of  that  nation. 
His  successors  had  also  several  quarrels  with  the  Prussians  ;  and  Boles 
laus  IV.  who  committed  dreadful  ravages  in  this  country,  lost  his  life  in 
an  unsuccessful  battle  in  1163. 

In  the  thirteenth  centuty,  the  Prussians  ravaged  Culm,  Cujavia  and 
Masovia;  upon  which  Conrad,  duke  of  Masovia,  was  obliged  to  apply 
for  assistance  to  his  allies,  who  all  wore  the  cross,  which  emblem 
they  carried  into  the  field  against  the  Prussians,  whom  they  considered  as 
the  enemies  of  the  Christian  name.  But  all  their  eflforts  proving  ineffect- 
ual, the  duke  applied  to  the  German  knights  of  the  Teutonic  order,  and 
strongly  represented  the  great  importance  of  defending  the  frontiers.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1230,  they  obtained  the  palatinates  of  Culm  and  Doberzin  for 
twenty  years,  and  afterwards  forever,  with  the  absolute  authority  over 
any  future  conquests  in  Prussia.  These  knights,  after  a  long  and  bloody 
war,  during  the  space  of  fifty-three  years,  by  the  assistance  of  the  sword- 
bearing  knights,  subdued  the  whole  country.  A  war  afterwards  broke 
out  between  the  Teutonic  knights  and  the  Lithuanians,  which  was  attend- 
ed with  the  most  dreadful  outrages.  These  knights  made  religion  the 
cloak  of  their  ambitious  views,  and,  under  the  pretence  of  propagating  the 
gospel  of  peace,  committed  the  most  inhuman  barbarities  ;  nay,  it  is  gen- 
erally agreed,  that  they  extirpated  the  native  Prussians,  and  planted  the 
Germans  there  in  their  stead.  Their  territory  at  that  time  extended  from 
the  Oder  along  the  Baltic,  to  the  bay  of  Finland,  and  contained  cities  like 
Dantzic,  P^lbing,  Thorn,  Culm,  &c.  But,  in  1410,  their  savage  zeal  re- 
ceived a  terrible  check  ;  for  after  a  most  bloody  battle  they  were  wholly 
defeated. 

In  1554  half  of  Prussia  revolted  from  its  obedience  to  the  Teutonic 
order,  and  declared  for  Casimir  III.,  king  of  Poland.  This  occasioned  a 
fresh  effusion  of  blood :  till  at  last  a  peace  was  concluded  in  14G6,  by 
which  it  was  agreed,  that  the  part  now  called  Polish  Prussia  should  con- 
tinue a  free  province  under  the  king's  protection ;  and  that  the  knights  and 
the  grand-master  should  possess  the  other  part,  acknowledging  them- 
belves  vassals  of  Poland.  The  knights  soon  endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to 
throw  off  this  yoke.  In  1519  they  raised  new  wars,  which  were  termina- 
ted in  1525  by  a  peace  concluded  at  Cracow;  by  which  it  was  agreed, 
that  the  margrave  Albert,  grand-master  of  the  Teutonic  order,  should  be 
acknowledged  duke  or  sovereign  of  the  eastern  part  of  Prussia,  which  he 
was  to  hold  as  a  fief  of  Poland,  and  which  was  to  descend  to  his  male 
heirs  ;  and  upon  failure  of  male  issue,  to  his  brothers  and  their  male  heirs. 
Thus  ended  the  sovereignty  of  the  Teutonic  order  in  Prussia,  after  it  had 
subsisted  three  hundred  years. 

The  new  duke  favoured  the  introduction  of  the  reformed  religion  into 
his  dominions,  and  founded  the  university  of  Konigsberg.  The  elector 
Joachim  added  the  duchy  of  Prussia  to  the  electoral  house  of  Branden- 
burg, with  which  it  had  been  closely  connected.  The  reign  of  the  elec- 
tor George  William  was  unhappily  distinguished  by  the  calamities  of  a 
thirty  years'  war,  in  which  Prussia  suffered  much  from  the  ravages  of  the 
Swedes.  Frederic  William,  called  the  "  great  elector,"  from  his  extraor- 
dinary talents  as  a  general,  a  statesman,  and  a  politician,  obtained,  in 
1656,  by  a  treaty  with  Poland,  an  extinction  of  the  homage  heretofore  paid 
to  that  kingdom  ;  and  he  was  acknowledged  by  the  powers  of  Europe,  a 
sovereign  independent  duke.  He  made  firm  his  right  in  Juliers  ;  ob- 
tained Cleves ;  recovered  part  of  Pomerania ;  and  increased  the  popula- 
tion of  his  country  by  affording  an  asylum  to  th'e  refugees  of  France,  after 
the  impolitic  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis  XiV.  Frederic, 
his  son,  raised  the  ducliy  of  Prusbiu  to  a  kingdom ;  and  on  the  18th  of 


168  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

January,  1701,  in  a  solemn  assembly  of  the  states  of  the  empire,  placed 
the  crown  with  his  own  hands,  on  his  own  head  and  that  of  his  consort: 
soon  after  which  he  was  acknowledged  king  of  Prussia  by  all  the  other 
Christian  powers.  His  son,  Frederic  William  I.,  who  ascended  the  throne 
in  1713,  greatly  increased  the  population  of  his  country  by  the  favourable 
reception  lie  gave  to  the  distressed  and  persecuted  Saltzburgers,  as  his 
grandfallier  had  done  by  making  it  an  asylum  to  the  Huguenots,  when 
driven  out  of  France  by  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  in  the  year 
1G84.  He  was  wise,  bold,  and  economical;  his  principal  study  the  ag- 
grandizement of  his  kingdom. 

Tiiis  monarch  was  succeeded  in  1740  by  his  son  Frederic  H.,  then  in 
the  29th  year  of  his  age,  who  rendered  his  kingdom  formidable  by  his 
valour  and  his  prudence,  and  promoted  the  happiness  of  his  subjects  by 
an  amendment  and  simplification  of  the  laws,  the  increase  of  commerce, 
and  many  wise  regulations.  His  depredations  on  Poland,  and  his  arbitrary 
and  unjust  violation"  of  the  guaranteed  privileges  of  Dantzic,  as  well  as  the 
oppressions  which  the  city  of  Thorn  endured,  though  they  might  serve  to 
aggrandize  his  kingdom,  sullied  his  name  in  the  eyes  of  an  impartial  pos- 
terity. On  the  death  of  the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  in  the  same  year,  Fre- 
deric led  a  large  army  into  Silesia,  to  a  considerable  part  of  which  duchy 
he  laid  claim.  He  for  some  time  maintained  a  war  against  Maria  Theresa, 
daughter  of  the  late  emperor,  who  was  married  to  the  grand-duke  of  Tus- 
cany; but  on  the  13th  of  June,  1712,  a  treaty  between  the  queen  of  Hungary 
and  the  king  of  Prussia  was  signed  at  Breslau  ;  by  which  the  former 
ceded  to  the  latter  Upper  and  Lower  Silesia,  with  the  county  of  Glatz  in 
Bohemia,  and  the  king  of  Prussia  engaged  to  pay  certain  merchants  of 
London,  the  sums  which  they  had  advanced  to  the  late  emperor,  coMti- 
monly  called  "  the  Silesian  loan ;"  and  at  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
the  contracting  powers  guaranteed  to  him  whatever  had  been  thus  ceded. 
His  father  had  ever  paid  peculiar  attention  to  his  army,  but  the  attention 
of  the  son  was  more  judiciously  and  eflfectually  directed:  for,  in  the  year 
1756,  he  had  150,000  of  the  best  troops  in  Europe.  At  that  time  a  league 
was  formed  against  him  by  the  empress-queen,  and  the  court  of  Ver- 
sailles ;  Augustus,  king  of  Poland  and  elector  of  Saxony,  had  secretly  be- 
come a  party  to  this  confederacy,  the  object  of  which  was  to  subdue  the 
Prussian  dominions,  and  partition  (hem  among  the  contracting  powers. 
Frederic  obtained  early  and  authentic  information  of  his  danger  from  Sax- 
ony, and  proceeded  with  no  less  spirit  than  effect  to  avert  it.  He  marched 
a  powerful  army  into  that  electorate;  compelled  the  troops  of  the  elector 
to  lay  down  their  arms  ;  became  master  of  Dresden  ;  entered  the  palace, 
got  possession  of  the  corespondence  which  had  been  carrying  on  against 
him,  and  published  to  all  Europe  the  authentic  documents  he  had  thus 
obtained;  which  fully  justified  him  in  the  hostilities  he  had  thus  com- 
menced. The  war  soon  after  raged  with  great  fury,  and  the  empress  ol 
Russia  joined  the  confederacy  against  this  devoted  monarch  ;  but  his  un- 
paralleled exertion,  judicious  measures,  and  personal  bravery,  which  were 
powerfully  supported  by  the  wealth  and  arms  of  Great  Britain,  finally 
baffled  all  the  attempts  of  his  enemies,  and  the  general  peace  which  was 
ratified  in  1763,  terminated  his  labours  in  the  field. 

The  Great  Frederic,  long  regarded  as  the  hero  of  the  Prussian  mon- 
archy, and  ipar  excellence  the  hero  of  the  age,  brought  to  perfection  what 
his  father  had  so  successfully  begun.  He  resisted  the  power  of  half 
Europe,  and,  by  his  conquests  and  the  wisdom  of  his  administration,  he 
doubled  the  number  of  his  subjects,  and  almost  the  extent  of  his  territo- 
ries. He  was  as  great  in  his  projects  as  he  was  fortunate  in  their  execu- 
tion; he  was  a  legislator,  a  general,  a  statesman,  a  scholar,  and  a  philoso- 
pher. Lideed  it  may  be  said,  he  was  one  of  those  men  whom  nature  only 
produces  at  long  intervals  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  Igg 

hat,  instead  of  execcising  a  paternal  care  for  his  people,  he  regarded  the 
Prussian  nation  as  a  foreign  general  regards  the  army  under  his  com- 
mand ;  his  sole  thoughts,  in  fact,  appearing  to  be  constantly  centred  in  the 
love  of  fame  and  power.     We  collect  from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Moore,  the 
following  description  of  this  extraordinary  personage,  as  he  appeared  at 
the  time  the  sketch  was  written  :  "  The  king  of  Prussia  is  below  the  mid- 
dle size,  well-made,  and  remarkably  active  for  his  time  of  life.     He  has 
become  hardy  by  exercise  and  a  laborious  life,  for  his  constitution  seems 
originally  to  have  been  none  of  the  strongest.     His  look  announces  spirit 
and  penetration ;  he  has  fine  blue   eyes,  and  his  countenance,  upon  the 
whole,  may  be  said  to  be  agreeable.      His  features  acquire  a  wonderful 
degree  of  animation  while  he  converses.     He  stoops  considerably,  and 
inclines  his  head  almost  constantly  on  one  side ;  his  tone  of  voice  is  the 
clearest  almost  imaginable.     He  talks  a  great  deal,  yet  those  who  hear 
him  regret  that  he  does  not  say  a  great  deal  more.     His  observations  are 
always  lively,  very  often  just,  and  few  men  possess  the  talent  of  repartee 
in  greater  perfection.     He  hardly  ever  varies  his  dress,  which  consists  of 
a  blue  coat  lined  and  faced  with  red,  and  a  yellow  waistcoat  and  breeches ; 
he  always  wears  boots  with  hussar  tops,  which  fall  in  wrinkles  about  his 
ankles.     From  four  or  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  ten  at  night,  this 
king  dedicates  all  his  hours,  methodically,  to  particular  occupations,  either 
of  business  or  amusement.     He  seldom  appears  at  the  queen's  court,  or 
any  place  where  women  form  part  of  the  assembly ;  consequently  he  is 
seldom   seen   at  festivals.     All  his  hours  not  employed  in  business  he 
spends  in  reading,  music,  or  the  society  of  a  few  people  whom  he  esteems. 
The  only  repose  which  the  king  allows  to  himself,  is  between  the  hours 
of  ten  at  night  and  four  in  the  morning ;  the  rest  of  his  time,  in  every  sea- 
son of  the  year,  is  devoted  to  action  either  of  the  body  or  mind,  or  both. 
While  fevv  objects  are  too  great  for  this  monarch's  genius,  none  seem  too 
small  for  his  attention.     Although  a  man  of  wit,  yet  he  can  continue 
methodically  the  routine  of  business  with  the  patience  and  perseverance 
of  the  greatest  dunce.     The  meanest  of  his  subjects  may  apply  to  him  in 
writing  and  are  sure  of  an  answer.     His  first  business  every  morning  is 
the  perusing  of  papers  addressed  to  him.     A  single  word,  written  with  his 
pencil  in  the  margin,  indicates  the  answer  to  be  given,  which  is  afterwards 
made  out  in  form  by  his  secretaries.     He  sits  down  to  dinner  precisely  at 
noon  ;  of  late  he  has  allowed  more  time  at  this  repast  than  formerly ;  it  is 
generally  after  three  before  he  leaves  the  company.     Eight  or  nine  of  his 
officers  are  generally  invited  to  dine  with  him.     At  table,  the  king  likes 
that  every  person  should  appear  to  be  on  a  footing,  and  that  the  conver- 
sation should  be  carried  on  with  perfect  freedom.     It  is  absolutely  im- 
possible for  any  man  to  enjoy  an  office  in  the  king  of  Prussia's  service, 
without  performing  the  duty  of  it ;  but  to  those  who  know  their  business, 
and  perform  it  exactly,  he  is  an  easy  and  equitable  master.     The  king 
understands  what  ought  to  be  done,  and  his  servants  are  never  exposed  to 
the  ridiculous  or  contradictory  orders  of  ignorance,  or  the  mortification  of 
caprice.     His  favourites,  of  whatever  kind,  were  never  able  to  acquire  in- 
fluence over  him  in  anything  regarding  business.     Nobody  ever  knew  bet- 
ter than  this  prince  how  to  discriminate  between  the  merits  of  those  who 
serve  him  in  the  important  departments  of  the  state  and  those  who  con- 
tribute to  his  amusement.     A  man  who  performs  the  duty  of  his  office 
with  alertness  and  fidelity  has  nothing  to  apprehend  from  the  king  being 
fond  of  the  company  and  conversation  of  his  enemy;  let  the  one  be  re- 
galed at  the  king's  table  every  day,  while  the  other  never  receives  a  sin- 
gle invitation,  yet  the  real  merit  of  both  is  known  ;  and  if  his  adversary 
should  ever  try  to  turn  the  king's  favour  to  the  purpose  of  private  hatred 
or  malice,  the  attempt  would  be  repelled  with  disdain,  and  the  evil  he  in- 
tended for  another  would  fall  upon  himself.     The  steady  and  unwearied 


170  '       THE  TllEASl  IIY  OF  HISTORY. 

atleiUiou  wliiclilhis  monarch  has  bestowed,  for  more  than  forty  years,  to 
the  discipHne  of  the  army,  is  unparalleled  either  in  the  ancient  or  modern 
history  of  mankind.  This  perseverance  of  the  kin»,  as  it  is  without  ex- 
ample, so  it  is  the  most  remarkahle  part  of  his  extraordinary  character. 
That  degree  of  exertion  whicli  a  vigorous  mind  is  capable  of  making  on 
some  very  important  occasions,  Frederic  II.  has  made  during  his  whole 
reign  at  a  stretch,  without  permitting  pleasure,  indolence,  disgust,  or  dis- 
appointment to  interrupt  his  plan  for  a  single  day  ;  and  he  has  obliged 
every  person,  throughout  the  various  departments  of  his  government,  to 
make  the  like  exertion  as  far  as  their  characters  and  strength  could  go. 
In  what  manner  must  such  a  king  be  served!  and  what  is  he  not  capable 
of  performing  !  Twice  every  year  he  makes  the  circuit  of  his  dominions. 
This  great  prince  is  so  perfectly  exempt  from  suspicion  and  personal  fear, 
that  he  resides  at  Sans  Souci,  in  his  electoral  dominions,  without  any 
guard  whatever;  an  orderly  sergeant  or  corporal  only  attends  in  the  day- 
lime,  to  carry  occasional  orders  to  the  garrison  at  Potsdam,  whither  he 
alway  returns  in  the  evening." 

Frederic  died  in  1780,  and  left  to  his  nephew,  Frederic  William  II. 
(by  some  called  Frederic  III.)  an  extensive  and  prosperous  kingdom,  a 
large  and  well-disciplined  army,  and  a  well-filled  treasury  ;  but  he  pos- 
sessed none  of  those  commanding  talents,  that  energy,  or  that  patient  per- 
severance, which  so  eminently  distinguished  his  predecessor.  Tiie  finan- 
ces of  Prussia  were  soon  exhausted;  and  in  consequence  of  the  high  rank 
among  the  European  states  to  which  Frederic  the  Great  had  elevated  her, 
she  was  obliged  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  most  important  affairs  of 
the  continent,  which,  without  his  genius,  could  not  be  maintained.  Fred- 
eric William  II.  died  in  1797,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Frederic 
William  III. 

By  the  partition  of  Poland  in  1792,  and  its  final  dismemberment  in  1795, 
Prussia  acquired  a  great  extension  of  territory,  including  the  important 
city  of  Daiitzic,and  upwards  of  two  millions  of  inhabitants.  In  1796  the 
Prussian  cabinet  made  a  secret  treaty  with  France ;  and  after  many  sin- 
ister and  vascillating  movements,  Prussia  resolved  upon  the  maintenance 
of  a  strict  neutrality,  which,  in  the  state  of  Europe  at  that  time,  was  im- 
possible. In  1803  France  occupied  Hanover;  and  in  1605,  when  a  third 
coalition  was  forming  against  France,  Prussia  wavered  more  than  ever. 
Alexander  of  Russia  appeared  at  Berlin,  and  brought  about  the  conven- 
tion of  Potsdam,  Nov.  3,  1805;  but  after  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  Prussia 
sought  for  and  obtained  peace  with  France,  and  was  consequently  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  the  conqueror.  Again,  when  Napoleon  had  concluded 
the  confederacy  of  the  Rhine,  Prussia  stepped  forward  to  arrest  his  gigan- 
tic power;  but  the  battle  of  Jena  disclosed  to  the  world  how  impossible  it 
was  for  her  to  contend  against  the  emperor  and  his  confederated  allies. 
The  peace  of  Tilsit  reduced  Prussia  to  half  its  former  dimensions,  which 
half  had  to  support  150,000  French  soldiers  until  the  end  of  1803,  and  to 
pay  120  millions  of  francs,  while  French  troops  were  to  retain  possession 
of  the  fortresses  of  Strettin,  Kustrien,  and  Glogau.  The  minister  Von 
Stein,  who  was  long  at  the  head  of  affairs,  was  a  most  uncompromising 
enemy  of  France,  and  being  in  consequence  compelled  by  them  to  quit 
Germany,  Baron  Hardenberg  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  government 
as  state-chancellor.  The  continuance  of  French  oppression  at  length 
roused  the  spirit  of  the  people.  A.fter  Napoleon's  Russian  campaign  the 
population  rose  en  masse,  and  to  their  zealous  efforts  in  the  cause  of  op- 
pressed Europe,  the  completeness  of  his  discomfiture  may  be  mainlj-  at- 
tributed. The  part  which  Prussia  played  in  this  great  game  of  war  w^ 
have  elsewhere  related,  and  it  is  not  consistent  with  the  limits  of  ou 
work  to  make  needless  repetitions ;  it  is  suflScient  to  state,  that  at  the 
general  peace  of  1815,  Prussia  became  more  powerful  than  ever  ;  for,  al 


THE  TREASUHY  OF  HISTORY.  171 

though  a  portion  of  her  Polish  dominions  passed  into  tlie  hands  of  Russia, 
it  was  more  than  compensated  by  valuable  acquisitions  in  Saxony,  Pome- 
rania,  «&c.  In  June,  1840,  the  king  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Frederic  IV.,  a  prince  possessing  many  amiable  qualities.  His  majesty 
has  since  paid  a  visit  to  Queen  Victoria,  and  was  sponsor  to  the  infant 
prince  of  Wales. 

The  following  observations  are  so  explanatory  of  the  present  influence 
of  Prussia  in  the  scale  of  European  politics,  that  we  unhesitatingly  adopt 
them,  from  "  The  Brittannia  ;"  and  in  transferring  them  to  our  pages,  beg 
to  acknowledge  their  worth  :  "  Since  the  peace  of  1815,  Prussia  has  been 
tranquil.  Her  tremendous  suffering  in  the  war  closed  in  a  triumph  of  the 
most  exalting  and  memorable  rank.  Of  all  nations  she  alone  had  the  pre- 
eminent honour  of  sharing  in  the  consummate  victory  which  extinguished 
the  French  empire  ;  and  since  that  period  she  has  advanced  in  a  course  of 
tranquil  but  progressive  prosperity. 

Prussia  is  a  despotism,  but  the  beau  ideal  of  a  despotism.  As  Plato 
imagined  a  republic,  the  future  Plato  who  shall  adopt  the  cause  of  despo- 
tism might  refer  to  its  reality  as  the  most  expressive  instance  of  a  govern- 
ment directed  by  the  sole  will  of  an  intelligent,  active  and  patriotic  king. 
Bacon,  we  think,  says  that  if  an  angel  were  on  the  throne,  despotism  would 
be  the  finest  government  in  the  world.  This  is  true,  for  the  unity  of 
council,  the  decision  of  conduct,  the  power  which  prevents  tumults,  and 
the  impartiality  which  provides  for  justice  to  all,  are  the  first  essen- 
tials to  all  government.  But,  since  men  are  not  angels,  and  the  best 
of  kings  cannot  be  security  for  the  principles  of  his  successor,  we 
are  compelled  to  find  that  security  in  constitutional  restraints,  in  laws 
regulating  the  conduct  of  kings  as  well  as  of  subjects,  in  coronation  oaths, 
which  are  obligations,  and  in  penalties  which  protect  those  obligations. 

The  chief  immediate  expenditure  of  all  European  nations  is  in  their 
means  of  defence,  whether  military  or  naval.  In  England  it  is  enormous. 
At  this  moment  of  universal  peace,  a  peace,  too,  of  twenty-five  years,  the 
expenses  of  the  fleet  and  army  are  not  under  twelve  millions  of  pounds. 
It  is  worth  our  wonder  to  know,  that  the  whole  expense  of  the  military 
force  of  Prussia,  500,000  men,  is  not  much  more  than  half  the  expense  of 
the  force  of  England,  or  90,000.  This  is  by  the  simple  but  admirable 
arrangement  of  dividing  the  whole  force  into  two  parts,  the  standing  army 
and  the  landivehr.  The  landwehr  is  a  standing  militia,  which  forms  the 
reserve  of  the  army,  and  is  augmented  from  the  ranks  of  the  regular 
troops,  instead  of  supplying  recruits  to  them.  This  system  is  peculiar  to 
Prussia,  and  is  thus  organized.  The  standing  army  is  merely  the  mili- 
tary school,  and  the  landwehr  forms  the  nucleus  of  the  army.  The 
landwehr  of  the  first  class  perform  the  annual  exercises  with  the  regular 
troops,  and  the  eye  of  a  military  observer  would  detect  no  difference  in 
the  manoeuvres  of  either  corps.  The  second  levy  consists  chiefly  of 
soldiers  who  have  been  drafted  from  the  standing  army  to  the  first  levy, 
and  from  thence  to  the  second,  when  arrived  at  the  requisite  age.  The 
number  of  men  required  for  the  regular  army  is  taken  from  those  between 
20  and  25  years  of  age,  the  remainder  of  whom  are  enrolled  in  the  second 
levy  (or  landwehr  of  the  second  class).  The  period  of  service  in  the  army 
is  for  three  years  ;  but  young  men  of  any  station  in  life  are  allowed,  in- 
stead, to  enter  the  army  as  volunteers,  and  serve  as  privates  for  one  year, 
without  receiving  any  pay.  At  the  end  of  one  year  they  go  over  to  the 
reserve,  in  which  they  continue  two  years  ;  the  otiiers,  after  three  years 
in  the  army  and  two  in  the  reserve,  are  sent  into  the  levy  of  the  first  class  ; 
and  after  twelve  years'  service  in  the  army,  the  reserve  and  the  landwehr 
of  the  first  class  pass  into  the  landwehr  of  the  second.  The  horses  for 
the  cavalry  of  the  landwehr  are  furnished  by  the  landed  owners  of  the 
Circle  during  the  continuance  of  the  annual  exercises.     \\  lieU  arrived 


172  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

at  the  age  of  39,  the  soldiers  of  the  second  levy  are  incorporated  in  the 
landstrum,  where  they  remain  until  the  age  of  50  ;  they  are  then  released 
from  all  military  service. 

We  believe  that  Louis  Philippe  is  as  perfectly  sincere  in  his  wish  for 
peace,  as  England  is.  But  the  people  with  whom  he  has  to  deal  have 
none  of  his  good  sense,  and  the  conquest  of  the  Rhenish  provinces  is  the 
dream  of  every  cobbler  in  France.  We  agree  entirely  in  the  opinion  that 
France  would  much  more  probably  lose  than  gain  by  an  attack  on  those 
provinces.  Supposing  England  to  be  wholly  passive,  which  it  is  notori- 
ous that  she  would  not  be,  nay,  could  not,  or  that  Russia  would  look  on, 
German  resistance,  in  its  present  state  of  preparation,  would  be  formid- 
able. The  former  facility  of  French  conquest  on  the  Rhine  arose  almost 
wholly  from  the  weakness  of  the  little  Rhenish  principalities,  too  small  to 
resist  separately  and  too  jealous  to  unite.  But  the  greater  portion  of 
those  states  are  now  consolidated  into  the  Prussian  sovereignty,  and  rest 
under  the  immediate  direction  of  Austria." 

The  principal  part  of  the  Prussian  dominions  lies  continuously  along 
the  south  shore  of  the  Baltic,  between  Russia  and  Mecklenburg.  The 
inland  frontier  of  this  part  of  the  monarchy  on  the  east  and  south  is  suffi- 
ciently connected ;  but  on  the  west  side  its  outline  is  very  irregular,  some 
small  independent  states  being  almost  entirely  surrounded  by  the  Prus- 
sian dominions.  But  exclusive  of  this  principal  portion,  there  is  an  ex- 
tensive Prussian  territory  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhine  ;  which  is  separated 
from  the  eastern  part  of  the  kingdom  by  Hesse-Cassell,  part  of  Hanover, 
Brunswick,  «&c.  The  canton  of  Neufchatel,  in  Switzerland,  and  some 
detached  territories  in  Saxony,  also  belong  to  Prussia.  Considering  the 
importance  of  making  Prussia  a  first-rate  power  as  a  counterpoise  to 
Russia  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  France  on  the  other,  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  at  the  congress  of  Vienna  her  share  of  Poland  was  diminished,  and 
that  her  territories  were  not  rendered  more  compact. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    NETHERLANDS. 

COMPKISING 

HOLLAND  AND  BELGIUM. 

The  Netherlands,  or  Low  Countries,  which  now  form  two  populous 
kingdoms,  though  of  second-rate  importance  when  compared  with  the 
great  European  powers,  were  at  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era 
mere  dreary  marshes  and  dismal  forests  of  vast  extent,  which  were  fre- 
quently overflowed  by  the  sea.  This  inhospitable  low  track  was  thinly 
inhabited  by  people  of  German  origin,  called  Batavians  and  Frisians,  many 
of  whom  lived  in  miserable  huts,  raised  on  wooden  piles,  or  built  upon 
mounds  of  sand,  to  secure  them  above  the  reach  of  the  tides.  But  it  is 
not  to  be  understood  that  the  entire  region  was  of  this  description; 
although  it  has  been  graphically  said,  that  whole  forests  were  occasion- 
ally thrown  down  by  a  tempest,  or  swept  away  by  inundation — that  the 
sea  had  no  limits  and  the  earth  no  solidity.    The  higher  grounds,  extend 


THE  TKEASUaY  OF  HISTORY.  I73 

mg  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Scheldt,  including  that  vast  extent  of  woody 
country,  the  ancient  forest  of  Ardennes,  were  inhabited  by  various  tribes 
of  the  German  race,  who  subsisted  by  agriculture  and  the  chase.  They 
had  towns  and  villages  in  the  heart  of  the  forest ;  their  country  produced 
abundant  supplies  of  corn  and  cattle  ;  they  were  courageous  and  uncivil- 
ized ;  the  rites  of  Druidism  were  observed,  as  in  Britain  ;  and  the  people 
consisted  of  two  classes,  chiefs  and  slaves. 

When  the  Romans  under  Julius  Csesar  subdued  the  Gauls,  that  warlike 
nation  turned  their  arms  also  against  the  people  we  have  just  spoken  of, 
whose  country  they  denominated  Gallia  Belgica,  or  Belgium  ;  but  they  did 
not  pursue  their  conquests  farther  towards  the  north,  thinking  probably 
that  the  desert  plains  and  patches  of  land  rising,  as  it  were,  from  their 
watery  bed,  were  scarcely  worth  the  trouble  of  exploring,  much  less  of 
contending  for.  They  accordingly  offered  peace  and  alliance  to  that  part 
of  the  Netherlands  now  called  Holland ;  while  the  Frisians  were  left  to 
struggle  with  the  Roman  legions  for  their  liberty.  From  the  writings  of 
Caesar  we  learn  that  Flanders  was  occupied  by  the  Menappi  and  Morini, 
Brabant  by  the  Atuatici,  Hainault  and  Namur  by  the  Nervii  (so  remark- 
able for  desperate  courage  as  to  excite  the  wonder  of  the  veterans  of 
liome),  Luxemburg  and  Limburg  by  the  Eburones,  &c.  Caesar  emphati- 
cally describes  the  Belgians  as  the  most  warlike  of  the  Gallic  tribes,  and 
observes  that  in  stature  and  bulk  they  surpass  the  Romans.  But  though 
they  fought  with  an  energy  and  determination  which  nothing  could  ex- 
ceed, the  discipline  and  military  skill  of  the  Romans  eventually  obtained 
the  mastery.  In  subduing  this  brave  people  the  Romans  had  recourse  to 
tlie  most  barbarous  practises  of  ancient  warfare  ;  and  for  a  time  either  ex- 
termination or  expulsion  seemed  to  be  necessary  to  conquer  their  fierce 
and  valiant  spirits ;  thus  we  read,  that  in  Caesar's  celebrated  battle  with  the 
Nervii,  near  Namur,  the  army  of  the  confederated  tribes,  amounting  to 
60,000  men,  was  reduced  to  500,  and  that  on  taking  the  town  of  Tongres 
he  sold  53,000  of  the  Atuatici  for  slaves.  By  degrees,  however,  they  be- 
came incorporated  with  their  conquerors,  adopted  their  manners^  and 
servedintheir  armies,  proving  themselves,  in  many  memorable  instances, 
the  ablest  auxiliaries  that  ever  fought  by  the  side  of  the  Roman  legions. 
In  this  state  they  remained  for  about  four  centuries,  during  which  time 
the  Belgic  population  underwent  considerable  changes  from  the  successive 
invasions  of  the  Franks  from  the  north,  whose  progress  westward  ter- 
minated in  their  establishing  the  Frankish  empire  in  Gaul. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  more  than  once  to  notice,  that  when  the 
Romans  subjugated  any  country,  the  inhabitants,  however  barbarous, 
gradually  became  acquainted  with  the  arts  and  advantages  of  civilized 
life,  and  that  the  subsequent  prosperity  and  rank  to  which  they  attained 
in  the  scale  of  nations  may  justly  be  attributed  to  the  connexion  which 
subsisted  between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered.  Thus  it  was  with 
the  Belgic  provinces.  From  the  Romans  they  learned  how  to  redeem  their 
inundated  lands  from  the  briny  flood,  by  constructing  dykes,  embank- 
ments, and  canals ;  and  as  they  were  naturally  an  active  and  intelligent 
people,  they  drained  their  marshes,  and  prepared  the  land  not  merely  as 
pasture  for  cattle  and  the  growth  of  corn,  but  for  the  cultivation  of  choice 
fruits  and  vegetables ;  while  towns  and  villages  were  built  on  higher 
ground,  and  the  country,  instead  of  being  a  dreary  waste  of  bog-land 
and  water,  presented  to  the  eye  a  varied  prospect  of  fertility,  and  an  indus- 
trious population.  Towards  the  declension  of  the  Roman  empire,  when 
its  rulers  were  compelled  to  withdraw  their  troops  from  the  provinces, 
Gallia  Belgica  shared  the  fate  of  the  rest ;  and  it  was  successively  over- 
run by  the  various  tribes  from  the  north  of  Germany.  But  notwith- 
standing these  serious  disadvantages,  the  spirit  of  improvement  kept 
pace  with  the  age :  more  land  was  reclaimed  from  the  ocean,  and  rer 


J74  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

dered  both  produciive  and  habitable.  The  maritime  lowland  descendants 
of  the  Menapii,  now  blended  with  Saxons  and  Frisians,  continued  to 
prosper  in  commerce  and  agriculture.  Large  towns  had  been  built,  and 
many  arts  and  manufactures,  brought  from  other  countries,  were  carried 
on  with  credit  and  success.  Bruges,  Ghent,  Antwerp,  and  other  towns 
rose  into  importance,  and  the  commercial  importance  of  the  Flemings 
was  universally  acknowledged. 

At  what  precise  time  the  Christian  religion  was  introduced  it  is  impos- 
sible to  speak  with  certainty;  but  we  know  that,  previous  to  the  reign  of 
Charlemagne,  the  conversion  of  the  people  had  become  general,  and  that 
churches  and  monasteries  existed  /n  various  parts  of  the  country.  But 
no  trace  of  the  fierce  and  valiant  warriors  of  former  days  remained  ;  their 
swords  had,  indeed,  been  turned  into  ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into 
pruning-hooks,  but  feudal  institutions  had  converted  the  free  sons  of  the 
soil  into  abject  vassals,  wlio  now  toiled  only  to  enrich  the  baronial  lords 
and  haughty  priests,  whose  powers  and  possessions  were  immense^  This 
state  of  vassalage  did  not,  however,  extend  to  the  towns,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  were  mostly  merchants  and  manufactures,  enjoying  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  free  citizens.  Their  industry  and  ingenuity  not  only  made 
them  wealthy,  but  obtained  for  them  attention  and  respect ;  and,  in  the 
course  of  time,  they  elected  their  own  magistrates,  made  their  own  laws, 
fortified  their  cities,  and  organized  a  regular  militia  from  among  them- 
selves, so  that  they  were  able  to  maintain  their  privileges  and  defend  their 
liberties  against  the  encroachments  of  foreign  princes  or  their  own  pow- 
erful nobles.  At  the  period  to  which  we  are  now  referring,  the  maritime 
commerce  of  the  Flemings  had  made  a  great  progress  with  Spain  and 
England,  from  whence  they  had  obtained  large  importations  of  wool. 
Their  skill  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen  stuffs  and  cloths  had  established 
for  them  a  market  in  every  foreign  port ;  the  herring-fishery  was  also  a 
great  source  of  wealth ;  and  to  these  they  added  a  large  tr-ade  in  corn, 
salt,  and  jewelry. 

In  the  eleventh  century  the  country  was  divided  into  duchies,  counties, 
and  imperial  cities :  Brabant,  or  Lower  Lorraine,  and  afterward  Luxem- 
burg, Limburg,  and  Gueldres,  were  governed  by  dukes ;  Flanders,  Hol- 
land, Zealand,  Hainault,  Artois,  Namur,  and  Zutphen,  by  counts.  Fries- 
land  Proper  remained  a  free  lordship;  Utrecht  became  a  bishopric,  the 
secular  authority  of  the  bishop  extending  over  Groningen  and  Overyssel. 
Of  all  these  realms,  the  counts  of  Flanders  were  the  most  powerful,  and, 
after  their  possessions  had  passed,  in  1383,  to  the  more  powerful  house 
of  Burgundy,  the  latter,  partly  by  marriages,  partly  by  force  or  cession, 
obtained  possession  of  the  largest  part  of  the  Low  Countries. 

During  the  crusades  the  Flemish  burghers  obtained  great  advantages, 
owing  to  the  mania  with  which  many  of  the  nobles  were  seized  to  join 
the  holy  leaguers.  In  order  to  raise  money  for  equipping  armies  to  com- 
bat against  the  Saracens,  they  were  induced  to  part  with  their  lands  and 
to  grant  great  privileges  and  political  powers  to  their  wealthy  tenants,  who 
thus  were  enabled  to  purchase  independence  and  a  jurisdiction  of  their 
own,  as  we  have  before  mentioned.  "  The  people,  conscious  of  their 
power,  gradually  extorted  from  their  rulers  so  many  concessions,  that  the 
provinces  formed,  in  reality,  a  democracy,  and  were  only  nominally  sub- 
ject to  the  monarch  of  France  and  his  nobles.  When  the  rest  of  Europe 
was  subject  to  despotism,  and  involved  in  comparative  ignorance  and  bar- 
barism, the  court  of  the  counts  of  Flanders  was  the  chosen  residence  of 
liberty,  civilization,  and  useful  knowledge;  and  when  the  ships  of  other 
nations  scarcely  ventured  beyond  the  sight  of  land,  those  of  the  Flemish 
merchants  traversed  the  ocean,  and  Bruges  and  Antwerp  possessed  the 
commerce  and  wealth  of  the  north  of  Europe.  In  this  state  the  provinces 
long  continued,  until  they  came  under  the  dominion  of  the  duke  of  Bur 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  175 

gunay,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Previous  to  this  event, 
we  find  only  unconnected  duchies,  counties,  lordships,  and  towns,  with 
innumerable  rights,  claims,  and  privileges,  advanced  and  enforced  now  by 
subjects  and  vassals  against  each  other  or  against  their  lords ;  and  now 
by  lords  and  vassals  against  the  monarch,  without  the  expression  of  any 
collective  idea  of  Belgium  as  a  nation.  Under  the  Burgundian  dynasty 
■,he  commercial  and  manufacturing  towns  of  the  Low  Countries  enjoyed 
d  remarkable  prosperity.  The  famous  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece  was 
instituted  in  1430  ;  and  before  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  city  of 
i''pres  had  4,000  looms,  and  the  city  of  Ghent  50,000  weavers.  Bruges 
ind  Antwerp  were  the  great  marts  of  the  commercial  world,  and  contained 
oach  about  200,000  inhabitants.  In  the  Flemish  court  of  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, named  Philip  the  Good,  about  1455,  luxurious  living  was  carried 
to  a  vicious  and  foolish  excess.  The  wealthy  were  clad  in  gorg-eous  vel- 
vets, satins,  and  jewelry,  and  their  banquets  were  given  with  almost  in- 
credible splendour. 

"  This  luxury  produced  depravity  and  crime  to  such  an  extent  that,  in 
one  year,  1,400  murders  were  committed  inGhent,  in  the  gambling-houses 
and  other  resorts  of  debauchery.  The  arts  were  cultivated  with  great 
success.  Van  Dyck  invented  the  beautiful  oil  colours  for  which  the  Fle- 
mish school  is  renowned.  Painting  on  glass,  polishing  diamonds,  lace, 
tapestry,  and  chimes  were  also  invented  in  Belgium  at  this  period.  Most 
Df  the  magnificent  cathedrals  and  town-halls  in  the  country  were  built  in 
the  13th  and  14th  centuries.  History,  poetry,  and  learning  were  much 
cultivated.,  and  the  University  of  Louvain  was  the  most  celebrated  in 
Europe.  In  1477  Belgium  passed  under  the  dynasty  of  the  empire  of 
AuLtria;  and  after  many  years  of  contest  between  the  despotic  Maximi- 
lian and  tiie  democratic  Flemings,  the  governmeot,  in  1519,  descended  to 
his  grandson,  Chailes  V.,  king  of  Spain  and  emperor  of  Germany.  In 
liis  reign  ihe  affluence  of  the  Flemish  burghers  attained  its  highest  point. 
The  city  of  Ghent  contained  175,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  100,000  were 
engaged  in  weaving  and  other  industrial  arts.  Bruges  annually  export- 
ed stuffs  of  English  and  Spanish  wool  to  the  value  of  8,000,000  florins. 
The  Scheldt  at  Antwerp  often  contained  2,500  vessels,  waiting  their  turn 
to  come  to  the  wharfs  ;  her  gc  ies  were  daily  entered  by  500  loaded  wag- 
gons; and  her  exchange  was  attended,  twice  a  day,  by  5,000  merchants, 
who  expended  130,000  golden  crowns  in  a  single  banquet  given  to  Philip 
I[.,  son  of  Charles  V.  The  value  of  the  wool  annually  imported  from 
England  and  Spain  exceeded  4,000,900  pieces  of  gold.  This  amazing 
prosperity  experienced  a  rapid  and  fatal  decline  under  the  malignant 
tyranny  and  bigotry  of  Philip,  The  dcrtrines  of  the  protestant  reforma- 
tion had  found  very  numerous  adherents  in  Belgium ;  Lutheranism  was 
preached  with  phrenzied  zeal  by  severa..  popular  fanatics,  who  drew 
around  them  crowds  amounting  sometimes  o  10,000  or  15,000.  Parties 
of  iconoclasts  also  appeared,  and  demolished  the  ornamental  property  of 
four  hundred  churches.  Protestant  persecuticn  by  the  Inquisition  had 
been  commenced  by  Charles  V. ;  but  by  Philip  i\.  it  was  established  in 
its  most  diabolical  extravagance.  He  filled  the  country  with  Spanish 
soldiers,  and  commissioned  the  duke  of  Alva  to  extirpate,  without  mercy, 
every  protestant  heretic  in  Belgium.  Volumes  have  been  written  to 
describe  the  proceedings  of  this  able  soldier,  but  sangurnary  persecutor, 
who  boasted  that  in  less  than  six  years  he  had  put  to  dv,ath  16,000  men 
and  women  by  the  sword,  the  gibbet,  the  rack,  and  the  flames.  Ruin  and 
dread  of  death  in  its  most  hideous  forms  drove  thousands  of  artisans  to 
England,  where  they  introduced  the  manufacturing  skill  of  Bruges  and 
Ghent.  Commerce  and  trade  in  Flanders  dwindled  away,  many  of  the 
rich  merchants  were  reduced  to  beg  for  bread,  the  great  cities  w^re  half 
deserted,  and  forest  wolves  often  devoured  the  scattered  inhabitants  oi 
desolated  villages." 


176  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

These  oppressions  being  exercised  with  the  most  tyrannical  fury  by 
Ferdinand  of  Toledo,  duke  of  Alva,  wiiom  Philip  had  created  governor, 
the  Netherlands  made  a  stronnr  effort  for  their  freedom,  and  William, 
prince  of  Orange,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother,  Count  Louis  of  Nassau, 
undertook  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants,  in  their  noble  stru|rgles  for  re- 
ligious and  civil  liberty.  Accordingly,  the  states  of  Holland,  in  their  own 
names  conferred  the  stadlholdcrship,  a  title  equivalent  to  lieutenant,  on  the 
former,  and  several  other  towns  and  provinces  declared  for  him.  He  first 
united  them,  in  157G,  m  one  general  association,  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Pacification  of  Ghent."  Hut  this  union  being  soon  dissolved,  the  prince 
laboured  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  to  form  a  more  durable  alliance, 
which  he  happily  accomplished  in  157D.  In  that  year  the  celebrated 
leagu'^  of  Utrecht  was  concluded,  which  gave  name  to  the  United  Pro- 
vinces, and  became  the  basis  and  plan  of  the  constitution. 

The  prince  of  Orange  was  afterwards  on  the  point  of  being  nominated 
the  sovereign  of  these  countries,  but  was  treacherously  shot  by  an  assas- 
sin named  Belthazar  Gerhard,  who  had  assumed  the  name  of  Francis 
Guyon.  This  man  was  supposed  to  have  been  hired  to  perpetrate  the 
murder  by  the  Spanish  ministry,  but  no  tortures  could  force  a  confession 
from  him.  The  United  Netherlands,  however,  continued  to  maintain, 
sword  in  hand,  that  liberty  to  which  they  had  raised  themselves ;  and 
Elizabeth  of  England  took  them  under  her  protection,  and  rendered  them 
essential  assistance.  When  the  earl  of  Leicester,  the  favourite  of  the 
queen,  was  sent  over  by  her  to  the  Netherlands  in  the  year  168.5,  the 
states  appointed  him  governor  and  captain-general  of  tlie  United  Provin- 
ces, or  in  other  words  the  stadtholder;  but  his  haughty  carriage,  and  un- 
skilful manner  of  conducting  the  war,  soon  rendered  him  unpopular,  and 
the  next  year  he  returned  to  England.  The  Dutch,  being  afterwatds  bet- 
ter supported  by  the  English,  baffled  all  the  attempts  of  the  Spaniards  ; 
and  their  commerce  arrived  at  such  a  height,  that  in  1G02  their  cele- 
brated East  India  company  was  established.  Spain,  being  both  weaken- 
ed and  discouraged  by  the  ill  success  of  a  tedious  war,  in  1609  agreed  to 
an  armistice  for  twelve  years,  and  in  the  very  first  article  of  the  treaty 
acknowledged  the  United  Netherlands  to  be  a  free  and  independent  state. 
During  this  truce  the  republic  attained  to  a  degree  of  power  which  it  has 
never  since  exceeded. 

Compelled  by  necessity  to  make  war  against  the  Spanish  fleets,  the 
republicans  soon  became  excellent  sailors,  and  enterprising,  indefatigable 
merchants,  who  visited  every  sea,  and  to  whom  no  port  was  too  distant, 
no  obstacle  too  discouraging.  The  commerce  of  Cadiz,  Antwerp,  and 
Lisbon,  fell  into  their  hands  ;  and  in  this  way  the  United  Netherlands 
were,  in  the  middle  of  the  17th  century,  the  first  commercial  state  and  the 
first  maritnue  power  in  the  world  ;  for,  with  about  one  hundred  vessels  of 
war,  they  bade  defiance  to  every  rival,  while  England  and  France  re- 
joiced in  tlie  humiliation  of  tUe  dreaded  monarchy  of  Spain.  The  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  established  in  1602,  conquered  islands  and  kingdoms 
in  Asia;  and  with  about  two  hundred  ships,  they  carried  on  a  trade  with 
China  and  even  with  Japan.  They  alone  supplied  Europe  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  spice  islands.  The  gold,  the  pearls,  the  precious  jewels 
of  the  East,  all  passed  through  their  hands.  The  West  India  Company 
was  not  so  successful,  on  account  of  the  jealousy  of  England  and  France. 
Holland,  nevertheless,  for  a  long  time  maintained  the  dominion  of  the 
sea.  Van  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter  were  victorious,  and  Louis  XIV.,  who 
had  laid  a  deep  plan  for  humbling  the  daring  repubUc,  was  finally  exhaust- 
ed, and  obliged  to  sue  for  peace. 

These  signal  successes  were  principally  obtained  by  the  able  conduct 
of  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau,  the  second  son  of  the  first  stadtholder  ;  and 
to  the  same  dignity  this  prince  was  chosen  when  only  twenty-one  years 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  177 ' 

of  ag;e.  He  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  states,  during  twenty  years,  with 
great  ability  and  success.  The  latter  part  of  this  prince's  government  was 
sullied  by  cruelty  and  ingratitude;  for  he  procured  the  condemnation  and 
death  of  the  pensionary  Barnevelt,  to  whose  influence  he  owed  his  eleva- 
tion. This  man,  who  was  an  Armenian  in  religion  and  a  republican  in 
politics,  was  sacrificed  to  his  opinions ;  but  his  death  caused  llie  political 
principles  for  which  he  suffered  to  spread  more  widely.  Those  who  op- 
posed the  stadtholder  were  afterwards  called  "  the  Louvestein  party,"  from 
De  Witt,  burgomaster  of  Dort,  and  five  other  members  of  the  states-gen- 
eral, being  imprisoned  in  the  castle  for  maintaining  such  sentiments. 

In  1G21  the  war  was  again  renewed,  during  which  the  stadtholder 
Prince  Frederic  Henry,  youngest  son  of  the  first  William  (who  succeeded 
on  the  death  of  his  half-brother,  Prince  Maurice,  in  1625)  greatly  distin 
guished  himself.  This  war  was  brought  to  a  period  in  1648,  by  the  peace 
of  Munster,  by  which  treaty  Philip  IV.,  king  of  Spain,  renounced  all  claim 
to  the  United  Netherlands.  Frederic  was  succeeded  by  his  only  sou 
William,  who  was  fourth  stadtholder,  being  twenty  one  years  of  age. 
He  appears  to  have  been  ambitious,  as  was  his  father.  In  1652  a  war 
broke  out  between  the  United  Provinces  and  England,  the  latter  country 
being  under  a  republican  form  of  government  :  this  war  was  terminated 
two  years  after,  by  a  treaty,  in  which  the  states  of  Holland  engaged  for- 
ever to  exclude  the  house  of  Orange  from  the  stadtholdership  of  their  pro- 
vince. In  1665  another  war  was  kindled  with  England,  at  which  time  that 
country  had  regained  its  regal  constitution ;  this  war  continued  until  the 
treaty  of  Breda.  The  states  of  Holland  and  West  Friesland  then  passed 
an  edict,  by  which  they  abolished  the  stadtholdership  in  their  province. 
This  was  effected  by  the  grand  pensionary  De  Witt.  When  France 
formed  a  design  to  seize  on  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  the  United  Pro- 
vinces entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  crowns  of  England  and  Sweden 
for  the  defence  of  those  countries;  by  which  France  was,  in  1668,  com- 
pelled to  agree  to  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle;  but  soon  took  a  severe 
revenge  by  breaking  that  alliance,  and  inducing  England,  with  some  othei 
powers,  to  enter  into  a  league  against  the  United  Provinces  ;  on  which  a 
war  ensued.  In  this  critical  juncture,  the  republic,  m  1672,  nominated 
William,  the  young  prince  of  Orange,  captain  and  admiral  general;  and 
the  populace  compelled  the  states  of  Holland  to  invest  him  with  the  stadt- 
holdership, which  two  years  after  was  declared  hereditary  in  his  family. 
He  was  the  fifth  stadtholder  and  the  third  of  that  name ;  he  married  the 
princess  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  James  II.  of  England,  and  became 
king  of  England. 

In  the  j'ear  1678  a  peace  was  concluded  with  France,  at  Nimeguen; 
but  it  was  of  no  long  continuance,  for,  in  1688,  the  states  supporting  their 
stadtholder  in  his  expedition  to  England,  with  a  fleet  and  a  large  body  of 
troops,  France  declared  war  against  them,  which  was  terminated  by  the 
the  peace  of  Ryswick  in  1697.  At  length,  on  the  death  of  Charles  II. 
king  of  Spain,  in  the  year  1700,  the  Spanish  provinces  fell  to  the  share  of 
the  house  of  Austria,  and  the  republic  became  involved  in  a  war  respect 
ing  that  succession,  which  continued  till  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  in  1713. 

William  died  king  of  England  and  stadtholder  of  the  United  Provinces, 
in  1702.  He  appointed  John  William  Frizo,  prince  of  Nassau  Dietz,  his 
sole  heir,  who  was  born  1687,  and  was  drowned  in  crossing  an  arm  of  the 
sea  at  Mardyke,  14th  July,  1711.  Three  months  after  his  death  his  widow 
was  delivered  of  a  son,  who  was  christened  William,  and  afterwards  be- 
came stadtholder;  but  on  the  death  of  William  HI.  that  office  was  laid 
aside,  until,  in  1722,  the  province  of  Guelders  elected  him  their  stadtholder, 
notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  the  other  provinces. 

On  the  decease  of  the  emperor  Charles  VI.  the  Dutch  assisted  the  queen 
of  Hungary  against  France,  which  drew  on  them  the  resentment  of  that 
12 


178  THE  TaEA6UB,Y  OF  HISTORY. 

power;  and  in  1747,  the  French  making  an  irruption  into  Dutch  Flcinders, 
the  republic  unanimously  declared  the  above  mentioned  William,  prince  of 
Orange,  stadlholder,  captain-general,  and  admiral-in-chief,  making  those 
dignities  hereditary  in  his  family,  even  in  the  female  and  collateral 
branches.  In  the  general  war  which  bri^ke  out  in  Europe  in  1756,  the 
Dutch,  taking  no  part  in  the  quarrel,  were  perhaps  the  greatest  gainers, 
by  supplying  the  belligerent  powers  with  naval  and  military  stores;  and 
when  the  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  the  American  colonies  re 
kindled  liie  flames  of  war,  the  most  essential  assistance  was  procured  both 
to  America  and  F'rance,  by  means  of  the  Dutch  settlement  at  St.  Eusta- 
tius,  and  of  the  freights  brought  by  their  ships.  At  length  it  was  dis- 
covered by  the  capture  of  an  American  packet,  that  a  treaty  between  the 
American  States  and  the  province  of  Holland  was  actually  adjusted,  and 
that  Mr.  Laurens,  formerly  of  the  congress,  was  appointed  to  reside 
at  Amsterdam  in  a  public  capacity.  This  occasioned  the  court  of  London 
Jirst  to  cancel  all  treaties  of  commerce  and  alliance  which  then  subsisted 
between  that  kingdom  and  the  United  States,  and  soon  after,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1780,  to  issue  a  declaration  of  hostilities  against  the  republic.  The 
resentment  of  Great  Britain  proved  extremely  fatal  to  the  possessions  and 
wealth  of  the  Dutch  ;  the  island  of  St.  Eustatius,  with  a  large  fleet  of  valu- 
able merchant  ships,  fell  an  easy  prey  to  a  naval  and  military  force  under 
tli«  command  of  Admiral  Rodney  and  General  Vaughan ;  several  home- 
ward-bound East  India  ships,  richly  laden,  were  either  taken  by  the  En- 
glish or  destroyed  ;  Negapatam,  on  the  Coromandel  coast,  and  their  chief 
settlement  on  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  were  wrested  from  them  ;  and  a  fleet 
of  merchant  ships  bound  to  the  Baltic,  convoyed  by  a  squadron  of  Dutch 
men-of-war,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Zoutman,  were  obliged  tore- 
turn  to  the  Texel,  and  one  of  the  74  gun  ships  was  sunk  in  a  very  sharp 
action  which  happened  with  a  British  squadron  under  the  command  wf 
Admiral  Hyde  Parker. 

In  the  mean  time  the  emperor  of  Germany,  attentive  to  the  improve- 
ment of  his  dominions  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  desirous  of  procuring  for 
his  subjects  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  extension  of  their  com- 
merce, determined  to  oblige  the  Dutch  to  allow  a  free  navigation  on  the 
Scheldt,  which  river,  by  the  treaty  of  Munster,  in  the  year  1648,  they  pos- 
sessed exclusively.  To  procure  this,  a  ship,  bearing  the  imperial  flag, 
proceeded  down  the  Scheldt  from  Antwerp ;  the  captain  being  ordered 
not  to  submit  to  any  detention  or  examination  whatever  from  the  ships 
belonging  to  republic  of  the  Seven  United  Provinces,  or  to  make  any 
<leclaration  at  the  custom-houses  belonging  to  the  republic  on  that  river, 
or  to  acknowledge  them  in  any  manner  whatever.  At  the  same  time 
another  vessel  was  ordered  to  sail  from  Ostend  up  the  Scheldt  to  Ant- 
werp. They  were  both  stopped  by  the  Dutch  on  their  passage,  which 
the  emperor  construed  into  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  the  repub- 
lic, although  by  the  14lh  article  of  the  treaty  of  Munster,  entered  into  with 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Scheldt  should  remain  shut; 
in  consequence  of  which  that  river  had  remained  guarded  by  two  forts, 
Lillo  and  Lieskenshock,  assisted  by  guard-ships.  An  army  of  eighty  thou- 
sand men  was  now  assembling;  and  some  imperial  troops,  with  a  train 
of  artillery,  advancing  towards  Lillo,  the  governor  ordered  the  sluices  to 
be  opened  in  November,  1784,  which  laid  a  large  extent  of  circumjacent 
country  under  water.  A  war  between  the  emperor  and  the  republic 
seemed  to  be  inevitable ;  but  the  interposition  of  the  courts  of  Versailles 
and  Berlin  prevented  that  evil ;  and  the  emperor  at  length  agreed  to  give 
up  his  claims,  on  receiving  a  very  large  sum  of  money  from  the  Dutch,  to 
indemnify  him  for  the  expenses  which  had  been  incurred  by  his  pre- 
parations for  war. 
William  V.,  the  seventh  stadtholder,  on  the  death  of  his  father  ia  1751- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  179 

succeeded  to  that  dignity  when  only  three  years  of  ag-e  ;  the  princess-dow- 
ager, his  mother,  who  was  princess-royal  of  England,  (being  the  eldest 
daughter  of  George  II.),  was  appointed  governess  and  guardian  to  the 
young  prince  ;  the  prince  of  Brunswick  Wolfenbuttel  acted  as  captain- 
general  and  lord-high-admiral  during  the  minority,  which  continued  until 
the  year  1766,  when  the  prince  having  attained  to  the  age  of  eighteen, 
took  upon  himself  the  administration  of  piibUc  affairs.  The  year  follow- 
ing, he  married  the  princess  Frederica  Wilhelmina  of  Prussia. 

The  amiable  manners  and  benign  disposition  of  this  prince  procured 
him  general  esteem,  while  the  absolute  ascendancy  which  the  duke  of 
Brunswick  had  acquired,  during  so  long  a  minority,  over  the  mind  of  a 
prince  in  whom  gentleness  and  acquiescence  were  such  prevailing  quali- 
ties, caused  him  still  to  retain  all  his  plenitude  of  power.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  the  people  began  to  complain  that  the  most  undisguised 
partiality  was  shown  to  foreigners  in  the  appointments  to  offices.  One  of 
the  chief  favourites  about  the  person  of  the  prince  of  Orange  was  Capel- 
lan  Vander  Marsh,  who  had  been  advanced  from  a  low  origin  to  the  sta- 
tion of  chamberlain,  and  ennobled.  This  man,  having  continual  opportu- 
nities of  conversing  with  the  prince  in  private,  represented  to  him  the  ne- 
cessity there  was  for  him  to  interfere,  by  exerting  that  authority  which 
the  states  had  vested  in  him,  and  no  longer  to  delegate  it  in  so  unqualified 
a  manner.  The  prince  acknowledged  the  justice  of  the  suggestion,  and 
promised  to  act  upon  it;  but  when  instances  were  pointed  out  in  which 
he  might  render  himself  highly  popular  by  appointing  certain  persons  to 
vacant  offices,  he  found  the  restraints  in  which  he  had  ever  been  accus- 
tomed to  be  held  too  strong  to  be  broken.  This  led  Capellan  to  desert  the 
cause  of  his  master,  and  to  join  the  republican  party.  Soon  after,  th« 
duke  of  Brunswick  resigned  his  employment  and  quitted  the  country. 

The  republican,  or  anti-stadlholderian  party,  which,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  had  subsisted  in  the  provinces  ever  since  the  year  1047,  or  from  the 
death  of  Maurice  the  second  stadtholder,  found,  in  the  ministry  of  France, 
the  most  effectual  support  which  intrigue  and  a  lavish  distribution  of 
money  could  render.  More  than  a  million  of  money  had  been  issued  from 
the  treasury  of  the  court  of  Versailles  to  further  the  interests  of  this  party. 
However  secretly  these  practices  might  be  carried  on,  they  were  not  con- 
cealed from  the  courts  of  London  and  Berlin,  who  were  no  less  strenous  to 
support  the  Orange  party.  Dissensions  thus  fomented  by  foreign  inter- 
ference, rose  to  a  destructive  height ;  and  each  party  imbibed  the  most 
rancorous  spirit  against  the  other,  insomuch  that  it  was  thought  to  be  no 
longer  safe  for  the  prince  and  princess,  with  their  family,  to  reside  at  the 
Hague  ;  they  therefore,  in  September,  1785,  retired  to  Nimeguen.  In  this 
posture  of  affairs,  the  princess  of  Orange,  who  possessed  an  elevated 
mind,  great  abilities,  and  an  enterprising  spirit,  determined  on  a  very  bold 
and  decisive  measure;  which  was,  to  proceed,  without  the  prince,  and 
with  only  two  or  three  attendants,  to  the  Hague,  to  make  the  experiment 
how  far  her  presence  and  address  could  be  rendered  serviceable  to  the 
cause  of  the  prince  her  husband.  As  she  was  proceeding  on  her  journey 
on  the  28th  of  June,  1787,  she  was  stopped  near  Schoonhoven,  by  a  com- 
mandant acting  under  the  republican  party,  detained  there  during  the  suc- 
ceeding night,  and  absolutely  restricted  from  proceeding  any  farther. 
This  indignity  determined  her  toreturn  to  Nimeguen, and  arepresentatiou 
of  the  treatment  she  had  received  was  immediately  transmitted  to 
the  king  of  Prussia,  her  brother,  who  had  succeeded  "  the  great  Frederic"' 
on  tha*;  throne.  The  king  supported  the  cause  of  his  sister  with  great 
warmth  ;  but  the  states  of  Holland  not  being  disposed  to  make  any  con- 
cessions, the  reigning  duke  of  Brunswick,  nephew  to  the  duke  who  had 
filled  the  high  offices  in  Holland,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  an  army  ot 
Prussians,   amounting  to  eighteen    thousand    effective    men,  \vhoni  ho 


l80  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

led  on  the  13lh  of  September  into  the  province  of  Guelderland,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  restoring  the  prince  of  Orani;je  to  his  riglits. 

The  judicious  distribution  of  the  troops,  and  the  vigour  of  their  opera 
lions,  reflected  the  highest  credit  on  the  commander.  A  general  panic 
seized  the  republican  party ;  only  the  town  of  Goream,  which  was  com- 
manded by  Capellan,  sustained  a  bombardment  f(jr  about  an  hour;  the 
other  places  of  strength  opened  their  gates  at  the  first  summons.  Even 
the  strong  city  of  Utrecht,  in  which  were  ten  thousand  men  in  arms,  and 
whose  fortifications  had  been  greatly  strengthened,  instead  of  meeting 
with  firmness  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  was  deserted  by  the  whole  re- 
publican party,  with  all  the  precipitancy  of  desperation.  These  rapid 
successes  of  the  duke  caused  the  Orange  party  to  gain  the  ascendency  at 
the  Hague;  but  the  city  of  Amsterdam  r(*mained  determined  to  resist  to  the 
utmost ;  relying  upon  the  prodigious  strength  of  the  place,  which  both 
nature  and  art,  it  had  ever  been  supposed,  contributed  to  render  impregna- 
ble. The  duke,  however,  made  his  arrangements  for  attacking  the  city  in 
various  directions,  leading  on  his  choicest  troops  to  the  most  perilous 
assault  in  person.  After  a  very  obstinate  conflict,  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  outworks  were  taken,  which  gave  the  besiegers  a  secure 
lodgement,  and  threatened  the  city  with  a  destructive  bombardment ;  the 
magistracy  of  the  city  finding  themselves  thus  placed,  thought  it  high 
time  to  submit  to  terms. 

After  this  event,  nothing  material  occurred  till  the  invasion  of  the  French 
revolutionists,  which  changed  the  whole  aspect  of  aff"airs  both  in  Holland 
and  Belgium.  In  1792  the  national  assembly  sent  General  Dumouriez,  at 
the  head  of  a  large  army,  to  invade  Belgium,  it  being  an  object  of  first 
rate  importance  to  deprive  Austria  of  that  country  ;  and,  in  November,  the 
French  general  gained  a  great  victory  at  Jenappe,  in  Hainault.  In  a  few 
days  afterwards  Dumouriez  made  his  triumphant  entry  into  Brussels. 
The  parly  who  favoured  the  French  was  made  too  strong,  conjointly  with 
the  invaders,  for  the  friends  of  the  house  of  Orange  to  resist  the  invaders 
with  any  chance  of  success ;  accordingly,  in  a  very  short  time,  all  the 
principal  towns  of  the  Netherlands  submitted  to  the  French;  and  it  was 
pompously  asserted  by  the  latter,  that  it  was  the  wish  of  the  Belgians 
themselves  to  throw  ofl^the  government  of  Austria,  and  be  incorporated 
with  the  French  republic.  That  many  really  wished  this,  there  can  be  no 
doubt ;  but  though  the  turbulent  and  disaffected  were  numerous,  such  an 
union  was  not  desired  by  the  majority  of  those  who  had  anything  to  lose. 

Although  by  a  very  easy  conquest  the  French  had  gained  possession  of 
the  Netherlands,  the  emperor  of  Austria  took  immediate  measures  with  a 
view  to  its  recovery.  A  large  army,  under  the  archduke  Charles,  joined 
by  the  duke  of  York  and  the  prince  of  Orange,  at  the  head  of  their  Englisit 
and  Dutch  troops,  contended  for  a  time  with  the  armies  of  France  ;  bu 
after  two  years  of  warfare,  in  which  the  allied  troops,  but  more  particu- 
larly the  British,  suff'ered  very  severely,  the  cause  of  the  stadtholder  grew 
hopeless.  When,  therefore,  in  1794,  the  victorious  banners  of  republican 
France  waved  on  the  frontiers  of  Holland,  the  malcontents  again  rose. 
Pichegru,  aided  by  the  severity  of  the  winter,  in  1795,  and  by  the  favour 
of  the  popular  party  towards  the  French,  made  an  easy  conquest  of  Hol- 
land. The  hereditary  stadtholder  fled  with  his  family  to  England,  and 
the  Batavian  republic  was  formed.  May  16,  1795. 

The  old  provinces  were  now  merged  into  one  republic ;  the  legislative 
power,  in  imitation  of  the  French,  was  given  to  a  representative  assem- 
bly; and  the  executive  to  a  directory  of  five.  The  new  repubUc  was 
obliged  to  cede  to  France  some  southern  districts,  particularly  Maestricht, 
Venloo,  Limburg,  and  Dutch  Flanders;  to  form  a  perpetual  alliance  with 
that  state  ;  pay  a  sum  of  one  hundred  millions  of  guilders  ;  and  allow  the 
French  troops  to  occupy  iis  territories.     Six  years  after,  it  was  found 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  181 

necessary  to  alter  this  constitution.  The  republic  was  again  divided  into 
the  old  provinces  ;  in  addition  to  which  the  "  land  of  the  generality  "  was 
formed  into  an  eighth.  The  administration  of  the  government  was  sim- 
plified ;  the  legislative  assembly  diminished  to  thirty-five  deputies  ;  and 
the  executive  power  was  extended  to  a  council  of  state  of  twelve  men. 
Notwithstanding  these  alterations,  the  Batavian  republic,  incapable  of 
effecting  its  ends  with  the  feeble  remains  of  its  strength,  saw  its  fleets 
overpowered  by  those  of  England  ;  its  colonies  laid  waste  ;  its  commerce 
limited  to  a  coasting  trade,  and  to  the  domestic  consumption;  and  the 
bank  of  Amsterdam  ruined.  By  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1802,  it  was  de- 
prived of  Ceylon,  one  of  its  richest  colonies.  When  peace  had  been  con- 
cluded between  Great  Britain  and  France,  and  the  hopes  of  better  times 
were  just  awakened,  the  halcyon  dream  was  suddenly  dispelled,  and  the 
thunder  of  war  again  resounded  on  the  shores  of  Holland.  Its  ports  were 
blockaded,  its  fleets  were  annihilated,  and  its  distant  colonies  fell  into  the 
power  of  the  British  ;  its  prosperity,  indeed,  seemed  forever  gone ;  it  was 
treated  as  a  conquered  country,  and  all  the  advantages  promised  by  its 
republican  allies  proved  a  mere  chimera. 

In  1805,  the  Dutch  constitution  was  changed  for  the  third  time;  but,  so 
far  from  any  improvement  taking  place  in  the  condition  of  the  country,  it 
continued  to  grow  worse,  and  the  only  remedy  that  now  seemed  to  pre- 
sent itself  was  the  incorporation  of  Holland  with  the  French  empire. 
This  accordingly  took  place  in  1806,  the  mode  in  which  it  was  accom- 
plished being  by  erecting  it  into  a  kingdom,  of  which  Louis  Bonaparte,  one 
of  Napoleon's  brothers,  was  invested  with  the  sovereignty.  But  Holland 
was  equally  unfortunate  as  a  kingdom,  as  when  it  was  designated  the  Ba- 
tavian republic.  Though,  by  a  treaty  with  France,  King  Louis  possess- 
ed the  rights  of  a  constitutional  monarch,  and  was  disposed  to  exercise 
his  authority  with  mildness  and  impartiality,  he  was  made  the  mere  in- 
strument of  Napoleon.  It  is  true  that  he  hesitated  in  enforcing,  if  he  did 
not  resist,  the  arbitrary  decrees  of  the  emperor,  and  that  he  incurred  no 
small  share  of  his  disapprobation  in  consequence ;  but  his  efforts  to  pro- 
mole  the  weal  of  his  subjects  proved  wholly  ineffectual,  so  thoroughly 
controlled  was  he  by  the  power  to  whom  he  owed  his  regal  elevation. 
Holland  was  excluded  from  the  commercial  privileges  of  France,  though 
it  had  to  follow  all  the  wars  of  Napoleon.  The  national  debt  was  aug- 
mented 1,2000,000,000  guilders.  The  only  means  by  which  the  merchant 
could  obtain  a  support  was  the  smuggling  trade  with  England.  Almost 
all  thrf  former  sources  of  prosperity  were  obstructed ;  and  when  Napo- 
leon's Milan  decree  (of  Nov.  11,  1807)  was  promulgated,  and  the  Dutch 
ports  were  shut  against  British  commerce,  the  trade  of  Holland  was 
totally  ruined.  The  well-disposed  king,  lamenting  evils  which  he  had  no 
power  to  remedy,  and  finding  that  if  he  retained  the  sovereignty  he  must 
become  a  tyrant  against  his  own  will,  voluntarily  and  unexpectedly  abdi- 
cated the  crown,  in  favour  of  his  eldest  son,  a  minor,  July  1,  1810,  and 
withdrew  into  the  Austrian  territory,  as  a  private  individual. 

Napoleon  did  not,  however,  sanction  his  brother's  measures.  The 
French  troops  at  once  occupied  Amsterdam,  and  a  decree  was  passed  for 
annexing  Holland  to  the  French  empire  ;  six  senators,  six  deputies  in  the 
council  of  state,  two  judges  in  the  court  of  cassation,  and  twenty-five 
deputies  in  the  legislative  body,  being  assigned  to  it.  The  continental  sys- 
tem was  then  more  strictly  enforced,  the  taxes  were  augmented,  and  the 
conscription  laws  were  introduced,  whereby  husbands,  sons,  and  brothers 
were  compelled  to  fight  for  a  cause  against  which  they  had  formerly  con- 
tested. The  Dutch  departments,  which  had  already  been  formed  in  the 
lime  of  the  kingdom,  now  constituted  two  military  divisions;  and  all  the 
eeventeen  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  were  united  under  the  dominion 
of  France.     At  length  the  fortunes  of  Bonaparte  began  to  decline,  and 


182  THE  TREASURY  OF  HiaTORY. 

the  people  looked  forward  with  the  hope  that  their  worst  dc^ys  had  passt  1. 
The  prince  of  Orange  had  died  in  Knj;laiid,  in  180G  ;  hut  his  son  was 
living,  and  on  him  the  hopes  of  the  nation  were  fixed.  The  Russian  cam- 
paign of  181'i,  so  fatal  to  the  ambition  of  the  French  emperor,  was  re- 
garded by  the  Dutch  patriots  as  the  advent  of  tlieir  deliverance.  But 
Bonaparte  was  still  in  power,  and  most  of  the  fortresses  in  tlie  Neth- 
erlands were  garrisoned  willi  French  soldiers.  Ardent,  therefore,  as 
their  feelings  were,  and  anxious  as  were  their  hopes,  they  patiently 
watched  that  portentous  cloud  which  appeared  in  the  political  horizon, 
and  whicli  at  last  burst  with  desolating  fury  on  the  hosts  of  Napoleon  at 
Leipsic.  That  important  battle  may  be  said  to  have  decided  the  fate  oi 
Belgium  and  Holland  :  the  armies  of  the  allies  advanced  against  France  ; 
a  combined  Prussian  and  Russian  force,  under  Bulow,  was  sent  against 
the  Netherlands,  and  was  joined  by  a  detachment  from  England,  under 
General  (iraliam.  All  the  great  towns  now  declared  for  William,  prince 
of  Orange,  who,  on  the  13th  of  November,  181.3,  arrived  at  the  Hague,  and 
was  welcomed  with  the  sincerest  tokens  of  joy  and  affection.  He  imme- 
diately repaired  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  was  proclaimed  king,  the  peo- 
ple being  unanimously  desirous  that  the  stadtholderale  should  be  changed 
into  an  hereditary  monarchy.  It  was  not  long  before  the  whole  country 
was  entirely  freed  from  the  presence  of  the  French,  and  the  new  sove- 
reign, (the  sixth  in  descent  from  the  illustrious  founder  of  the  republic) 
was  solemnly  inaugurated  on  the  30th  of  March,  1614,  and  proclaimed 
by  the  title  of  William  I. 

By  a  vote  of  the  congress  of  Vienna,  the  Belgic  provinces  were  united 
with  the  United  Netherlands,  to  form  one  kingdom,  and  William  was 
recognised  by  all  the  powers  as  sovereign  king  of  the  Netherlands.  At 
the  lime  of  this  arrangement  a  treaty  was  made  with  Great  Britain, 
which  power  agreed  to  restore  all  the  colonies  it  had  taken  from  the 
Dutch,  except  the  ('ape  of  Good  Hope,  Ceylon,  Fssequibo,  Berbice,  and 
Demerara.  This  union  by  no  means  gave  entire  satisfaction;  indeed, 
there  had  never  been  any  cordiality  between  the  two  people,  owing 
to  the  religious  prejudices  of  the  Belgians,  who  are  catholics,  and  not 
only  dislike  being  governed  by  a  protestant  king,  but  have  a  kind  ol 
national  animosity  to  the  Dutch.  The  people,  however,  were  obliged  to 
acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  ruling  power. 

Scarcely  was  the  union  of  Holland  and  Belgium  accomplished,  when 
the  unexpected  re-appearance  of  Bonaparte  on  the  soil  of  France  dis- 
turbed the  peace  of  Europe  ;  and  the  Netherlands  became  once  more  a 
scene  of  warfare.  Louis  XVlII.  had  taken  refuge  in  Ghent,  and  there 
remained  till  the  fate  of  the  enemy  was  decided  on  the  field  of  Waterloo. 
As  the  principal  features  of  this  important  battle  have  been  already  given 
it  would  be  a  repetition  to  introduce  it  in  this  place  :  we  shall  therefore 
merely  notice  a  few  incidents  connected  with  the  subject.  In  the  month 
of  June,  1815,  Brussels  presented  a  gay  and  animated  appearance,  it  being 
the  head-quarters  of  the  British  army.  Officers  in  their  bright  uniforms 
thronged  the  park;  and  on  the  15th  the  duke  of  Wellington  received  a 
dispatch  from  Marshal  Blucher,  (who  had  taken  up  his  position  at  some 
few  leagues  distance,  to  guard  the  outposts  of  the  allied  armies),  inform- 
ing him  that  he  had  been  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  attacked  by  the 
French,  and  might  probably  require  assistance.  Orders  were  accordingly 
given  by  the  duke  for  the  troops  in  Brussels  to  be  ready  to  march  at  a 
moment's  notice  ;  and  then,  having  made  his  arrangements,  in  order  not  to 
create  unnecessary  alarm  in  the  city,  he  and  his  officers  attended  a  ball. 
Soon  after  midnight,  however,  the  rolling  of  drums  and  sound  of  bugles 
alarmed  the  inhabitants,  but  all  the  information  that  could  be  obtained 
was,  that  the  duke  of  W'ellington  had  received  a  dispatch  in  the  ball-room, 
of  so  urgent  ?  kind,  that  some  of  the  cavalrv  officers,  wliose  regiments 


TliE,  treasury  of  Hlfe'iCRl.  183 

were  quartered  in  the  adjacent  villag-es,  had  not  time  to  change  their  attire, 
but  galloped  off  in  their  ball-room  dresses.  It  was  at  length  ascertained 
that  the  French  had  obtained  advantages  <9ver  the  Prussians,  who  had  been 
obliged  to  retreat  and  take  up  a  new  position,  about  seven  miles  from  the 
village  of  Quaire  Bras.  Presently  the  hollow  sound  of  distant  cannon 
was  distinctly  heard ;  and  in  the  absence  of  authentic  information,  busy 
runiour  magnified  the  real  danger,  and  circulated  accounts  of  disasters 
the  most  appalling-.  On  this  day  (the  16th)  two  battles  were  tought ;  one 
at  Ijigny,  by  the  Prussians  under  Blucher,  against  Bonaparte  in  person ; 
the  other  at  Quatre  Brits,  between  a  part  of  the  British  army  under  the: 
duke  of  Wellington,  agauist  the  French  troops  commanded  by  marslial 
Ne}'',  who  had  intercepted  the  duke  on  his  march  to  aid  the  Prussians. 
At  night  authentic  intelligence  was  received  at  Brussels  that  a  sanguinary 
battle  had  been  fought,  which  was  to  be  renewed  on  the  following  day,  but 
that  the  French  were  no  nearer  than  they  were  in  the  morning.  Tliis 
latter  assurance  in  some  measure  allayed  the  fears  of  the  inhabitants  ;  but 
the  night  was  very  generally  occupied  in  packing  up  valuables,  so  that 
departure  might  not  be  impeded  should  the  French  ultimately  become 
masters.  At  lengtli  it  was  ascertained  that  the  heroic  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick, and  most  of  the  gallant  Highlanders  who  had  marched  from  Brus- 
sels in  the  morning,  were  lying  dead  upon  the  field  ;  and  that  the  duke  of 
Wellington  had  withdrawn  to  Waterloo,  in  order  to  be  nearer  the  Prus- 
sians, who  had  retreated  after  their  defeat  at  Ligny.  I'larly  next  morning 
a  number  of  long  tilted  waggons  arrived,  conveying  wounded  soldier^ 
slowly  through  the  town  to  the  hospitals.  Saturday  was  a  day  of  brcatli- 
less  anxiety ;  all  who  iiad  the  means  of  conveyance,  and  many  who  had 
not,  set  out  for  Antwerp.  But  that  day  passed  with  very  little  fighting,  botli 
armies  bieng  engaged  in  making  preparations  for  a  decisive  contest  on  tiic 
following  (Sunday,  June  IS).  At  ten  o'clock  the  battle  of  Waterloo  com- 
menced, and  was  not  concluded  till  nine  at  night,  when  the  complete 
overthrow  of  the  French  army  was  effected. 

The  union  of  Belgium  and  Holland  being  finally  settled,  the  king  of  the 
Netherlands  was  inaugurated  at  Brussels,  in  presence  of  the  states-gene- 
ral, on  the  21st  of  September,  1815.  His  first  care  was  to  deserve  tlu^ 
good  opinion  of  his  subjects  by  giving  them  equal  laws,  and  in  endeavours 
to  put  the  youthful  population  of  Belgium  on  an  equal  footing  with  tliose  of 
Holland  ;  for  whicli  purpose  he  established  national  schools  in  every  vil- 
lage, and  appointed  teachers  properly  qualified  to  impart  instruction  on 
the  system  which  he  had  found  so  successful  in  his  old  dominions.  By 
degrees,  these  schools  were  augmented  and  improved  ;  and,  in  the  sequel, 
others  of  a  very  superior  kind  were  founded,  in  which  the  fine  arts  were 
studied,  and  every  incentive  to  emulation  promoted  by  the  distribution  of 
prizes,  &c.  Nor  was  the  attention  of  the  king  entirely  confined  to  the 
mental  improvement  of  his  subjects.  In  order  to  cope  with  the  manufac- 
tured goods  of  other  countries,  advantage  was  taken  of  the  discoverie.^ 
and  inventions  of  scientific  men  wherever  they  were  to  be  obtained  ;  steam- 
engines  and  new  machinery  were  introduced  into  the  cotton  factories ; 
roads,  canals,  and  railways  were  undertaken ;  coal  and  iron-mines  were 
opened  ;  every  facility  was  given  to  commerce  ;  and  nothing  but  the  in- 
veterate prejudice  of  old  habits  prevented  the  agriculturists  from  bene- 
fitting by  the  wise  suggestions  of  king  William.  In  many  respects  the 
laws  of  the  new  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  were  assimilated  to  those 
of  Great  Britain,  and  the  country  increased  in  prosperity.  Still  it  was 
evident  there  was  a  want  of  conmion  feeling  between  tlie  Belgic  and 
Dutch  subjects  of  the  new  rn'marchy ;  and  the  circumstance  of  the  taxes 
in  Belgium  being  increased  since  the  union,  was  a  constant  and  a  not  an- 
r-.asonable  theme  for  disconterit  to  feed  upon,  inasmuch  as  they  had  been 
united  without  their  own  consent. 


184  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

On  the  17th  of  May,  181fi,  a  Netherlandish  fleet,  under  admiral  Van  det 
Capellan,  joined  the  English  under  lord  Exmouth,  and  compelled  the  dey 
of  Algiers  to  recognize  the  Eftropean  law  of  nations.  On  the  25th,  a 
compact  was  concluded  between  the  kings  of  Prussia  and  of  the  Nether- 
lands respecting  the  cession  of  a  tract  of  country  to  the  latter :  and, 
about  the  same  time,  the  king  of  the  Netherlands  acceded  to  the  holy 
alliance.  The  political  relations  of  PVance  with  its  new  neighbour  were 
pacific.  With  Sweden  and  Denmark,  as  with  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  re- 
lations were  purely  commercial.  But  the  amalgamation  of  the  Dutch 
and  Belgians  into  one  nation  was  not  successful:  in  short,  a  reci- 
procal aversion  of  the  northern  and  southern  people  was  several  times 
exhibited,  with  great  animosity,  in  the  church,  in  the  army,  and  even  in 
the  chambers  of  the  states-general.  As  the  difference  of  languages  ren- 
dered tlie  union  difficult,  the  government,  wliile  it  allowed  the  use  of  the 
French  language  as  well  as  the  Dutch  in  the  proceedings  of  the  states- 
general,  abolished  the  use  of  French  in  judicial  proceedings,  and  by  the 
public  authorities,  only  allowing  advocates  to  make  use  of  it  for  a  certain 
period.  The  attempt  to  suppress  the  French  language  thus  made  two 
opposite  parties  the  secret  friends  of  France  ;  the  catholic  Belgians,  ap- 
prehensive for  their  church,  because  they  believed  the  object  was  to  pro- 
pogate  the  protestant  faith  by  means  of  the  prohibition  of  French  ;  and 
the  Brabanters  and  Flemings  adhered  to  France  from  old  predilections. 
But  the  greatest  obstacle  to  a  union  lay  in  the  levying  of  taxes.  Belgium, 
a  manufacturing  and  agricultural  country,  wished  to  place*  the  burdens  on 
articles  of  export  and  import ;  while  Holland,  to  spare  its  own  com- 
merce, wished  to  impose  them  on  real  estate.  The  budget,  therefore, 
always  employed  a  great  part  of  the  time  of  the  states-general,  who  were 
convened  in  October  of  each  year,  alternately  at  the  Hague  and  at  Brus- 
sels. In  the  grand  duchy  of  Luxemburg  disturbances  arose,  which  it  was 
found  necessary  to  quell  by  force,  and  the  discordant  elements  of  which 
^,he  new  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  was  composed,  speedily  led  to  its 
destruction.  But  it  is  probable  that  if  the  revolution  in  France,  which 
drove  one  branch  of  the  Bourbons  from  the  throne  and  invested  the  other 
with  sovereign  power,  had  not  occurred  so  early,  the  revolt  of  the  Bel- 
gians would  have  been  delayed  a  few  years  longer. 

It  was  customary  in  Brussels  to  celebrate  the  king's  birthday  with  illu- 
minations and  other  rejoicings;  but  while  the  usual  preparations  were 
making,  placards  were  posted  on  the  walls,  intimating  that  the  example 
of  the  Parisians  would  on  that  occasion  be  followed.  Thus  warned,  the 
magistrates  issued  orders  to  suspend  the  fete  ;  and  the  performance  of  the 
opera  of  Massaniello,  which  had  been  advertised,  was  also  prohibited,  on 
the  ground  of  its  containing  political  allusions,  which  were  calculated  to 
excite  the  people,  and  accelerate  the  threatened  revolt.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  act  of  forbidding  the  opera  hastened  the  catastrophe ;  for 
a  mob  assembled  in  front  of  the  theatre,  demanded  a  representation  ot 
Massaniello ;  and  so  great  was  the  tumult,  that  the  government  thought 
it  prudent  to  comply.  The  opera  was  accordingly  performed,  and  with 
such  results  as  might  be  expected.  The  audience  was  composed  chiefly 
of  the  lower  classes,  who  being  predisposed  to  mischief,  a  scene  of  riot 
and  excess  commenced  as  soon  as  they  had  left  the  theatre.  The  gun- 
smiths' shops  were  broken  open,  wine-cellars  plundered,  the  house  of  the 
chief  minister  set  on  fire,  and  the  residences  of  several  other  persons  con- 
nected with  the  government  broken  into  and  despoiled.  The  rioters  were, 
however,  held  in  check  by  the  more  respectable  inhabitants,  who,  imita 
ting  the  Parisians,  on  the  following  day  formed  a  national  guard  of 
citizen-soldiers,  for  the  protection  of  their  property  against  the  mob,  as 
well  as  for  effecting  a  revolution,  though  by  a  more  orderly  and  systema- 
tic plan  of  operations.     A  council  of  the  most  influential  citizens  under- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  185 

took  the  management  of  affairs,  and  sent  a  deputation  to  the  king  at  the 
Hague,  with  a  statement  of  their  grievances,  demanding  redress.  The 
king  saw  it  was  too  late  to  temporise  ;  he  had  either  to  accede  to  the  re- 
volutionists, or  put  down  by  force  of  arms  the  incipient  rebellion ;  and  he 
preferred  the  peril  which  must  attend  the  latter  attempt,  to  abandonment 
of  his  rights  as  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands.  At  this  critical  moment, 
his  sons,  the  prince  of  Orange  and  prince  Frederic,  at  the  head  of  a  strong 
detachment  of  Dutch  troops,  were  marching  towards  Brussels.  When 
they  reached  Vilvorde,  about  five  miles  from  the  city,  the  citizens,  in  firm 
but  respectful  terms,  informed  the  princes  of  their  determination  not  to 
ad.mit  the  soldiers  ;  and  not  a  moment  was  lost  in  unpaving  the  streets, 
cutting  down  trees  to  form  barricades,  and  otherwise  placing  Brussels  in 
the  best  state  of  defence  in  their  power.  Desirous  that  no  blood  should 
be  spilt,  and  anxious  to  bring  this  emeute  to  a  favorable  issue,  the  prince 
of  Orange  rode  into  the  city ;  but  no  cordial  greeting  welcomed  him,  and 
it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he  reached  the  palace,  where  he  remained 
until  the  deputation  returned  from  the  Hague  with  the  king's  answer. 

Meantime  the  revolt  had  spread  throughout  the  Belgic  provinces,  and 
the  acts  of  the  insurgents  at  Liege,  Namur,  and  other  towns,  showed  that 
the  spirit  of  discontent  was  not  to  be  easily  repressed.  From  among  the 
citizens  of  Brussels  was  formed  an  executive  government,  under  the  title 
of  the  committee  of  public  safety  ;  but  their  councils  were  thought  too  mod- 
erate by  the  turbulent  multitude,  who  refused  to  submit  to  their  authority. 
On  this  being  communicated  to  the  king,  Prince  Frederic,  as  comman- 
der-in-chief of  the  Dutch  army,  received  his  majesty's  orders  to  take  im- 
mediate steps  for  enforcing  obedience,  on  which  he  issued  a  proclamation, 
stating  that  if  the  people  laid  down  their  arms  and  returned  peaceably  to 
their  allegiance,  a  general  pardon  would  be  granted,  but  not  otlierwise. 
This  brought  matters  to  an  issue.  A  determined  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  insurgents  was  resolved  on,  and  a  scene  resembling  that  of  the  re- 
volution in  Paris  followed ;  the  fighting,  like  that,  continued  for  three 
days.  On  the  27th  of  September  the  Dutch  troops  quitted  Brussels,  and 
ihe  provisional  government  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  the  indepen- 
dence of  Belgium.  Up  to  this  period  the  citizens  of  Antwerp  had  taken  no 
part  in  the  revolution;  but  they  now  admitted  a  body  of  Belgic  soldiers 
into  the  town,  and,  uniting  with  them,  compelled  the  Dutch  troops  to  take 
shelter  within  the  citadel,  which,  after  some  smart  cannonading  that  did 
considerable  damage  to  the  houses,  they  were  allowed  to  keep  possession 
of;  the  Belgian  auxiliaries  being  prevailed  upon  to  leave  the  citizens  to 
defend  themselves  in  the  best  manner  they  could.  It  was  now  fully  evi- 
dent that  the  king  of  Holland  had  not  the  power  to  retain,  or  rather  to  re- 
gain, the  sovereignty  of  the  southern  provinces ;  and  as  the  four  great 
powers,  Russia,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  England,  had  been  the  means  of  ef- 
fecting the  union,  envoys  from  the  three  foreign  courts  were  sent  to  Lon- 
don to  settle  the  terms  upon  which  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  should 
be  separated.  The  council  of  Brussels  appeared  to  be  in  favour  of  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy,  and  they  offered  the  crown  to  the  duke  of  Nemours, 
second  son  of  Louis  Philippe  of  France.  The  prince,  however,  declined 
the  offer,  and  they  then  fixed  on  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg,  who, 
after  some  hesitation,  consented  to  become  king  of  the  Belgians,  and  was 
proclaimed  on  the  4th  of  July,  by  the  title  of  Leopold  the  First. 

The  ambassadors  who  had  met  in  London  to  settle  the  terms  of  separ- 
ation, agreed  that,  while  the  negotiations  were  pending,  all  hostilities 
should  cease  between  the  Belgians  and  Dutch,  and  that  the  troops  of  both 
parties  should  retire  within  the  limits  of  their  respective  countries,  ac- 
cording to  their  former  boundaries.  But  this  arrangement  was  opposed 
by  the  king  of  Holland,  because  it  would  compel  him  to  surrender  the  cit- 
adel of  Antwerp  and  also  some  forts  on  the  Scheldt.     Austria,  Russia  and 


186  THE  TiiEASUit-Y  Oi'    llViTOJlY. 

Prussia  declined  to  interfere  in  llie  matter  ;  but  Great  Britain  and  France 
forseeing  lliat  no  final  settlement  could  be  cfTeited  while  the  Dutch  held 
these  important  plaees,  look  a  decided  part  in  insisting  on  tiieir  immediate 
evacuation.  The  citadel  of  Antwerp  was  one  of  the  strongest  in  Europe, 
and  its  garrison  of  five  thousand  men  was  commanded  by  General  Chasse 
an  intrepid  and  skilful  veteran.  An  English  fleet  was  sent  to  blockade  the 
mouth  of  the  Scheldt,  while  a  French  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  under 
Marshal  Gerard,  laid  siege  to  the  citadel  of  Antwerp  ;  but  before  the  siege 
commenced,  the  two  generals  came  to  an  understanding  tliat  the  town 
should  not  be  injured  by  either  party,  and  that  tiie  inhabitants  should  take 
no  part  in  the  contest.  As  far  as  possible  tiiis  arrangement  was  obserAcd, 
but  during  ten  days  of  almost  incessant  cannonading,  the  loss  of  life  on 
each  side  was  great,  and  the  citadel  was  literally  battered  to  pieces.  At 
length  the  old  general  offered  to  capitulate,  on  condition  that  he  and  his 
men  might  be  allowed  to  retire  to  Holland  ;  this,  however.  Marshal  Ge- 
rard refused,  unless  two  of  the  forts  on  the  Scheldt  were  given  up ;  but 
as  they  were  not  under  the  command  of  General  Ciiasse,  and  the  king  re- 
fused to  sanction  their  surrender,  the  brave  defender  of  the  citadel,  anf" 
the  survivitig  remnant  of  the  garrison,  were  marched  into  France  as  prib- 
oners  of  war.  There  were  still  some  minor  points  of  dispute  left  un- 
touched, particularly  the  appropriation  of  the  provinces  of  Limburg  and 
Luxemburg;  but  the  siege  of  Antwerp  was  the  last  event  of  a  hostile  na- 
ture that  occurred.  The  direct  interference  of  England  and  France  had 
terminated  as  must  have  been  expected  ;  and  though  there  was  much  con- 
tention respecting  the  possession  of  the  two  provinces  just  mentioned,  it 
was  eventually  arranged,  througli  the  mediation  of  the  British  goverimient, 
that  they  should  be  divided  between  the  two  kingdoms,  the  king  of  Hol- 
land retaining  Luxemburg,  with  the  title  of  grand  duke- 
King  William  L  being  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  and  wishing  to  re- 
lire  from  the  cares  of  public  life,  in  1840  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son, 
the  hereditary  prince  of  Orange,  who  was  proclaimed  king  on  the  8th  of 
October.  Uo  man  can  be  more  generally  esteemed  by  his  subjects  than 
the  new  sovereign,  or  more  entitled  to  their  esteem ;  and,  indeed,  it  may 
with  truth  be  said,  that  William  H.  of  Holland,  and  Leopold  I.  of  Belgium, 
are  both  well  calculated  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  their  respective  coun 
tries  and  the  well-being  of  those  over  whom  they  have  been  desiined  to 
sway  the  regal  sceptre.  On  the  12ih  of  December,  1843,  the  ex-king  ol 
Jllolland  died,  suddenly,  at  Berlin,  having  been  seized  with  apoplexy 


THE    HISTORY    OF 

SWEDEN,  DENMARK,  AND  NORWAY 


SWEDEN. 

The  early  history  of  Sweden  is  no  less  involved  in  fables  than  that  of 
most  other  nations  ;  hut  as  it  is  famous  for  being  the  native  country  of  the 
fierce  and  warlike  Goths,  whose  emigrations  effected  the  most  singular 
and  rapid  revolutions  on  the  European  continent  that  history  records,  we 
shall  in  the  first  place  consider  who  were  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  those 


THE  TREASURY  OP  IIIriTORY.  187 

rugged  coasts  and  mountainous  regions,  whence  issued  the  bold  and  bar- 
barons  Northmen,  whose  devastations  and  cruelties  rendered  them  terri- 
ble as  the  invaders  of  more  peaceful  and  sunnier  lands. 

The  ancient  name  of  the  region  now  comprehending  the  three  northern 
kingdoms,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  was  Scandinavia;  but  the  in- 
habitants were  at  that  time  known  to  the  nations  of  the  south  of  Europe 
only  by  vague  rumours.  About  a.  d.  2.50,  commence  the  fabulous  ac- 
counts of  Odin,  or  Woden.  Till  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  Scandi- 
navia was  little  known ;  but  the  bold  expeditions  of  the  natives  into  the 
southern  and  western  parts  of  Europe,  and  the  diffusion  of  Christianity 
among  them,  about  the  year  1000,  shed  light  on  this  region.  The  king- 
dom of  the  Swedes  was  separated  from  lliat  of  the  Goths  till  the  twelfth 
century  ;  but  in  1132  both  nations,  with  their  several  dependencies,  were 
united  under  Suercher,  king  of  the  Ostrogotiis,  who  was  proclaimed  king 
of  the  Swedes  and  Goths.  It  was  afterwards  agreed  by  both  nations,  tliat 
the  Swedish  and  Gothic  princes  should  hold  the  sovereignty  alternately; 
but  this  occasioned  many  bloody  intestine  wars. 

Magnus  Smeck  added  Schonen  and  the  adjacent  territories  lo  the  king- 
dom; but  at  length,  by  his  mal-administration,  he  deprived  both  himself 
and  his  family  of  the  throne;  for  after  Albert,  duke  of  Mecklenburg,  his 
sister's  son,  had  been  elected  king,  Margaret,  who  was  heiress  to  the 
crowns  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  compelled  him  to  give  up  the  kingdom 
of  Sweden  to  her;  and  by  tiie  union  of  Calmar,  in  tiie  year  1397,  the  same 
princess  united  the  three  northern  kingdoms  under  one  head.  This  union 
excited  in  the  Swedes  the  greatest  indignation;  and  in  1448,  the  Swedes 
and  Norwegians  elected  a  separate  king,  Karl  Kimtsen,  or  Ciiarles,  the 
son  of  Canute,  and  formally  renounced  tiie  union.  After  the  deatli  of 
Charles,  several  of  the  family  of  Charles  reigned  in  succession,  with  the 
title  of  presidents,  though  with  regal  authority,  until,  in  1520,  Christian 
II.  of  Denmark,  was  aeknowledged  king  of  Sweden.  But  iiis  tyranny 
disgusted  the  people.  Even  during  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation,  not- 
withstanding his  promises  of  amnesty,  he  ordered  ninety-four  Swedish 
noblemen  to  be  beheaded  in  tlie  market-place  of  Stockholm,  and  perpe- 
trated similar  acts  of  cruelty  in  the  provinces.  At  length,  by  the  assis- 
tance of  a  Swedish  nobleman,  named  Gustavus  Erickson  von  Vasa,  they 
shook  off  the  Danish  yoke.  The  brave  Gustavus  Vasa,  who  rendered 
himself  extremely  popular  by  the  conduct  and  intrepidity  he  showed  in 
rescuing  Sweden  from  the  oppression  of  the  Danes,  was  elected  king,  and 
not  only  became  a  founder  of  a  line  of  monarehs  of  his  family,  but  ad- 
vanced the  royal  authority  to  a  very  great  height. 

The  crown  of  Sweden  had  hitherto  been  elective;  but  the  Swedes  hud 
been  deprived  of  this  right  under  the  Danish  kings  :  according  to  the  laws 
of  Sweden,  the  royal  authority  was  so  limited  that  the  king  could  neither 
make  war  nor  peace,  levy  money  nor  troops,  witliout  the  consent  of  tlie 
states  ;  he  could  neither  erect  a  fortress,  introduce  foreign  troops,  nor 
put  any  strong  place  into  the  hands  of  a  foreigner.  The  revenue  of  the 
crown  then  solely  arose  from  some  inconsiderable  domains  about  Upsal, 
a  small  poll-tax  on  the  peasants,  and  from  fines  and  forfeitures  which  fell 
to  the  crown  in  criminal  proceedings.  The  government  of  castles,  fiel's, 
or  manors,  which  were  at  first  granted  by  the  crown  only  for  a  term  ol 
years,  or  at  most  for  life,  were  insensibly  changed  into  hereditary  posses- 
sions, which  the  nobility  held  by  force,  without  paying  the  rents  that  had 
been  reserved  out  of  them.  This  was  done  by  the  bishops  and  clergy 
who  possessed  such  estates,  on  pretence  that  the  lands  of  the  churel' 
ought  to  be  exempted  from  all  duties ;  and  by  these  encroachments  the 
royal  revenue  was  so  reduced,  that  the  king  could  scarcely  maintain  more 
than  five  hundred  horse.  He  was  considered  only  as  a  kind  of  captain- 
general  during  a  war,  and  as  president  of  the  senate  in  time  of  peace 


(gg  THE  T11KA8U11Y  OF  UlSTORY. 

The  prelates  and  nobility  fortified  their  castles,  and  rendered  them  the 
seats  of  so  many  independent  states  ;  and  arming  their  vassals,  frequently 
made  war  on  each  other,  and  sometimes  on  their  sovereign ;  they  neither 
sou"^ht  nor  expected  redress  from  the  king's  courts,  wlien  they  thouglit 
themselves  injured  :  but  proceeded  by  force  of  arms  to  avenge  tlieir  own 
cause.  The  kingdoms  of  Norway  and  Denmark  were  under  the  like  form 
of  government ;  botli  were  elective,  and  had  their  respective  senates,  with- 
out whose  concurrence  or  that  of  the  states  assembled  in  their  diet,  the 
king  could  transact  nothing  of  importance. 

But  to  return  to  Gustavus  Vasa,  who  found  the  kingdom  in  this  situa 
tion  ;  tiie  states,  to  express  their  ardent  gratitude  to  their  deliverer,  passed 
a  solemn  decree,  by  which  they  obliged  themselves  to  approve  whatso- 
ever that  patriot  should  think  fit  to  enact  for  the  preservation  of  his  dig- 
nity, against   any   pretender    set  up   in  opposition  to   him.      They,   m 
particular,  impowered  him  to  make  peace  and  war,  and  resolved  that  his 
enemies  should  be  accounted  the  enemies  of  the  nation.     This  happened 
at  the  time  that  the  doctrines  of  the  reformation  began  to  prevail  in  Swe- 
den:  and  the  Romish  clergy,  Gustavus'  greatest  enemies,  being  in  pos- 
session of  one  half  of  the  lands  and  revenues  of  the  kingdom,  also  hold- 
ing many  royal  castles  and  domains,  the  new  king,  in  order  to  resume 
Ihese  possessions,  embraced  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  procured  an  act  to 
be  passed,  by  which  it  was  ordained,  tliat  the  bishops  should  immediately 
surrender  their  castles  to  the  king,  and  disband  their  troops ;  that  their 
pretended  rights  to  fines  and  forfeited  estates,  which  originally  belonged 
lo  the  crown,  should  be  abrogated  :  that  all  the  superfluous  plate  and  bells 
belonging  to  the  churches  should  be  sold  to  pay  the  public  debts ;  that 
all  the  grants  of  estates  to  the  clergy,  since  the  year  1445,  should  be  re- 
voked, and  the  lands  re-united  to  the  crown  ;  that  two-thirds  of  the  tithes, 
generally  possessed  by  the  bishops  and  abbots,  should  be  sequestered,  for 
maintaining  the  army  in  the  time  of  war,  and  for  erecting  and  endowing 
public  schools  and  hospitals  in  time  of  peace ;  and  that  all  the  privileges 
of  the  clergy  should  be  entirely  at  the  king's  disposal.     Vasa  having  thus 
obtained  a  constitutional  title  to  the  revenues  of  the  church,  marched 
through  great  part  of  his  dominions,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  horse,  to 
see  the  act  put  into  execution,  attended  by  Olaus  Petri,  and  the  Luthe- 
ran doctors,  whom  he   ordered  to   preach  before  him  in  the  principal 
churches.     Wherever  he  came,  he  commanded  the  titles  and  grants  by 
which  the  clergy  held  their  lands  to  be  brought  before  him,  and  either  re- 
united them  to  the  crown,  or  restored  them  to  the  heirs  of  the  ancient 
proprietors  ;  by  which  means  he  recovered  from  theaecular  and  regular 
clergy  above  two-thirds  of  their  revenues,  and  seized  upon  near  thirteen 
thousand  considerable  farms.     He  also   caused  the  superfluous  church 
plate  to  be  melted  down  and  carried  into  the  public  treasury.     This,  iii- 
deed,  occasioned  some  conspiracies   and  insurrections ;  but  they  were 
easily  quelled.     Having  now  succeeded  so  happily  in  suppressing"  his 
greatest  enemies,  he  obliged  the  nobility  and  gentry  who  held  the  crown 
lands,  which  they  had  kept  as   their  own,  to  resign  their  fiefs  or  to  pay 
the  rents  that  were  originally  due  to  the  crown.     Upon  this  they  were 
obliged  to  compound  with  the  king,  and  agree  to  pay  him  annually  a  cer 
tain  sum  for  all  their  fiefs  and  manors.     The  crown  was  next  rendered 
hereditary  to  the  issue  of  the  reigning  prince  by  the  free  consent  of  the 
states,  and  it  has  accordingly  been  enjoyed  by  his  descendants  to  the  pre- 
sent century.     Gustavus  Vasa  died  in  1650  ;  but  the  division  of  the  king- 
dom among  his  children,  the  mal-administration  of  his  son  John,  together 
with  the  propensity  of  Erick,  John's  brother,  and  of  Sigismund,  king  of 
Poland,  the  son  of  John,  to  popery,  threw  the  kingdom  into  great  disorder, 
which  it  required  all  the  energy  and  prudence  of  Charles  IX.  aad  his  sol 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  to  suppress. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  189 

Under  the  latter  prince,  who  began  his  reign  in  1611,  the  importance 
of  Sweden  rose  to  its  greatest  height:  his  armies  supported  the  protes- 
tant  interest  in  Europe,  whilst  his  domestic  policy  established  good  order 
in  his  kingdom.  He  reduced  the  greatest  part  of  Livonia,  and  penetrated 
so  far  into  Germany  as  to  become  formidable  to  the  emperor;  but  in  the 
year  1632,  he  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of  Lutzen,  dying  in  the  arms,  of 
victory.  This  prince  was  one  of  those  rare  mortals  that  join  to  the  abili- 
ties of  a  great  warrior  and  statesman  the  virtues  that  refine  and  exalt 
humanity.  In  his  life  and  death  he  gained  the  noblest  reward  that  worth 
like  his  could  crave.  His  daughter  Christina  succeeded  to  the  throne  in 
1633,  when  only  six  years  of  age.  She  wrested  from  Norway  and  Den- 
mark the  territories  of  Jemptland  and  Harjedalen,  with  the  islands  of 
Gothland  and  Oeland,  and  in  1648  added  Upper  Pomerania,  Bremen,  Ver- 
den,  and  VVismar,  to  the  Swedish  dominions.  She  was  no  less  remark- 
able for  her  learning  and  capacity,  than  for  her  singularities  of  conduct. 
In  the  year  1654,  that  princess  solemnly  resigned  the  crown  of  Sweden, 
and  was  very  instrumental  in  advancing  to  the  throne  her  cousin  Charles 
Gustavus,  prince  palatine  of  Deux-Ponts,  son  of  John  Casimir,  prince 
palatine  of  the  Rhine,  by  Catharine,  daughter  of  Charles  IX.  and  sister 
to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  whom  her  subjects  had  wished  her  to  have  made 
her  husband.  Charles,  who  coveted  a  crown  rather  than  a  marriage  with 
his  cousin,  in  1658  added  Schonen,  Halland,  and  other  places  to  the  Swe- 
dish dominions.  His  son  Charles  XI.  re-assumed  al'  the  alienated  crown 
lands,  and  rendered  himself  an  absolute  monarch. 

Charles  XI.  dying  in  1697,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
thirty-seventh  of  his  reign,  was  succeeded  by  his  only  son  Charles  XII., 
who  being  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  a  regency  was  appointed ;  but  the 
uncommon  talents  of  this  yo\mg  prince  soon  procured  for  him  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  through  his  mediation  the  peace  of  Ryswick  was  concluded, 
before  he  had  completed  his  16th  year.  In  the  year  1700,  the  Poles, 
Danes,  and  Rus?ians,  taking  advantage  of  the  king's  youth,  endeavoured 
to  recover  the  dominions  of  which  their  ancestors  had  been  deprived. 
The  English  and  Dutch  sent  a  fleet  into  the  Baltic  to  his  assistance,  and 
compelled  the  Danes  to  conclude  a  peace  with  him.  This  young  prince 
then  marched  against  the  Russians  and  Poles,  whom  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war  he  defeated  in  almost  every  engagement,  with  numbers  far  infe- 
rior to  those  of  his  enemies,  though  he  had  well-disciplined  veteran 
troops  of  Saxons  to  contend  with,  as  well  as  Russians  and  Poles. 

in  the  year  1708,  the  glory  of  Sweden  rose  to  an  unparalleled  height. 
Its  king  then  held  the  balance  of  Europe,  and  might  have  dictated  to  all 
its  powers  ;  but  the  superior  address  of  the  duke  of  Marlborough,  whose 
abilities  as  a  statesman  and  negotiator  were  equal  to  those  which  he 
possessed  as  a  general,  caused  the  force  of  Sweden  to  be  directed  against 
the  Russians,  which  might  otherwise  have  turned  the  fortune  of  the  war 
then  waging  against  France.  The  czar  Peter  the  Great,  improving  by  his 
former  miscarriages,  at  length  formed  his  troops  to  conquest :  Charles 
was  defeated  at  Pultovva,  in  June,  1709 ;  his  whole  army,  consisting  of 
30,000  men,  entirely  cut  off,  or  made  prisoners,  except  three  or  four  hun- 
dred horse,  with  whom  the  king  escaped  to  Bender,  in  Turkey.  He  there 
gave  signal  proofs  of  desperate  intrepidity,  as  incapable  of  fear  as  void 
of  discretion,  having  with  a  handful  of  men  performed  prodigies  of  per- 
sonal valour  against  the  whole  force  of  the  Turks  :  but  he  was  at  length 
made  prisoner. 

The  numerous  enemies  of  Sweden  availed  themselves  of  this  reverse 
of  fortune.  Frederic  IV.,  then  king  of  Denmark,  declared  war,  but 
could  not  obtain  the  object  for  which  he  contended.  Augustus,  the  de- 
posed king  of  Poland,  was  more  successful.  The  Russians  overran  the 
most  valuable  territories  held  by  the  Swedes  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the 


190  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Baltic,  whilst  those  in  Germany  were  divided  among  the  confederates  : 
Swedish  Pomerania  was  annexed  to  Prussia,  and  Bremen  and  Verden 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Danes,  whose  king  disposed  of  them  to  the 
elector  of  Hanover,  afterwards  king  George  the  First  of  f^ngland.  Thus 
were  the  accessions  of  territory,  whicli  had  been  made  by  the  princes  of 
the  house  of  Vasa,  severed  from  that  kingdom.  A  peace  being  ratified 
in  1714,  Charles  regained  his  liberty;  but  iiis  passion  for  war  hurrying 
him  into  fresh  broils,  he  met  his  death  by  a  cannon-ball  at  the  siege  of 
Fredericshall,  when  he  had  invaded  Norway,  in  1718. 

Two  more  extraordinary  characters  never  appeared  on  the  stage  of 
liuman  life  atone  time,  tlian  Peter  the  Great  of  Russia,  and  Charles  the 
Twelfth  of  Sweden.  Of  the  former  we  sliall  speak  more  at  large  anon ; 
of  the  latter  it  may  be  safely  asserted,  that  no  dangers,  however  sudden 
or  imminent,  ever  occasioned  in  him  the  least  dismay,  even  when  they 
have  sliaken  the  constancy  of  the  firmest  among  his  followers;  beseems, 
m  short,  to  have  been  a  man  divested  of  the  smallest  particle  of  fear:  and 
the  manner  in  wliich  he  is  related  to  have  endured  cold  and  hunger  shew 
bim  to  have  been  a  prodigy  of  strength  as  well  as  of  courage.  His  rapid 
successes  against  the  combined  forces  of  Denmark,  Poland,  and  Russia, 
l)rove  him  to  have  been  an  able  general ;  but  although  his  successes 
astonished  all  Europe,  yet  in  their  consequences  they  were  fatal  to  the 
kingdom  wliich  he  governed.  A  strong  resentment  against  the  unpro- 
voked attacks  upon  him,  led  him  to  meditate  enterprises  against  his  ene- 
mies, extravagant  and  impracticable  in  their  nature ;  and  the  cool  and 
undismayed  perseverance  of  his  great  adversary,  the  czar  Peter,  at  length 
prevailed  over  his  ill-directed  ardour. 

Upon  the  death  of  Charles,  his  sister  Ulrica  Eleanor  ascended  the 
throne,  by  the  free  election  of  the  states;  but  first  gave  up  all  pretensions 
to  arbitrary  power;  and  in  1720,  by  consent  of  the  diet,  transferred  the 
government  to  her  husband  Frederic,  hereditary  prince  of  Hesse  Cassel. 
Frederic  having  no  issue,  the  states,  in  1743,  nominated  Adolphus  Fred- 
eric, duke  of  Holstein  and  bishop  of  Lubec,  his  successor,  by  a  majority 
of  only  two  votes.  Adolphus,  on  the  decease  of  Frederic,  in  1751, 
assumed  the  reins  of  government.  He  married  Louisa  Ulrica,  sister  to 
the  king  of  Prussia,  who  lived  to  the  year  1782.  The  new  form  of 
government  established  at  this  juncture,  consisted  of  fifty-one  articles,  all 
tending  to  abridge  the  powers  of  the  crown,  and  to  render  the  Swedish 
sovereign  the  most  limited  monarch  in  Europe.  It  was  settled,  that  the 
supreme  legislative  authority  should  reside  absolutely  and  solely  in  the 
states  of  the  realm  assembled  in  diet,  which,  whether  convened  by  the 
king  or  not,  must  regularly  assemble  once  in  three  years,  and  could  only 
be  dissolved  by  their  own  consent.  During  the  recess  of  the  diet,  the 
executive  power  resided  in  the  king  and  senate  ;  but,  as  the  king  was  bound 
in  all  affairs  to  abide  by  the  opinion  of  the  majority,  and  as  he  possessed 
only  two  votes,  and  the  casting  voice  in  case  of  equal  suffrages,  he  was 
almost  entirely  subordinate  to  that  body,  and  could  be  considered  in  no 
higher  view  than  as  its  president.  At  the  same  time,  the  senate  itself 
ultimately  depended  upon  the  states;  as  its  members,  though  nominally 
appointed  for  life,  yet  were  in  a  great  measure  under  the  control  of  the 
Slates,  being  amenable  to  that  assembly,  and  liable  to  be  removed  from 
their  office  in  case  of  real  or  pretended  malversation.  Thus  the  supreme 
authority  resided  in  a  tumultuous  assembly,  composed  of  the  four  orders. 
Although  all  the  statutes  were  signed  by  the  king,  and  the  ordinances  of 
the  senate  issued  in  his  name,  yet  in  neither  case  did  he  possess  a  nega- 
tive :  and,  in  order  to  obviate  the  possibility  of  his  attj^mpting  to  exercise 
that  power,  it  was  enacted  in  the  diet  of  1756,  that  "  in  all  affairs,  without 
exception,  which  had  hitherto  required  the  sign-manual,  his  majesty's 
name  might  be  afii?:ed  by  a  stamp,  whenever  he  sliould  have  declined  his 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  191 

signature  at  the  first  or  second  request  of  the  senate."  In  consequence 
of  this,  the  king-  was  only  an  ostensible  instrument  in  the  hands  of  one 
of  the  two  great  parlies  which  at  that  time  divided  and  governed  the 
kingdom,  as  either  obtained  the  superior  influence  in  the  diet.  Fully  de- 
ternained  to  wrest  from  the  senate  their  assumed  power,  and  to  recover 
that  participation  of  authority  which  the  constitution  had  assigned  to  the 
crown,  the  king  proceeded  to  a  measure  both  bold  and  decisive.  On  the 
13th  of  December,  1768,  he  signed  a  declaration,  by  which  he  formally 
abdicated  the  crown  of  Sweden  ;  and,  by  giving  public  notice  throughout 
his  dominions  of  this  step,  at  once  suspended  all  functions  of  government. 
The  senate  felt  their  authority  insufficient  to  counteract  such  a  measure, 
for  their  orders  were  disputed  by  all  the  colleges  of  state,  who  had  ceased 
to  transact  the  business  of  their  several  departments.  The  magistrates  of 
-'Stockholm,  agreeably  with  the  form  of  government,  were  proceeding  to 
convoke  the  order  of  "  burghers,"  which  compelled  the  senate  to  consent 
to  the  desired  assembly  of  the  diet ;  and  the  king's  concurrence  was  re- 
quested to  confirm  the  proclamation  for  that  purpose,  which  being  given, 
he  resumed  the  reins  of  government.  At  the  meeting  of  the  diet,  which 
took  place  on  the  19th  of  April,  1769,  though  it  coincided  in  sonie  particu- 
lars with  the  king's  views,  yet  was  far  from  effecting  everything  which 
he  aimed  at. 

Adolphus  Frederic  died  February  12th,  1771,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Gnstavus  III.,  his  eldest  son,  then  twenty- five  years  of  age.  Tiie  acces- 
sion of  this  young  prince  to  the  throne,  with  the  prepossession  of  the  peo- 
ole  strongly  in  his  favour,  was  a  favourable  period  for  extending  the  pow- 
er of  the  crown  by  the  reduction  of  that  of  the  senate.  An  aristocracy 
riaturally  and  rapidly  degenerates  into  despotism;  the  yoke  of  which  is 
rendered  more  intolerable  to  a  people  in  proportion  as  the  oppressions  of  a 
number  of  tyrants  are  more  grievous  than  those  of  a  single  one.  The  new 
king  found  his  people  divided  into  two  great  political  parlies,  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  "  hats"  and  "caps; "  the  former  espoused  the  interest  of 
tlie  court,  the  latter  the  country  or  patriotic  party.  The  most  masterly 
strokes  of  policy,  as  well  as  the  most  profound  dissimulation,  v/ere  used 
by  this  monarch  to  circumvent  and  destroy  the  influence  of  the  senate. 
The  people  were  grievously  oppressed ;  for  besides  the  rigorous  exac- 
tions made  on  the  common  people  by  their  rulers,  they  suffered  every 
calamity  which  a  year  of  great  scarcity  necessarily  occasions.  The  army 
was  devoted  to  his  interest ;  and  his  two  brothers.  Prince  Charles  and 
Prince  Frederic  Augustus,  each  commanded  a  body  of  troops.  The  next 
year,  while  the  king  was  amusing  the  senate  at  Stockholm  with  the  wann- 
est professions  of  disinterestedness,  and  his  wishes  to  be  thought  only 
the  first  citizen  of  a  free  country,  an  insurrection  of  the  military  happened 
at  Christianstadt,  in  the  province  of  Scano ;  which  was  set  on  foot  by 
one  Hellichius,  who  commanded  there.  The  plea  made  use  of  to  justify 
it  was,  the  tyranny  and  oppression  of  the  governing  powers.  Prince 
Charles,  who  was  purposely  in  those  parts,  made  this  a  pretence  to  as- 
semble the  troops  under  his  command,  while  the  king,  his  brother, 
who  was  at  Ostrogothia,  put  himself  at  the  same  time  at  the  head 
of  the  troops  there.  The  senate  was  much  alarmed  at  these  pro- 
ceedings, while  the  king,  with  the  most  consummate  dissimulation,  ex- 
pressed his  resentment  against  the  insurgents,  and  his  zeal  to  suppress 
them;  at  the  same  time,  by  stationing  the  military  force  in  Stockholm  so 
as  to  surround  the  senate-house,  he  effectually  controlled  the  deliberations 
carried  on  there.  In  this  exigency  the  senate  found  themselves  totally 
abandoned  by  the  soldiery,  while  the  king,  being  thus  supported,  was 
enabled  to  accomplish  a  great  and  almost  unparalleled  revolution,  and  to 
deprive  an  extensive  nation  of  its  liberties  in  a  single  morning,  without 
bloodshed,  without  noise,  without  tumult,  and  v/ithout  opposition;  while 


192  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  ponplo  (locked  together  with  as  mucli  indifference  and  tranquility  as 
if  it  had  been  merely  some  holiday  sport. 

It  is  said  that  only  five  persons  in  the  kingdom  were  entrusted  with  the 
des'^n.  Very  few  were  imprisoned,  and  that  only  for  a  short  time ;  nor 
did  my  one  experience,  in  the  smallest  degree,  a  diminution  of  the  royal 
ffivour  on  account  of  their  opposition.  Tlie  senate  took  a  new  oath  of 
ul.egiance  to  the  prince,  and  tranquility  was  restored  throughout  the  king- 
dom. Six  years  after  this  revolution  took  place  the  king  convened  the 
ienate  ;  hut  finding  the  house  of  nobles  very  much  disposed  to  oppose  the 
views  of  royalty,  he  suddenly  dissolved  that  assembly.  On  the  IGth  of 
March,  1792,  the  king  being  at  a  masked  ball,  an  assassin,  named  Anker- 
stroem,  discharged  a  pistol  behind  him,  the  contents  of  which  lodged  be- 
tween the  hip  and  the  back-bone,  with  which  wound  the  king  languished 
until  the  29lii,  and  then  expired.  The  day  after  he  received  it,  he  sanc- 
tioned an  edict,  by  which  his  brother  the  duke  of  Sudermania  was  ap- 
pointed regent  of  tlie  kingdom,  and  guardian  of  his  only  son,  then  a  minor, 
being  fourteen  years  of  age.  This  prince,  upon  the  death  of  his  father  suc- 
ceeded to  the  crown,  under  the  title  of  Gustavus  IV. 

He  accordingly  assumed  the  government,  under  the  guardianship  of 
the  duke  of  Sudermania.  No  sooner,  however,  had  he  attained  his  ma- 
jority than  he  embroiled  himself  in  hostilities  with  France.  He  next 
engaged  in  an  unequal  contest  with  Russia ;  the  consequence  of  which 
was  that  the  latter  overran  Finland,  and  threatened  an  attack  on  Stock- 
holm. As  Sweden  was  at  the  time  in  alliance  with  England,  a  British 
army,  under  Sir  John  Moore,  was  sent  over  to  the  assistance  of  Gustavus; 
but  that  general  refusing  to  submit  to  the  dictates  of  the  eccentric,  if  not 
insane,  king,  soon  returned  home.  Though  the  Swedes  fought  with  great 
courage,  they  were  unable  to  resist  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  Rus- 
sians, especially  as  the  limited  resources  of  Sweden  were  wasted  by  Gus- 
tavus in  senseless  and  impracticable  enterprises.  At  length  the  Swedes 
grew  weary  of  a  sovereign  whose  conduct  threatened  the  ruin  of  their 
country;  he  was  arrested  by  some  of  his  officers,  deposed,  and  the  crown 
transferred  to  the  duke  of  Sudermania,  who  took  the  title  of  Charles  XIH. 
f  A.  D.  1609);  Prince  Christian  of  Holstein-Augustenburg  (who  adopted 
the  name  of  Charles  Augustus)  being  at  the  same  time  declared  crown- 
prince  and  successor,  'rhe  new  monarch  was  forced  to  purchase  peace 
from  Russia  by  the  cession  of  Finland,  and  the  exclusion  of  British  ves- 
sels from  the  ports  of  Sweden.  The  crown-prince,  however,  dying  sud 
denly,  Marshal  Bernadotte,  prince  of  Ponte  Corvo,  was  elected  successor 
to  the  crown  by  a  diet  held  at  Orebro  in  1810;  and  having  accepted  the 
honour,  and  been  adopted  by  the  king  under  the  name  of  Charles  John,  he 
soon  after  arrived  in  Sweden,  of  which  he  became  king  on  the  death  of 
Charles  XHI.  in  1818. 

Sweden  now  declared  war  against  Great  Britain ;  but  the  pressure  of 
the  war,  and  the  increasing  encroachments  of  France,  produced  a  change 
of  policy  in  1812,  aud  she  joined  the  alUes  against  Napoleon.  By  the 
peace  with  Denmark,  concluded  at  Kiel,  Jan.  14,  1814,  Sweden  received 
Norway  as  an  independent,  free,  indivisible,  and  inalienable  kingdom,  in 
return  for  her  possessions  in  Pomerania  and  the  island  of  Rugen. 

Since  the  union  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  this  double  kingdom  has  com- 
bined, under  one  king  and  two  very  different  constitutions,  two  proud  and 
free-spirited  nations,  each  jealous  of  its  peculiar  privileges.  The  politi- 
cal condition  of  of  Sweden  and  Norway  forms  a  permanent  partition  be- 
tween them  ;  there,  a  jealous  aristocracy  is  perpetually  watching  over  its 
ancient  privileges  ;  here,  the  democracy  struggles  to  defend  its  new-born 
rights.  In  both  kingdoms  the  peasantry  and  the  citizens  hold  a  higher 
rank  than  in  most  European  states.  In  Norway  there  is  no  hereditary 
nobility,  and  the  veto  of  the  king  is  only  conditional.     These  circuin  • 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  193 

stances  seem  to  separate  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  from  the  European 
system  of  politics,  with  which,  however,  it  is  closely  connected.  To  the 
discrepancy  of  domestic  and  foreign  relations  is  added  an  incessant  strug- 
gle with  the  climate  and  soil,  with  obstructions  in  trade,  depreciated 
paper  money,  and  an  oppressive  public  debt.  Charles  XJ  V.  is  a  sovereign 
suited  to  the  country  and  the  age.  Looking  steadily  to  the  future,  he 
meets  present  difficulties  with  firmness  and  wisdom.  He  possesses  the 
affections  of  the  majority  of  the  nation,  and  especially  of  the  army;  and 
has  imbued  his  successor  with  his  own  principles.  The  crown-prince, 
Oscar,  lives  and  thinks,  as  a  Swede.  He  met  with  a  distinguished  recep- 
tion, at  Verona,  at  the  time  of  the  Congress,  in  1822,  where  the  visits  of 
the  two  emperors  seemed  to  confirm  the  opinion  that  his  succession  to  the 
throne  was  guaranteed  by  Russia.  Soon  afterwards,  the  marriage  of 
the  prince  with  Josepha  Maximiliana,  daughter  of  Eugene  Beauharnois, 
duke  of  Leuchtenberg  (whose  wife  was  Augusta  Amelia,  princess  of  Ba- 
varia), took  place  at  Stockholm,  June  18,1823. 

Some  intrigues  and  conspiracies  for  the  restoration  of  the  family  of 
Vasa  occurred  in  Sweden ;  but  the  estates  took  the  opportunity  to  give 
the  king  and  the  crown-prince  the  strongest  assurances  of  fidelity.  The 
king  and  the  Swedish  estates,  in  order  to  interrupt  all  communication 
with  the  exiled  family,  determined  to  transfer  to  it  all  its  property  re- 
maining in  the  kingdom,  and  to  extinguish  its  pension  by  the  payment  of 
a  certain  sum,  mutually  agreed  upon  by  the  two  parties,  which  was  done 
in  1824.  The  personal  character  and  constitutional  principles  of  the  king 
have  secured  him  the  love  and  fidelity  of  his  subjects.  He  often  visits 
the  remote  provinces  of  his  two  kingdoms,  relieving  distress  wherever  he 
finds  it,  usually  from  his  private  purse,  and  takes  no  important  measures 
without  being  assured  of  the  concurrence  of  the  estates,  which  meet 
every  six  years,  and  of  the  majority  of  the  nation. 

The  nobility  of  Sweden  are  subdivided  into  three  classes — the  lords, 
including  counts  and  barons  ;  the  knights,  or  those  whose  ancestors  have 
held  the  place  of  royal  councillors ;  and  the  simple  noblemen.  The 
clergy  are  represented  by  the  bishop  of  each  diocese,  and  the  citizens  and 
peasants,  the  latter  comprising  only  the  free  peasants  of  the  crown,  by 
deputies.  The  sovereign  disposes  of  the  higher  civil  and  military  offices, 
from  which  foreigners  are  excluded  by  law.  Without  the  consent  of  the 
states,  the  king  cannot  enact  new  laws  or  abolish  old  ones  ;  and  the  con- 
stitution requires  the  king  to  assemble  the  states  once  in  five  years.  The 
legislative  power  in  Norway  is  lodged  in  the  "storthing,"  which  meets 
every  three  years.  A  viceroy,  or  governor-general,  resides  at  Christiana. 
The  revenue  and  troops  of  the  kingdoms  are  kept  distinct ;  and  the  for- 
tifications of  Norway  are  only  in  part  occupied  by  Sweden.  For  the  levy- 
ing of  taxes  the  consent  of  the  states  is  necessary ;  and  all  the  troops 
and  officers  are  required  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  them  as 
well  as  to  the  king.  The  sovereign  has  the  right  to  make  war  and 
peace,  to  regulate  the  judiciary,  and  to  conduct  the  general  adminis- 
tration without  restraint.  The  succession  to  the  throne  is  hereditary  in 
the  male  line,  according  to  the  law  of  primogeniture ;  on  the  extinction 
of  the  male  line  the  states  have  full  power  to  elect  a  king.  Before  his 
coronation,  the  king  is  required  to  take  the  inaugural  oaths,  and  to  sub- 
scribe an  engagement  to  maintain  inviolate  the  evangelical  Lutheran 
religion.  A  Swede  who  abandons  the  Lutheran  religion  loses  his  civii 
rights. 


DENMARK. 

The  nborigines  of  Denmark  are  supposed  to  have  come  from  Germany, 
and  to  have  gained  their  support  from  the  sea.     The  Cimbri,  who  derived 
13 


194  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

their  origin  from  thein,  dwelt  in  the  peninsula  of  Jutland,  the  Uhersones''* 
Cimbrica  of  the  Romans.  They  first  struck  terror  into  the  Romans  by 
their  incursion,  with  the  Teutones,  into  the  rich  provinces  of  Gaul.  After 
this,  led  by  the  mysterious  Odin,  the  Goths  broke  into  Scandinavia,  and 
appointed  chiefs  from  their  own  nation  over  Denmark,  Norway,  and 
Sweden.  But  the  early  history  of  this  country  is  involved  in  fable,  and 
presents  nothing  that  is  interesting  to  a  stranger.  All  that  is  known  with 
certainty  is,  that  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  Denmark  was 
divided  into  many  small  states,  that  the  inhabitants  gained  their  subsist- 
ence by  piracy,  and  spread  terror  through  every  sea,  and  along  every 
coast,  wherever  they  came. 

In  the  eighth  century  the  Danes  became  formidable  to  their  neighbours 
by  their  piratical  depredations  on  the  coasts  of  England,  Flanders,  Nor- 
mandy, and  Germany  ;  which  desultory  warfare  was  maintained  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  till  at  length  their  rude  and  savage  manners  bein|, 
somewhat  meliorated,  they  became  cultivators  of  their  native  soil,  in- 
stead of  adventurers  at  sea.  Other  causes  likewise  concurred  to  put  an 
end  to  these  outrages ;  that  redundant  population,  which  had  been  the 
means  of  pouring  forth  such  swarms  of  plunderers,  no  longer  continued ; 
many  had  fallen  by  the  sword  in  those  invasions ;  conquests  had  been 
made,  and  emigrants  had  settled  on  the  acquired  territories  in  vast  num- 
bers ;  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  in  the  tenth  century,  served  like- 
wise to  abate  their  ferocity,  while  the  increased  strength  of  the  neigh- 
bouring states,  and  the  force  they  had  acquired  at  sea,  became  too  for- 
midable to  contend  with. 

Canute,  or  Knute,  commonly  called  the  Great,  who  died  in  England,  in 
the  year  1036,  advanced  the  dignity  of  this  kingdom  to  its  highest  pitch  ; 
but  the  sovereigns  who  succeeded  him  were  little  distinguished  until 
towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  ;  when  Margaret  obtained  the 
regal  power  on  the  death  of  her  son  Olaus,  or  Orlaf  III,  who  had  united 
the  kingdom  of  Norway  to  that  of  Denmark.  In  the  year  1388  (three 
years  after  her  accession),  having  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  Albert, 
king  of  Sweden,  she  was  enabled  to  urge  her  pretensions  to  that  crown  ; 
of  which  she  obtained  possession  by  the  consent  of  the  states,  at  the  as- 
sembly of  the  representatives  of  the  three  kingdoms  held  at  Calmar,  in  the 
year  1397,  at  which  time  a  confederated  constitution  was  formed  of  the 
greatest  consequence  to  the  northern  states,  and  called  "  the  union  ol 
Calmar."  This  wise  and  heroic  princess,  to  whom  historians  have  given 
the  distinguishing  appellation  of  "  the  Semiramis  of  the  north,"  reigned 
over  Denmark  and  Norway  twenty-six,  and  over  Sweden  sixteen  years. 
After  this  a  century  elapsed  without  anything  highly  important  occurring 
.n  the  history  of  this  country. 

Christian  I.,  count  of  Oldenburg,  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1448,  was 
the  founder  of  the  Danish  royal  family,  which  has  ever  since  kept  pos- 
session of  the  throne,  and  from  which,  in  modern  times,  Russia,  Sweden, 
and  Oldenburg  have  received  their  rulers.  He  connected  Norway,  Sles- 
wick,  and  Holstein  with  the  crown  of  Denmark,  but  was  so  fettered  by 
his  capitulations,  that  he  seemed  to  be  rather  the  head  of  a  royal  council 
than  a  sovereign  king.  In  the  year  1523,  Frederic,  duke  of  Holstein,  was 
raised  to  the  throne  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  who  had  deposed  their 
king  Christian  II.  for  his  cruelty  and  tyranny,  in  whose  reign  the  crown 
of  Sweden  had  been  dismembered  from  that  of  Denmark,  and  placed  on 
the  patriotic  brow  of  Gustavus  Vasa.  Frederic  I.  having  embraced  the 
doctrines  of  Luther,  the  tenets  of  that  reformer  spread  with  great  rapidity 
through  the  kingdom. 

The  event  which  chiefly  distinguishes  the  history  of  this  kingdom  since 
the  reign  of  Frederic  I.  is  the  unprecedented  revolution  which  took  place 
in  the  seventeenth  cenir.ry,  and  which  merits  particular  notice  here. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  195 

Denmark  was  then  governed  by  a  king  chosen  by  a  delegation  from  people 
of  all  ranks,  assembled  in  a  diet,  who  in  their  choice  pai-d  a  due  regard  to 
the  family  of  thepreceding  prince  ;  and  if  they  found  oneof  hisline  properly 
qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  high  station,  they  thought  it  just 
to  prefer  him  before  any  other,  and  the  eldest  son  before  a  younger,  if  his 
merits  warranted  the  adoption  ;  but  if  those  of  the  royal  family  were 
either  deficient  in  abilities,  or  had  rendered  themselves  unworthy  lay  their 
vices,  they  chose  some  other  person,  and  sometimes  raised  a  private  man 
to  that  dignity.  To  the  king  thus  elected,  and  a  senate  consisting  of  the 
principal  nobility,  the  executive  powers  of  the  government  were  entrusted. 

One  of  the  most  fundamental  parts  of  the  constitution  was  the  fre- 
{uent  meetings  of  the  states,  in  order  to  regulate  everything  i-elating  to 
the  government.  In  these  meetings  new  laws  were  enacted,  and  all  af- 
fairs relating  to  peace  or  war,  the  disposal  of  great  offices,  and  contracts 
of  marriage  for  the  royal  family,  were  debated.  The  imposing  of  taxes 
was  merely  accidental,  no  money  being  levied  on  the  people,  except  to 
maintain  what  was  esteemed  a  necessary  war,  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  nation,  or  now  and  then  by  way  of  free  gift,  to  add  to  a 
daughter's  portion.  The  king's  ordinary  revenue  consisted  only  in  the 
rents  of  lands  and  demesnes,  in  his  herds  of  cattle,  his  forests,  services  of 
tenants  in  cultivating  his  ground  &c.,  for  customs  on  merchandise  were 
not  then  known  in  that  part  of  the  world  ;  so  that  he  lived  like  a  modern 
nobleman,  upon  the  revenues  of  his  estate.  But  in  the  year  1660,  the 
three  states,  consisting  of  the  nobility,  clergy,  and  commonalty,  being  as- 
sembled in  a  diet,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  means  for  discharging  the 
debts  incurred  by  a  war  with  Charles  X.,  king  of  Sweden,  the  nobility 
endeavoured  to  lay  the  whole  burden  on  the  commons  ;  while  the  latter, 
who  had  defended  their  country,  and  particularly  their  capital,  with  the 
utmost  bravery,  insisted  that  the  nobles,  who  enjoyed  all  the  lauds,  should 
at  least  pay  their  share  of  the  taxes,  since  they  had  suffered  less  in  the 
common  calamity,  and  done  less  to  prevent  its  progress.  At  this  the  no- 
bility were  enraged,  and  many  bitter  replies  passed  on  both  sides.  At 
length  a  principal  senator  standing  up,  told  the  president  of  the  city,  that 
the  commons  neither  understood  the  privileges  of  the  nobility,  nor  con- 
sidered that  they  themselves  were  not  better  than  slaves.  The  word 
slaves  was  followed  by  a  loud  murmur  from  the  clergy  and  burghers  ; 
when  Nanson,  the  president  of  the  city  of  Copenhagen  and  speaker  of  the 
house  of  commons,  observing  the  general  indignation  it  occasioned,  in- 
stantly arose,  and  swearing  that  the  commons  were  not  slaves,  which  the 
nobility  should  find  to  their  cost,  walked  out,  and  was  followed  by  the 
clergy  and  burghers,  who  proceeding  to  the  brewers'-hall,  in  the  city,  de- 
bated there  on  the  most  effectual  means  of  humbling  the  arrogance  of  the 
nobility.  Then  it  was  that  the  first  idea  of  rendering  the  crown  of  Den- 
mark hereditary  was  started  by  the  bishop  of  Zealand,  but  nothing  like 
investing  the  king  with  absolute  power  was  at  that  time  thought  of, 
althougli  it  was  soon  after  adopted.  The  assembly  afterwards  adjourned 
to  the  bishop's  palace,  where  tbe  plan  of  hereditary  succession  received 
the  unanimous  concurrence  of  the  whole  assembly. 

Frederic  III.,  who  then  possessed  the  crown  of  Denmark,  has  been  rep- 
resented as  a  prince  naturally  supine  and  unambitious,  of  engaging  man- 
ners and  a  benevolent  heart,  yet  his  habits  of  life  were  as  littfe  likely  to 
render  him  highly  popular  as  generally  odious;  but  what  the  common 
course  of  events  would  not  have  brought  about,  the  exigencies  of  the 
times  efl'ected.  Charles  X.  of  Sweden,  having  broken  the  treaty  he 
entered  into  at  Roskild,  in  the  year  1658,  and  invaded  Denmark,  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  subduing  both  that  kingdom  and  Norway,  to  annex 
them  to  the  crown  of  Sweden,  Frederic  beheld  the  impending  storm  with 
the  firmness  of  a  king;  he  renomiced  his  beloved  ease,  led  on  his  troops 


196  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

in  person,  and,  by  his  activity,  6onduct,  and  bravery,  delivered  his  capi 
tal,  repelled  the  invaders,  and  forced  tliem  disgracefully  to  evacuate  hia 
territories.  These  achievements  deservedly  endeared  him  to  the  people, 
and  before  the  fervour  of  their  gratitude  had  subsided,  the  dissensions  be- 
tween the  nobles  and  the  commons  broke  forth.  Had  the  smallest  spark 
of  ambiuon  existed  in  the  king's  breast,  such  an  event  would  have  kindled 
in  into  a  flame  ;  but  this  prince  is  represented,  by  some  historians  who 
have  related  this  memorable  revolution,  as  having  relapsed  into  his  former 
habits  of  inactivity,  and  that  the  intrigues  of  two  principal  men  in  his 
court  brought  about  an  event  which  he  himself  shewed  ho  solicitude  to 
procure. 

The  commons  and  clergy  the  next  morning  repaired  in  great  order  to 
the  council-house,  where  the  nobles  were  assembled  ;  and  there  the  pre- 
sident Nanson,  in  a  short  speech,  observed,  that  they  had  considered  the 
state  of  the  nation,  and  found  that  the  only  way  to  remedy  the  disorders 
of  the  state  was  to  add  to  the  power  of  the  king,  and  render  his  crown 
hereditary  :  in  which,  if  the  nobles  thought  fit  to  concur,  they  were  ready 
to  accompany  them  to  his  majesty,  whom  they  had  informed  of  theii 
resolution,  and  who  expected  them  in  the  hall  of  his  palace.  The  nobles, 
filled  with  a  general  consternation  at  the  suddenness  of  this  proposal,  and 
at  the  resolution  with  which  it  was  made,  now  endeavoured  to  soothe 
the  commons  by  fair  speeches ;  and  urged,  that  so  important  an  affair 
should  be  managed  with  due  solemnity,  and  regulated  in  such  a  mannei 
as  not  to  have  the  appearance  of  precipitation  or  tumult.  To  this  the 
president  replied,  that  it  was  evident  the  nobles  only  aimed  at  gaining 
^ime,  in  order  to  frustrate  the  intentions  of  the  commons,  who  came  not 
thither  to  consult,  but  to  act.  After  farther  debate,  the  commons  growing 
impatient,  the  clergy  with  the  bishops  at  their  head,  and  the  burghers, 
headed  by  the  president,  proceeded  without  the  nobles,  to  the  palace, 
and  were  met  by  the  prime  minister,  who  conducted  them  to  the  hall  of 
audience,  whither  the  king  soon  came  to  them.  The  bishop  of  Zealand 
made  a  long  speech  in  praise  of  their  sovereign,  and  concluded  with 
offering  him  an  hereditary  and  absolute  dominion.  The  king  returned 
them  thanks;  but  observed  that  the  concurrence  of  the  nobles  was 
necessary :  he  assured  them  of  his  protection,  and  promised  to  ease  their 
grievances. 

The  nobles,  divided  among  themselves,  but  abhorring  the  measure 
which  they  were  required  to  sanction,  prepared  to  quit  the  capital,  and 
several  had  actually  withdrawn.  As  such  a  secession  would  have  dissolved 
the  diet,  and  nullified  the  whole  proceedings,  orders  were  issued  in 
the  king's  name,  for  the  gate  to  be  shut,  which  procured  an  immediate 
and  explicit  acquiescence.  On  the  16th  of  October,  the  estates  absolved 
the  king  of  all  obligations  he  had  entered  into  on  receiving  the  crown  ; 
and,  two  days  after,  scaffolds  covered  with  tapestry  were  erected  in  the 
square  before  the  castle,  when  orders  were  given  for  the  burghers  and 
soldiers  to  appear  in  arms,  under  their  respective  officers.  In  the  morning, 
the  king  and  queen,  being  seated  in  chairs  of  state  under  velvet  canopies, 
received  publicly  the  homage  of  all  the  senators,  nobility,  clergy,  and 
commons;  which  were  performed  on  the  knee,  each  taking  an  oath  to 
promote  the  interest  of  the  sovereign  in  all  things,  and  to  serve  him  faith- 
fully as  became  hereditary  subjects.  Gersdorf,  a  principal  senator,  was 
the  only  person  who  had  the  courage  to  open  his  lips  in  behalf  of  their 
expiring  liberties.  He  hoped  and  trusted,  he  said,  that  his  majesty  de- 
signed nothing  but  the  good  of  his  people,  and  not  to  govern  them  aftet 
the  Turkish  manner;  but  wished  his  successors  would  follovv  the  example 
Ids  majesty  would  undoubtedly  set  them,  and  make  use  of  this  unlimited 
power  for  the  good,  and  not  for  the  prejudice,  of  his  subjects.  Those 
who  had  paid  their  homage  then  retired  to  the  council-house,  where  the 


THE  THEASURY  OF  HISTORY.  197 

nobility  were  called  over  by  name,  and  ordered  to  subscribe  the  oath  they 
had  taken,  which  they  instantly  obeyed.  Thus,  in  the  space  of  four  days, 
the  kingdom  of  Denmark  vvas  changed  from  a  state  but  little  different 
from  an  aristocracy,  to  that  of  an  unlimited  monarchy.  We  here  see  a 
house  of  commons  stimulated  by  resentment,  and  filled  with  indignation 
at  the  insolence  of  the  nobility,  betraying  their  constituents,  and,  instead 
of  a  noble  effort  to  oblige  those  nobles  to  allow  them  those  privileges  they 
had  a  right  to  demand,  voluntarily  giving  up  for  themselves,  their  consti- 
tuents, and  their  posterity,  what  they  ought  to  have  struggled  to  preserve 
at  the  hazard  of  their  lives  ;  while  the  only  comfort  the  people  had  left, 
was,  in  being  freed  from  the  tyranny  of  theirformer  oppressors,  and  see- 
ing them  as  much  humbled  as  themselves. 

The  revolution  being  thus  accomplished,  a  new  constitution  was  estab- 
lished, by  an  edict  consisting  of  forty  articles,  and  entitled  "  the  royal 
law  of  Denmark,"  by  which  the  succession  was  settled  on  the  king's 
eldest  son,  and,  on  failure  of  male  issue,  in  the  female  line.  The  kings 
of  Denmark  and  Norway  are  therein  declared  to  be  above  all  human  laws, 
acknowledging  in  all  ecclesiastical  and  civil  affairs  no  higher  power  than 
God  alone.  They  may  make,  interpret,  abrogate,  and  dispense  with  laws, 
except  the  royal  law,  which  must  remain  irrevocable,  and  be  considered 
as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state.  The  kin^s  of  Denmark  have  like- 
wise the  power  of  declaring  war,  making  peace,  imposing  taxes,  and 
ievying  contributions  of  all  kinds.  The  kmgs  who  have  reigned  since 
this  revolution  have  been  Christian  V.,  (1070);  Frederic  IV.,  (1G99)  ; 
Christian  VI.,  (1730) ;  Frederic  V.,  (1746) ;  Christian  VIL,  (1766);  Fred- 
eric VI.,  (1808);  and  Christian  VIII.,  (1840). 

In  1792,  when  the  allied  powers  wished  Denmark  to  take  part  in  the 
war  against  France,  she  maintained  her  neutrality.  But  in  her  accession 
to  the  northern  confederacy  in  1800,  she  was  involved  in  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  in  which  the  Danish  fleet  was  defeated  at  Copenhagen,  April 
2,  1801.  The  courage  of  the  Danes  very  deservedly  obtained  for  them  a 
truce ;  upon  which  Denmark  acceded  to  the  treaty  of  Russia  with  Eng- 
land, evacuated  Hamburg  and  Lubeck,  of  which  she  then  had  possession, 
and  received  back  her  own  colonies.  At  length,  in  1807,  this  state  was 
included  in  Napoleon's  continental  policy.  A  French  army  stood  on  the 
borders  of  Denmark ;  Russia  had  adopted  the  continental  system  at  the 
peace  of  Tilsit;  and  England  thought  it  her  duty  to  prevent  the  accession 
of  Denmark  to  this  alliance.  To  carry  that  object,  an  English  fleet,  con- 
veying a  large  army,  was  sent  up  the  Sound ;  and  as  the  Danish  govern- 
ment refused  to  join  in  a  defensive  alliance  with  Great  Britain,  as  de- 
manded, or  to  surrender  the  fleet  as  a  pledge  of  its  neutrality,  the  capital 
was  bombarded  for  three  days,  and  the  whole  fleet,  consisting  of  eighteen 
ships  of  the  line,  fifteen  frigates,  &c.,  was  delivered  up  to  the  British,  and 
carried  off.  Great  Britain  now  oftered  liie  crown-prince  neutrality  or  an 
alliance.  If  he  accepted  the  first,  the  Danish  fleet  was  to  be  restored  in 
three  years  after  the  general  peace,  and  tlie  island  of  Heligoland  was  to 
be  ceded  to  the  British  crown.  The  crown-prince,  however,  rejected  all 
proposals,  declared  war  against  Great  Britam  in  October,  1807,  and  en- 
tered into  a  treaty  with  Napoleon. 

This  alliance  with  France  was  no  sooner  concluded  than  Bernadotte 
occupied  the  Danish  islands  with  30,000  men,  in  order  to  land  in  Sweden, 
against  which  power  Denmark  declared  war  in  April,  1808  ;  but  this  plan 
was  defeated  by  the  war  with  Austria,  in  1809.  The  demand  made  by 
the  court  of  Stockholm,  in  1813,  of  a  transfer  of  Norway  to  Sweden, 
vvas  followed  by  a  new  war  with  this  crown,  and  a  new  alliance  with 
France.  On  this  account,  after  the  battle  of  Leipsic,  the  northern  powers 
who  were  united  against  France,  occuoied  Holstein  and  Slesure.     Gluck' 


/98  THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY. 

stadl  and  otner  fortifications  were  captured,  and  the  Danish  troops  driven 
beyond  Flcnsbiirg. 

The  court  of  Denmark  seeing  the  unfavorable  position  in  which  the 
country  was  placed  by  the  declining  fortunes  of  Napoleon,  not  only  con- 
cluded a  peace  with  England  and  Sweden,  but  entered  into  alliance  against 
France,  and  contributed  a  body  of  troops  to  the  allied  forces.  Denmark 
was  also  obliged  to  cede  Heligoland  to  Great  Britain  (receiving  in  ex- 
change several  West  India  islands),  and  Norway  to  Sweden  (for  which 
she  was  compensated  by  Swedish  I'onierania  and  Kugen,  but  which  were 
afterwards  exchanged  for  Lauenburg  with  Prussia).  A  peace  was  con- 
cluded with  Kussia  in  February,  1814. 


NORWAY. 

The  observations  that  have  been  made  respecting  the  early  history  of 
Sweden  and  Denmark  apply  also  to  Norway.  Up  to  the  ninth  century  it 
was  governed  by  a  number  of  petty  princes ;  until  one  more  bold  and 
powerful  than  the  rest,  named  Harold  Ilarfaagre,  who  had  renounced  the 
idols  of  Scandinavian  worship  for  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  conquered 
them,  and  became  sole  and  absolute  monarch  of  the  country. 

Like  the  other  christian  princes  of  Europe,  Harold  Harfaagre  was 
anxious  to  introduce  the  feudal  system  ;  and  having  wrested  the  various 
petty  principalities  from  those  who  before  possessed  them,  he  reduced 
the  people  to  a  state  of  vassalage,  and  placed  a  governor  over  each  pro- 
vince, to  collect  the  revenues  and  hold  courts  of  justice.  But  among  so 
brave  and  stubborn  a  race  as  these  Northmen,  many  there  were  who,  rather 
than  submit  to  Harold's  despotism,  emigrated  to  other  countries,  Ireland 
being  among  the  number.  They,  however,  chiefly  settled  in  Iceland,  an 
uninhabited  and  uninviting  spot,  yet  in  time  it  became  not  only  very  popu- 
lous, but  was  the  favourite  resort  of  their  scalds,  or  poets,  and  their  his- 
torians, whom  they  treated  with  every  mark  of  honourable  regard. 

Norway  having  become  a  regular  and  independent  kingdom  under  Har- 
old Harfaagre,  during  a  reign  which  lasted  more  than  half  a  century, 
many  customs  were  introduced  which  tended  to  raise  the  characters  oi 
Norwegians  as  a  nation  desirous  of  cultivating  the  arts  of  civilized  life, 
but  which  still  would  not  abate  one  iota  of  its  warlike  pretensions.  He 
had  bestowed  fiefs  on  many  of  the  nobles,  amongst  whom  Rognvald, 
father  of  the  famous  Rollo,  duke  of  Normandy;  so  that,  in  fact,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  usurpation  of  Harold  in  Norway  led  to  the  settlement  of 
the  Normans  in  France.  Harold  died  in  934,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Eric,  who  proving  a  tyrant,  some  of  the  principal  chiefs  made  propo- 
sitions to  his  brother  Haco,  who  had  been  educated  in  England,  and  was 
then  residing  at  the  court  of  the  king  of  Athelstan.  He  accordingly 
went  over  to  Norway,  and  having  pledged  himself  to  abolish  the  feudal 
laws,  and  restore  the  allodial  tenure,  he  was  proclaimed  king.  Eric  see- 
ing that  there  was  no  chance  of  recovering  the  throne,  collected  a  fleet, 
and  sailed  to  the  Orkney  islands,  from  which  point  he  could  readily  assail 
the  coasts  of  Scotland  and  Northumbria. 

In  1028,  Canute  the  Great,  king  of  Denmark,  conquered  Norway,  but 
did  not  long  retain  possession  of  it,  and  the  country  had  its  own  monarchs 
again  from  1034  to  1380.  On  the  death  of  Olaf  IV.,  his  mother,  Marga- 
ret, daughter  of  Waldemar  IH.,  king  of  Denmark,  inherited  both  thrones  ; 
from  which  time  Denmark  and  Norway  remained  united,  till  IS14,  when 
its  cession  to  Sweden  took  olace. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

The  original  inhabitants  of  this  gigantic  empire  (which  embraces 
nearly  half  of  Europe,  and  the  whole  of  Northern  Asia — reaching  from 
the  frontiers  of  China  to  the  confines  of  Poland,  Sweden,  and  Turkey — 
besides  having  vast  possessions  on  the  north-western  coast  of  North 
America)  were  doubtless  a  multitude  of  nomadic  tribes,  classed  under  the 
common  appellation  of  Sarmatians  and  Scythians.  These  northern  hordes 
at  a  very  early  period  began  to  menace  the  Roman  frontiers,  and,  even 
before  the  time  of  Cyrus,  had  invaded  what  was  then  called  the  civilized 
world,  particularly  Southern  Asia.  They  inhabited  the  countries  described 
by  Herodotus  between  the  Don  and  Dnieper ;  and  Strabo  and  Tacitus 
mention  the  Roxolani,  afterward  called  Ros,  as  highly  distinguished 
among  the  Sarmatian  tribes,  dwelling  in  that  district.  The  Greeks  early 
established  colonies  here ;  and  in  the  second  century  the  Goths  came 
from  the  Baltic,  and,  locating  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Don,  extended 
themselves  to  the  Danube. 

In  the  fifth  century,  the  country  in  the  neighbourhood  of  these  rivers, 
was  overrun  by  numerous  migratory  hordes  of  Alans,  Huns,  Avarians,  and 
Bulgarians,  who  were  followed  by  the  Slavi,  or  Sclavonians,  a  Sarma- 
tian people,  who  took  a  more  northerly  direction  tlian  their  predecessors 
had  done.  In  the  next  century,  the  Khozari,  pressed  upon  by  the  Avari- 
ans, entered  the  country  between  the  Wolga  and  the  Don,  conquered  the 
Crimea,  and  thus  placed  themselves  in  connection  witli  the  Byzantine 
empire.  These  and  numerous  other  tribes,  directed  the  course  of  their 
migrations  toward  the  west,  forced  the  Huns  into  Pannonia,  and  occupied 
the  country  between  the  Don  and  the  Alanta ;  while  the  Tchoudes,  or 
Ishudi,  a  tribe  of  the  Fiunic  race,  inhabited  the  northern  parts  of  Russia. 
All  these  tribes  maintained  themselves  by  pasture  and  the  chase,  and  ex- 
hibited the  usual  barbarism  of  wandering  nomades. 

The  Sclavonians,  coining  from  the  northern  Danube,  and  spreading 
themselves  along  the  Dnieper,  in  the  fifih  and  sixth  centuries,  early  ac- 
quired, from  a  commerce  with  their  southern  neighbours,  habits  of  civil- 
ized life,  and  embraced  the  Christian  religion.  They  founded,  in  the 
country  afterward  called  Russia,  the  two  cities  of  Novogorod  and  Kiof, 
which  early  attained  a  commercial  importance.  Their  wealth,  however, 
soon  excited  the  avidity  of  the  Knohozari,  with  whom  they  were  com- 
pelled to  maintain  a  perpetual  strus^gle  ;  but  Novogorod  found  another  and 
more  formidable  enemy  in  the  Varangians,  a  race  of  bold  pirates,  who  in- 
fested the  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  and  who  had  previously  subdued  the  Cour- 
landers,  Livonians,  and  Esthonians.  To  these  bold  invaders  the  name  of 
Russes,or  Russians,  is  thought,  by  the  most  eminent  authors,  to  owe  its 
origin.  Be  that,  however,  as  it  may,  it  appears  certain  that,  in  these  dark 
ages,  the  country  was  divided  among  a  great  number  of  petty  princes, 
who  made  war  upon  each  other  with  great  ferocity,  so  that  the  people 
were  reduced  to  the  utmost  misery;  and  the  Sclavonians,  seeing  that  the 
warlike  rovers  threatened  their  rising  state  with  devastation,  were 
prompted,  by  the  necessity  of  self-preservation,  to  offer  the  government 
of  their  country  to  them.  In  consequence  of  tliis,  a  celebrated  Varangian 
chief,  named  Ruric,  arrived,  in  862,  with  a  body  of  his  countrymen,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  lake  Cadoga,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present 
empire  of  China,  by  uniting  his  people  with  those  who  already  occupied 
the  soil.     Pi-uric  has  the  credit  of  being  zealous  for  the  strict  administra- 


200  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tion  of  justice,  and  enforcing  its  exercise  on  all  the  boyars  who  possessed 
territories  under  turn.  He  died  in  879,  and  was  succeeded'  by  his  son 
Ighor,  who  conquered  Kiof,  and  removed  the  seat  of  government  from 
Novogorod  to  that  place.  Ighor's  widow  and  successor,  Oiga,  publicly 
embraced  (Christianity  at  Constantinople  in  955,  and  attempted,  but  with- 
out success,  to  introduce  the  Creek  ritual  among  the  people.  Her  son, 
Sviatoslaf,  after  conquering  Bulgaria,  and  even  threatening  Constantinople 
itself,  fell  in  battle  against  the  Pesshenegri,  near  the  cascades  of  the 
Dnieper,  in  97-2. 

The  Russian  empire  continued  to  flourish  till  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Vladimir  (or  Wolodomir)  who  ascended  the  throne  in  97G.  Having  set- 
tled the  affairs  of  his  empire,  he  demanded  in  marriage  the  princess  Anne, 
sister  of  the  Cireek  emperor  Basilius  Porphyrogenitus.  His  suit  was 
granted,  on  condition  that  he  should  embrace  Christianity.  With  this  the 
Russian  monarch  complied  ;  and  that  vast  empire  was  thenceforward  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople.  Vladimir  re- 
ceived the  name  of  iiasilius  on  the  day  he  was  baptized;  and  according  to 
the  Russian  annals,  20,000  of  his  subjects  were  baptized  on  the  same  day. 
The  idols  of  paganism  were  now  thrown  down,  churches  and  monasteries 
were  erected,  towns  built,  and  the  arts  began  to  flourish.  The  Sclavonian 
letters  were  now  first  introduced  into  Russia  ;  and  Vladimir  sent  mission- 
aries to  convert  the  Bulgarians,  but  without  much  success.  We  are  told 
that  Vladimir  called  the  arts  from  Greece,  cultivated  them  in  the  peacea- 
ble periods  of  his  reign,  and  generously  rewarded  their  professors.  His 
merits,  indeed,  appear  to  have  been  very  considerable.  He  has  been  ex 
tolled  by  the  monks  as  the  wisest  as  well  as  the  most  religious  of  kings ; 
his  zealous  exertions  in  promoting  the  profession  of  Christianity  through- 
out his  dominions  acquired  for  him  the  title  of  saint ;  and  succeeding  his- 
torians, comparing  the  virtues  of  his  character  with  the  age  in  which  he 
lived,  have  united  in  conferring  upon  him  the  appellation  of  Vladimir  the 
Great.  He  died  in  1008,  and,  contrary  to  all  rules  of  sound  policy,  divided 
his  empire  among  his  twelve  sons. 

Vladimir  was  no  sooner  dead  than  his  sons  commenced  a  civil  war. 
Swatopolk,  one  of  the  brothers,  having  destroyed  two  others,  and  seized 
their  dominions,  was  in  his  turn  hurled  from  his  eminence  by  Jarislaus, 
another  brother,  who  reigned  from  1014  to  1045.  But  as  the  fugitive 
prince  had  found  refuge  at  the  court  of  Boleslaus,  king  of  Poland,  it 
brought  on  a  dreadful  war  betwixt  the  Poles  and  Russians,  in  which  the 
former  were  victorious.  During  the  reign  of  .Tarislaus,  the  progress  of 
Christianity  was  coneiderably  promoted  by  his  exertions ;  and  besides 
conferring  many  important  privileges  on  the  mercantile  citizens  of  Novo- 
gorod,  for  whose  use  he  also  enacted  a  body  of  equitable  laws,  he  built  a 
number  of  towns  throughout  his  dominions  and  encouraged  learning  as 
far  as  it  could  be  attained  under  all  the  disadvantages  attendant  on  its  ac- 
quisition in  that  dark  age.  Jarislaus  fell  into  the  same  error  that  his 
father  had  committed,  by  dividing  his  dominions  among  his  five  sons. 
This  produced  a  repetition  of  the  bloody  scenes  which  had  been  acted  by 
the  sons  of  Vladimir:  the  Poles  took  advantage  of  the  distracted  state 
of  affairs  to  make  continual  inroads  and  invasion?  ;  and  the  empire  con- 
tinued in  the  most  deplorable  situation  till  1237,  "A'hen  it  was  totally  sub- 
dued by  the  Tartars.  Innumerable  multitudes  of  these  barbarians,  headed 
by  their  khan,  Batto,  after  ravaging  great  part  of  Poland  and  Silesia,  broke 
suddenly  into  Russia,  where  they  committed  the  greatest  cruelties.  At 
this  time  Vladimir  II.  was  the  grand  duke,  who,  though  he  reached  not 
ihe  fame  or  authority  of  his  ancestor,  was  acknowledged  as  czar  by  the 
Byzantine  emperor,  Alexis  Comnenus,  and  was  the  first  whose  brow  was 
gr 'ced  with  the  imperial  crown  of  Russia. 

George  Sevoloditz  succeeded  his  father,  and  built  Moscow  in  1147  ;  but 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  201 

the  ceaseless  insurrections  and  calamities  which  had  been  weakening  the 
strength  of  the  Russian  state  since  the  death  of  Vladimir  the  Great,  facil- 
itated the  enterprises  of  the  Mongols  ;  and  after  the  death  of  George,  who 
was  killed  in  battle,  the  whole  kingdom,  with  the  exception  of  Novogorod, 
which  preserved  its  independence  by  treaties,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Mongols.  Hitherto  the  Russian  state  had  made  comparatively  little  pro- 
gress in  civilization :  a  circumstance  to  be  attributed  to  the  variety  of  na- 
tions of  which  it  was  composed,  and  to  the  military  constitution  of  the 
Varangians.  Commerce  remained  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  those  German 
merchants  who  had  followed  the  Christian  missionaries  who  came  into 
Russia  after  the  commencement  of  the  13th  century ;  and  the  principal 
seats  of  this  commerce  were  the  towns  of  Novogorod  and  Kiof.  The 
traffic  with  the  south  was  mostly  under  the  management  of  the  Greek 
merchants.  From  the  time  Christianity  had  been  introduced,  there  had 
been  monasteries  in  Russia;  and  in  these  establishments  the  scanty  liter- 
ature of  the  age  was  preserved. 

Though  reduced  to  the  most  degrading  servitude  by  their  Asiatic  con- 
qerors,  the  Russians  successfully  resisted  the  attempts  of  new  enemies, 
which  appeared  in  the  Livonians,  the  Teutonic  knights,  and  the  Swedes. 
Jarislaus  conquered  Finland,  but  perished  by  poison  among  the  Tartars. 
His  son  Alexander  defeated  the  Danes  and  Swedes  in  1241,  in  a  great 
battle  upon  the  Neva,  and  received  for  this  action  the  appellation  of  Alex- 
ander Nevsky.  His  youngest  son  Daniel  mounted  the  throne  in  1247. 
He  removed  his  residence  to  Moscow,  and  in  1296  assumed  the  title  of 
grand  duke  of  Moscow.  This  prince  founded  the  celebrated  palace  of  the 
Kremlin  in  that  city,  in  1300.  Daniel  was  succeeded  by  his  son  George, 
who  successfully  resisted  the  Swedes,  and  built  the  town  of  Orshek,  now 
Schlussenburg. 

During  several  succeeding  reigns  the  Russians  had  to  contend,  first, 
with  the  Tartars,  and  subsequently  with  the  Livonians  and  Poles ;  the 
miseries  of  a  foreign  yoke  being  also  aggravated  by  all  the  calamities  of 
intestine  discord.  The  Livonians  took  Plescow  ;  and  the  Poles  made 
themselves  masters  of  Black  Russia,  the  Ukraine,  Podolia,  and  the  city 
of  Kiof.  Casimir  the  Great,  one  of  their  kings,  carried  his  conquests  still 
farther.  He  claimed  a  part  of  Russia,  in  right  of  his  relation  to  Boleslaus, 
duke  of  Halitz,  who  took  the  duchies  of  Perzemyslia,  Halitz,  and  Luckow, 
and  the  districts  of  Sanock,  Lubackzow,  and  Trebowla  ;  all  which  coun- 
tries he  made  a  province  of  Poland. 

The  neu'ly-conquered  Russians  were  ill  disposed  to  brook  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Poles,  whose  laws  and  customs  were  more  contrary  to  their 
own  than  those  of  the  Tartars  had  been.  They  joined  the  latter  to  rid 
themselves  of  the  yoke,  and  assembled  an  army  numerous  enough  to 
overwhelm  all  Poland,  but  destitute  of  valour  and  discipline.  Casimir, 
undaunted  by  this  deluge  of  barbarians,  presented  himself  at  the  head  of 
a  few  troops  on  the  borders  of  the  Vistula,  and  obliged  his  enemies  to  re- 
tire. Demetrius,  who  commanded  in  Moscow,  made  frequent  efforts  to 
rid  himself  of  the  galling  yoke.  He  defeated,  in  several  battles,  Maymay, 
khan  of  the  Tartars  ;  and,  when  conqueror,  refused  to  pay  them  any  trib- 
ute, and  assumed  the  title  of  Grand  Duke  of  Muscovy.  But  the  oppres- 
sors of  the  north  appeared  in  greater  numbers  than  before  ;  and  Deme- 
trius, at  length  overpowered,  after  a  struggle  of  three  years,  perished  with 
his  whole  army,  amounting  to  240,000  men. 

Basilius  (or  Basilowitz)  the  son  of  Demetrius,  revenged  his  father's 
death.  He  attacked  his  enemies,  drove  them  out  of  his  dominions,  and 
conquered  Bulgaria.  He  made  an  alliance  with  the  Poles,  whom  he 
could  not  subdue  ;  and  even  ceded  to  them  a  part  of  his  country,  on  con- 
dition that  they  should  help  him  to  defend  the  rest  against  any  new  incur- 
sions of  the  Tartars.    But  this  treaty  was  a  weak  barrier  against  ambi- 


202  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tion.  The  Russians  found  new  enemies  in  their  allies,  and  the  Tartars 
soon  returned.  Basilius  had  a  son  of  the  same  name,  to  whom  the  crown 
ought  to  have  descended  ;  but  the  father,  suspecting  his  legitimacy,  left  it 
to  his  own  brother,  Gregory,  a  man  of  severe  and  tyrannical  disposition, 
and  therefore  hated  by  the  people,  who  asserted  the  son's  right,  and  pro- 
claimed him  their  sovereign.  The  Tartars  took  cognizance  of  the  dispute, 
and  determined  it  in  favour  of  Basilius  ;  upon  which  Gregory  had  recourse 
to  arms,  drove  his  nephew  from  Moscow  to  the  principality  of  Uglitz,  and 
usurped  the  throne.  Upon  the  death  of  Gregory,  Basilius  returned  to 
Moscow ;  but  Andrew  and  Demetrius,  sons  of  the  late  usurper,  laid  siege 
to  that  city,  and  obliged  him  to  retire  to  the  monastery  of  Troitz,  where 
they  took  him  prisoner,  with  his  wife  and  son,  and  put  out  his  eyes.  The 
/subjects  of  the  unfortunate  prince,  incensed  at  the  cruel  treatment  he  re- 
ceived, forced  the  perpetrators  to  fly  to  Novogorod,  and  reinstated  their 
(awful  sovereign  at  Moscow,  where  he  died.  In  the  midst  of  this  general 
confusion,  John  I.,  the  son  of  Basilius  (or,  as  he  is  called  in  the  Russian 
tongue,  Ivan  Basilowitz)  by  his  invincible  spirit  and  refined  policy,  be- 
came both  the  conqueror  and  deliverer  of  his  country,  and  laid  the  first 
foundation  of  its  future  grandeur.  In  this  period  the  Cossacks  arose. 
The  Poles  and  Lithuanians  had  conquered  the  whole  of  the  Western  Rus- 
sia to  Kiof,  and  subjected  the  vanquished  people  to  religious  persecution, 
as  well  as  political  oppression;  and  on  the  east,  the  Tartars  of  the  Crimea 
endeavoured  to  subdue  the  Russians.  The  discontented,  therefore,  re- 
tired into  the  fertile  but  uninhabited  Ukraine,  and  adopted  a  military  organ- 
ization, under  the  control  of  a  superior  officer  styled  a  hetman. 

In  the  promotion  of  civilization,  Ivan  II.  surpassed  all  his  predecessors. 
German  artists  and  learned  men  were  welcomed  and  liberally  rewarded 
by  the  czar ;  printing  offices  were  established,  and  commerce  was  pro- 
moted by  a  treaty  with  Elizabeth  of  England  in  1553.  He  established  a 
standing  army ;  conquered  Kasan  in  1550,  the  kingdom  of  Astracan  in 
1554,  and  endeavoured  to  drive  the  Teutonic  Knights  from  Livonia ;  but 
Denmark.  Poland,  and  Sweden  attacked  him,  and  a  conspiracy  in  the  in- 
terior broke  out.  In  this  embarrassment  he  implored  tlie  emperor  Ro- 
dolph  II.  and  pope  Gregory  XIII.  to  interfere;  and  the  nuncio  of  the  latter 
brought  about  the  peace  of  Zapolia  between  Ivan  II.  and  Stephen  Bathory, 
king  of  Poland,  in  1582,  by  which  Livonia  was  ceded  to  Poland.  Ivan 
died  in  1584. 

Toward  the  end  of  Ivan's  reign,  Yermack,  a  Cossack,  discovered  Sibe- 
ria. Feodor,  his  successor,  conquered  Siberia  entirely  in  1587,  and  sur- 
rendered Ethonia  to  Sweden  in  1595.  Feodor,  the  last  of  Ruric's  decend- 
ants,  died  in  1598 ;  and  Russia  was  shaken  by  internal  convulsions  and 
external  wars,  which  greatly  retarded  her  progress  in  civilization.  The 
war  of  the  Polish  party  with  the  party  of  the  pseudo-Demetrius  was  not 
ended  until  Michael  Fedorowitz  (of  the  family  of  Romanoff)  ascended 
the  throne  in  1613  ;  after  which  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  with 
Sweden  and  Poland.  The  young  Michael  was  proclaimed,  and  signed  a 
compact  with  his  new  subjects,  by  which  he  promised  to  protect  the  estab- 
lished religion ;  to  make  no  new  laws,  nor  change  the  old ;  not  to  raise 
imposts ;  and  to  make  neither  war  nor  peace,  without  the  consent  of  the 
senate.  The  Russians,  or  rather  the  senators,  seized  this  opportunity  to 
have  a  part  of  the  government.  Michael  remained  faithful  to  his  promise, 
and  died  in  1654,  leaving  his  throne  to  his  son  Alexis.  So  long  as  the 
Swedes  maintained  the  ascendency  over  the  Russians,  theirprincipal  view 
was  directed  to  exclude  that  power  from  the  possession  of  any  port  on  the 
Baltic;  being  well  aware  that  the  natural  advantages  which  their  rival 
possessed,  would,  whenever  that  powerful  empire  should  avail  itself  of 
them,  raise  the  commercial  consequence  of  Russia  on  the  ruin  of  that  of 
Sweden. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  093 

Alexis,  the  father  of  his  country,  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age  at  his  ac- 
cession to  the  throne.  The  despotism  and  insolence  of  his  ministers  drew 
upon  him  the  hatred  of  the  people  during  his  minority ;  but  when  he  took 
upon  himself  the  government,  he  was  both  loved  and  respected.  He  en- 
couraged an  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  and  induced  instructive 
and  laborious  strangers  to  people  his  desert  provinces  ;  and  Russia,  under 
him,  began  to  be  known  to  the  principal  powers  of  Europe  and  Asia. 
Ambassadors  from  China  and  Persia  visited  Moscow ;  and  Alexis  sent, 
for  the  first  time,  his  ambassadors  to  France  and  Spain.  More  generous, 
or  less  politic,  than  the  other  monarchs,  he  refused  to  receive  the  ambas- 
sador of  Cromwell,  declaring  that  he  never  would  acknowledge  the  pre- 
tended protector  of  England.     He  died  in  1676. 

Manufactures,  arts,  and  military  discipline  were  introduced  in  this 
active  reign;  and  although  an  unsuccessful  war  was  waged  with  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden,  yet  the  boundaries  of  the  empire  were  extend- 
ed. Theodore,  or  Feodor,  his  son,  succeeded,  on  the  death  of  his  father, 
in  1677  ;  and  after  a  beneficial  reign,  which  continued  seven  years,  on  his 
death-bed  he  nominated  his  half-brother  Peter,  to  the  exclusion  of  his 
elder  brother  Ivan,  or  John,  whose  imbecile  mind  disqualified  him  for  the 
arduous  task  of  government.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  intrigues  of  their 
sister  Sophia,  a  restless  and  ambitious  woman,  stirred  up  civil  commo- 
tions, which  only  subsided  on  the  death  of  John,  in  1696,  when  Peter  be- 
came sole  sovereign  of  all  the  Russias. 

The  private  character  of  the  czar  was  by  no  means  so  irreproachable 
as  to  lead  his  subjects  to  form  any  exalted  notions  of  his  future  course ; 
but,  in  spite  of  all  disadvantages,  he  applied  himself  to  the  moral  and 
political  regeneration  of  his  country.  During  the  administration  of  the 
princess  Sophia  he  had  formed  a  design  of  establishing  a  maritime  power 
in  Russia;  and  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  reign  he  defeated  the 
Turks,  from  whom  he  wrested  the  port  of  Azof,  which  opened  to  his  sub- 
jects the  commerce  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  first  object  of  his  ambition 
being  thus  attained,  he  resolved  to  carry  out  his  design  of  making  Russia 
the  centre  of  trade  between  Europe  and  Asia — to  connect  the  Volga,  the 
Dwina,  and  the  Don,  by  canals,  thus  opening  a  water  communication  be- 
tween the  northern  seas  and  the  Black  and  the  Caspian  seas.  To  com- 
plete this  magnificent  plan,  he  determined  to  build  a  city  on  the  Baltic 
sea,  which  should  be  the  emporium  of  northern  commerce  and  the  capital 
of  his  dominions.  He  did  not,  hovvever,  rely  simply  on  this  stupendous 
undertaking  for  carrying  out  his  maritime  and  commercial  plans.  He  felt 
*hat  it  was  necessary  for  some  of  the  young  nobility  to  travel  into  foreign 
.jountries  for  improvement,  not  according  to  our  notions  of  foreign  travel, 
•Jut  for  the  express  purpose  of  learning  whatever  was  likely  to  be  most 
jseful  to  the  country  of  their  birth,  either  in  cultivating  the  arts  of  peace, 
or  in  maintaining  the  discipline  of  war.  He  accordingly  sent  60  young 
Russians  into  Italy  ;  most  of  them  into  Venice,  and  the  rest  to  Leghorn. 
n  order  to  learn  the  art  of  constructing  their  galleys.  Forty  more  were 
sent  out  by  his  direction  into  Holland,  with  the  intention  of  instructing 
themselves  in  the  art  of  building  and  working  large  ships;  some  were 
sent  to  Germany,  to  serve  in  the  land-forces,  and  to  learn  the  military 
discipline  of  that  nation ;  while  others  were  elsewhere  dispatched  in 
pursuit  of  whatever  knowledge  was  likely  to  be  rendered  advantageous 
at  home. 

Nor  did  the  patriotic  emperor  stop  even  there.  Having  established  a 
regency  to  direct  the  government  during  his  absence,  he  himself  left  his 
dominions,  and  traveled  incogniio  through  various  European  states.  Hav 
ing  arrived  at  Amsterdam,  he  inscribed  his  name  as  Peter  Michaeloff  in 
the  list  of  carpenters  of  the  Indian  Company.  Here  he  performed  all  the 
duties  of  his  station  ;  and  at  the  intervals  from  labour,  studied  mathema- 


504  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tics,  fortification,  navigation,  and  drawing  plans.  From  Holland  he  came 
to  England,  where  he  completed  his  studies  of  ship-building,  and  exam- 
ined the  principal  navy  arsenals.  King  William  permitted  him  to  engage 
several  ingenious  English  artificers,  and  he  returned,  by  way  of  Holland 
and  Germany,  to  Moscow,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  two  years  ;  having 
acquired  a  fund  of  knowledge  which  afterward  so  much  contributed  to  his 
country's  glory.  He  had  no  sooner  arrived  than  he  was  followed  by  crowds 
of  every  species  of  artizans,  to  whom  he  held  out  the  greatest  encourage- 
ment ;  and  for  the  first  time  was  seen  large  Russian  vessels  on  ihe  Baltic, 
on  the  Black  Sea,  and  on  the  ocean.  Architectural  building  began  to  rise 
among  the  Russian  huts  ;  colleges,  academies,  printing-houses,  and  libra- 
ries, sprung  up  under  his  fostering  hand.  The  habits  and  customs  changed 
by  degrees,  although  with  difficulty,  and  the  Muscovites  began  to  know 
something  of  civil  society.  At  the  same  time  commerce  had  its  birth  in 
Russia.  Laws,  military  and  marine  discipline,  and  manufactures,  the 
sciences  and  fine  arts,  and  all  that  appeared  to  him  desirable  in  nature, 
were  introduced.  [The  leading  events  of  his  war  with  Charles  XH.  be- 
ing related  in  the  history  of  Sweden,  are  here  omitted.]  Peter  died, 
regretted  by  his  subjects,  in  1725 ;  and  was  succeeded  by  his  wife,  the  em- 
press Catherine  I.,  who  supported  the  splendour  of  the  empire,  and  held 
the  sovereignty  of  Russia  with  a  firm  rule  till  her  death,  which  happened 
two  years  after  her  elevation. 

Peter  H.,  grandson  of  Peter  the  Great,  being  only  twelve  years  of  age, 
then  became  czar.  The  reigns  of  government,  during  his  minority,  were 
held  by  prince  Menzikoff,  whom  the  first  Peter  had  advanced  to  the  high- 
est offices  in  the  state,  and  who  was  no  less  the  favourite  of  the  czarina, 
Catherine.  The  young  czar  dying  in  1730,  Anne,  duchess  of  Courland, 
niece  to  Peter  the  Great,  and  daughter  of  Ivan,  ascended  the  throne,  which 
she  filled  ten  years.  This  empress  rendered  herself  memorable  by  the 
decisive  turn  she  gave  to  the  contests  which  arose  in  Europe ;  she  as- 
sisted the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  frustrated  the  schemes  of  the  French 
ministry  for  placing  Stanislaus  on  the  throne  of  Poland,  and  actually  pro- 
cured the  crown  for  his  competitor  Augustus,  at  the  same  time  that  she 
triumphed  over  the  Turks  and  Tartars,  the  natural  competitors  with 
Russia. 

Ivan,  or  John  III.,  great-nephew  to  Anne,  became  her  successor,  when 
only  two  years  of  age.  He  was  son  of  the  princess  Anne,  of  Mecklen- 
burg, the  daughter  of  her  eldest  sister,  who  had  married  prince  Anthony 
Ulric  of  Brunswick  Beveren.  This  infant  was  deposed  by  the  general 
concurrence  of  all  ranks  m  the  empire,  and  the  princess  Elizabeth  Pet- 
rowna,  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  by  the  empress  Catherine,  was  raised 
to  the  imperial  dignity  in  December,  1741.  Her  reign,  which  continued 
twenty  years,  was  prosperous.  In  the  war  which  broke  out  on  the  con- 
tinent in  1756,  she  took  a  decided  part  in  favour  of  the  house  of  Austria  ; 
and  was  on  the  point  of  crushmg  the  Prussian  monarch,  and  possessing 
herself  of  his  most  valuable  territories,  when  death  suddenly  closed  her 
career,  in  1762. 

Her  nephew,  Charles  Peter  Ulric,  duke  of  Holstein,  grand  duke  of  Rus- 
sia, now  became  czar,  by  the  title  of  Peter  III.  The  friendship  which 
this  prince  bore  to  the  king  of  Prussia  saved  that  hero  from  his  impend- 
ing fate,  and  converted  a  formidable  enemy  into  a  beneficial  auxiliary. 
An  intemperate  zeal,  which  led  Peter  to  attempt  cutting  off  the  venerable 
beards  of  his  clergy,  and  to  abolish  some  established  and  favourite  mili- 
tary fashions,  joined  to  an  unbounded  fondness  for  a  mistress,  and  a  strong 
antipathy  to  his  wife  and  son,  terminated  his  reign  in  a  few  months.  He 
was  seized  and  deposed,  and  his  wife  raised  to  the  imperial  dignity,  by  the 
title  of  Catherine  IL,  in  July,  1762.  The  captive  prince  was  soon  after 
cruelly  deprived  of  life.     Some  letters  written  by  the  king  of  Prussia  to 


THE  TRI-ASUIIY  OF  HISTORY.  205 

this  weak  prince,  found  after  his  decease,  which  strongly  recommended 
to  him  a  change  of  conduct,  and  particularly  pleaded  in  behalf  of  his  repu- 
diated consort,  fixed  that  princess  in  the  interests  of  Frederic.  Catherine 
II.  was  notoriously  licentious,  yet  her  reign  may  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  prosperous  in  the  annals  of  Russia.  As  soon  as  she  had  relieved 
the  country  from  an  exhausting  war,  she  invited  artizans  and  workmen  of 
all  kinds  to  settle  in  her  empire,  and  collected  around  her  distinguished 
foreigners  to  assist  her  plans  in  the  improvement  of  the  laws,  and  to  in- 
fuse a  healthy  vigour  into  the  commerce  of  Russia.  She  was  victorious 
by  land  and  sea  against  the  Porte,  with  whom  she  concluded  a  peace  in 
1774,  whereby  Russia  gained  a  considerable  accession  of  territory. 

In  1776,  Catherine  divided  her  empire  into  separate  governments.  In 
1780,  she  instituted  the  armed  neutrality  between  Russia,  the  emperor  of 
Germany,  Prussia,  and  Portugal,  against  the  naval  power  of  the  English: 
and,  three  years  afterward,  she  planned  the  expulsion  of  the  Turlis  from 
Europe,  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  Byzaniine  empire  :  but  some  poli- 
tical considerations  caused  the  execution  of  this  project  to  be  abandoned 
at  the  time,  and  when  it  was  resumed,  ten  years  later,  it  by  no  means 
succeeded  to  the  extent  that  had  been  anticipated.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  Turkish  war  in  1792,  the  Dniester  became  the  frontier  of  Russia  to- 
ward Moldavia  and  Bessarabia;  and  as  the  war  with  Sweden  was  now 
converted  into  an  alliance  with  that  power,  the  ambitious  empress  again 
turned  her  eyes  upon  Poland,  whither  her  army  marched  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  conquest;  and  on  the  occasion  of  the  second  partition,  in  1793, 
a  territory  of  86,000  square  miles  was  added  to  the  Russian  empire.  On 
the  remaining  part  of  Poland  she  imposed  the  most  oppressive  restric- 
tions, which  produced  a  formidable  rebellion  in  1794.  The  gallant  Kosci- 
usko strove  hard  to  effect  the  independence  of  his  country,  but  he  was 
overwhelmed  by  numbers,  and  taken  prisoner,  while  Suwarrof  stormed 
and  devastated,  with  more  than  barbarian  fury,  the  suburbs  of  Warsaw. 
The  dissolution  of  the  kingdom  was  now  at  hand;  and  in  the  third  parti- 
tion of  Poland,  in  1795,  Russia  extended  her  power  toward  the  west  as 
far  as  the  Vistula.  It  now  extended  itself  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic 
to  the  western  end  of  North  America  and  the  Japan  Islands.  Yet,  in  the 
midst  of  her  military  operations,  she  protected  and  encouraged  the  arts 
and  sciences,  and  gave  a  new  code  of  laws  to  the  subjects  of  her  vast 
empire.  She  died  November  17,  1796,  and  was  succeeded  by  her  son, 
Paul  1.,  who,  capricious  as  he  was,  began  his  reign  by  a  noble  act  of 
justice,  namely,  the  liberation  of  Kosciusko. 

The  late  empress  had  engaged  early  in  the  confederacy  against  France  ; 
but,  from  some  unexplained  cause,  did  not  come  into  action  against  that 
power.  The  emperor  Paul  likewise  remained  almost  in  a  neutral  state, 
until  the  beginning  of  the  year  1799,  when  he  sent  a  powerful  army  to  the 
assistance  of  the  allies  into  Italy,  under  the  command  of  Suwarrof,  a  gen- 
eral well  known  before  by  his  conquests  and  cruelties  in  Poland.  The 
successes  of  this  man  were  extraordinary  during  several  months  after 
his  arrival  in  Italy  ;  but  toward  the  end  of  the  campaign,  his  good  fortune 
seemed  to  desert  him,  and  it  was  not  without  great  difficulty  and  loss 
that  he  reached  Germany  across  the  Grisons  country,  harassed  by  the 
French  armies  under  Moreau  and  Massena.  The  ill  success  of  the  Rus- 
sian arms  against  the  French,  augmented  by  the  bad  understanding  which 
subsisted  between  his  generals  and  those  of  Austria,  appeared  to  have  an 
extraordinary  effect  on  the  mind  of  the  emperor  Paul,  who,  from  having 
been  the  uncompromising  enemy  of  Bonaparte,  now  entered  into  amicable 
correspondence  with  him,  and  became  one  of  his  most  ardent  admirers. 
He  laid  an  embargo  on  all  t!ie  English  vessels  in  his  ports,  and  induced 
Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Prussia  to  join  him  in  the  northern  armed  con- 
federacy.    But  on  the  night  of  the  23rd  of  March,  1801,  just  at  the  time 


206  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  British  fleet  was  sailing  through  the  Sound  to  the  attack  on  Copenha- 
gen,  Paul  was  assassinated  by  some  of  the  Russian  nobility,  whom  he 
had  treated  with  harshness  and  contumely.  How  far  his  sons  were  cog- 
nizant of  what  was  going  on  it  is  impossible  to  tell;  but  it  was  generally 
believed  that  they  were  in  the  secret,  and  connived  at  it  from  a  conviction 
that  their  father  intended  to  immure  them  in  a  fortress.  And  such  an 
event  was  very  probable,  for  there  is  little  doubt  of  his  having  been  insane 
at  the  time. 

On  Alexander,  the  late  emperor's  ddest  son,  succeeding  to  the  throne, 
a  degree  of  energy  and  consistency  was  soon  seen  in  every  department 
of  the  government ;  and,  separatingr  himself  from  the  northern  league,  he 
concluded  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain  (.Tune  7, 1801)  and  at  the  same  time 
renounced  the  grand-mastership  of  Malta,  which  had  been  conferred  on 
his  father.     In  .lune,  1802,  he  appeared,  for  the  first  time,  among  the  po- 
tentates of  Europe,  and  had  an  interview  with  the  king  of  Prussia  at  Me- 
mel.     France,  under  the  guidance  of  Napoleon,  was  at  this  period  making 
rapid  conquests  in  the  sqjath  of  Europe ;  Bonaparte  having  been,  in  the 
preceding  month,  crowned  king  of  Italy  at  Milan  ;  shortly  after  which  he 
annexed  Genoa  to  France.     But  the   cabinet  of  St.  Petersburgh  seems 
wisely  to  have  thought  that  its  distance  from  the  scene  of  action  might 
well  excuse  the  emperor  from  any  active  interference  with  the  bellige- 
rent states.     He,  however,  confirmed  the  incorporation  of  the  government 
of  Georgia  with  the  Russian  empire;  concluded  treaties  of  peace  with 
France  and  Spain;  and  offered,  in  1803,  to  interpose  his  good  offices  in 
restoring  the  newly-ruptured  peace  between  England  and  France  and 
Spain.     But  after  the  execution  of  the  duke  D'Enghein  all  intercourse 
between  Russia  and  France  ceased;  and  in  April,  1805,  Alexander  joined 
the  third  coalition  against  France;  but  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz 
clouded  the  prospects  of  the  allies,  and  the  Russian  emperor  returned  to 
petersburgh.     The  battle  of  Eylau  was  fought  on   the  8th  of  February, 
1807 ;  that  of  Friedland,  on  the  4th  of  June  following ;  the  Russians  then 
retired,  and  after  an  interview  between  the  two  emperors,  which  took 
place  on  the  river  Niemen,  in  a  handsome  pavilion  erected  on  a  raft  for 
the  occasion,  peace  was  concluded  on  the  8ih  of  July,  1807.     At  this  me- 
morable interview  the  outward  forms  of  friendship  were  displayed  between 
these  rival  monarchs,  and  an  abundance  of  courtly  dissimulation  used  to 
testify  the  sincerity  of  their  professions.     Alexander,  by  this  compact,  ac- 
knowledged the  brothers  of  Bonaparte  as  kings  respectively  of  Naples, 
Holland,  and  Westphalia;  he  formally  recognized  also  the  confederation 
of  the  Rhine,  and  promised  to  acknowledge  all  the  sovereigns  who  might 
hereafter  become  members  of  the  confederation.     He  engaged  that  hos- 
tilities, on  the  part  of  Russia,  should  instantly  cease  with  the  Ottoman 
Porte.     He  undertook,  also,  to  mediate  for  a  peace  between  England  and 
France  ;  and  if  he  should  prove  unsuccessful,  he  was  to  close  the  ports 
of  Russia  against  all  British  ships;  which,  in  fact,  was  soon  after  done. 
In  1808,  Alexander  had  an  interview  with  Napoleon,  at  Erfurth,  and  after- 
ward took  part,  as  the  ally  of  France,  in  the  war  with  Austria;  but  his 
want  of  zeal  in  the  cause  was  too  evident  to  escape  the  penetration  of  the 
French  emperor,  and  a  growing  coldness  between  the  iinperial  allies  began 
to  appear. 

Great  injury  had  been  done  to  Russian  commerce,  and  heavy  complaints 
made  by  merchants  in  consequence  of  their  ports  having  been  shut  against^ 
the  English;  they  were,  therefore,  again  opened  to  them,  provided  they 
hoisted  American  colours,  while  French  goods  were  very  strictly  prohib- 
ited. This  induced  Napoleon  to  make  himself  master  of  the  principai 
northern  ports  of  Germany,  and  to  incorporate  the  possessions  of  the  duke 
of  Oldenburg,  a  near  relation  of  Alexander,  with  France.  Against  this 
proceeding  Russia  made  a  very  energetic  protest;  and,  as  early  as  1811, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  207 

five  Russian  divisions  assumed  a  position  opposite  Warsaw.  On  tlie  other 
hand,  Napoleon  caused  tiie  fortresses  on  the  Vistula  and  Oder  to  be  de- 
clared in  a  state  of  seige,  sent  thither  large  masses  of  troops,  and  occupied 
Swedish  Pomerania,  because  Charles  XIII.,  of  Sweden,  declined  a  closer 
connection  with  France.  The  contest  ni  Spain  was  at  this  time  daily 
growing  more  obstinate,  and  the  large  amount  of  men  and  money  it  con- 
sumed might  well  have  appeared  to  Napoleon  a  sufficient  obstacle  to  a 
struggle  with  Russia ;  but  he  calculated  that  his  array,  amounting  to  nearly 
a  million  of  effective  men,  would  be  sufficient  for  the  conflict  in  both 
quarters  ;  and  he  also  relied  upon  a  great  mass  of  auxiliary  forces,  chiefly 
promised  by  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine;  besides  his  alliance  with 
Prussia  and  Austria,  which  covered  him  on  both  flanks,  and  secured  his 
retreat.  He,  however,  made  peaceable  offers  through  the  count  de  Nar- 
bonne,  his  ambassador;  but  the  object  of  his  mission  being  unati&.ned, 
half  a  million  of  soldiers,  consisting  of  French,  Germans,  Italians,  Poles, 
Swiss,  Spaniards,  and  Portuguese,  with  more  than  twelve  hundred  cannon, 
were  put  in  motion,  about  the  end  of  July,  to  attack,  the  Russians  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Niemen  and  the  Vistula.  The  Russians,  in  three  divi- 
sions, occupied  a  line  including  Kiof  and  Smolensko  to  Riga.  The  first 
western  army,  of  127,000  men,  in  Lithuania  and  Courland,  was  commanded 
by  Barclay  de  Tolly,  who  had  till  then  been  minister  of  war ;  the  other 
western  army,  of  43,000  men,  was  commanded  by  prince  Bagration.  A 
third  body  of  forces,  led  by  General  Docloroff,  served  to  keep  up  the 
communication  between  the  other  two. 

All  the  disposable  property  and  records  had  long  before  been  generally 
conveyed  into  the  interior.  The  first  western  Russian  army  was  sta- 
tioned along  the  Niemen  as  far  as  Grodno,  and  comprised  six  corps  of  in- 
fantry and  two  of  cavalry.  The  second  western  army  was  in  the  vicinity 
of  Honim,  consisting  of  four  battalions  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry. 
The  communication  was  kept  between  them  by  the  hetman  Platoff,  with 
ten  thousand  Cossacks,  at  Bialystock.  The  army  of  Volhynia,  under 
Tormasoff,  at  Lutzk,  was  composed  of  two  divisions  of  infantry  and  one 
of  cavalry,  containing  together  about  twenty  thousand  men  ;  and  there 
were  other  corps  stationed  elsewhere,  amounting  to  about  forty  thousand 
men  more.  The  Russian  plan  of  the  campaign  was — by  retreating,  to 
avoid  a  decisive  battle,  until  the  enemy  should  be  remote  from  all  his  re 
sources,  and  weakened  by  marches  through  a  desolate  region,  an-d  the 
Russian  array  should  be  so  considerably  strengthened  by  the  accession  of 
all  the  forces  that  might  be,  meanwhile,  raised,  as  to  have  a  decided  supe- 
riority. Napoleon's  scheme,  on  the  contrary,  was — to  use  every  effort  to 
compel  the  Russians  to  battle,  to  destroy  them  after  the  defeat,  and, 
pressing  forward  with  haste  to  the  capital,  to  proffer  peace.  But  he  not 
only  entirely  mistook  the  character  of  his  enemy,  but  he  overlooked  the 
important  fact  that,  though  the  Russians  might  retreat,  they  would  still 
be  in  possession  of  their  resources.  On  the  6th  of  June,  Napoleon  passed 
the  Vistula,  and  shortly  after  the  Niemen.  "  Russia,"  said  he,  in  one  of 
his  favourite  harangues,  "  is  dragged  along  by  a  fatality !  Her  destinies 
must  be  accomplished.  Are  we  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as  the  soldiers 
of  Austerlitz]  Let  us  carry  the  war  into  her  territory:  a  second  war  in 
Poland  will  be  as  glorious  to  the  French  arms  as  the  first."  After  several 
severe  battles,  and  the  loss  of  many  men  on  each  side,  the  victory  gener- 
ally inclining  in  favour  of  the  French,  the  main  body  of  the  Russian  army 
retired  to  Smolensko.  Fatigue  and  want,  of  all  kinds,  had  meanwhile 
operated  so  detrimentally  on  the  French  army,  that  it  was  obliged  to  halt 
at  this  point  for  ten  days,  during  which  the  two  Russian' armies  formed  a 
junction  under  the  walls  of  Smolensko.  They  then  immediately  began 
to  act  on  the  offensive.  With  twelve  thousand  cavalry  they  attacked 
General  Sebastiani,  and  drove  him  back  with  considerable  loss.     On  the 


SOS  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

17th  of  August  the  main  body  put  itself  in  motion  to  encounter  the  French 
army,  which  had  advanced,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  compel  a  general  bat- 
tle. When  Napoleon  saw  his  attempts  to  surround  the  right  wing  of  the 
Russians  defeated,  he  ordered  his  right  wing,  under  Poniatowski,  to  has- 
ten, by  way  of  Ortza,  by  rapid  marches,  to  cut  off  the  Russians  from  Mos- 
cow. On  the  other  hand,  Bagration  hastened  to  defend  this  road,  and 
Barclay  de  Tolly  sought  to  retard  the  enemy  as  much  as  possible.  Smo- 
lensko,  an  old  place,  formerly  strongly  fortified,  and  the  whole  position 
on  the  Dnieper,  greatly  favoured  his  plan  ;  and  not  till  the  midnight  of  the 
17lh,  after  a  loss  of  many  thousands,  did  the  French  succeed  in  taking  this 
bulwark,  reduced,  for  the  most  part,  to  a  ruin. 

The  Russian  army  retired  in  haste,  burning  all  the  towns  through  which 
it  passed,  while  Napoleon  followed,  his  troops  suffering-  more  and  more 
from  want  and  climate.  Meanwhile,  Barclay  de  Tolly  had  to  resign  the 
chief  command  to  Kutusoff,  who  had  reaped  new  laurels  in  the  Turkish 
war  just  ended.  Reinforced  by  militia  and  reserves,  he  resolved  to  \vait 
the  enemy  seventy  miles  from  Moscow,  in  a  strong  entrenched  position. 
The  French  came  up,  and  a  terrible  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  Russians 
lost  twenty-five  thousand  men.  The  French  estimated  their  own  loss  at 
ten  thousand ;  it  was,  however,  supposed  to  be  near  double  that  number. 
The  Russians  remained  masters  of  the  field  of  battle ;  and  without  any 
great  loss  of  artillery,  and  still  less  of  prisoners,  they  were  able  to  retire 
to  Moscow.  Napoleon,  after  two  days'  repose,  followed  them;  and  Kut- 
usoff, instead  of  awaiting  his  enemy  at  the  gates  of  Moscow,  marched 
through.  The  news  of  Kutusoff's  defeat  had  spread  the  greatest  conster- 
nation at  Moscow.  Hastily  collecting  their  money  and  valuables,  the 
nobles  fled,  abandoning  their  palaces  and  furniture  to  the  mercy  of  the 
invaders.  Merchants  and  tradesmen  closed  their  warehouses  and  shops, 
seeking  refuge  from  the  enemy  wherever  they  could  find  shelter ;  the  sick 
and  wounded  were  conveyed  away  from  the  hospital  in  wagons ;  and  the 
prisons  were  cleared  of  their  inmates,  who  were  sent  under  an  escort  to 
Novogorod.  And  now  the  flames  burst  forth  from  the  house  of  Count 
Rostopchin — sure  and  awful  evidence  that  the  patriotic  governor,  by  set- 
ting fire  to  his  own  residence,  intended  that  the  venerable  city  should  not 
harbour  the  enemies  of  his  country.  The  conflagration  of  the  governor's 
house  was  the  signal  for  the  rest;  and  suddenly  were  seen,  issuing  from 
various  quarters  of  Moscow,  vivid  columns  of  fire  and  dense  masses  of 
smoke.  Doomed,  as  it  were,  to  pass  their  winter  amid  the  inhospitable 
snows  of  Russia  unless  they  could  extinguish  the  flames,  the  French  sol- 
diery exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  stay  the  devouring  element; 
but,  though  they  partially  succeeded,  so  little  remained  of  Moscow,  that  it 
was  incapable  of  affording  them  protection.  It  must  be  remembered,  also, 
that  the  French  troops  having  had  permission  to  plunder  the  city,  such  a 
scene  of  confusion  and  drunkenness  followed,  that  numbers  of  them  per- 
ished in  the  burning  ruins. 

All  the  hopes  which  Napoleon  had  built  on  the  possession  of  Moscow 
were  now  disappointed;  famine  and  desolation  stared  him  in  the  face; 
and  as  the  Russians  gathered  round  on  all  sides  it  was  evident  that  noth- 
ing could  save  his  army  but  a  speedy  retreat  or  peace.  Every  day  height- 
ened their  sufferings,  the  provisions  having  been  wasted,  and  foraging  be- 
coming continually  more  dangerous,  from  the  conflux  of  Russian  peasants 
and  Cossacks.  At  length,  on  the  19th  of  October,  the  French  evacuated 
Moscow,  and  commenced  their  retrogade  march.  The  country  was  a 
desert ;  and  the  privations  felt  by  the  army  had  dissolved  all  bonds  of 
obedience,  while  the  severity  of  the  winter  now  covered  the  roads  with 
ice  and  snow,  destroying  men  and  horses  by  thousands.  By  the  12th 
of  November  they  reached  .Smolensko.  But  in  vain  had  the  remnants  of 
the  army  hoped  to  find  there  repose  and  nourishment.      The  increasing 


THjC  treasury  of  history.  209 

numbers  of  the  Ru^iians  who  hovered  round  and  harassed  the  relroating 
enemy  prevented  them  from  repairing  any  of  their  vast  losses,  or  of  re- 
invigorating  themselves  by  rest.  At  the  passage  of  the  Beresina  they 
lost  twenty  thousand  men,  and  a  great  part  of  their  baggage  and  artillery ; 
and  the  cold,  which  increased  every  day,  together  with  the  most  horrible 
want,  carried  disorder,  misery,  and  despair  to  the  highest  pitch.  At  length 
Napoleon  entrusted  the  command  of  his  shattered  army  to  Murat,  and  has- 
tened himself,  under  the  strictest  incognito,  by  way  of  Warsaw  and  Dres- 
den, to  Paris.  Marshals,  officers  of  high  and  low  rank — all  who  could — 
followed  the  example  of  their  emperor.  No  company  kept  long  together. 
The  sole  object  of  all  was  to  save  life. 

The  emperor  Alexander,  who  had  hitherto  only  fought  for  independence, 
now  resolved  in  his  turn  to  become  the  aggressor;  and,  joining  his  army 
in  Poland,  published  in  February,  1813,  the  celebrated  manifesto,  which 
served  as  a  basis  for  the  coalition  of  the  other  powers  of  Europe  against 
the  ambition  of  the  French.  The  king  of  Prussia  at  the  same  time  sum- 
moned all  capable  of  bearing  arms  to  battle  for  their  country  ;  and  though 
he  did  not  then  designate  his  object,  his  people,  who  for  five  years  had 
been  humbled  and  degraded,  understood  him,  and,  with  unparalleled  en- 
thusiasm, thousands  poured  forth  from  the  places  of  rendezvous  from 
every  section  of  the  country.  In  vain  had  the  French  with  the  aid  of  their 
last  reserves  and  of  troops  drawn  together  in  haste,  made  efforts  to  remain 
on  the  Pregel,  on  the  Vistula,  and  on  the  Oder.  The  Russians  advanced 
slowly,  indeed,  but  everywhere  with  overwhelming  power ;  and  all  that  the 
French  could  do  was  to  retire  behind  the  Elbe  with  the  least  possible  loss. 
Prussia  now  declared  war  against  France,  and  concluded  an  alliance  with 
Russia  ;  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine  was  dissolved  ;  and,  though  Aus 
tria  remained  neutral,  the  popular  insurrection  was  almost  universal  in 
northern  Germany.  Happily  for  Napoleon,  the  Prussians  and  Russians 
were  not  in  a  state  to  derive  the  full  advantage  from  this  situation  ot 
things.  The  forces  of  the  Russians  were  almost  exhausted,  those  of  the 
Prussians  had  first  to  be  formed  ;  much  time  was  lost  in  negotiations  with 
the  king  of  Saxony,  and  Kutusoff  fell  sick  and  died  at  Buntzlaw.  These 
circumstances  were  promptly  taken  advantage  of  by  Napoleon ;  but 
though  this  prolonged  the  contest,  it  proved  but  of  little  avail  in  the 
sequel. 

In  August  the  war  was  resumed  with  great  vigour,  Austria  participating 
m  it  as  an  ally  of  Russia  and  Prussia.  Napoleon  had  been  joined  by  a 
corps  of  chosen  men,  chiefly  cavalry,  which  had  come  from  Spain ;  and 
the  chances  of  victory,  for  a  time,  once  more  appeared  to  be  in  his  favour. 
But  after  the  battle  of  Dresden,  where  Moreau  was  mortally  wounded,  he 
was  staid  in  his  progress  by  the  defeat  of  Vandamme,  at  Culm ;  by  the 
simultaneous  overthrow  of  his  army  in  Silesia,  under  Macdonald ;  by  the 
hard-fought  battles  at  Gross-Beerea ;  at  Belzig;  and  by  the  defeat  which 
Ney  suffered  at  Deunewitz.  In  addition  to  these  misfortunes,  want  of  all 
kinds  prevailed  in  exhausted  Saxony,  and  lamentations  in  the  hospitals, 
where  thousands  died  of  dysenteries  and  fevers.  At  last,  by  some  rapid, 
well-covered  marches,  Blucher  formed  a  junction  on  the  Elbe  with  the 
crown-prince  of  Sweden,  while  he  surprised  a  French  corps  under  Count 
Bertrand,  and  took  up  a  position  between  the  Muldan  and  the  Elbe.  As 
soon  as  he  was  advised  of  this,  Napoleon  started  from  Dresden,  in  the 
hope  of  overpowering  them  both  separately ;  but  they  had  already  crossed 
the  Muldan  to  the  Saale.  The  great  Bohemian  army  had  also  advanced 
on  his  right  flank.  These  and  Blucher's  flying  corps  met  in  his  rear;  and 
General  Thielemann,  who  had  exchanged  the  Saxon  service  for  the  Rus- 
sian, took  whole  troops  of  French  fugitives,  and  fought  several  battles  be- 
tween the  Elster  and  the  Saale,  almost  all  of  which  resulted  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  the  French.  Napoleon  now  proceeded  with  his  main  army  to 
14 


210  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

the  plains  of  Leipsic,  where  he  arrived  October  13.  Here  Schwartzen 
berg  had  already  commenced  a  reconnoisance  against  the  king  of  Naples  ; 
meanwhile  Augereau's  division  had  been  greatly  reinforced ;  and,  as  he 
had  probably  thought  he  had  deceived  the  crown-prince  and  Blucher  by 
movements  made  on  the  other  side  of  Wittenberg,  and  that  he  had  gained 
so  much  time  that  he  could  meet  the  great  Bohemian  army  alone  in  a  de- 
cisive engagement,  he  did  not  delay  to  encounter  it  in  the  spacious  plain 
near  Leipsic.  The  engagement  commenced  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  October  16.  After  severely  destructive  attacks  on  both  sides, 
Napoleon  had  gained  some  ground  in  the  centre  and  on  the  left  wing. 
But  the  duke  of  Ragusa,  who  occupied  a  wide  line  to  the  north  of  Leip- 
sic, was  unexpectedly  attacked  by  Blucher  with  the  greatest  impetuosity, 
totally  defeated,  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  and  driven  back  in  disorder. 

On  the  17th  Napoleon  negotiated  through  Count  Meerveldt,  who  had 
been  taken  prisoner,  for  liberty  to  retire  undisturbed,  and  for  an  armistice; 
both  of  which  proposals  were  the  less  listened  to,  because  the  allies  could 
now  conduct  their  operations  with  a  mutual  understanding,  the  crown- 
prince  of  Sweden  having  joined  Blucher  with  upwards  of  sixty  thousand 
men,  and  General  Bennigsen,  with  almost  as  many,  being  hourly  ex- 
pected from  Grimma.  On  the  18th  of  October,  therefore,  a  fearful  con- 
flict took  place  at  Leipsic.  The  French  fought  with  desperation,  to  save 
their  honour  and  secure  their  retreat,  which  had  been  commenced  at  day- 
break ;  but  on  the  following  day  their  retreat  was  converted  into  a  flight, 
and  a  general  overthrow.  This  battle  emancipated  Germany.  Bavaria 
had  already  renounced  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine,  and  united  with  Aus- 
tria. All  the  German  princes  followed  this  example,  with  the  exception 
of  the  king  of  Saxony,  Jerome  of  Westphalia,  and  the  prince-primate. 
After  the  loss  of  many  thousands,  in  prisoners  and  wounded,  Napoleon, 
assailed  or  harrassed  in  every  quarter,  was  obliged,  in  order  to  gain  the 
Rhine,  to  sustain  a  desperate  conflict  with  the  Bavarians  and  Austrians 
stationed  at  Hanau.  The  allies  made  a  halt  on  the  Rhine,  in  order  to 
unite  the  forces  of  liberated  Germany  with  those  furnished  by  England 
and  Holland.  Even  the  Danes,  who  had  been  forced  to  form  the  closest 
union  with  Napoleon,  in  consequence  of  the  hard  terms  proffered  them  by 
England  and  Sweden  in  the  spring  of  1813,  were  obliged  to  concede  all 
that  they  had  formerly  refused. 

French  aff'airs  in  Spain  had  also  taken  a  most  unfavourable  turn.  Mar- 
shal Jourdan  had  been  totally  defeated  by  Wellington  at  Vittoria,  had 
been  forced  back  to  the  Pyrenees  with  the  loss  of  his  artillery,  and,  sub- 
sequently, Soult  and  Suchet  had  with  difficulty  kept  the  English  from  the 
soil  of  France  itself;  and  it  was  consequently  necessary  to  send  thither 
new  forces.  The  French  senate,  always  before  obsequious  enough,  now 
ventured  to  remonstrate,  when  repeated  decrees  of  the  emperor  had  al- 
ready ordered  the  levy  of  nearly  half  a  million  of  conscripts,  the  organi- 
zation of  cohorts  of  national  guards,  and  the  formation  of  four  armies  of 
reserve.  Still  stronger  terms  of  dissatisfaction  were  used  by  some  of 
the  deputies;  and,  in  consequence  of  the  general  indignation  at  the  enor- 
mous expenditure  of  human  life,  great  difficulties  now  presented  them- 
selves in  the  formation  of  a  new  French  army.  Beyond  the  Rhine,  from 
Switzerland  to  Holland,  the  allies  found  but  little  resistance.  They  made 
themselves  masters  of  all  the  passes  to  Italy,  of  the  city  of  Geneva,  of 
the  roads  over  the  Simplon  and  St.  Bernard,  and  early  in  January  they  oc- 
cupied a  new  line,  covered  on  the  left  by  the  Seine,  on  the  right  by  the 
Meuse,  in  Alsace,  Lorraine,  Deux-Ponts,  &c.,  with  the  exception  of  the 
invested  fortresses.  Napoleon  had  issued  a  proclamation  for  a  kind  of 
general  rising  of  the  people  :  but  measures  of  this  kind,  which  worked 
■wonders  in  the  revolution,  were  now  almost  wholly  disregarded.  Mean- 
while the  allied  troops  steadily  advanced,  and  ll:r'.igh  several  engagements 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  on 

took  place,  in  no  instance  had  a  French  general  strength  enough  lo  main- 
tain the  most  important  points  against  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  in- 
vaders. 

On  the  1st  of  February  was  fought  the  sanguinary  battle  of  Brienne, 
in  which  Napoleon  lost  12,000  prisoners  and  seventy-three  cannon.  He 
had  70,000  men  in  the  field,  and  no  blame  can  attach  to  either  them  or 
their  commander  for  the  loss  of  the  day  ;  the  most  desperate  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  troops,  and  the  most  active  superintendanceon  the  part 
of  Napoleon  being  everywhe\e  apparent.  Eager  to  improve  their  first 
victory  on  French  ground,  the  allies  pushed  forward,  and  divided  their 
forces,  of  which  Napoleon,  with  great  boldness  and  address,  took  advan- 
tage. But,  though  he  had  received  considerable  reinforcements  from  the 
army  in  Spain,  he  was  too  much  enfeebled  to  prevent  the  Russian,  Aus- 
trian, and  Prussian  commanders  from  proceeding  towards  Paris  in  two 
large  columns,  one  on  the  Seine,  the  other  on  the  Marne.  The  operations 
of  the  allied  troops  from  this  period  having  been  already  detailed,  we 
deem  it  unnecessary  to  pursue  the  subject  further.  In  the  transactions 
which  took  place  relative  to  the  abdication  of  Bonaparte,  the  occupation 
of  Paris,  &c.,  the  emperor  Alexinder  took  the  lead  ;  and  with  magnan- 
imity, as  if  oblivious  of  the  wrongs  his  own  country  had  received,  he  en- 
deavoured to  allay  those  feelings  of  vengeance  in  some  of  his  allies  which, 
without  such  humane  consideration,  might  have  laid  the  French  capital 
in  ashes,  and  given  rise  to  a  new  and  more  dreadful  war.  As  it  was  con- 
sidered necessary  that  the  boundaries  of  each  sovereign  should  be  per- 
manently fixed,  a  congress  of  the  principal  powers  was  held  at  Vienna. 
But  before  any  final  arrangements  were  made,  the  congress  was  hastily 
broken  up,  in  consequence  of  the  sudden  return  of  Bonaparte  from  Elba 
to  France.  The  allied  armies  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria,  once  more; 
prepared  to  take  the  field  ;  but  the  English,  Belgians,  and  Prussians,  at  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  decided  the  fate  of  Europe,  and  of  him  who  had  so 
long  been  its  disturber. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  revert  to  the  affairs  of  Russia,  in  connection 
with  the  Ottoman  empire,  as  they  existed  previous  to  the  French  invasion. 
It  had  been  a  favourite  scheme  of  ambition  ivith  Catharine  II.  to  expel 
the  Turks  from  Europe  ;  with  that  view  she  had  sought  every  opportunity, 
however  frivolous  the  pretence,  of  engaging  them  in  hostilities ;  and  as 
the  Turks  were  generallj'  worsted,  Russia  generally  acquired  some  new 
territory,  and  a  greater  influence  over  the  Sublime  Porte.  The  Russians 
had  also  been  at  war  with  Persia.  By  the  peace  of  Bucharest,  signed  in 
May,  1812,  the  former  power  ceded  to  Moldavia  as  far  as  the  Pruth,  Bes- 
sarabia and  the  chief  mouths  of  the  Danube:  the  peace  of  Tiflis,  in  181.3, 
v/ith  the  latter,  gained  her  all  the  territory  west  of  the  Caspian  sea,  be- 
tween the  Kur  and  the  Anaxes,  Georgia  having  been  united  before  with 
Russia;  and  on  the  east  coast  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Balkan,  with  the  ex- 
clusive navigation  of  the  Caspian  sea.  The  Russian  empire  having 
become  so  extensive  and  formidable,  Alexander  took  every  means,  by 
founding  and  supporting  the  holy  alliance,  to  maintain  his  high  position. 
After  the  conquest  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Russia  appears  to  have  discovered 
that  her  influence  over  Europe  would  be  best  promoted  by  the  continu- 
ance of  peace,  which  would  enable  her  to  develope  those  resources  which 
make  a  country  formidable  in  war;  and  to  that  end  Alexander  re-organ- 
ized almost  the  whole  of  the  interior  of  his  empire. 

Among  other  matters  that  were  settled  at  the  congress  of  Vienna,  it  was 
determined  that  Poland  should  be  annexed  to  the  Russian  empire,  with  a 
separate  government ;  and  Alexander  was  accordingly  crowned  king  of 
Poland.  The  remainder  of  his  reign  was  spent  in  the  most  laudable 
exertions  for  the  benefit  of  his  people.  The  abuses  which  were  practised 
:n  all  departments,  civil,  military,  and  Judicial,  required  a  degree  of  reso- 


212  THE  TREAStJaY  OF  HISTORY. 

lution  and  perseverance  to  correct ;  and  the  emperor  set  about  this  work 
of  reformation  with  all  the  honesty  and  zeal  of  a  patriot  prince.  He  made 
frequent  tours  through  his  provinces,  in  order  to  be  an  eye-witness  of  the 
local  administration  of  the  laws ;  and  he  neglected  no  opportutiity  of  im- 
proving the  general  condition  of  his  subjects,  and  of  abolishing  vassalage  ; 
but  the  resistance  made  to  his  benevolent  exertions  in  this  latter  measure 
prevented  him  from  carrying  out  his  intentions  to  any  great  extent.  He, 
however,  encouraged  the  arts  and  literature,  and  effected  many  salutary 
changes  in  the  condition  of  the  people,  while  he  patronized  commerce, 
encouraged  manufacturers,  and  promoted  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
by  means  of  the  press,  which  was  protected  by  a  careful  censorship 
from  the  pestilent  effects  of  licentiousness  in  morals,  and  of  sedition 
in  politics. 

The  emperor  Alexander  died  December  1,  1825,  at  Taganrock,  a  town 
founded  by  Peter  the  Great,  on  the  sea  of  Azof.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Nicholas, — the  grand  duke  Constantine,  afterwards  viceroy  of  Poland, 
having  renounced  his  right  to  the  throne  of  Russia,  according  to  a  pre- 
vious arrangement.  A  conspiracy  soon  after  broke  out,  when  the  regi- 
ments of  the  guard,  who  had  taken  the  oath  to  Constantine  immediately 
after  Alexander's  death,  refused  to  take  the  oath  to  Nicholas,  and  a 
tumult  ensued,  which  was  suppressed  at  last  by  the  mingled  firmness  and 
moderation  of  the  emperor.  On  the  matter  being  afterwards  investigated, 
it  appeared  that  it  was  the  result  of  a  conspiracy  which  had  existed  for 
many  years ;  and  different  punishments  were  assigned,  according  to  the 
degrees  of  guilt  of  the  parties  implicated ;  some  being  executed,  some 
banished  to  Siberia,  and  others  imprisoned  ;  but  the  far  greater  number 
were  pardoned.  Soon  after  Alexander's  death,  a  war  with  Persia  broke 
out,  in  consequence  of  disputes  arising  from  the  non-settlement  of  cer- 
tain boundaries  between  Russia  and  that  power.  Abbas  Mirza,  who  had 
just  then  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Persia,  thinking  the  moment  propi- 
tious for  attacking  Russia,  at  once  marched  over  the  frontier,  and  advaced 
as  far  as  Elizabethpol ;  but  the  Persians  were  defeated  and  driven  back. 
War  was  now  immediately  declared  against  them,  and  general  Paske- 
witsch,  being  appointed  commander-in-chief,  passed  the  Araxes,  took 
several  strong  fortresses,  entered  ancient  Media  with  no  opposition,  and 
forced  the  shah  to  sue  for  peace,  compelling  him  to  give  up  an  extensive 
territory  on  the  south-western  shore  of  the  Caspian  sea,  with  some  pro- 
vinces on  the  Caucasus,  besides  making  them  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
war,  and  the  losses  by  the  invasion. 

The  Caucasus  consists  of  two  parallel  chains  of  mountains  in  western 
Asia,  covering  the  country  between  the  Black  and  the  Caspian  seas. 
They  extend  nearly  seven  hundred  miles,  and  are  rendered  almost  im- 
passable by  rushing  torrents,  steep  precipices,  and  frightful  avalanches. 
The  summits  of  these  mountains  are  covered  with  perpetual  snows,  and 
are  mostly  barren;  but  the  lower  parts  are  clothed  with  thick  forests,  and 
the  plains  abound  in  orchards,  vineyards,  corn-fields,  and  pastures.  It 
comprises  the  provinces  of  Georgia,  Circassia,  Melitenia,  Great  and  Little 
Kabarda,  Daghestan,  which  is  the  mountain-land  bordering  on  the  Caspian 
sea,  and  Schirvan,  called  the  Paradise  of  Roses,  from  the  abundance  of 
beautiful  flowers  which  grow  there  spontaneously.  The  tribes  who 
dwell  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  Caucasus,  especially  the  Lesghians, 
who  inhabit  the  most  eastern  parts,  live  by  plundering  their  neiofhbours, 
and  are  held  in  such  terror,  that  several  tribes  purchase  immunity  from 
their  depredations  by  paying  them  tribute. 

The  war  with  Persia  was  scarcely  ended  when  Turkey  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  Russian  government,  and  the  Russian  minister,  Nessel- 
rode,  dsclared  to  France  and  Great  Britain,  that  his  sovereign  must  have 
satisfaction  for  the  violation  of  the  treaty  of  Ackermann,  and  for  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  215 

hatti-sheriflf  of  December,  1820,  which  the  Porte  had  addressed  to  all  the 
pachas,  and  which  contained  many  offensive  charges  against  Russia.  A 
declaration  of  war  was  accordingly  issued  by  the  emperor,  and  on  the  7th 
of  May,  1828,  the  Russian  forces  passed  the  Pruth,  to  the  number  of  15,000 
men,  including  persons  of  all  descriptions  attached  to  the  camp.  Count 
Wittgenstein  was  commander-in-chitf.  In  a  fortnight  the  Russians  had 
possession  of  several  towns  and  fortresses,  and  the  Turks  retired  into  the 
fortified  mountain-position  of  Choumla,  which  was  the  centre  of  their 
operations.  The  Russians  at  length  took  Prawodi,  the  key  of  the  Balkan ; 
and  their  next  aim  was  to  gain  possession  of  Varna.  To  carry  on  a  siege 
in  a  vast  and  almost  uninhabitable  country  like  Bulgaria,  under  the  fatal 
influence  of  the  climate,  the  difficulty  was  great ;  but  in  proportion  as  the 
difficulties  were  great,  so  were  the  exertions  of  the  besiegers,  and  after  it 
had  been  invested  both  on  the  land  and  sea  sides,  breaches  were  made, 
and  a  body  of  troops  forced  their  way  into  the  city.  Terrified  by  this, 
the  enemy  gave  up  all  further  resistance,  and  the  campaign  in  Asia  proved 
successful.  The  predatory  population  on  the  Caucasian  mountains  sub- 
mitted to  Russia.  The  army  under  Count  Paskewitch  forced  its  way 
from  Caucasus  and  Ararat  into  Asiatic  Turkey,  and  took  by  storm  the 
strong  fortress  of  Khara,  the  central  point  of  Turkish  Armenia,  together 
with  the  enemy's  camp.  After  this,  several  other  fortresses  fell  into  their 
hands,  so  that  beside  obtaining  possession  of  Mingrelia  and  Imiretia,  the 
whole  pachalic  of  Bajasid,  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  was 
conquered.  In  Europe  the  success  of  the  Russians  was  more  equivocal ; 
the  results  of  the  whole,  however,  were  important.  In  Europe  and  in 
Asia,  Russia  had  gained  two  Turkish  principalities  and  three  pachalics, 
fourteen  fortresses,  and  three  castles. 

The  Russian  emperor  had  repeated  his  inclination  for  peace  with  the 
Porte,  on  terms  of  indemnification  for  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  se- 
curity against  future  injuries;  but  the  Porte  had  refused.  On  the  con- 
trary, Mahmoud  announced  a  new  campaign,  with  the  words,  "Honour 
and  independence  are  worth  more  than  life."  Hitherto  the  negotiations 
had  been  carried  on  in  Constantinople,  with  the  reis  effendi,  by  the  min- 
ister of  the  Netherlands.  He  had  delivered  to  the  reis  effendi  the  mani- 
festo of  France,  Great  Britain,  and  Russia,  (of  August  11, 1828),  which 
made  known  to  the  Porte  the  motive  and  object  of  the  French  expedition 
against  the  Morea.  The  Prussian  ambassador  likewise  advised  the  Porte 
to  yield ;  but  no  representations  would  induce  the  sultan  to  do  so,  and 
preparations  for  another  campaign  were  made  with  unusual  vigour.  In 
the  beginning  of  1829,  General  Diebitsch  was  appointed  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Russian  f^orces ;  and  although  the  Turkish  army  was  greatly 
reinforced,  and  under  the  command  of  officers  of  high  renown  and  unques- 
tionable bravery,  the  Russian  generals  Diebitsch  and  Paskewitch  proved 
too  much  for  them.  The  latter  took  possession  of  Erzerum,  the  centre 
of  the  Turkish  power  in  Asia.  The  seraskier,  commander-in-chief  of  the 
whole  Turkish  army,  and  governor  of  all  Asiatic  Turkey,  was  taken 
prisoner,  together  with  four  principal  pachas,  and  150  pieces  of  cannon. 
But  the  sharpest  contest  of  the  Asiatic  campaign  was  occasioned  by  the 
attempt  of  the  pacha  of  Vau  to  retake  the  fortress  of  Bajasid.  The  attack 
was  made  with  7000  infantry  and  5000  cavalry,  aided  by  the  fire  from  a 
battery,  on  a  range  of  rocks,  which  swept  the  Russian  troops  on  the 
flank  and  rear,  and  the  fire  of  musketry  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  Tar- 
tar quarter  of  the  place.  After  thirty-two  hours  of  incessant  fighting,  the 
Turks  retreated.  The  career  of  Paskewitch  in  this  campaign  had  been 
one  of  continual  success :  arjd  such  had  been  his  preceding  campaign  in 
Persia. 

The  crtmpaign  in  the  European  provinces  was  still  more  successful. 
Several  battles  were  fought  in  the  spring,  in  which  the  Russians  under 


jOi4  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

Diebilsch  generally  had  the  advantage,  European  tactics  giving  him  a 
decided  superiority.  At  length  Silistria  surrendered,  and  the  garrison  of 
10,000  men  became  prisoners  of  war;  220  pieces  of  cannon,  eighty  stand- 
ards, and  the  whole  of  the  Turkish  flotilla,  falling  into  tlie  hands  of  the 
Russians.  Diobitsch  now  hastened  to  cross  the  Balkan,  and  continued 
his  march  without  any  serious  obstacles,  except  such  as  the  excessive 
heat  of  tlie  weather,  &c.,  presented,  till  he  reached  Adrianople,  which  he 
took  on  the  20th  of  July.  Foiled  at  every  point,  the  Forte  was  now  ready 
to  commence  negotiations ;  and  accordingly  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed, 
the  principal  points  of  which  were,  the  cessation  of  hostilities  ;  the  resto- 
ration by  Russia  of  the  principalities  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia,  and  of 
all  the  towns  occupied  by  the  Russians  in  Bulgaria  and  Romelia;  the  set- 
tlement of  the  boundaries  between  the  two  powers  in  Europe  and  Asia: 
the  provisions  for  the  religious  liberty,  independent  administration,  and 
free  trade  of  the  people  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  ;  freedom  of  com- 
merce to  Russian  subjects  throughout  the  Ottoman  empire,  as  secured  by 
former  treaties ;  free  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  Black  Sea  to  all 
nations  at  peace  with  the  Porte ;  the  stipulation  of  the  Porte  to  pay 
1,500,000  ducats  of  Holland  to  Russia  within  eighteen  months,  as  an  in- 
demnification for  losses  of  Russian  subjects,  and  a  further  sum,  such  as 
should  be  agreed  on,  as  an  indemnity  for  the  expenses  of  the  war;  with 
the  accession  of  the  Porte  to  the  arrangements  of  Russia,  Great  Britain, 
and  France,  respecting  Greece.  Thus  the  emperor  Nicholas,  according 
to  the  pledge  he  had  given  to  his  allies  at  the  commencement  of  the  war, 
stopped  short  in  the  career  of  conquest,  when  he  had  obtained  the  objectn 
for  which  the  war  was  professedly  undertaken. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  POLAND. 

Most  countries  have  some  positive  origin  attributed  to  them,  and  nanded 
down  to  present  times  by  tradition,  although  no  trace  of  a  written  history 
may  be  found ;  it  is  not  so,  however,  with  Poland.  In  the  time  of  the 
Romans  it  is  likely  to  have  been  an  unexplored  part  of  tlie  great  Hyrca- 
nian  forest ;  and  such  inhabitants  as  it  contained  probably  belonged  to 
the  Sarmatians,  a  nation  of  barbarians  more  fierce  and  savage  than  any 
of  the  other  hordes  with  whom  the  civilized  conquerors  of  Europe  had  to 
contend  in  their  work  of  universal  subjugation.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  it 
seems  clear  that  Poland  either  afforded  no  materials  for  the  historian,  or 
the  country  produced  no  writer  to  record  its  history,  for  a  considerable 
time  after  the  other  nations  of  Europe  emerged  from  obscurity.  It  appears, 
indeed,  that  an  army  of  Sclavonians,  under  the  command  of  Lesko,  took 
possession  of  the  country,  a.  d.  550,  and  that  this  leader  became  the  first 
of  a  race  of  kings,  who  held  the  sovereign  power  for  a  century. 

The  next  dynasty  of  kings  is  distinguished  by  the  name  of  its  first 
sovereign,  and  called  the  dynasty  of  Piast  :  but  nothing  worthy  of  notice 
is  preserved,  until  Jagellon,  grand  duke  of  Lithuania,  obtained  the  sove- 
reignty of  Poland  in  the  year  1385.  On  his  being  elected  king,  he  re- 
nounced the  doctrines  of  paganism,  to  which  he  had  before  adhered,  and 
embraced  Christianity ;  from    which  time  it  spread  rapidly  among  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  215 

Poles.  This  prince  united  the  whole  of  his  hereditary  dominions  to  those 
»f  Poland  :  in  return  for  which  the  Poles  rendered  the  crown  hereditary 
n  his  family ;  but  his  male  line  terminated  in  the  person  of  Sigismund 
^.ugustus,  in  1572.  Two  competitors  then  started  for  the  vacant  crown  ; 
tlenry,  duke  of  Anjou,  brother  to  Charles  IX.  of  France,  and  Maximilian 
if  Austria.  After  a  long  conflict,  the  former  of  these  obtained  the  prize  ; 
Out  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  he  succeeded  to  the  crown  of  France,  and 
abandoned  that  of  Poland. 

From  this  reign  we  may  date  the  correspondence  between  the  French 
and  the  Poles,  which  subsisted  until  the  increasing  power  of  its  northern 
neighbours  entirely  counteracted  the  politics  of  the  court  of  Versailles. 
On  the  second  vacancy,  Maximilian  was  still  rejected;  and  Stephen  Batori, 
prince  of  Transylvania,  chosen,  on  account  of  the  high  renown  which  he 
had  acquired.  He  married  Anne,  the  sister  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  of 
the  royal  house  of  Jagellon,  which  rendered  him  highly  popular.  He 
waged  war  with  the  Muscovites,  and  recovered  from  them  all  that  they 
had  formerly  taken  from  the  Poles ;  after  which  he  settled  the  Ukraine, 
which,  in  the  Polish  language,  signifies  the  frontier,  and  which  was  at  that 
time  a  wild  and  unprofitable  desert.  He  it  was  that  introduced  military 
tenure  into  Poland,  by  which  he  formed  the  best  cavalry  in  the  world. 
He  likewise  established  a  militia,  composed  of  Cossacks,  which  soon 
became  a  respectable  body  of  infantry.  These  Cossacks  he  settled  in  the 
Ukraine.  Having  performed  these  essential  services  to  the  kingdom 
which  he  governed,  he  died,  in  1586. 

Theodore,  czar  of  Russia,  Maximilian,  archduke  of  Austria,  and  Sig- 
ismund, prince  of  Sweden,  now  severally  put  foriii  claims  and  contended 
for  the  crown.  The  year  after,  Sigismund,  having  defeated  and  taken 
prisoner  his  rival,  Maximilian,  became  too  formidable  for  Theodore ;  and 
established  himself  on  the  throne  by  the  name  of  Sigismund  HI.  He  was 
a  zealous  papist,  and  waged  a  long  and  unsuccessful  war  with  his  native 
country,  Sweden ;  but  in  his  wars  with  the  Turks  he  was  more  fortunate. 
He  reigned  forty-four  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son  Uladis- 
laus  VII.,  who  was  chosen  the  IClh  of  November,  1G32.  He  was  suc- 
cessful against  the  Turks,  the  Russians,  and  the  Swedes,  and  died  in  1648. 
In  his  reign  the  interests  of  the  Polish  nobility  clashing  with  the  grants 
which  had  been  made  to  the  Cossacks  in  the  Ukraine,  a  fierce  contention 
arose.  His  brother,  John  Casimir,  succeeded  him,  although  a  cardinal. 
The  elector  of  Brandenburgh,  in  his  reign,  found  means  to  obtain  from  the 
Poles  a  renunciation  of  their  sovereignty  over  ducal  Prussia,  which  he 
held  as  a  vassal  of  the  crown  of  Poland.  This  renunciation  was  ratified 
by  the  treaty  of  Oliva  in  1660.  Casimir  then  attempting  to  gain  an  un- 
controlable  and  absolute  sovereignty  in  Poland,  excited  a  civil  war ;  and 
in  the  issue  his  army  was  defeated  by  prince  Lubomirski.  He  afterwards 
found  means,  however,  to  drain  the  country  of  its  current  specie,  which 
he  remitted  to  France ;  and  being  no  longer  able  to  maintain  his  footing 
in  Poland,  he  precipitately  quitted  the  kingdom,  and  followed  his  wealth. 
In  this  state  of  voluntary  exile  he  made  a  formal  renunciation  of  the 
crown,  and  died  two  years  after. 

On  the  resignation  of  Casimir,  four  candidates  appeared :  namely,  the 
prince  of  Russia;  the  duke  of  Newbourg,  who  was  supported  by  the 
interests  of  France ;  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  who  was  backed  by  the  Ger- 
man power;  and  the  son  of  the  prince  of  Conde  ;  but  it  was  soon  found  that 
the  contest  lay  between  the  dukes  of  Newbourg  and  Lorraine.  The  palatine 
Opalenski,  however,  by  popular  harangues,  had  the  address  to  set  them 
Doth  aside,  and  procure  the  election  of  prince  Michael  Wiesnowiski,  in 
1760,  who  reckoned  his  descent  from  a  brother  of  Jagellon.  He  was 
chosen  to  the  royal  dignity  as  being  a  Piast,  a  title  highly  respected  in 
Poland,  'ind  signifying  a  nobleman  who  can  trace  his  descent  through  a 


216  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

long  line  of  Polish  ancestors ;  but  being  a  weak  prince,  the  Turks  took 
advantage  of  his  incapacity,  invaded  Poland,  and  took  Kaininieck,  the 
capital  of  Podolia.  Michael  did  not  long  enjoy  his  dignity  ;  he  died  three 
years  after  his  elevation,  at  the  very  time  when  Sobieski,  the  Polish 
general,  had  gained  a  great  and  decisive  victory  over  the  Turks.  Another 
contention  then  arose  about  a  successor ;  Init  at  length  the  diet  unani- 
mously chose  John  Sobieski  for  their  king,  who  maintained  a  war  against 
the  Turks,  although  ill  seconded  by  the  nobility  ;  and  in  1G75,  at  the  head 
of  no  more  than  6,000  men,  he  defeated  60,000  Turks  and  Tartars  : 
after  which,  receiving  a  reinforcement  of  10,000  troops,  he  drove  100,000 
of  the  enemy  out  of  Podolia,  and  was  crowned  at  Cracow,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1676. 

The  Turks  by  this  defeat  were  brought  to  acquiesce  in  terms  of  peace, 
which  were  observed  during  seven  years  ;  but  in  1083,  the  Ottomans  in- 
vaded Hungary,  and  laid  siege  to  Vienna.  The  neighbouring  princes 
being  roused  to  action  by  the  impending  danger,  put  their  forces  under 
the  command  of  Sobieski,  whose  army  mustered  forty  thousand  strong  ; 
with  which  force  he  attacked  and  defeated  the  infidels,  whose  numbers 
were  little  short  of  two  hundred  thousand.  This  decisive  stroke  restored 
peace;  but  the  great  military  talents  of  the  king,  joined  to  his  extreme 
parsimony,  created  jealousies  among  the  Polish  nobility,  of  his  having 
formed  designs  of  changing  the  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  and  render- 
ing himself  an  absolute  monarch.  These  apprehensions,  which  were 
never  supported  by  any  direct  proofs,  embittered  his  latter  days.  He  died 
in  1696,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  twenty-second  of  his 
reign.  He  left  a  son.  Prince  James  Sobieski,  whom,  however,  the  Poles 
did  not  nominate  for  their  king.  An  interregnum  of  a  twelvemonth  fol- 
lowed :  at  length  Frederick  Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony,  was  chosen,  ia 
preference  to  the  prince  of  Conti,  whose  pretensions  were  backed  by  the 
interests  of  France ;  but  in  1705,  the  Poles  being  tampered  with  by  Charles 
XH.  of  Sweden,  declared  the  crown  vacant,  and  chose  Stanislaus  Leesen- 
ski,  palatine  Posnania;  to  establish  whom  on  the  throne,  Charles  of  Swe- 
den entered  Saxony  with  a  powerful  army,  and  compelled  Augustus  to 
save  his  electorate  by  abandoning  his  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  Poland. 
The  reverses  of  fortune  which  Charles  experienced  in  1708,  gave  Augus- 
tus the  ascendency  ;  and  his  competitor  found  it  necessary,  in  his  turn, 
to  quit  the  kingdom.  Disputes  and  ill-will,  however,  prevailed  between 
Augustus  and  the  nobility,  from  this  time  until  his  death,  which  happened 
in  January,  1732-3. 

Whether  the  house  of  Austria,  or  that  of  Bourbon,  should  fix  the  sue 
cession  to  the  throne  of  Poland,  then  plunged  Europe  into  war.  The  for- 
mer supported  the  pretensions  of  Augustus,  the  son  of  the  deceased  king ; 
in  which  nomination  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg  also  concurred  ;  the  lat- 
ter aimed  at  restoring  the  abdicated  Stanislaus,  whose  daughter,  the  prin- 
cess Mary,  was  married  to  Louis  XV.  Notwithstanding  this  alliance,  his 
interest  was  not  vigorously  supported  by  the  court  of  Versailles ;  and  he 
was  finally  driven  out  of  Poland,  possessed  of  nothing  more  than  the 
empty  title  of  king ;  he,  however,  gained  the  duchy  of  Loraine  and  Bar, 
which  he  enjoyed  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Stanislaus  died  in  January, 
1766,  having  attained  to  the  great  age  of  eighty-nine  years.  He  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  talents  and  virtues;  his  humanity  was  active,  and  dis- 
played itself  in  many  noble  instances  of  kindness  and  generosity.  Though 
deprived  of  the  crown  of  Poland,  he  expressed  his  strong  attachment  to 
the  prosperity  of  that  country,  and  his  thorough  knowledge  of  its  interests, 
in  a  work  which  he  wrote  and  published  in  the  year  1659,  entitled,  La 
Voix  Libre  du  Citoyen;  ou  Observations  sur  le  Gouvernement  du  Pologne. 

Frederic  Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony,  was  chosen  king  of  Poland  in 
September,  1733,  in  the  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age.     He  was  the  third  king 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTOR"?.  217 

of  that  name.  He  married  Maria  Josepha,  daughter  of  the  emperor  Jo- 
seph I.  In  the  winter  of  1745,  the  king  of  Prussia  attacked  him  in  his  he- 
reditary dominions,  made  himself  master  of  Dresden,  and  forced  the  elec- 
tor to  accept  such  conditions  of  peace  as  were  proffered.  In  1756,  the 
king  of  Poland  having  secretly  become  a  party  in  a  confederacy  formed 
by  the  empress-queen  and  the  king  of  France,  to  strip  the  king  of  Prussia 
of  the  province  of  Silesia,  the  unfortunate  Augustus  suddenly  fell  a  victim 
to  the  resentment  of  that  monarch,  who  took  possession  of  Dresden,  his 
capital,  and  compelled  his  whole  army,  consisting  of  thirteen  thousand 
men,  to  surrender  prisoners  of  war;  after  which  he  experienced  the  most 
bitter  calamities.  His  queen,  whose  every  motion  was  narrowly  watched 
by  the  emissaries  of  the  Prussian  monarch,  died  of  a  broken  heart ;  while 
the  designs  which  the  king  had  formed  for  the  advancement  of  his  family, 
by  procuring  for  one  of  his  sons  the  dukedom  of  Courland,  and  for  another 
the  bishopric  of  Liege,  were  entirely  frustrated.  Worn  down  with  years 
as  well  as  with  sorrows,  he  resigned  his  breath  on  the  5ih  of  October, 
1763,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirtieth  year  from  his 
election  to  the  crown  of  Poland. 

The  son  of  Augustus  declared  himself  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  crown ; 
but  he  died  of  the  small-pox  in  less  than  two  months  after.  Count  Po- 
niatowski,  on  account  of  his  eminent  merit,  was  unanimously  elected  king, 
on  the  7th  of  September,  1764,  without  any  commotion  or  disturbance. 
The  powers  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Turkey,  supported  his  pretensions. 
The  ambassadors  of  France,  Spain,  and  the  empire,  who  opposed  his  elec- 
tion, retired  from  Warsaw,  when  the  diet  assembled.  He  took  the  name 
of  Stanislaus  Augustus.  The  new  king  had  not  long  sat  upon  the  throne, 
before  some  Russian  troops  entered  his  kingdom  on  the  plea  of  procuring 
a  toleration  and  other  privileges  for  the  oppressed  and  persecuted  "dissi- 
dents," who  were  of  the  Greek  church,  and  also  for  the  Lutheran  and 
other  reformed  Christians.  The  bitter  enmity  which  subsisted  between 
the  Roman  catholics  and  the  dissidents,  kindled  the  flames  of  a  fierce, 
bloody,  and  desolating  civil  war,  which  raged  during  the  years  1769,  1770 
and  1771 ;  in  the  midst  of  which,  the  miserable  Poles  were  visited  with 
the  pestilence,  which  swept  off  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  population. 
The  part  which  the  king  of  Poland  took  against  the  dissidents,  caused  a 
conspiracy  to  be  formed  to  assassinate  him,  in  November,  1771 ;  from 
which  attempt  upon  his  life  he  escaped  almost  by  a  miracle.  Many  of  the 
conspirators  lost  their  lives  by  the  hands  of  the  executioners. 

Among  the  Poles  the  love  of  freedom  prevailed  without  the  spirit  of 
union.  A  kingdom  fertile  and  extensive  as  that  of  Poland,  torn  by  intes- 
tine commotions,  and  unprovided  with  the  means  of  self-defence,  present- 
ed a  most  alluring  prospect  to  its  powerful  neighbours.  It  is  needless  to 
mention  the  frivolous  and  obscure  claims  set  up  by  the  three  partitioning 
powers,  to  the  territories  which  they  designed  to  appropriate ;  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  describe  the  countries  which  were  thus  forcibly  wrested.  The 
claims  of  Austria  comprehended  the  southern  parts  of  Little  Poland,  and 
the  whole  of  Red  Russia,  with  Procutia.  The  royal  salt  mines  at  Wie- 
luski,  Brochnia,  and  other  places  in  Little  Poland  were  in  the  territory 
thus  seized.  The  district  seized  upon  by  the  empress  of  Russia,  was  the 
whole  of  Polish  Livonia,  and  that  part  of  Lithuania  which  borders  on  the 
Russian  empire,  and  extending  over  that  duchy  even  beyond  the  river 
Beresina.  The  king  of  Prussia  took  possession  of  all  the  western  parts 
»f  Pomerania,  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  river  Netz,  together  with  the 
whole  of  Polish  Prussia ;  the  cities  of  Dantzic  and  Thorn  only  excepted. 
As  these  countries  form  the  southern  shores  of  the  Bailie,  and  give  the 
command  of  the  Vistula,  they  were  highly  important  to  a  monarch,  whose 
dominions,  before  this  acquisition,  could  not  furnish  a  capacious  harbour 
for  shipping.     The  political  views  of  the  king  of  Prussia  thereby  became 


218  THE  TREASURY  OF  11I8T0UY. 

much  enlarged,  being  directed  to  commercial  and  maritime  objects.  Th« 
inhabitants  (»f  the  countries  thus  dismembered  were  required,  by  the  mani- 
festos, to  take  oaths  of  alieg-iance  and  fidelity  to  their  new  sovereigns, 
within  a  very  short  space  of  time,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  tlieir  estates.  The 
independent  si)irit  of  the  Polish  nobility  could  ill  brook  such  mandates; 
many  chose  rather  to  abandon  their  country  and  estates,  and  submit  to 
voluntary  exile;  carrying  with  them  such  parts  of  their  property  as  the 
short  time  allotted  them  would  enable  them  to  collect.  The  confiscation 
of  these  estates  was  an  object  of  great  consequence  to  each  sovereign  ;  it 
being  a  cruel  policy  constantly  practised  by  invaders  and  usurpers,  to  op 
press  and  ruin  the  native  nobility,  in  order  to  provide  for  their  own  adher 
ents.     This  memorable  partition  took  place  in  September,  1772. 

The  king  of  Poland,  unable  to  make  opposition  to  these  violent  acts, 
was  induced  to  give  his  sanction  by  being  put  in  possession  of  a  rich  ter- 
ritory, which  was  rendered  hereditary  in  liis  family  ;  besides  which  a  large 
sum  of  money,  to  enable  him  to  pay  off  his  debts,  was  presented  to  him, 
as  the  farther  price  for  this  his  sacrifice  of  duty  to  tyranny.  Still,  how 
ever,  to  add  insult  to  injury,  a  diet  was  called;  the  members  of  which 
were  compelled  to  give  their  votes  to  ratify  the  alienation  of  so  great  a 
part  of  the  kingdom.  It  was  thought,  however,  that  this  change  of  gor- 
ernment,  though  brought  about  without  any  colour  of  justice,  might,  after 
the  convulsions  caused  by  its  first  establishment  had  subsided,  lend  to  en- 
large the  sum  of  human  happiness  in  those  districts,  as  well  as  to  render 
the  country  more  wealthy  and  flourishing,  as  the  oppressions  of  the  no- 
bility were  likely  to  be  greatly  restrained,  and  the  condition  of  the  peas- 
antry to  be  considerably  amended. 

A  new  constitution  was  settled  for  Poland  on  the  3d  of  May,  1791,  by 
which  the  Catholic  faith  was  declared  to  be  the  religion  of  the  country, 
but  a  toleration  w^as  extended  to  all  religious  persuasions.  For  a  few 
years  Poland  appeared  to  flourish ;  and  that  part  of  it  which  was  left  to 
Stanislaus  was  greatly  benefitted  by  his  judicious  introduction  of  artisans 
from  France  and  other  countries,  under  whose  superintendence  the  man- 
ufactures of  the  country  were  carried  on  to  considerable  advantage.  But 
though  tlie  Poles  were  attached  to  their  king,  they  saw,  with  indignation 
and  distrust,  the  prospect  of  being  still  farther  humbled  and  reduced  by 
the  three  self-elected  arbiters  of  a  nation's  fate.  The  French  revolution 
had  just  broken  out;  and  the  Russian  empress,  fearing  the  eflfectof  such 
an  example  upon  a  warlike  people,  agreed  with  the  king  of  Prussia  to 
make  such  new  division  of  the  Polish  territories  as  should  render  all  at- 
tempts fruitless  which  they  might  make  to  recover  their  independence. 

Relying  upon  the  protection  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  had  engaged  to 
prevent  the  interference  of  any  foreign  power  with  the  internal  concerns 
of  Poland,  the  Poles  were  not  intimidated  at  the  hostile  preparations  of 
Russia.  But  their  hopes  were  miserably  disappointed.  Frederic  Wil- 
liam, when  appealed  to,  refused  to  espouse  their  cause ;  and  they  were 
left  to  engage  single-handed  with  the  whole  forces  of  the  Russian  empire. 
Catherine  immediately  marched  an  army  into  Poland  ;  and  Stanislaus 
raised  a  considerable  force,  which  was  placed  under  the  command  of  his 
nephew.  Prince  Joseph  Foniatowski ;  but  the  Polish  monarch,  desirous  of 
averting  the  miseries  of  war,  acceded  to  the  terms  of  Russia,  annulled  the 
new  constitution,  and  allowed  the  Russians  to  take  possession  of  his  cap- 
ital. This  occurred  in  1793.  Having  proved  so  far  fortunate,  Catherine 
resolved  to  secure  her  dominion  over  Poland  by  still  more  weakening  its 
power;  and,  in  consequence,  agreed  upon  a  further  partition  of  this  de- 
spoiled kingdom,  in  conjunction  with  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  siezed  as 
his  share  the  cities  of  Thorn  and  Dantzic.  Amazed  at  this  act  of  aggres- 
sive duplicity,  and  deluded  by  the  ambiguous  answers  of  the  Russian  am- 
bassador, the  confederates  of  Targovitz  invited  the  nation  to  rise  in  de- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  219 

lence  of  the  iutegrity  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  this  call  was  obeyed  with  sin- 
gular alacrity.  The  Russian  forces  were  now  ordered  to  act  in  concert 
with  those  of  Prussia  ;  and  the  courts  of  Petersburg  and  Berlin,  openly 
avowing  their  intention  of  effecting  a  further  dismemberment  of  Poland, 
forcibly  obtained  the  silent  assent  of  the  diet  of  Grodno  to  this  iniquitous 
measure. 

The  indignation  of  the  Polish  patriots  was  now  raised  to  its  highest 
pitch,  and  they  instantly  resolved  to  make  one  more  desperate  and  fina. 
effort  to  restore  the  freedom  of  their  country.  With  amazing  rapidity  a 
general  insurrection  was  organized,  and  as  the  king  had  lost  the  confi 
dence  of  the  nation  by  his  weakness,  the  troops  unanimously  placed  at 
their  head  the  celebrated  Count  Thaddeus  Kosciusko,  a  young  man  of 
high  birth  but  small  fortune,  who  had  been  educated  in  the  military  school 
at  Warsaw,  and  had  served  as  aid-de-camp  to  General  Washington,  in  the 
American  war  of  independence.  Madalinska,  a  Polish  general,  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt,  and,  in  conjunction  with  Kosciusko,  took  Cracow,  from 
which  city  they  issued  an  address  to  the  nation,  and  signed  an  act  de- 
claratory of  their  motives  and  intentions.  Kosciusko  was  then  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  army  and  of  the  republic,  with  unlimited  power. 

The  first  operation  of  the  severe  contest  that  immediately  ensued 
proved  favourable  to  the  patriots,  who  routed  a  liussian  army  of  superioi 
force  near  Cracow,  and  expelled  them  from  Wilna.  Meanwhile  the  Rus 
sian  ambassador  compelled  Stanislaus  to  declare  the  insurgents  rebels 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  arsenals.  This  demand  drove  the  in- 
habitants to  desperation  ;  they  flew  to  arms,  and  after  a  sanguinary  contest  of 
forty-eight  hours,  the  Russians  were  driven  out  of  Warsaw  with  immense 
slaughter;  and  preparations  were  immediately  made,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Kosciusko,  who  repaired  to  the  capital,  to  repel  any  future  attack. 

If  the  contest  had  hitherto  been  unequal,  it  was  now  rendered  much 
more  so.  Austria  entered  into  the  views  of  Russia  and  Prussia,  and  pow- 
ful  armies  advanced  on  every  side.  After  an  obstinate  battle  the  king  of 
Prussia  defeated  Kosciusko,  took  possession  of  Cracow,  and  marched 
towards  Warsaw,  where  the  enraged  populace  had  committed  great  ex- 
cesses. His  offers  of  accommodation  having  been  rejected,  he  laid  siege 
to  the  capital, but  being  repulsed  in  a  fierce  attack  upon  the  entrenched 
camp  of  the  confederates,  he  was  eventually  compelled  to  abandon  this 
enterprise,  after  a  fruitless  siege  of  two  months.  During  the  time  these 
events  took  place  at  Warsaw,  the  Russians  under  Suwarrof  had  defeated 
the  Poles  at  Brezesk,  and  General  Fersen  was  endeavouring  to  unite  his 
forces  with  the  grand  Russian  army.  Kosciusko  hastened  to  prevent  lliis 
junction  ;  but  in  an  obstinate  battle  against  the  superior  forces  of  Fersen, 
the  Poles  were  routed,  and  their  gallant  chief  having  been  wounded  and 
taken  prisoner,  was  hurried  as  an  exile  to  the  dreary  regions  of  Siberia. 
As  far,  however,  as  loss  of  liberty  and  expatriation  could  be  rendered  en- 
durable, it  was,  under  all  circumstances,  so  rendered  in  the  present  in- 
stance ;  more  than  ordinary  attention  having  been  paid  in  providing  him 
not  only  with  suitable  apartments,  but  with  books,  drawing  materials,  &c. 
for  his  recreation  and  amusement ;  an  indulgence  rarely  granted  to  Rus- 
sian captives. 

Deeply  was  the  loss  of  their  beloved  Thaddeus  deplored  by  the  Poles  ; 
and  though  it  did  not  wholly  break  the  spirit  of  the  patriots,  it  nevertheless 
proved  fatal  to  their  cause.  Suwarrof  advanced  without  opposition  under 
the  walls  of  Warsaw;  and  the  Polish  generals  took  post  in  the  suburbs  of 
Praga,  situate  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Vistula.  On  the  4th  of  Novem 
ber,  1795,  they  were  vigorously  assaulted  by  Suwarrof,  at  the  head  of  fifty 
thousand  men.  The  contest  raged  above  eight  hours  ;  but  it  terminated 
in  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Polish  army,  whose  shattered  remains  re- 
tired into  the  city  of  Warsaw.    The  citizens  of  the  capital  surrendered  to 


320  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  conquerors,  who  pillaged  the  city,  and  put  to  the  sword  nearly  thirty 
thousand  individuals,  s[)aring:  neither  age  or  sex.  The  troops  endeavour- 
ed to  force  their  way  through  the  enemy's  lines;  hut  nearly  the  whole  of 
them  were  cut  to  pieces.  Poland,  now  laid  prostrate,  wilnefised  the  de- 
parture of  its  last  king,  who,  summoned  to  St.  Petersburg,  was  compelled 
to  abdicate  his  throne.  The  final  partition  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  sove 
reigns  of  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  was  not  long  delayed.  A  pension 
was  settled  on  the  ex-king,  who  retired  first  to  Grodno;  but  on  the  death 
of  Catherine,  in  1796,  he  wont  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  he  was  treated 
with  much  respect  and  attention  by  the  emperor  Paul,  at  whose  court  he 
resided  till  his  death.  Fortunately  for  Kosciusko,  and  the  Polish  patrioiB 
in  general,  the  new  emperor  looked  on  them  with  more  than  a  pitying 
eye;  he  not  only  restored  the  former  to  liberty,  but  made  him  the  most 
liberal  offers  to  remain  in  his  service ;  they  were,  however,  respectfully 
declined  ;  and  the  heroic  chief,  after  spending  some  little  time  in  Kngland, 
went  to  America,  where  he  remained  a  few  years,  and  on  his  return  to 
Europe,  chose  F'rance  as  his  residence,  and  settled  near  Fontainebleau. 
All  the  Polish  patriots  in  the  Russian  prisons  were  released  by  the  empe- 
ror Paul,  and  those  who  had  been  sent  to  Siberia,  of  whom  there  was  not 
less  than  twelve  thousand,  were  recalled.  But  many  of  the  bravest  Poles, 
who  had  fought  with  Kosciusko,  making  their  escape,  entered  the  French 
service,  and  were  formed  into  separate  battalions,  distinguished  by  Bona- 
parte as  his  Polish  legions. 

When  the  emperor  Alexander  succeeded  to  the  throne,  in  1801,  his  cou 
duct  towards  the  Poles  was  not  less  liberal  than  that  of  Paul,  his  father, 
had  been.  Contrary  to  the  plan  pursued  by  the  other  two  powers,  he 
scrupled  not  to  bestow  high  offices  on  the  natives  of  the  country,  and  pre- 
served to  them  their  ancient  laws  and  privileges.  Lithuania  (the  Rus 
sian  portion)  was  divided  into  eight  districts,  with  a  governor  over 
each,  but  all  these  governors  were  Lithuanian  nobles ;  and  members  of  the 
diet  were  elected  by  the  people.  The  peasants  were  still  held  in  feudal 
bondage,  but  encouragement  was  given  to  many  plans  which  tended  to 
their  improvement,  both  morally  and  intellectually.  Not  long  after  Bo- 
naparte reached  the  imperial  dignity,  one  of  his  favourite  schemes  wa.s 
that  of  freeing  the  Poles  from  the  subjection  of  the  three  great  northern 
powers  and  availing  himself  of  the  servicesof  that  hardy  and  warlike  race, 
of  whose  valour  and  physical  capabilities  he  had  ample  proofs  in  his  late 
campaigns.  He  accordingly  visited  Kosciusko,  who  was  still  residing 
near  Fontainebleau,  and  endeavoured  to  persuade  him  to  take  up  arms, 
once  more,  for  the  land  of  his  birth;  but  the  gallant  hero  perhaps  doubled 
the  sincerity  of  the  Gallic  emperor's  professions,  and  declined  his  over- 
tures ;  but  though  Kosciusko  refused,  there  were  thousands  of  others  who 
flocked  to  his  standard,  and  Bonaparte  pursued  his  plan  of  conquest.  The 
event  of  the  battle  of  Jena,  fought  with  the  Prussians  in  1806,  put  him  in  pos- 
session of  Warsaw,  and  all  that  part  of  Poland  which  had  been  annexed 
to  Prussia;  this  territory  he  formed  into  a  separate  state,  which  he  called 
the  grand  duchy  of  Warsaw ;  and,  uniting  it  to  Saxony,  he  gave  to  the 
king  of  that  country  the  additional  title  of  grand  duke  of  Warsaw. 

The  dismembered  country,  which  now  first  received  internal  order  from 
foreign  hands,  continued  in  this  condition  till  November,  1806,  when  Na- 
poleon's victories  led  the  emigrant  Poles,  under  Dombrowski,  to  Posen 
and  Warsaw.  By  the  terms  of  the  peace  of  Tilsit,  July  9,  1807,  the 
greater  part  of  the  Prussian  Polish  provinces  was  formed  into  the  duchy  of 
Warsaw,  which  received  a  German  ruler  in  the  king  of  Saxony,  and,  at 
the  same  time  with  the  French  code,  a  constitution  similar  to  the  French,  by 
which  bondage  was  abolished.  Dantzic  was  to  have  been  a  republic 
under  the  protection  of  Prussia  and  Saxony,  but  remained  a  French  place 
of  arms.     The   grants  bestowed  on  French  officers,  and  still  more  the 


THE  TB-BASUJEIY  OF  HISTORY.  221 

continental  system,  which  destroyed  all  trade,  exhausted  the  public  reve- 
nues ;  so  that  Poland,  amid  all  its  natural  wealth,  experienced  the  fate  ol 
Tantalus.  The  necessity  of  furnishing  troops  for  the  French  service,  was 
also  a  check  on  the  prosperity  of  the  new  state,  and  annihilated  all  that 
Prussia  had  effected  at  great  sacrifices.  Yet  the  woollen  and  cotton 
manufactures,  that  had  grown  up  in  Posen  and  Broomberg,  sustained 
themselves.  The  government  of  the  duchy  did  everything  practicable 
under  such  unfavourable  circumstances.  The  war  between  France  and 
Austria,  in  1809,  augmented,  indeed,  the  sufferings  of  the  country,  but  de- 
veloped, to  an  extraordinary  degree,  the  military  energies  of  the  people. 
Under  the  command  of  Foniatowski  and  French  officers,  the  Polish  troops 
rivalled  the  best  troops  of  France  in  valour.  They  advanced  to  Cracow, 
and  the  peace  of  Vienna  (Oct.  14,  1809)  annexed  Western  Galicia  to  the 
duchy  of  Warsaw,  which  had  hitherto  contained  thirty-nine  thousand 
square  miles,  with  2,200,000  inhabitants ;  so  that  it  now  comprised  sixty 
thousand  square  miles,  with  3,760,000  inhabitants,  and  furnished  a  well- 
equipped  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  which  fought  in  Spain  with  great 
bravery. 

Meanwhile  Russia  assumed  the  administration  of  the  whole  duchy. 
Dantzic,  with  its  territory,  reverted  to  Russia,  and  the  congress  at  Vienna 
(in  iVIay,  1815)  decided  the  fate  of  the  country. — 1.  The  city  of  Cracow, 
with  its  territory,  was  to  be  governed  by  its  own  laws  as  a  free  and  inde- 
pendent republic  ; — 2.  The  country  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Vistula,  with 
the  circle  of  Tamapola,  which  had  been  ceded  to  Russia  by  the  peace  of 
Vienna,  was  restored  to  Austria; — 3.  The  circles  of  Culm  and  Michelan, 
the  city  of  Thorn  and  its  territory,  the  department  of  Posen,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  circles  of  Powitz  and  Peysern,  and  part  of  the  department 
of  Kalisch,  as  far  as  the  Prozna,  excluding  the  city  and  circle  of  that  name, 
were  ceded  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  united  Dantzic,  Thorn,  Culm,  and 
Michelan  with  West  Russia,  and  from  the  remainder  (11,400  square 
miles,  with  847,000  inhabitants)  formed  the  grand  duchy  of  Posen,  and  ap- 
pointed Prince  Radzivil  governor.  All  the  rest  was  united  with  the 
Russian  empire,  under  the  name  of  the  "  kingdom  of  Poland,"  but  with  a 
separate  administration,  and  such  a  territorial  extent  as  the  Russian  em- 
peror should  see  fit.  The  emperor  Alexander,  therefore,  assumed  the 
title  of  czar  and  king  of  Poland,  and  received  homage  in  Warsaw. 

Poland,  though  thus  divided,  preserved  its  name  and  language,  as  the 
treaties  of  Vienna  secured  to  all  Poles  who  were  subjects  of  either  of  the 
three  powers  such  an  organization  as  tended  to  maintain  their  national 
existence.  A  Polish  charter  was  accordingly  promulgated  (November 
27, 1815).  The  government  of  the  country  was  to  be  vested  in  a  native 
Pole,  as  lieutenant  of  the  kingdom,  unless  one  of  the  imperial  princes 
should  be  appointed  viceroy.  This  was  rendered  nugatory  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  tyrannical  Constantine,  as  commander-in-chief.  Equality  of 
religious  sects,  personal  security,  liberty  of  the  press,  the  entire  posses- 
sion of  all  employments,  civil  and  military,  in  the  country,  by  Poles,  were 
among  the  promises  of  the  charter;  and  these  rights  were  to  be  securecf 
by  a  national  diet,  composed  of  two  chambers.  But  these  promises  were 
kept  only  to  the  ear ;  restrictions  on  the  press,  arbitrary  imprisonment, 
and  punishments;  insults  and  injuries;  a  mockery  of  a  diet,  which  was 
not  allowed  to  exercise  any  real  authority  ;  the  violation  of  every  article 
of  the  charter  by  a  Russian  barbarian ;  peculation  and  extortion  practised 
by  the  inferior  officers  ; — these  were  some  of  the  features  of  the  Russian 
government  of  Poland. 

On  the  death  of  Alexander  (December,  1825)  and  the  accession  of 
Nicholas,  a  conspiracy  broke  out  in  Russia,  and,  on  pretence  that  it  ex- 
tended to  Warsaw,  several  hundred  persons  were  arrested  in  Poland,  and 
a  commission  constituted,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  charter,  to  in- 


322  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

quire  into  the  affair.  The  only  discovery  of  this  inquisitorial  tribunal  \va«, 
that  secret  societies  had  existed  in  Poland  since  1821.  In  May,  1829, 
Nicholas  was  crowned  at  Warsaw.  In  1828,  however,  a  secret  society 
had  been  instituted,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  over  the  officers  of  the 
army  to  ihe  cause  of  independence  ;  and  to  their  agency  is  the  insurrection 
of  1830  to  be  attributed.  It  appears,  nevertheless,  that  it  was  immediate- 
ly occasioned  by  a  sham  conspiracy  got  up  by  the  Russian  police,  who 
had  thus  induced  a  number  of  young  men  to  betray  themselves,  and 
crowded  the  prisons  with  their  victims.  Not  only  Polish  officers,  youth 
of  the  military  school,  and  students,  had  been  gained  over  to  the  cause  of 
the  patriots,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  citizens,  and  the  chief  nobles,  were 
ready  to  encourage  an  effort  to  save  themselves  from  what  they  now 
foresaw — the  occupation  of  Poland  by  a  Kussian  army,  and  the  marching 
of  the  Polish  troops  to  the  south  of  Europe.  Such  was  the  state  of  things 
when  the  insurrection  of  Warsaw  broke  out,  Nov.  19,  18.30.  A  young 
officer  entered  the  military  school,  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  and  called 
the  youth  to  arms.  Tliey  immediately  proceeded  to  Belvidere,  the  resi- 
dence of  Constantinc,  about  two  miles  from  the  city,  for  the  purpose  of 
seizing  his  person.  They  were  joined,  on  the  way,  by  the  students  of  the 
university,  and  forced  their  way  into  the  palace  ;  but  the  prince  was  con- 
cealed in  a  clothes-press,  by  a  servant,  until  he  could  make  his  escape  by 
a  secret  door.  Another  party  of  cadets  and  students  paraded  the  streets, 
calling  the  citizens  to  arms,  and  they  were  joined  by  the  Polish  troops. 
The  arsenal  was  seized,  with  forty  thousand  stand  of  arms,  and  the  in- 
surrection became  general.  On  the  next  morning  forty  thousand  troops 
and  citizens  were  in  arms,  and  the  Russians  were  expelled  from  W^arsaw. 

The  administrative  council  was  summoned  to  preserve  order;  and,  to 
give  more  influence  to  its  measures,  several  of  the  most  distinguislied 
Poles  were  invited  to  sit  with  it.  Measures  were  taken  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  national  guard,  and  of  a  new  police  and  municipal  government. 
On  the  3d  of  December,  the  prince  was  allowed  to  leave  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Warsaw,  with  three  regiments  of  Russian  cavalry,  and  two  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  without  opposition.  On  the  5th,  General  Chlopicki  was 
proclaimed  dictator  till  the  meeting  of  the  diet,  which  was  convoked  for 
the  18th.  Meanwhile  Nicholas  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  de- 
clared that  no  concessions  could  be  made  to  the  rebels  ;  and,  on  the  24th, 
another  addressed  to  the  Russians,  telling  them  that  the  Poles  had  dared 
to  propose  conditions  to  their  lesptimate  master :  "  God,"  he  adds,  "  is  with 
us  ;  and  in  a  single  battle  we  shall  be  able  to  reduce  to  submission  these 
disturbers  of  the  peace."  January  24,  the  Polish  diet,  which  had  been  open- 
ed on  the  18th  of  December,  declared  the  absolute  independence  of  Poland, 
and  the  termination  of  the  Russian  dominion ;  and  on  the  25th,  that  the 
Polish  throne  was  vacant.  Although  the  immediate  cause  of  this  revolu- 
tion was  the  severe  punishment  inflicted  on  the  pnpils  of  the  military 
academy,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Poles  were  encouraged  to  make  the 
attempt  by  the  success  that  had  attended  the  Parisians  in  the  preceding 
July.  The  object  of  the  Polish  revolutionists,  however,  was  not  to  with- 
draw themselves  entirely  from  the  authority  of  the  Russian  emperor,  but 
only  to  maintain  the  privileges  that  were  guaranteed  to  them  at  the  con- 
gress of  Vienna,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  tyrannous  viceroyship  of  the  grand- 
duke  Constantine.  They  had  now,  however,  drawn  the  sword ;  and  al- 
though two  commissioners  were  sent  to  St.  Petersburg  to  endeavour 
to  effect  an  arrangement,  the  emperor  refused  to  listen  to  them,  and 
denounced  the  revolted  Poles  as  traitors  to  whom  no  lenity  would  be 
shown. 

Marshal  Diebitsch,  who  had  so  successfully  conducted  the  war  with  the 
Turks,  entered  Poland  at  the  head  of  a  large  army.  He  advanced  as  far 
as  the  city  of  Warsaw,  and  was  victorious  over  the  Poles  near  the  v.  ais  -if 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  223 

their  capital,  February  25,  1831  (the  loss  of  the  Poles  is  stated  to  have 
been  5,500,  that  of  their  enemies  4,500) ;  but  when  Prince  Radzivil  re- 
signed the  command,  on  the  28th,  and  Skrzynecki,  then  only  a  colonel, 
was  appointed  in  his  place,  the  Polish  cause  gained  strength.  This 
brave  officer,  though  finally  unsuccessful,  like  the  heroic  Kosciusko, 
proved  that  he  deserved  a  better  fate.  March  31,  he  was  victorious  over 
the  Russians  in  a  night  attack.  He  advanced  cautiously,  and,  favoured 
by  the  darkness  of  the  night,  reached  their  cantonments  w'ithout  being  per- 
ceived. The  advanced  guard  of  General  Geismar,  consisting  of  eiglit  or 
ten  thousand  men,  was  first  attacked,  and  almost  wholly  destroyed ;  the 
Poles  took  four  thousand  prisoners  and  one  thousand  six  hundred  pieces 
of  cannon.  Immediately  afterwards,  he  attacked  General  Rosen,  who 
was  posted  with  twenty  thousand  men  at  Dembe  Wielski,  and  obliged* 
him  to  retreat,  with  the  loss  of  two  thousand  prisoners  and  nine  pieces  of 
cannon.  Another  important  victory  was  gained  near  Zelechow,  when 
twelve  thousand  Russians  were  killed,  wounded,  or  taken,  with  twelve 
pieces  of  cannon.  During  this  action,  the  Lithuanians  and  Volliynians, 
who  served  in  the  Russian  army,  turned  their  arms  against  the  Russians, 
and  materially  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  Poles.  The  peasants  in 
vurious  quarters  of  Poland  now  took  an  active  part  in  the  war,  and  hasten- 
ed, with  whatever  weapons  they  could  obtain,  to  the  army.  Insurrections 
broke  out  in  Lithuania,  Volhynia,  Kowno,  Ukraine,  Wilna,  and  even  in 
ancient  Poland,  as  far  as  Smolensk.  On  the  other  hand,  General  Dwer- 
nicki,  who  had  been  sent  to  make  a  demonstration  in  the  rear  of  the  Rus- 
sians, and  who  had  been  victorious  over  them,  was  at  last  compelled  to 
pass  into  the  Austrian  dominions,  where  he  surrendered  to  tlie  authori- 
ties of  that  country,  April  27,  with  5000  Poles.  The  ardour  of  the  peo- 
ple, however,  still  continued,  and  hopes  were  entertained  in  every  country 
that  tlie  manly  resistance  of  the  Poles  would  induce  powerful  cabinets  to 
interfere;  but,  unfortunately,  Prussia  and  Austria,  being  in  possession  of 
a  part  of  the  spoils  of  Poland,  did  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  inter- 
ference, while  Britain  and  France  were  too  much  occupied  at  home  to 
render  essential  aid.  The  military  operations  were  now  prosecuted  with 
new  vigour,  and  the  emperor,  who,  in  a  manifestrt)  addressed  to  the  Rus- 
sians, had  called  them  the  legitimate  masters  of  the  Poles,  was  ready  to 
make  every  sacrifice  to  regain  the  Polish  throne.  Their  fate  was  soon 
decided.  After  two  days  fighting,  Warsaw  was  taken  by  the  Russians, 
(September,  1831);  the  confiscation  of  their  property  and  exile  to  Sibe- 
ria followed  as  a  m«tter  of  course  ;  and  though  many  found  an  asylum  in 
Kngland,  and  other  countries,  they  were  mostly  in  extreme  poverty,  and 
dependent  on  the  benevolence  of  those  who  pitied  their  hard  fate  while 
they  admired  their  patriotism.  Poland  was  soon  afterwards  incorporated 
with  Russia;  and  although  it  has  its  separate  diet  and  code  of  laws, Rus- 
sian troops  are  stationed  in  all  the  principal  towns,  and  it  bears  every 
semblance  in  other  respects  to  a  conquered  country. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SWITZERLAND. 


the  earliest  times  this  country  has  been  no  less  celebrated  for  the 
freedom  wliich  animated  the  inhabitants,  tlian  for  the  beautiful 
resting  character  of  its  scenery.     Snow-capped  mountains,  with 


From 

spirit  of 

and  interesting  ch 


224  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

fertile  vallies  and  peaceful  lakes  at  their  base,  are  here  seen  in  contrast 
with  noble  forests,  luxuriant  vineyards,  and  glaciers  of  almost  boundless 
extent,  whose  crystal  pinnacles  tower  above  each  other  and  flash  their 
light  with  all  tlic  brilliancy  of  a  noon-day  sun.  But,  in  alludnig  to  the 
geographical  features  of  Switzerland,  we  must  not  forget  that  our  present 
business  is  more  particularly  devoted  to  its  history. 

The  northern  and  soutiiern  nations  of  Europe  have  been  singularly  in- 
termingled in  the  history  of  Helvetia,  whose  Alpine  walls  seem  like  a 
barrier,  separating  them  from  each  other.  The  Roman  legions,  indeed, 
conquered  the  Gauls,  lihaetians  and  Alemanni,  in  the  forests  and  marshes  ; 
but  they  could  not  destroy  the  northern  spirit  of  freedom.  The  traces  of 
its  ancient  subjugation  to  Home  are  still  visible  in  the  Romanic  language 
^fa  part  of  Switzerland.  Helvetia,  under  the  Romans,  had  a  flourishing 
trade,  which  covered  the  land  with  cities  and  villages  ;  and  Switzerland 
still  forms  the  connecting  link  between  Northern  Germany,  the  Nether- 
lands and  France  on  the  one  side,  and  Italy  on  the  other.  Before  the 
fall  of  the  Roman  empire  in  the  west,  the  northern  and  largest  part  ol 
Switzerland,  occupied  by  the  Alemanni,  had  been  conquered  by  the 
Franks.  On  the  Jura  dwelt  the  Burgundians,  and  Rhaetia  was  under  the 
Ostrogoths.  Three  German  nations,  therefore,  freed  the  country,  about 
A.  D.  450,  from  the  dominion  of  Rome. 

Christianity  had  already  been  introduced  into  Helvetia  from  Italy,  and  as 
early  as  the  fourth  century  there  were  Christian  churches  at  Geneva, 
Coire,  and  other  places.  The  Alemanni  and  Burgundians  gave  their  laws 
and  their  habits  to  the  Helvetians;  and  the  Alemanni  occupied  the  greater 
part  of  the  country.  Each  soldier  received  a  farm  ;  a  judge,  orcenlgrave, 
was  set  over  one  hundred  of  these  farms  (forming  a  cent,  or  hundred); 
and  the  place  of  judgment,  where  he  settled  all  questions  between  the 
free  citizens,  was  called  Malluo,  Several  cents  formed  a  Gan  (hence 
Thurgan,  Aargan,  &c.),  the  judge  of  which  was  styled  count  (graf) ;  and 
the  counts  were  under  a  duke.  The  great  irruption  of  barbarians  swept 
through  the  peaceful  vallies  of  the  Alps,  and  Roman  civilization  disap- 
peared. Ostrogoths,  Lombards,  and  even  Huns,  settled  in  different  parts 
of  the  country.  At  last,  the  French,  who  had  taken  possession  of  the 
lands  of  the  conquered  Alemanni,  drove  the  Ostrogoths  over  the  Rhaetian 
mountains. 

In  534,  they  likewise  subjected  the  Burgundians ;  and  all  Switzerland 
became  a  portion  of  the  Frankish  empire.  The  country,  however,  re- 
tained its  ancient  constitution  ;  the  Romans  and  old  inhabitants  were  gov- 
erned by  Roman,  the  Alemanni  by  Alemanic  laws  ;  and  each  of  the  other 
nations  by  its  peculiar  code.  The  Christian  religion  was  restored  anew 
and  the  desolated  fields  were  again  brought  under  cultivation.  On  the 
partition  of  the  empire  of  the  Franks  among  the  Merovingians,  Switzer- 
land was  divided  between  two  sovereigns  ;  one  reigned  over  Alemannian, 
and  the  other  over  Burgundian  Switzerland,  or  Little  Burgundy.  Pepin 
reunited  the  whole  country,  and  Charlemagne  encouraged  the  arts  and 
sciences  in  Helvetia.  Under  his  feeble  successors,  the  counts  became 
more  and  more  independent  of  the  royal  authority,  and  finally  made  the 
possession  of  their  g-ans  hereditary.  One  of  them  (Rodolph)  established, 
in  888,  the  new  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  between  the  Reuss  and  the  Jura. 
Nine  years  previously,  Boso  had  established  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  in  the 
territory  between  the  Jura  and  the  Rhone.  Thirty  years  afterwards,  the 
two  Burgundian  kingdoms  were  united.  The  counts  in  the  other  part  of 
Switzerland  were  still  nominally  subject  to  German  kings;  but  they  con- 
ducted themselves  as  princes,  assumed  the  name  of  their  castles,  and  com- 
pelled the  free  inhabitants  of  their  gans  to  acknowledge  them  as  their 
lords.  Hence  arose  a  multitude  of  independent  and  complicated  govern- 
ments, whose  chiefs  were  engaged  in  continual  feuds  with  each  other 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  225 

War  was  the  business  of  the  nobles,  and  misery  the  fate  of  the  people  in 
the  distracted  land.  The  emperor  Conrad,  therefore,  set  a  duke  over  the 
counts  in  Alemannia  in  911.  But  the  emperors  of  the  Saxon  house  were 
the  first  who  compelled  the  dukes,  counts  and  bishops,  in  Switzerland,  to 
respect  their  authority. 

After  the  death  of  Rodolph  III.,  the  fifth  and  last  king  of  Burgundy 
(1032),  the  emperor  Conrad  II.  reunited  Burgundian  Switzerland  with 
Alemannia,  which  belonged  to  the  German  empire.  But  under  Henry 
IV.,  grandson  of  Conrad  II.,  the  royal  authority  in  Switzerland  was  again 
overthrown.  The  country  people  became  more  secure  ;  the  feuds  among 
the  nobility  flourished ;  Geneva  and  Lausanne,  among  the  Romanic,  and 
Zurich  and  Basle  among  the  German  cities,  became  thriving  towns.  The._ 
families  of  Savoy,  Kyburg,  and  Hapsburg,  were  the  most  powerful  among 
the  noble  families.  Many  nobles  went,  about  this  time,  to  Palestine;  and 
thus  the  country  was  delivered  from  their  oppression.  After  the  death  of 
Berthold  V.,  last  duke  of  Zahringen,  in  1218,  Alemannia  again  came  into 
possession  of  the  emperor.  His  hereditary  estates  in  the  Uchtland  and  in 
Little  Burgundy,  passed  by  his  sister  Agnes,  to  the  house  of  Kyburg. 

From  this  time,  the  Hapsburgs  in  northern  Helvetia,  and  the  counts  of 
Savoy  in  the  south-west,  grew  more  and  more  powerful.  The  emperor 
appointed  some  nobleman  as  governor  of  each  city,  or  community,  which 
was  not  under  a  count,  to  collect  the  public  revenue,  and  to  punish  viola- 
tions of  the  public  peace.  The  German  kings  were  no  longer  able  to  af- 
ford protection  ;  might  gave  right,  and  the  boldest  became  the  mightiest. 
Several  inferior  lords,  and  several  places,  therefore,  sought  the  protection 
of  Hapsburg  or  Savoy.  Zurich,  Berne,  Basle  and  Soleure,  the  districts  of 
Uri,  Schweitz  and  Underwalden,  gradually  acquired  the  seigneurial  rights 
from  the  emperors  by  purchase  or  by  grant,  and  assumed  the  name  of 
imperial  cities  or  imperial  districts.  They  were  more  prosperous  and 
powerful  than  the  nobility,  who  lived  in  their  solitary  castles,  at  enmity 
with  each  other.  Even  the  crusades,  by  promoting  commerce,  im- 
proved the  already  flourishing  condition  of  the  cities,  as  a  part  of  the 
troops,  arms,  provisions,  &c.,  were  transmitted  to  Italy  through  the  passes 
of  the  Alps.  The  crusaders  brought  back  new  inventions  in  the  arts,  new 
kinds  of  fruits,  &c.  The  gold  and  silk  manufactures  of  the  Italians  and 
eastern  nations  were  imitated  in  Switzerland;  refinement  took  the  place 
of  rudeness,  and  poetry  became  the  favourite  amusement  of  the  nobles. 
The  cities  now  formed  alliance  for  their  mutual  protection  against  the  ra- 
pacity of  thtj  nobles,  and  demolished  many  castles  from  which  they  exer- 
cised their  oppression  upon  the  peaceful  merchants. 

At  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg,  who,  in 
1264,  had  inherited  the  estates  of  his  uncle  Hartmann,  count  of  Kyburg, 
became  more  powerful  than  the  old  lords  of  the  soil.  As  king  and  em- 
peror of  Germany,  he  held  a  court  at  Helvetia;  but  he  did  not  abuse  his 
power  to  reduce  the  freemen  to  vassalage.  His  ambitious  sons,  how- 
ever, Rodolph  and  Albert,  encroached  upon  the  rights  of  the  Swiss. 
Albert,  in  particular,  who  succeeded  to  the  imperial  dignity  in  1298,  by  his 
tyranny  and  obstinacy  gave  rise  to  the  first  confederacy  of  the  Swiss  can- 
tons. On  the  night  of  November  7,  1307,  thirty-three  brave  countrymen 
met  at  Grutlin,  a  solitary  spot  on  the  lake  of  Lucerne.  P^iirst  of  Uri, 
Stauff'acher  of  Schweitz,  and  Melchthal  of  Underwalden,  were  the  leaders 
on  this  occasion.  All  swore  to  maintain  their  ancient  independence. 
The  three  Waldstadte,  or  forest-towns  (as  these  cantons  were  called), 
accordingly  rose,  deposed  the  Austrian  governors,  and  destroyed  the 
castles  built  to  overawe  the  country.  Henry  VII.,  the  successor  of 
Albert  on  the  German  throne,  confirmed  to  the  forest-towns  the  rights 
of  which  Albert  had  endeavoured  to  rob  them.  The  house  of  Austria 
Btill  contended  obstinately  for  its  lost  privileges.  But  the  warlike  soirit 
J5 


220  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

of  the  people  fostered  a  love  of  conquest  and  plunder,  and  mutual  hatred 
kindled  civil  wars  between  neighbouring  cantons  ;  foreign  powers  sought 
the  aid  of  the  confederates  in  their  contests.  In  1424,  the  people  of  the 
Grey  League  established  their  independence,  and  were  soon  after  joined 
by  those  of  the  other  two  leagues. 

The  emperor  Frederic  III.  then  called  a  French  army  into  Switzerland 
to  protect  iiis  family  estates.  The  .Swiss  made  a  second  Thermopylae  of 
the  cliurch-yard  of  St.  Jacob  at  Basle,  where  1600  of  them  withstood 
20,000  French  under  the  dauphin  Louis,  (August  26,  1444.)  They  next 
provoked  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  who  marched  into  their  country, 
but  was  defeated  at  Granson,  Murten,  or  Morat,  and  Nancy,  in  1477.  The 
confederates  themselves  aspired  to  conquest,  the  people  being  fired  by  the 
desire  of  plunder,  and  the  nobles  by  warlike  ambition.  In  1460,  they 
wrested  Thurga  from  Austria;  and  from  1436  to  1450,  Zurich,  Schweitz 
and  Glarus  contended  for  Toggenburg,  till  Berne  decided  the  dispute  in 
favour  of  Schweitz.  The  confederated  cantons  from  this  time  bore  the 
name  of  the  Swiss  confederacy  in  foreign  countries.  In  1481,  Friburg 
and  Soleure  entered  the  confederacy.  The  emperor  Maximilian  I.  now 
determined  to  force  the  Swiss  to  join  the  Suabian  league,  and  submit  to 
the  court  of  the  imperial  chamber.  But  they  suspected  Germany  on  ac- 
count of  Austria,  and  joined  the  Grisons.  Hence  arose  the  Suabian  war, 
which  was  concluded  after  the  Swiss  had  gained  six  victories  over  the 
Germans,  by  the  peace  of  Basle,  in  1499.  Basle,  Schaffhausen,  and  Ap- 
penzell,  were  afterwards  admitted  into  the  confederacy.  But  the  country 
and  people  were  disturbed  by  domestic  and  foreign  wars. 

In  the  Milanese  war  of  1512,  the  Swiss  conquered  the  Valteline  and 
Chiavenna,  and  obtained  from  Milan  the  Italian  bailliages,  which  form  at 
present  the  canton  of  Tessm.  They  fought  on  foreign  soil,  now  for,  now 
against,  Milan  ;  at  one  time  for  France,  and  at  another  time  against  her, 
till  after  the  great  battle  of  Marignano,  gained  by  Francis  I.,  in  1515,  they 
concluded  a  perpetual  peace  with  France  at  Friburg,  in  1516,  which  was 
followed,  in  1521,  by  the  first  formal  alliance  with  that  kingdom.  About 
this  time  the  work  of  the  reformation  began  in  Switzerland.  Zuinglius,  in 
1518,  preached  against  indulgences,  as  Luther  had  done  in  1517.  Even 
as  early  as  1516,  he  had  attacked  pilgrimages,  and  the  invocation  of  the 
Virgin  Mary;  and  in  1517,  with  the  knowledge  of  his  patron,  the  abbot  of 
Einsiedeln,  several  nuns  abandoned  the  monastic  life.  His  removal  from 
Einsiedeln  to  Zurich,  in  1518,  gave  him  courage  to  speak  more  openly, 
as  Luther  had,  meanwhile,  appeared  in  the  cause  of  reform.  But  when 
the  principles  of  the  reformation  were  diffused  through  Zurich,  Berne, 
Schaffhausen,  Basle  (by  the  labours  of  CEcolampadius),  St.  Gall,  Muhl- 
hausen,  and  Bienne,  religious  jealousy  separated  the  reformed  and  the 
catholic  cantons.  In  Glarus,  Appenzell,  and  the  Grisons,  the  people  were 
divided  between  the  two  confessions.  Lucerne,  Uri,  Schweitz,  Underwal- 
den,  Zug,  Friburg,  Soleure,  adhered  to  the  ancient  faith ;  as  did  likewise 
tlie  Valais  and  the  Italian  bailiwicks.  Fanaticism  kindled  a  civil  war 
Tiie  Schweitzers  burnt  a  protestant  preacher  of  Zurich.  Two  Swiss 
armies,  nearly  30,000  strong,  awaited  the  signal  for  civil  war,  when  a  better 
spirit  suddenly  prevailed,  and  the  first  religious  peace  was  concluded 
in  1529. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  majority  of  votes  in  the  communities  should 
decide  all  questions  relating  to  changes  of  faith.  But  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  reformation  again  provoked  the  catholic  cantons  to  war;  and  the 
troops  of  Zurich  were  routed  at  Cappel  (3  531),  where  Zuinglius  fell,  and 
at  the  mountain  of  Zug.  After  the  second  public  peace,  the  catholic  re- 
ligion was  restored  in  Soleure  and  the  common  provinces.  In  the  mean- 
time, Savoy,  which  had  long  possessed  episcopal  and  seigneurial  rights 
in  Geneva,  reduced  the  city  to  entire  submission.     But  "the  oppressive 


THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY.  227 

manner  in  which  the  ducal  authority  was  exercised,  led  Geneva,  in  1525, 
to  join  Berne  and  Friburg.  The  dulve  was  forced  to  yield.  Berne  and 
Geneva  concluded  the  perpetual  league  of  1531,  and  Berne  gained  poses- 
sion  of  the  Pays  de  Vaud.  At  the  same  time,  the  reformed  doctrines 
were  propagated  from  Geneva  by  Calvin.  By  the  peace  of  Lausanne,  in 
1564,  Savoy  first  renounced  her  claims  upon  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  and  v^^as 
thus  driven  from  Helvetia,  as  Neuburg  had  been  before.  About  this  time 
(1555),  Berne  and  Friburg  divided  between  themselves  the  territories  of 
the  counts  of  Gruyere,  so  that,  in  all  Helvetia,  no  great  family  of  the 
ancient  nobles  retained  its  patrimonial  estates,  except  that  of  Henburg. 
The  Swiss,  however,  were  distracted  by  religious  and  political  controver- 
sies. Aristocracy  and  democracy  struggled  for  the  superiority,  and  the 
intrigues  of  Spain  filled  the  people  of  the  Valteline  (1617-21)  with  a  spirit 
of  fanaticism.  In  foreign,  and  especially  in  the  French  service,  the 
Swiss  adopted  foreign  manners  :  they  sold  their  blood  to  foreign  masters  ; 
and  the  ancient  Swiss  purity  and  simplicity  retired  to  the  remote  vallies 
of  the  higher  Alps.  At  the  same  time,  the  connection  of  the  confederacy 
with  the  German  empire  became  less  and  less  close,  while  the  cantons 
obtained  the  confirmation  of  their  rights  from  the  emperor  IMaximilian  II. 
But  the  influence  of  F'rance  soon  became  predominant,  and  Rome  swayed 
the  minds  of  its  adherents  by  means  of  Jesuit  colleges  at  Lucerne  and 
Friburg;  and  particularly  through  the  papal  nuncio  at  Lucerne.  In  the 
thirty  years'  war,  the  confederates  maintained  a  prudent  neutrality ;  and, 
by  the  peace  of  Westphalia  (1C18),  the  complete  separation  of  Switzer- 
land from  the  German  empire  was  at  length  solemnly  acknowledged. 

In  1663,  France  renewed  her  alliance  with  the  Swiss,  and  asserted  that 
they  had  no  right  to  form  alliances  with  other  powers.  The  conquest  of 
the  Franche  Comte,  in  1674,  and  the  srege  of  Rheinfeld,  in  167^^,  by  the 
French,  together  with  the  election  of  the  fortress  of  Huningen,  in  1769, 
excited  the  apprehensions  of  the  Swiss.  They,  however,  happily  main- 
tained their  neutrality,  even  in  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession.  Dur- 
ing the  persecution  of  the  protestants  in  France,  to  whom  they  readily 
gave  an  asylum  and  pecuniary  aid,  they  paid  as  little  regard  to  the  re- 
monstrances of  Louis,  who  viewed  the  reformers  as  rebels,  as  he  did  to 
the  intercession  of  the  protestant  Swiss  cantons  in  favour  of  their  breth- 
ren in  the  faith.  The  Swiss  had  little  influence  in  foreign  politics  during 
the  eighteenth  century ;  and,  until  towards  its  close,  they  suffered  little 
from  foreign  interference.  This  tranquillity,  which,  however,  was  often 
interupted  by  internal  dissensions,  was  alike  favourable  to  the  progress  of 
commerce,  agriculture,  and  manufactures,  and  to  the  arts  and  sciences. 
In  almost  every  department  of  human  knowledge,  the  Swiss  of  the  eigti- 
teenth  century,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  acquired  distinguished  reputation, 
as  the  names  of  Haller,  Bonnet,  Bernouli,  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Lavater,  Bod- 
mer,  Breitinger,  Gessner,  Sulzer,  Hirzel,  Fuseli,  Hottinger,  John  von 
Muller,  Pestalozzi,  and  many  others,  bear  witness. 

The  people  of  the  democratic  cantons  enjoyed  an  almost  unlimited 
freedom,  and  took  a  large  share  in  the  affairs  of  government.  Those 
places  which  were  under  the  general  protection  of  the  whole  confederacy, 
were  not  burthened  by  excessive  taxes ;  they  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of 
civil  freedom,  and  numerous  municipal  rights.  The  larger  cantons,  as 
Berne  and  Zurich,  in  which  the  government  was  administered  by  the  cap- 
itals, or  by  a  body  of  citizens,  who  enjoyed  many  peculiar  privileges, 
were  also  in  a  flourishing  condition.  There  were  no  oppressive  taxes ; 
but  almost  everyvi'here  the  government  was  conscientiously  conducted; 
the  administration  of  justice  was  cheap  and  simple,  and  benevolent  insti 
tutions  were  numerous.  Nothwithstanding  all  these  favourable  circum 
stances,  internal  dissensims  still  continued,  and  new  troubles  arose  in 


228  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

1790,  which  shook  the  political  fabric ;  blood  was  often  spilt,  and  punisti- 
ment  rendered  necessary. 

Although  the  Swiss  had  at  first  firmly  maintained  their  neutrality  in  the 
wars  of  the  French  revolution,  French  power  and  ntrigue  gradually 
deprived  them  of  their  former  constitution  ;  and,  after  incorporating  several 
portions  of  Switzerland  with  the  French  and  Cisalpine  republics,  the 
French  converted  the  Swiss  confederacy  into  the  Helvetic  republic,  one 
and  indivisible,  under  an  executive  directory  of  five  persons.  The  legis- 
lative power  was  divided  between  a  senate  and  a  great  council,  to  which 
each  of  the  fourteen  cantons  elected  twelve  members.  It  was  in  vain 
that  some  of  the  democratic  cantons  attempted  to  prevent  this  revolution. 
They  were  speedily  overpowered.  But  the  weak  and  corrupt  men  who 
were  raised  to  power,  soon  made  the  new  offices  contemptible.  Aloys 
Reding,  a  man  of  enterprising  spirit,  whose  family  were  celebrated  in 
the  annals  of  his  country,  formed  the  plan  of  overthrowing  the  central 
government.  Underwalden,  Schweitz,  Zurich,  Glarus,  Appenzell,  and  the 
Grisons  wished  to  restore  the  federal  constitution ;  and  Reding  imagined 
that  Bonaparte  himself,  who  had  just  withdrawn  the  French  troops  from 
Switzerland,  would  favour  his  plan.  The  smaller  cantons,  in  their  diet 
at  Schweitz  (August  6,  1802),  declared  that  they  would  not  accept  the 
constitution  which  had  been  forced  upon  them,  and  that  they  preferred  a 
federal  government.  The  consequence  was  a  civil  war.  Zurich  was 
besieged  to  no  purpose  by  the  troops  of  the  Helvetic  republic,  against 
whom  its  gates  were  shut.  Rodolph  von  Erlach  and  General  Auf  der 
Maur,  at  the  head  of  the  insurgents,  occupied  Berne  and  Friburg.  The 
Helvetic  government  retired  to  Lausanne.  Aloys  Reding  now  summoned 
a  general  assembly,  which  was  held  at  Schweitz,  September  27.  Thren 
days  after,  the  first  consul  of  France  offered  to  the  cantons  his  mediation  ; 
but  the  small  cantons,  guided  by  Reding  and  Hirzel  of  Zurich,  persevered 
in  their  opposition.  Twelve  thousand  French  troops  entered  Switzer- 
land, under  Ney,  and  the  diet  separated.  Reding  and  Hirzel  were  im- 
prisoned. In  December,  both  parties  sent  deputies  of  the  eighteen  can- 
tons to  Paris,  to  whom  Bonaparte  transmitted  by  Barthelemy,  Fouche, 
and  Roderer,  the  act  of  mediation  of  February  19,  1803,  restoring  the 
cantonal  system,  but  granting  freedom  to  the  former  subjects  of  the 
cantons. 

The  cantons  were  now  nineteen  in  number: — Aargau,  Appenzell,  Basle, 
Berne,  Friburg,  Glarus,  Grisons,  Lucerne,  St.  Gall,  Schaffhausen, 
Schweitz,  Soleure,  Tessin,  Thurgan,  Underwalden,  Uri,  Pays  de  Vaud, 
Zug,  and  Zurich.  The  republic  of  Valais  was  changed  by  a  decree  of 
Napoleon,  in  1810,  into  a  French  department;  and  as  early  as  1806,  he 
granted  Neufchatel  (which  had  been  ceded  to  him  by  Prussia,  but  which 
was  underthe  protection  of  Switzerland),  to  General  Berlhier,  as  a  sover- 
eign principality.  Napoleon  assumed  the  title  of  "  mediator  of  Switzer- 
land; and  the  military  service  required  of  the  Swiss  became  oppressive. 
They  were  obliged  to  adopt  the  continental  system,  and  the  canton  of 
Tessin  was  garrisoned  by  French  troops.  In  1818,  when  the  theatre  of 
war  approached  Switzerland,  France  permitted  the  Swiss  to  maintain  their 
neutrality ;  but  the  allies  expressed  themselves  ambiguously,  and  large 
armies  were  soon  marching  through  the  country,  in  various  directions,  to 
France.  Their  arrival  excited  a  fermentation  in  many  quarters.  The  act 
of  mediation  was  annulled,  December  29,  1813,  at  Zurich,  and  several 
cantons,  of  which  Berne  was  the  first,  laboured  to  revive  their  old  con- 
stitutions. Through  the  influence  of  the  allied  monarchs,  the  cantons 
were  finally  prevailed  on  to  assemble  a  general  council;  but  revolutions 
and  counter-revolutions  agitated  several  of  the  cantons.  A  diet  was  at 
length  assembled  at  Zurich,  and  new  articles  of  confederation  were 
agreed  upon  by   the  can'ous,  September  18th,    1814.     Tliey   resembled 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  229 

the  old  federal  pact  in  many  respects.  This  confeJeracy  was  acknow- 
ledged by  the  congress  of  Vienna.  The  bishopric  of  Basle,  with  Bienne, 
was  given  to  the  canton  of  Berne,  excepting  the  district  of  Birseck,  which 
fell  to  Basle,  and  a  small  portion  which  fell  to  Neufchatel.  The  former 
relations  of  the  latter  place  to  Prussia  were  restored,  and,  with  Geneva 
and  the  Valais,  it  joined  the  confederacy  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  making 
their  number  twenty-two. 

August  7,  1815,  the  compact  of  Zurich  was  publicly  and  solemnly 
adopted,  after  the  deputies  of  the  confederacy  at  Vienna  had  given  in  theii 
accession  to  the  acts  of  the  congress  of  Vienna,  so  far  as  they  related  to 
Switzerland.  Soon  after,  Switzerland  became  a  member  of  the  holy 
alliance.  But  the  political  state  of  the  Swiss  cantons  as  settled  by  the 
congress  of  Vienna,  and  jealously  watched  by  the  holy  alliance,  gave  rise 
to  much  disaffection  in  the  great  body  of  the  people.  In  this  state  of 
things,  the  general  demand  for  reform,  in  the  electoral  assemblies  of  Tessin 
(one  of  the  small  cantons),  compelled  the  council,  June,  1830,  to  yield  to 
the  public  voice,  and  establish  a  system  of  direct  elections,  and  of  pub- 
licity of  proceedings  in  the  great  council,  and  to  guarantee  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  and  the  inviolability  of  persons,  as  parts  of  the  constitution. 
This  event,  and  the  French  revolution  of  July,  1830,  set  the  example  for 
general  risings  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  new  cantons,  the 
popular  demands  were  generally  so  readily  complied  with  as  to  prevent 
any  serious  disturbances,  and  the  democratic  cantons  took  hardly  any 
part  in  the  troubles ;  but  in  the  old  aristocratic  cantons,  the  opposition  was 
stronger  and  more  systematic.  Still,  as  many  of  the  town's-people  were 
favourable  to  more  popular  institutions,  the  governments,  even  in  these 
cantons,  generally  yielded,  with  little  opposition,  to  the  wishes  of  the 
itizens ;  and  in  Friburg,  Berne,  Lucerne,  Soleure,  Schaffhausen,  the  re- 
vision of  the  constitution,  the  abolition  of  privileges,  the  extension  of 
the  right  of  election,  abolition  of  censorship  of  the  press,  &c.,  were 
among  the  concessions  to  popular  rights.  In  Basle  alone,  where  the 
peasantry  are  more  ignorant  and  rude  than  in  the  other  cantons,  the  in- 
surgents were  not  satisfied  with  the  concessions ;  and  a  second  insur- 
rection, in  the  summer  of  1831,  was  not  put  down  without  bloodshed. 
The  ordinary  session  of  the  diet  took  place  at  Lucerne,  July  4,  1831,  and 
the  common  concerns  of  the  confederacy,  both  in  its  foreign  and  domes- 
tic relations,  were  found  to  be  in  a  satisfactory  condition.  But  towards 
the  close  of  1831,  the  canton  of  Neufchatel  was  disturbed  by  risings  of 
some  portions  of  the  population,  who  renounced  the  authority  of  Prussia, 
and  demanded  a  new  constitution.  The  insurgents  were  put  down ;  and 
from  that  time  to  the  present  there  has  been  nothing  to  disturb  the  general 
tranquillity  of  the  country,  although  some  ebullitions  of  national  feeling 
were  apparent  on  two  or  three  particular  occasions. 

In  conseqence  of  the  revolutions  that  had  taken  place  in  Poland,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  and  Sardinia,  a  number  of  refugees  from  those  countries 
found  an  asylum  in  Switzerland,  where  they  were  received  with  kindness, 
and  public  subscriptions  made  for  their  support.  In  1834,  a  consider- 
able body  of  these  emigrants  formed  a  conspiracy  against  the  Sardinian 
government,  and  invaded  Savoy,  in  the  hope  of  exciting  an  insurrection 
there.  But  in  this  attempt  they  were  foiled,  and  driven  back  with  con- 
siderable loss.  The  governments  of  Sardinia,  Prussia,  anj  Austria  here- 
upon demanded  their  expulsion  from  Switzerland ;  but  tne  Swiss,  though 
greatly  annoyed  at  having  been  drawn  into  a  quarrel  through  the  conduct 
of  those  whom  they  had  generously  protected,  re' used  to  comply  with 
the  demand,  and  it  was  at  length  agreed  that  toey  should  not  in  future 
harbour  any  foreigners  detected  in  belonging  ui  secret  societies,  or  con- 
cerned in  disturbing  the  peace  of  other  countries.  In  order,  therefore,  to 
appease  the  offended  powers,  and  at  the   same  time  to  keep  faith  with 


230  THE  TllEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

those  individuals  who  now  relied  on  their  protection,  an  arrangement  was 
effected  with  the  king  of  the  French  for  <fr;iiuing  them  passports  to  pass 
through  his  dominions,  on  '.heir  route  to  America,  or  any  other  country  to 
wliich  they  chose  to  resort.  Another  instance  occurred  in  1838,  on  the 
return  of  prince  Louis  Bonaparte  from  America,  whither  he  had  been 
sent  about  two  years  before  foi  attempting  to  raise  a  rebellion  at  Strasburg. 
On  his  return  to  Europe  he  made  choice  of  Switzerland  for  his  residence, 
and  possessed  an  estate  in  the  canton  of  Thurgau.  The  proximity  of 
Switzerland  to  France  was,  however,  a  reason  for  Louis  Philippe  to  de- 
mand his  expulsion,  which  being  refused  by  the  Swiss,  there  was  every 
reason  to  expect  a  war  between  them  and  the  French,  had  not  Louis  vol- 
untarily departed  for  England,  and  thereby  prevented  a  rupture  which 
might  have  been  fatal  to  Swiss  independence. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ITALY. 

This  delightful  region  of  Europe,  as  celebrated  for  its  genial  climate, 
as  for  being  the  seat  of  that  miglity  empire  which  of  old  gave  laws  to  the 
u'orld ;  this  classic  land,  where  all  that  is  noble  in  art  and  science  have 
flourislied ;  though  shorn  of  its  former  glories,  still  claims  the  traveller's 
homage  and  the  attention  of  the  historian.  Before  Rome  had  absorbed 
all  the  vital  power  of  Italy,  this  country  was  thickly  inhabited,  and  for 
the  most  part,  by  civilized  nations.  In  the  north  of  Italy  alone,  which 
offered  the  longest  resistance  to  the  Romans,  dwelt  the  Gauls.  Farther 
south,  on  the  Arno  and  the  Tiber,  a  number  of  small  tribes,  such  as  the 
Etrusci,  the  Samnites,  and  Latins,  endeavoured  to  find  safety  by  forming 
confederacies.  Less  closely  united,  and  often  hostile  to  each  other,  were 
the  Greek  colonies  of  Lower  Italy,  called  Magna  Grecia. 

Italy,  in  the  middle  ages,  was  divided  into  Upper,  Middle,  and  Lower 
Italy.  The  first  division  comprehended  all  the  states  situated  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Po ;  the  second  extended  between  the  former  and  the 
kingdom  of  Naples ;  which  formed  the  third.  At  present,  it  is  divided 
into  the  following  independent  states,  which  are  not  connected  w'i\h  each 
other  by  any  political  tie: — 1.  The  kingdom  of  Sardinia;  2.  Lombardy, 
or  Austrian  Italy  (including  Milan,  and  Venice) ;  3.  the  duchy  of  Parma; 
4.  the  duchy  of  Modena  (including  Massa)  ;  5.  the  grand-duchy  of  Tus- 
cany; 6.  the  duchy  of  Lucca;  7.  the  republic  of  San  Marino;  8.  the 
Papal  dominions;  9.  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  or  the  two  Sicilies.  Italia 
did  not  become  the  general  name  of  this  country  until  the  age  of  Augus- 
tus. It  had  been  early  imperfectly  known  to  the  Greeks  under  the  name 
of  Hesperia.  Ausonia,  Saturnia,  and  (Enotria,  we:.'  also  names  applied 
by  them  to  the  southern  part,  with  which  alone  they  \\  ere  at  first  acquainted. 
The  name  Italia  was  at  first  merely  a  partial  name  for  the  southern  ex- 
tremity, until  it  was  gradually  extended  to  the  whole  country. 

The  modern  history  of  Italy  begins  with  the  fall  of  the  western  empire. 
Romulus  Augustus,  its  last  feeble  emperor,  was  dethroned  by  his  Ger- 
man guards.  Odoacer,  their  leader,  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Jtaly, 
and  thus  this  country  was  separated  from  the  Roman  empire.  But  this 
valiant  barbarian  could  not  communicate  a  spirit  of  independence  and 
energy  to  the  degenerate  Italians  ;  nothing  but  ainalgamalion  with  a  pcoph 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  031 

in  a  state  of  nature  could  effect  their  regeneration.  Such  a  peopk  already- 
stood  on  the  frontiers  of  Italy.  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  in- 
stigated by  Zeno,  emperor  of  the  East,  overthrew  the  kingdom  of  Odoa- 
cer,  in  493,  and  reduced  all  Italy. .  His  Goths  spread  from  the  Alps  to 
Sicily.  In  the  lagoons  of  the  Adriatic  alone,  some  fugitives,  who  had 
fled  from  the  devastations  of  Attila,  maintained  their  freedom.  Theodo- 
ric, who  combined  the  vigour  of  the  north  with  the  cultivation  of  the 
south,  is  justly  termed  the  Great.  Bui  the  energy  of  his  people  soon 
yielded  to  Roman  corruption.  Totila,  for  ten  years,  contested  in  vain  the 
almost  completed  conquest  with  the  military  skill  of  Belisarius.  He  fell 
in  battle  in  552 ;  after  which  Italy  was  annexed  to  the  eastern  empire, 
under  an  exarch,  who  resided  at  Ravenna.  But  the  first  exarch,  Narses, 
sunk  under  the  intrigues  of  the  Byzantine  court,  and  his  successor  neg- 
lected the  defence  of  the  passes  of  the  Alps.  The  country  was  then 
invaded  by  the  Lombards,  who,  under  Alboin,  their  chief  or  king,  con- 
quered the  territory  which  afterwards  received  its  name  from  them. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Lombards  included  Upper  Italy,  Tuscany,  and 
Umbria.  Alboin  also  created  the  duchy  of  Benevento,  in  Lower  Italy, 
with  which  he  invested  Zotto.  The  whole  of  Lombardian  Italy  was 
divided  into  thirty  great  fiefs,  under  dukes,  counts,  &c.,  which  soon  became 
hereditary.  Together  with  the  new  kingdom,  the  confederation  of  the 
fugitives  in  the  lagoons  still  subsisted  in  undisturbed  freedom.  The 
islanders,  by  the  election  of  their  first  doge,  Anafesto,  in  697,  established 
a  central  government,  and  the  republic  of  Venice  was  founded.  Ravenna, 
the  seat  of  the  exarch,  with  Romagna,  the  Pentapolis,  or  the  five  mari- 
time cities  (Rimini,  Pisaro,  Fano,  Sanigaglia,  and  Ancona),  and  almost  all 
the  coasts  of  Lower  Italy,  where  Amalfi  and  Gaeta  had  dukes  of  their 
own,  of  the  Greek  nation,  remained  unconquered,  together  with  Sicily 
and  the  capital,  Rome,  which  was  governed  by  a  patrician  in  the  name 
of  the  emperor.  The  slight  dependence  on  the  court  of  Byzantium  dis- 
appeared almost  entirely  in  the  begmning  of  the  eighth  century,  when 
Leo,  the  Isaurian,  exasperated  the  orthodox  Italians  by  his  attack  of 
images.  The  cities  expelled  his  officers,  and  chose  consuls  and  a  senate, 
as  in  ancient  times.  Rome  acknowledged,  not  indeed  the  power,  but  a 
certain  paternal  authority  of  its  bishops,  even  in  secular  affairs,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  respect  which  their  holiness  procured  them.  The  popes, 
in  their  efforts  to  defend  the  freedom  of  Rome  against  the  Lombards, 
forsaken  by  the  court  of  Byzantium,  generally  had  recourse  to  the  Prank- 
ish kings. 

In  consideration  of  the  aid  expected  against  king  Astolphus,  pope  Ste- 
phen III.,  in  753,  not  only  anointed  Pepin,  who,  in  the  preceding  }^ear, 
had  been  made  king  of  the  Franks,  with  the  approbation  of  pope  Zacha- 
rias,  but  with  the  assent  of  the  municipality  of  Rome,  appointed  him  patri- 
cian, as  the  imperial  governor  had  hitherto  been  denominated.  Charle- 
magne made  war  upon  Desiderius,  the  king  of  the  Lombards,  in  defence 
of  the  Roman  church,  took  him  prisoner  in  his  capital,  Pavia,  united  his 
empire  with  the  Prankish  monarchy,  and  eventually  gave  Italy  a  king  in 
his  son  Pepin.  But  his  attempts  against  the  duchy  of  Benevento,  the  in- 
dependence of  which  was  maintained  by  duke  Arichis,  against  the  repub- 
lies  in  Lower  Italy,  where  Naples,  Amalfii,  and  Gaeta,  in  particular,  had 
become  rich  by  navigation  and  commerce,  were  unsuccessful.  The  ex- 
archate, with  the  five  cities,  had  already  been  presented  to  the  pope  by 
Pepin,  in  756,  and  Charlemagne  confirmed  the  gift ;  but  the  secular  supre- 
macy of  the  popes  was  not  completed  until  the  pontificate  jf  Innocent  III., 
about  the  year  1200.  Their  rank,  however,  among  the  ecclesiastics  of 
the  west,  and  the  temporal  power  now  acquired,  gave  them  an  ascendency 

ver  the  clergy  and  laity  in  Europe,  which  they  failed  not  to  improve  until 
hey  were  acknowledged  as  the  infallible  heads  of  the  church. 


2?2  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Leo  III.  bestowed  on  the  king  of  the  Franks,  on  Christmas  day,  a.  d. 
800,  the  imperial  crown  of  tlie  west,  wiiich  needed  a  Charlemagne  to  raise 
it  from  nothing.  But  dislike  to  the  Franks,  whose  conquest  was  looked 
upon  as  a  new  invasion  of  barbarians,  united  the  free  cities,  Rome  ex- 
cepted, more  closely  to  the  eastern  empire.  Even  during  the  lifetime  of 
Charlemagne,  Frankish  Italy  was  given  to  his  grandson  Bernard  ;  who, 
however,  having  attempted  to  become  independent  of  his  uncle,  Louis  the 
Dcbonnaire,  was  deprived  of  the  crown,  and  had  his  eyes  torn  out.  Italy 
now  remained  a  constituent  part  of  the  Frankish  monarchy,  till  the  parti- 
tion of  Verdun,  which  took  place  in  843  ;  when  it  was  allotted,  with  the 
imperial  dignity,  and  what  was  afterward  called  Lorraine,  to  Lolhaire  I., 
eldest  son  of  Louis.  Lothaire  left  the  government  to  his  son  Louis  II., 
the  most  estimable  of  the  Italian  princes  of  the  Carlovingian  line.  After 
his  death,  in  875,  Italy  became  the  apple  of  discord  to  the  whole  family. 
Charles  the  Bald,  of  France,  first  took  possession  of  it ;  and  after  Ins 
death  Carloman,  king  of  Bavaria:  who  was  succeeded,  in  880,  by  his 
brother  Charles  the  Fat,  king  of  Suabia,  who  united  the  whole  monarchy 
of  the  Franks  for  the  last  time.  His  dethronement,  in  887,  was  the  epoch  of 
anarchy  and  civil  war  in  Italy.  Berengarius,  duke  of  Friuli,  and  Guido, 
duke  of  Spoleto  (besides  the  marquis  of  Ivrea,  the  only  ones  remaining 
of  the  thirty  great  vassals)  disputed  the  crown  between  them.  Guido  was 
crowned  king  and  emperor,  and  after  his  death  (894)  his  son  Lambert. 
Arnold,  the  Carlovingian  king  of  the  Germans,  enforced  his  claims  to  the 
royal  and  imperial  crown  of  Italy  (896)  but,  like  most  of  his  successors, 
was  able  to  maintain  them  only  during  his  residence  in  the  country. 

After  the  death  of  Lambert  and  Arnold,  Louis,  king  of  Lower  Burgundy, 
became  the  competitor  of  Berengarius  I. ;  and  this  bold  and  noble  prince, 
although  crowned  king  in  894,  and  emperor  in  895,  did  not  enjoy  quiet  till 
he  had  expelled  the  emperor  Louis  III.,  and  vanquished  another  compet- 
itor, Rodolph,  of  Upper  Burgundy  ;  he  was  even  then  unable,  on  account 
of  the  feeble  condition  of  the  state,  to  defend  the  kingdom  effectively 
against  the  invasions  of  the  Saracens  and  the  Hungarians.  After  the  assas- 
sination of  Berengarius,  in  924,  Rodolph  II.  relinquished  his  claims  to 
Hugh,  count  of  Provence,  in  exchange  for  that  country.  Hugh  sought 
to  strengthen  the  insecure  throne  of  Italy  by  a  bloody  tyranny.  His 
nephew,  Berengarius,  marquis  of  Ivrea,  fled  from  his  snares  to  Otho  the 
Great,  of  Germany,  assembled  an  army  of  fugitives,  and  returned  and  over- 
threw Hugh  in  945,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Lothaire.  Berengarius 
became  his  first  counsellor.  But,  after  the  death  of  Lothaire,  in  950, 
(poisoned,  it  was  said,  by  Berengarius,)  the  latter  wished  to  compel  his 
widow — the  beautiful  Adelaide — contrary  to  her  inclination,  to  marry  his 
son.  Escaping  from  the  prison  to  which  he  had  consigned  her,  she  took 
refuge  in  the  castle  of  Canossa,  where  she  was  besieged  by  Berengarius 
H.  She  now  applied  for  aid  to  Otho  I.,  king  of  German)^  who  passed  the 
Alps,  liberated  her,  conquered  Pavia,  became  king  of  the  Franks  and  Lom- 
bards, and  married  Adelaide.  To  a  prompt  submission,  and  the  cession 
of  Friuli,  (the  key  of  Italy,)  which  Otho  gave  to  his  brother  Henry,  Beren- 
garius was  indebted  for  permission  to  reign  as  the  vassal  of  Otho.  But 
the  nobles  of  Italy,  preferring  new  complaints  against  him,  ten  years  after, 
Otho  returned  in  961,  deposed  him,  and  led  him  prisoner  to  Bamberg  ;  and, 
after  having  been  himself  crowned  king  of  Italy  with  the  iron  crown,  in 
961,  united  this  kingdom  with  the  German.  Otho  gave  the  great  imperial 
fiefs  to  Germans,  and  granted  to  the  Italian  cities  privileges  that  were  the 
foundation  of  a  free  constitution,  for  which  they  soon  became  ripe. 

The  growing  wealth  of  the  papal  court,  owing  to  the  munificence  of  the 
French  kings,  which  had  promoted  their  influence  on  the  government,  so 
beneficial  under  Leo  IV.,  and  popes  of  a  similar  character,  became, 
through  the  corruption  of  the  Roman  court,  in  the  tenth  century,  the  first 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY  333 

eause  of  its  decline.  The  clergy  and  the  people  elected  the  popes  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  the  consuls  and  a  few  patricians.  Alberic  of  Cainerino, 
and  his  son  Octavian,  were  absolute  masters  of  Rome,  and  the  latter  was 
pope,  under  the  name  of  John  XII.,  when  twenty  years  of  age.  Otho  the 
Great,  whom  he  had  crowned  emperor  in  Rome,  in  962,  deposed  him  and 
chose  Leo  VIII.  in  his  stead ;  but  the  people,  jealous  of  their  right  of 
election,  chose  Benedict  V..  From  this  time,  the  popes,  instead  of  ruling 
the  people  of  Rome,  became  dependent  upon  them.  In  Lower  Italy,  the 
republics  of  Naples,  Gaeta,  and  Amalfi,  still  defended  their  independence 
against  the  Lombard  duchy  of  Benevento,  with  the  more  ease,  since  the 
duchy  had  been  divided,  in  839,  between  Siconolphus  of  Salerno  and  Ra- 
delghisius  of  Benevento,  and  subsequently  among  a  great  number;  and 
since,  with  the  dukes,  they  had  had  a  common  enemy  in  the  Saracens,  who 
had  been  previously  invited  over  from  Sicily  by  both  parties  (about  830) 
as  auxiliaries  against  each  other,  but  who  had  settled  and  maintained 
themselves  in  Apulia.  The  emperors  Louis  II.  and  Basilius  Macedo  had, 
with  combined  forces,  broken  the  power  of  the  Mussulmans  ;  the  former 
vas,  nevertheless,  unable  to  maintain  himself  in  Lower  Italy,  but  the 
Greeks,  on  the  contrary,  gained  a  firmer  footing,  and  formed,  of  the  regions 
taken  from  the  Saracens,  a  separate  province,  called  the  Thema  of  Lom- 
bardy,  which  continued  under  their  dominion,  though  without  prejudice  to 
the  liberty  of  the  republics,  upward  of  a  hundred  years,  being  governed  by 
a  captain,  or  governor-general,  at  Bari.  Otho  tlie  Great  himself  did  not 
succeed  in  driving  them  altogether  from  Italy.  The  marriage  of  his  son, 
Otho  II.,  with  the  Greek  princess  Theophania,  put  an  end  to  his  exertions 
for  this  purpose,  as  did  the  unfortunate  battle  at  Basentello,  to  the  similar 
attempts  renewed  by  Otho  II.  (980.) 

In  opposition  to  the  designs  of  the  count  of  Tusculum,  who  wished  to 
supplant  the  absent  emperor  at  Rome,  a  noble  Roman,  the  consul  Crescen- 
tius,  in  980,  attempted  to  govern  Rome  under  thesemblanceof  her  ancient 
liberty.  Otho  H.,  king  since  973,  occupied  with  his  projects  of  conquest 
in  Lower  Italy,  did  not  interfere  with  this  administration,  which  became 
formidable  to  the  vicious  popes  Boniface  VII.  and  John  XV.  But  when 
Otho  III.,  who  had  reigned  in  Germany  since  983,  raised  his  kinsman 
Gregory  V.  to  the  popedom,  Crescentius  caused  the  latter  to  be  expelled, 
and  John  XVI.,  a  Greek,  to  be  elected  by  the  people.  He  also  endeav- 
oured to  place  Rome  again  under  the  nominal  supremacy  of  the  Byzantine 
empire.  Otho,  however,  reinstated  Gregory,  besieged  Crescentius  in  the 
castle  of  St.  Angelo,  took  him  prisoner,  and  caused  him  to  be  beheaded, 
with  twelve  other  noble  Romans,  a.  d.  998.  But  the  Romans  again  threw 
off  their  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  and  yielded  only  to  force.  On  the 
death  of  Otho  III.  (1002)  the  Italians  considered  their  connection  with 
the  German  empire  as  dissolved.  Harduin,  marquis  of  Ivrea,  was  elected 
king,  and  crowned  at  Pavia.  This  was  a  sufficient  motive  for  Milan,  the 
enemy  of  Pavia,  to  declare  for  Henry  H.  of  Germany.  A  civil  war  en- 
sued, in  which  every  city,  relying  on  its  walls,  took  a  greater  or  less  part. 
Henry  was  chosen  king  of  Italy  by  the  nobles  assembled  in  Pavia;  but 
disturbances  arose,  in  which  a  part  of  the  city  was  destroyed  by  fire  (a. 
n.  1004.)  Not  till  after  Harduin's  death,  which  occurred  in  1015,  was 
Henry  recognized  as  king  by  all  Lombardy.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Conrad  II.  At  a  diet  held  at  Roncaglia,  near  Placenza,  in  1037,  Conrad 
made  the  fiefs  hereditary  by  a  fundamental  law  of  the  empire,  and  endea- 
voured to  give  stability  and  tranquility  to  the  state,  but  without  success. 
The  cities,  which  were  daily  becoming  more  powerful,  and  the  bishops, 
were  engaged  in  continual  quarrels  with  the  nobility,  and  the  nobility  with 
their  vassals,  which  could  not  be  repressed. 

Republican  Rome,  under  the  influence  of  the  family  of  Crescentius, 
could  be  reduced  to  obedience  neither  by  Henry  II.  and  Conrad  II.,  nor 


234  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

by  the  popes.  When  Henry  III.,  the  son  and  successor  of  Conrad,  en- 
tered Italy  in  1040,  he  found  three  popes  in  Rome,  all  of  wlioin  he  deposed, 
appointed  in  their  stead  Clement  11.,  and  ever  after  filled  the  papal  chair, 
by  his  own  authority,  with  virtuous  German  ecclesiastics.  This  reform 
gave  the  popes  new  consequence,  which  afterward  became  fatal  to  his 
successor.  Henry  died  in  lOOG.  During  the  mmority  of  his  son,  Henry 
IV.,  the  policy  of  the  popes,  directed  by  Hildebrand  (afterward  Gregory 
VH.)  succeeded  in  creating  an  opposition,  which  soon  became  formidable 
to  the  secular  power.  The  Normans  also  contributed  to  this  result.  As 
early  as  1016,  warriors  from  Normandy  had  established  themselves  in 
Calabria  and  Apulia.  Allies,  sometimes  of  the  Lombards,  sometimes  ol 
the  republics,  sometimes  of  the  Greeks  against  each  other  and  againsi 
the  Saracens,  they  constantly  became  more  powerful  by  petty  wars. 
The  great  preparation  of  Leo  IX.  for  their  expulsion  terminated  in  his 
defeat  and  capture.  (1053.)  On  the  other  hand,  Nicolas  II.  united  with 
the  Norman  princes,  and,  in  1059,  invested  Robert  Guiscard  with  all  the 
territories  conquered  by  him  in  Lower  Italy.  From  that  time,  the  pope, 
in  his  conflicts  with  the  imperial  power,  relied  on  the  support  of  his  faith- 
ful vassal,  the  duke  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  to  which  Sicily  was  soon 
added.  While  the  small  states  of  the  south  were  thus  united  into  one 
large  one,  the  kingdom  in  the  north  was  dissolved  into  smaller  slates. 
The  Lombard  cities  were  laying  the  foundation  of  their  future  importance. 
Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa  were  already  powerful. 

In  the  small  republics  of  the  north  of  Italy,  the  government  was,  in 
most  cases,  divided  between  the  consuls,  the  lesser  council,  the  great 
council,  and  the  popular  assembly.  Petty  feuds  developed  their  youthful 
energies.  Such  were  those  that  terminated  with  the  destruction  of  Lodi 
by  Milan,  in  1111,  and  the  ten  years'  siege  of  Como,  by  the  forces  of  all 
the  Lombard  cities,  which  lasted  from  1118  to  1128.  The  subjugation  of 
this  city  rendered  Milan  the  first  power  in  Lombardy,  and  most  of  the 
neighbouring  cities  were  her  allies.  Others  formed  a  counter  alliance 
with  her  antagonist,  Pavia.  Disputes  betw^een  Milan  and  Cremona  were 
the  occasion  of  the  first  war  between  the  two  unions  (1129)  to  which  the 
contest  of  Lothaire  II.  and  Conrad  of  Hohenstaufen  for  the  crown,  soon 
gave  another  direction.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  Ghibelines  (favourers 
of  the  emperor)  and  the  Guelfs  (the  adherents  of  the  family  of  Guelfs,  and 
in  general  the  party  of  the  popes.) 

In  Rome  the  love  of  liberty,  restrained  by  Gregory  VII.,  rose  in  pro- 
portion as  his  successors  ruled  with  less  energy.  The  schisms  between 
Gelasius  II.  and  Gregory  VIII.,  Innocent  II.  and  Anacletus  II.,  renewed 
the  hopes  of  the  Romans.  Arnold  of  Brescia,  formerly  proscribed  for 
his  violent  attacks  against  the  luxury  of  the  clergy  in  that  century,  was 
their  leader.  After  eight  years,  Adrian  IV.  succeeded  in  effecting  hia 
execution.  Frederic  I.,  of  Hohenstaufen  (called  Barbarossa)  crossed  the 
Alps  six  times,  in  order  to  defend  his  possessions  in  Italy  against  the 
republicanism  of  the  Lombard  cities.  Embracing  the  cause  of  Pavia,  as 
the  weaker,  he  devastated  the  territory  of  Milan,  destroyed  Tortona,  and 
was  crowned  in  Pavia  and  Rome.  In  1158,  he  reduced  Milan,  demolished 
the  fortifications  of  Piacenza,  and  held  a  diet  at  Roncaglia,  where  he  ex- 
tended the  imperial  prerogatives  conformably  with  the  Justinian  code, 
gave  the  cities  chief  magistrates,  and  proclaimed  a  general  peace.  His 
rigour  having  excited  a  new  rebellion,  he  reduced  Cremona  to  ashes, 
compelled  Milan  to  submission,  and,  having  driven  out  the  inhabitants, 
demolished  the  fortifications. 

When  the  emperor  entered  Italy  in  1163,  without  an  army,  the  cities 
concluded  a  union  for  maintaining  their  freedom,  which,  in  IIGV,  was  con- 
verted into  the  Lombard  confederacy.  The  confederates  restored  Milan, 
and  to  hold  in  check  the  Ghibeline  city  of  Pavia,  built  a  new  city,  called, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  235 

in  honour  of  the  pope,  Alessandria.  Neither  Frederic's  governor,  Chris- 
tian, archbishop  of  Mentz,  nor  he  himself,  could  effect  anything  against 
the  confederacy;  the  former  failed  before  Ancona,  with  all  the  power  of 
Ghibeline  Tuscany  ;  and  the  latter  before  Alessandria.  He  was  also  do 
feated  by  Milan,  at  Legnano,  in  1176.  He  then  concluded  a  concordat 
with  Alexander  HI.,  and  a  truce  with  the  cities  at  Venice,  and  a  peace, 
which  secured  their  independence,  at  Constantinople  (1183.)  The  repub- 
lics retained  the  podesta  (foreign  noblemen,  now  elected  by  themselves) 
as  judges  and  generals.  As  formerly,  all  were  to  take  the  oath  of  fealty 
and  allegiance  to  the  emperor.  But,  instead  of  strengthening  their  league 
into  a  permanent  confederacy  (the  only  safety  for  Italy,)  they  were  soon 
split  into  new  factions,  when  the  designs  of  the  Hohenstaufen  on  the 
throne  of  Sicily  drew  Frederic  and  Henry  VI.  from  Lombardy.  Durmg 
the  minority  of  Frederic  II.,  and  the  disputes  for  the  succession  to  the 
German  throne.  Innocent  III.,  who  was  Frederic's  guardian,  succeeded  in 
re-establishing  the  secular  authority  of  the  holy  see  in  Rome,  and  the  sur- 
rounding country,  and  in  enforcing  its  claims  to  the  donations  of  Charle- 
magne and  Matilda.  He  also  brought  over  almost  all  Tuscany,  except 
Pisa,  to  the  party  of  the  Guelfs.  A  blind  hereditary  hatred,  rather  than 
a  zeal  for  the  cause,  inspired  the  parties ;  for  when  Otho  IV.  ascended 
the  imperial  throne,  the  Guelfs  became  his  party,  and  the  Ghibelines  the 
pope's  ;  but  the  reversion  of  the  imperial  throne  to  the  house  of  Hohen- 
staufen, in  the  person  of  Frederic  II.,  soon  restored  the  ancient  relations. 

In  Florence,  this  party  spirit  gave  pretence  to  the  disputes  of  the  Buon- 
delmonti  and  Donati  with  the  Uberti  and  Amadei,  originating  in  private 
causes ;  and  most  cities  were  thus  internally  divided  into  Guelfs  and  Ghi- 
belines. The  Guelf  cities  of  Lombardy  renewed  the  Lombard  confeder- 
acy, in  1226.  The  Dominican,  John  of  Vicenza,  attacked  these  civil 
wars:  and  the  assembly  at  Paquara  seemed  to  crown  his  exertions  with 
success;  but  his  attempt  to  obtain  secular  power  in  Vicenza  occasioned 
his  fall.  After  the  emperor  had  returned  from  his  crusade,  in  1230,  he 
waged  war,  with  varying  success,  against  the  cities  and  against  Gregory 
IX.,  heedless  of  the  excommunication  ;  while  Ezzelin  da  Romano,  under 
the  pretence  of  favouring  the  Ghibelines,  established,  by  every  kind  of 
violence,  his  own  power  in  Padua,  Verona,  Vicenza,  and  the  neighbour- 
hood. The  plan  of  Gregory  IX.  to  depose  Frederic,  was  successfully 
executed  by  Innocent  IV.,  in  the  council  of  Lyons,  (1245.)  This  com- 
pletely weakened  the  Ghibeline  party,  which  was  already  nearly  under' 
mined  by  the  intrigues  of  the  mendicant  orders.  The  Bolognese  united 
all  the  cities  of  Italy  in  a  Guelf  league,  and,  in  the  battle  of  the  Panaro,  in 
1249,  took  Enzius  prisoner,  whom  they  never  released.  In  the  Trevisan 
Mark  alone,  the  Ghibelines  possessed  the  supremacy,  by  means  of  Ezze- 
lin, till  he  fell  before  a  crusade  of  all  the  Guelfs  against  him,  in  1255, 
But  these  contests  were  fatal  to  liberty  ;  the  house  Delia  Scala  followed 
that  of  Romano  in  the  dominion  ;  and  Milan  itself,  with  a  great  part  of 
Lombardy,  found  masters  in  the  house  of  Delia  Torre.  Tyrants  every- 
where arose ;  the  maritime  republics,  and  the  republic  of  Tuscany  alone 
remained  free. 

After  Charles  I.  of  Anjou  had  become,  tjy  the  favour  of  the  pope,  king 
of  Naples,  senator  of  Rome,  papal  vicar  of  Tuscany,  and  had  directed  his 
ambition  to  the  throne  of  Italy,  (a  policy  in  which  his  successors  perse- 
vered,) the  names  of  Guelfs  and  Ghibelines  acquired  a  new  significatiouc 
The  former  denoted  the  friends,  the  latter  the  enemies  of  the  French. 
To  these  factions  were  added,  in  the  republics,  the  parlies  of  the  nobility 
and  the  people,  the  latter  of  which  was  almost  universally  victorious. 
The  honest  exe; tions  of  Gregory  X.  (who  died  1276)  to  establish  peace, 
were  of  no  avai. ;  those  of  Nicolas  III.,  who  feared  the  preponderance  of 
Charles,  were  more  efficient ;  but  Martin  IV.,  servilely  devoted  to  Charles 


236  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

destroyed  everything  which  had  been  effected,  and  persecuted  the  Ghibe- 
lines  with  new  animosity.  A  different  interest — that  of  trade  and  navi- 
gation — impelled  the  maritime  republics  to  mutual  wars.  Tiie  Genoese 
assisted  Michael  Palacologus,  in  12(J1,  to  recover  ('onstantiiiople  from  the 
Venetians,  and  received  in  return  Chios;  at  Meloria,  they  aiinihiif'ted  ihe 
navy  of  the  Pisans,  and  completed  their  dominion  of  the  sea  by  a  victory 
over  the  Venetians  at  Curzola,  which  took  place  in  1298.  Florence  ren- 
dered its  democracy  complete  by  the  punishment  of  all  the  nobles,  and 
strengthened  the  Guelf  party  by  wise  measures;  but  a  new  schism  soon 
divided  the  Guelfs  in  Florence  and  all  Tuscany  into  two  factions — the 
Neri  (Black)  and  Bianchi  (White).  The  latter  were  almost  all  expelled 
by  the  intrigues  of  Boniface  VIII.,  and  joiiied  the  Ghibelines.  In  Lom- 
bardy,  freedom  seemed  to  have  expired,  when  the  people,  weary  of  the 
everlasting  feuds  of  their  tyrants,  rose  in  most  of  the  cities,  and  expelled 
them. 

Henry  VII.,  the  first  emperor  who  had  appeared  in  Italy  for  sixty  years 
(1310)  restored  the  princes  to  their  cities,  and  found  general  submission 
to  his  requisitions,  peace  among  the  parties,  and  homage  to  the  empire. 
Florence  alone  undertook  the  glorious  part  which  she  so  nobly  sustained 
for  two  centuries,  as  the  guardian  of  Italian  freedom;  she  chose  Robert 
of  Naples,  the  enemy  of  Henry,  her  protector  for  five  years,  and  remained 
free  while  the  other  parts  of  the  kingdom  were  divided  into  factions  and 
destroyed  by  intestine  wars.  In  1330,  John,  king  of  Bohemia,  suddenly 
entered  Italy.  Invited  by  the  inhabitants  of  Brescia,  favoured  by  the 
pope,  elected  lord  of  Lucca,  everywhere  acting  the  part  of  a  mediator  and 
peacemaker,  he  could  have  succeeded  in  establishing  the  power  at  which 
he  aimed,  had  he  not  been  opposed  by  the  Florentines.  On  his  second 
expedition  to  Italy,  in  1333,  Azzo  Visconti,  Mastino  della  Scala,  and  Ro- 
bert of  Naples,  united  against  him  and  his  ally,  the  papal  legate,  Bertrand 
of  Foiet,  who  aspired  to  the  dominion  of  Bologna.  After  the  downfall  of 
both,  in  1334,  when  the  Pepoli  began  to  rule  in  Bologna,  Mastino  della 
Scala  became  master  of  half  Lombardy.  Florence  led  the  opposition 
against  him,  and  excited  a  war  of  the  league,  in  which  it  gained  nothing 
but  the  security  of  its  liberty. 

In  Rome,  Cola  Rienzi,  in  1347,  sought  to  restore  order  and  tranquility  ; 
he  was  appointed  tribune  of  the  people,  but  was  forced,  after  seven  months, 
to  yield  to  the  nobility.  Having  returned,  after  seven  years  of  banish- 
ment, with  the  legate-cardinal  Albornoze,  he  ruled  again  a  short  time,  and 
at  length  was  murdered  in  an  insurrection.  The  Genoese,  tired  of  the 
perpetual  disputes  of  the  Ghibeline  Spinolas  and  Dorias  with  the  Guelf 
Grimaldi  and  Fieschi,  banished  all  these  families  in  1339,  and  made  Simon 
Bocanegra  their  first  doge.  In  1347  Italy  suffered  by  a  terrible  famine, 
and  a  still  more  terrible  pestilence  in  the  year  following,  which  swept 
away  two-thirds  of  the  population.  No  less  terrible  was  the  scourge  of  the 
bande  (banditti),  or  large  companies  of  soldiers  who,  after  every  peace, 
continued  the  war  on  their  own  account,  ravaging  the  whole  country  with 
fire  and  sword. 

Pope  Innocent  VI.  succeeded  in  conquering  the  whole  of  the  states  of 
the  church,  by  means  of  the  cardinal-legate,  Egidius  Albornoze  (1354-60); 
but,  reduced  to  extremities  by  the  oppressions  of  the  legates,  and  encour- 
aged by  Florence,  the  conquered  cities  revolted  in  1375.  The  cruelties 
of  cardinal  Robert,  of  Geneva,  (afterward  Clement  VII.,)  and  of  his  band 
of  soldiers  from  Bretagne,  produced  only  a  partial  subjugation ;  and  the 
great  schism,  the  freedom  of  these  cities,  or  rather  the  power  of  their 
petty  tyrants,  was  fully  confirmed.  The  Visconti,  meanwhile,  persisting 
in  their  schemes  of  conquest,  arrayed  the  whole  strength  of  Italy  in  oppo- 
sition to  them,  and  caused  the  old  factions  of  Guelfs  and  Ghibeli^nes  soon 
to  be  forgotten  in  the  impending  danger.     Genoa  submitted  to  John  Vis- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.         ^  237 

conti,  who  had  purchased  Bologjna  from  the  Pepoli  in  1350  :  but  his  enter- 
prise against  Tuscany  failed  through  the  resistance  of  the  confederated 
Tuscan  repubhcs.  Another  league  against  him  was  concluded  by  the 
Venetians  with  tlie  peity  tyrants  of  Lombardy.  But  tli^nmiouof  the  Flo- 
rentines with  the  Visconti  against  the  papal  legates,  continued  but  a  short 
time.  In  Florence,  the  Guelfs  were  divided  into  the  parties  of  the  Ricci 
and  the  Albizzi.  The  sedition  of  the  Ciompi,  to  which  this  gave  rise,  was 
quelled  by  Michael  di  Lando,  who  had  been  elected  gonfaloniere  by  them- 
selves, in  a  way  no  less  manly  than  disinterested.  The  Venetians,  irri- 
tated with  Carrara,  on  account  of  the  assistance  he  had  given  the  Genoese 
m  the  war  at  Chiozza  in  1379,  looked  quietly  on  while  John  Galeazzo 
Visconti  deprived  the  Delia  Scala  and  Carrara  of  their  possessions;  and 
Florence  alone  assisted  the  unfortunate  princes.  Francis  Carrara  made 
himself  again  master  of  Padua,  in  1390,  and  maintained  his  advantages 
till  he  sunk  under  the  enmity  of  the  Venetians  (in  1406),  who,  changing 
iheir  policy,  became  henceforth,  instead  of  the  opponents,  the  rivals  of  the 
ambitious  views  of  the  Visconti. 

In  1395,  John  Galeazzo  obtained  from  the  emperor  Wenceslaus  the  in. 
vestiture  of  Milan  as  a  duchy,  purchased  Pisa  (which  his  natural  son  Ga- 
briel bargained  away  to  Florence,  1405),  from  the  tyrant  Gerard  of  Ap- 
piano  (who  reserved  only  the  prmcipality  of  Piombino),  and  subjugated 
Sienna,  Perugia,  and  Bologna ;  so  that  Florence,  fearfully  menaced,  alone 
stood  against  him  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  On  his  death,  in  1402,  the  pros- 
pect brightened,  and  during  the  minority  of  his  sons,  a  great  portion  of  hit 
states  were  lost.  When  Ladislaus  of  Naples,  taking  advantage  of  the 
schism,  made  himself  master  of  all  the  Ecclesiastical  States,  and  threat- 
iened  to  conquer  all  Italy,  Florence  again  alone  dared  to  resist  him.  But 
this  danger  was  transitory  ;  the  Visconti  soon  rose  up  again  in  opposition. 

Duke  Philip  Maria  reconquered  all  his  states  of  Lombardy,  by  means 
of  the  great  Carmagnola  (1416-20).  Genoa  also,  which  was  sometimes 
given  up,  in  nominal  freedom,  to  stormy  factions  of  the  Fregosi,  Adorni, 
Montalto,  and  Guarco,  at  other  times  was  subject  to  France,  or  to  the 
marquis  of  Montferrat,  submitted  to  him  in  1421.  Florence  subsequently 
entered  into  an  alliance  against  him  with  the  Venetians  (1425) ;  and  by 
means  of  Carmagnola,  who  had  now  come  over  to  them,  they  conquered 
the  whole  country  as  far  as  the  Adda,  and  retained  it  in  the  peace  of 
Ferrara  (1428). 

After  Milan  had  been  enfeebled  by  the  Venetians  and  Florentines,  and 
while  Alphonso  of  Arragon  was  constantly  disturbed  in  Naples,  by  the 
Anjou  party,  no  dangerous  predominance  of  power  existed  in  Italy,  though 
mutual  jealousy  still  excited  frequent  wars,  in  Avhich  two  parties  among 
the  Italian  mercenary  soldiers,  the  Bracheschi  and  the  Sforzeschi,  con- 
tinued always  hostile  to  each  other,  contrary  to  the  custom  of  tliose  mer- 
cenary bands.  After  the  extinction  of  the  Visconti,  in  1447,  Francis 
Sforza  succeeded  in  gaining  possession  of  the  Milanese  state.  The  Vene- 
tians, who  aimed  at  territorial  aggrandizement,  having  formed  a  connec- 
tion with  some  princes  against  him,  he  found  an  ally  in  Florence,  which, 
with  a  change  of  circumstances,  wisely  altered  her  policy.  About  this 
time,  the  family  of  the  Medici  attained  to  power  by  their  wealtli  and  tal- 
ent. INIilan,  where  the  Sforza  had  established  themselves  ;  Venice,  winch 
possessed  half  of  Lombardy;  Florence,  wisely  managed  by  Lorenzo  Me- 
dici; the  states  of  the  church,  for  the  most  part  restored  to  the  iioly  see; 
and  Naples,  which  was  incapable  of  employing  its  forces  in  direct  attacks 
on  other  states,  constituted,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  the  political  balance 
of  Italy,  which,  during  the  manifold  feuds  of  these  states,  permitted  no 
one  to  become  dangerous  to  the  independence  of  the  rest,  till  1494,  when 
Charles  VIII.  of  France  entered  Italy  to  conquer  Naples,  and  Louis  Moro 
Sforza  played  the  part  first  of  his  ally,  then  of  his  enemy,  wliile  the  pope 


J38  I'HE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Alexander  VI.,  eagerly  sought  the  friendship  of  the  French,  to  promote 
the  exaltation  of  his  son,  Caesar  Borgia.  A  long  succession  of  military 
contests  now  took  place,  which  were  chiefly  excited  by  invasions  from 
Germany,  or  by  the  efforts  of  party  leaders  at  home  to  usurp  power  over 
the  free  cities;  but  we  must  pass  by  these,  and  merely  observe  that  the 
Medici  family  ultimately  succeeded  in  establishing  their  sway.  The  brief 
tranquility  of  Italy,  however,  was  soon  destined  to  be  disturbed  by  the 
grasping  ambition  of  the  warlike  pope,  Julius  II.,  who  completed  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  states  of  the  church,  not,  indeed,  for  a  son  or  nephew,  but 
in  the  name  of  the  holy  see.  He  concluded  with  Maximilian  I.,  Ferdi- 
nand tlie  Catholic,  and  Louis  XII.,  the  league  of  Cambray  (1.508),  against 
the  ambitious  policy  of  the  Venetians,  who  succeeded  in  dissolving  the 
league  which  threatened  them  with  destruction.  The  pope  then  formed 
d  league  with  the  Venetians  themselves,  Spain,  and  the  Swiss,  for  the 
purpose  of  driving  the  French  from  Italy.  This  holy  league  did  not,  how- 
ever, then  attain  its  object,  although  Julius  was  little  affected  by  the  French 
and  German  council  held  at  Pisa  to  depose  him.  Maximilian  Sforza,  who 
had  re-acquired  Milan,  relinquished  it  without  reserve  to  Francis  I.,  in 
1:*)15 ;  but  the  emperor  Charles  V.  assumed  it  as  a  reverted  fief  of  the 
«mpire,  and  conferred  it  on  Francisco  Sforza,  brother  of  Maximilian,  in 
1.520.  This  was  the  cause  of  violent  wars,  in  which  the  efforts  of  Francis 
were  always  unsuccessful.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Pavia,  and,  with 
his  other  claims,  was  compelled  to  renounce  those  on  Milan,  which  re- 
mained to  Sforza,  and  after  his  death,  was  granted  by  Charles  V.  to  his 
son  Philip.  The  Medician  popes  Leo  X.  and  Clement  VII.,  were  bent, 
for  the  most  part,  on  the  aggrandizement  of  their  family.  Charles  V., 
to  whom  all  Italy  submitted  after  the  battle  of  Pavia,  frustrated,  indeed, 
the  attempts  of  Clement  VII.  to  weaken  his  power,  and  conquered  and 
pillaged  Rome  in  1527  ;  but,  being  reconciled  with  the  pope,  he  raised  the 
Medici  to  princely  authority. 

Florence,  incensed  at  the  foolish  conduct  of  Pietro  towards  France,  had 
banished  the  Medici  in  1494,  but  recalled  them  in  1512;  and  was  compelled 
to  take  a  station  among  the  principalities,  under  Duke  Alexander  I.  de 
Medici.  Italian  policy,  of  which  Florence  had  hitherto  been  the  soul, 
from  this  period  is  destitute  of  a  connuon  spirit,  and  the  history  of  Italy 
is  therefore  destitute  of  a  central  point. 

After  the  extinction  of  the  male  branch  of  the  marquises  of  Montferrat, 
Charles  V.  gave  this  country  to  Gonzaga  of  Mantua.  IMaximilian  II. 
subsequently  raised  Montferrat  to  a  duchy.  The  Florentines  failed  (1537) 
in  a  new  attempt  to  emancipate  themselves,  after  the  death  of  Duke  Alex- 
ander, who  fell  by  the  hands  of  an  assassin.  Cosmo  I.  succeeded  him  in 
the  government,  by  the  influence  of  Charles  V.  Parma  and  Placenza, 
which  Julius  II.  had  conquered  for  the  papal  see,  Paul  III.  erected  into  a 
duchy,  1545,  which  he  gave  to  his  natural  son,  Peter  Alois  Farnese,  whose 
son  Ottairo  obtained  the  imperial  investiture  in  1556.  Genoa,  subject  to 
the  French  since  1499,  found  a  deliverer  in  Andrew  Doria  (1528).  He 
founded  the  aristocracy,  and  the  conspiracy  of  Fiesco  (1547)  failed  to  sub- 
vert him.  In  1553,  besides  Milan,  Charles  V.  conferred  Naples  on  his  son 
Philip  II.  By  the  peace  of  Chateau-Cambresis,  in  1559,  Philip  II.,  and 
Henry  II.  of  France,  renounced  all  their  claims  to  Piedmont,  which  was 
restored  to  its  rightful  sovereign,  Duke  Emanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy,  the 
brave  Spanish  general. 

The  legitimate  male  line  of  the  house  of  Este  became  extinct  in  1597, 
when  the  illegitimate  Caesario  of  Este  obtained  Modena  and  Reggio  from 
the  empire,  and  Ferrara  was  confiscated  as  a  reverted  fief  by  the  holy  see. 
In  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  prosperity  of  Italy  was 
increased  by  a  long  peace,  as  much  as  the  loss  of  its  commerce  allowed  ; 
Henry  IV.  of  France  having,  by  the  treaty  of  Lyons,  ceded  Saluzzu,  i.ie 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  239 

last  French  possession  in  Italy,  to  Savoy.  The  tranquility  continued  till 
the  contests  for  the  succession  of  Mantua  and  Montferrat,  after  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  Gonzaga  family  (1627).  Misfortunes  in  Germany  com- 
pelled Ferdinand  II.  to  confer  both  countries,  in  1631,  as  a  fief  on  Charles 
of  Nevers,  the  protege  of  France,  whose  family  remained  in  possession 
till  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession.  In  the  peace  of  Chierasco  (1631), 
Richelieu's  diplomacy  acquired  also  Pignerol  and  Casale — strong  points 
of  support  in  case  of  new  invasions  of  Italy,  though  he  had  to  relinquish 
the  latter,  in  1637.  By  the  extinction  of  the  house  Delia  Rovera,  the 
duchy  of  Urbino,  with  which  Julius  II.  had  invested  it,  devolved,  in  1631, 
to  the  papal  see.  In  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  peace 
of  Italy  was  not  interrupted,  excepting  by  the  attempts  of  Louis  XIV.  on 
Savoy  and  Piedmont,  and  appeared  to  be  secured  by  the  treaty  of  neutral- 
ity at  Turin  (1696),  when  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  broke  out. 
Austria  having  conquered  Milan,  Mantua,  and  Montferrat,  retained  the  two 
first  (for  Mantua  was  forfeited  by  the  felony  of  the  duke),  and  gave  the 
latter  to  Savoy.  h\  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  Austria  obtained  Sardinia  and 
Naples ;  Savoy  obtained  Sicily,  which  it  exchanged  with  Austria  for  Sar- 
dinia, from  which  it  assumed  the  royal  title.  Mont  Genievre  was  made 
the  boundary  between  France  and  Italy.  The  house  of  Farnese  becom- 
ing extinct  in  1731,  the  Spanish  infant  Charles  obtained  Parma  and  Pia- 
cenza.  In  the  war  for  the  Polish  throne,  of  1773,  Charles  Emanuel  of 
Savoy,  in  alliance  with  France  and  Spain,  conquered  the  Milanese  terri- 
tory, and  received  therefrom,  in  the  peace  of  Vienna  (1738),  Novara  and 
Tortona.  Charles,  infant  of  Spain,  became  king  of  the  two  Sicilies,  and 
ceded  Parma  and  Piacenza  to  Austria. 

The  Medici  of  Florence,  entitled,  since  157.5,  grand-dukes  of  Tuscany, 
became  extinct  in  1737.  Francis  Stephen,  duke  of  Lorraine,  now  received 
Tuscany  by  the  preliminaries  of  Vienna,  and,  becoming  emperor  in  1745, 
made  it  the  appanage  of  the  younger  line  of  the  Austro-Lorraine  house.  In 
1745,  the  Spaniards  conquered  Milan,  but  were  expelled  thence  by  Charles 
Emanuel,  to  whom  Maria  Theresa  ceded,  in  reward,  some  Milanese  dis- 
tricts. Massa  and  Carrara  fell  to  Modena,  in  1743,  by  right  of  inheritance. 
The  Spanish  infant,  Don  Philip,  conquered  Parma  and  Piacenza  in  his 
own  name,  lost  them,  and  obtained  them  again  as  a  hereditary  duchy,  by 
the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  1748.  At  the  ei-.  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion, Italy  was  divided  between  the  principality  of  Savoy,  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Slates,  the  republics  of  Venice  and  Genoa,  the  grand  duchy  of  Tus- 
cany, and  the  small  principalities  of  Parma  and  Modena.  Naples  and 
Sicily  were  governed  by  a  king  belonging  to  the  house  of  Bourbon;  and 
Mantua,  Milan,  and  some  other  places  were  in  the  possession  of  Austria. 

In  September,  1792,  the  French  troops  first  penetrated  into  Savoy,  and 
planted  the  tree  of  liberty.  Though  expelled  for  some  time,  in  1793,  by 
the  Piedmontese  and  Austrians,  they  held  it  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The 
National  Convention  had  already  declared  war  against  Naples,  and  the 
French  advanced  into  the  Piedmontese  and  Genoese  territories,  but  were 
expelled  from  Italy  in  July,  1795,  by  the  Austrains,  Sardinians,  and  Nea- 
politans. In  1796,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  received  the  chief  command  of 
the  French  army  in  Italy.  He  forced  the  king  of  Sardinia  to  conclude  a 
treaty  of  peace,  by  which  the  latter  was  obliged  to  cede  Nice  and  Savoy 
to  France  ;  conquered  Austrian  Lombardy,  with  the  exception  of  Mantua ; 
put  the  duke  of  Parma  and  the  pope  under  contribution;  and  struck  such 
consternation  into  the  king  of  Naples,  that  he  begged  for  peace. 

After  Mantua  had  also  fallen,  in  1797,  Bonaparte  formed  of  Milan,  Man- 
tua, the  portion  of  Parma  north  of  the  Po,  and  Modena,  the  Cisalpine  re- 
public. France  likewise  made  war  on  the  pope,  and  annexed  Bologna, 
Ferrara,  and  Romagna  to  the  Cisalpine  republic  (1797),  by  the  peace  of 
Tolentino.     The  French  then  advanced  towards  Rome,  overthrew  the 


S40 


THE  TREASUIIY  OF  HISTORY 


ecclesiastical  government,  and  erected  a  Roman  republic  (1798).  In  C3e- 
noa,  Bonaparte  occasioned  a  revolution,  by  which  a  democratic  repuolic 
was  formed  after  the  model  of  the  French  under  the  name  of  the  Ligurian 
republic.  The  French  had,  meanwhile,  penetrated  into  Austria,  through 
the  Venetian  territory.  Tlie  Venetians  now  made  common  cause  with 
the  brave  Tyrolese,  who  gained  advantages  over  the  French  in  the  Alps. 
Bonaparte,  therefore,  occupied  Venice  without  striking  a  blow,  and  gave 
the  republic  a  democratic  constitution ;  but,  by  the  peace  of  Campo-For- 
mio  (17lh  October,  1797),  the  Venetian  territory,  as  far  as  the  Adige,  was 
relinquished  to  Austria,  and  the  rest  incorporated  with  the  Cisalpine  re- 
public. The  king  of  Sardinia  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  subsidy 
with  France,  October  25 ;  but,  in  1798,  the  directory,  assailed  in  Rome 
from  Naples,  deemed  it  expedient  to  compel  him  to  resign  his  territories 
on  the  main  land. 

Notwithstanduig  its  treaty  of  amity  with  France,  Naples  concluded  an 
alliance,  in  1798,  with  Britain  and  Russia.  The  French,  therefore,  occu- 
pied Naples,  and  erected  there  the  Parthenopean  republic.  The  grand 
duke  of  Tuscany  had  likewise  formed  an  alliance  with  Naples  and  Britain, 
and  his  country  was,  in  return,  compelled  by  the  French  to  receive,  like 
Piedmont,  a  military  administration.  After  the  congress  of  Radstadt  was 
broken  otf,  Austria  and  the  German  empire,  under  Russian  support, 
renewed  the  war  against  the  French,  who  again  left  Naples  and  Rome  to 
the  British,  Russians  and  Turks.  The  king  and  the  pope  returned  to  their 
capitals  in  Lombardy ;  the  French  were  defeated  by  the  Austrians,  under 
Kray  and  Melas,  and  by  the  Russians,  under  Suwarrof,  and  lost  all  their 
fortresses,  except  Genoa,  where  Massena  sustained  a  vigorous  siege, 
while  his  countrymen  had  to  evacuate  all  Italy.  But  in  the  meanwhile, 
Bonaparte  was  made  first  consul  after  his  return  from  Egypt.  He  march- 
ed with  a  new  army  to  Italy,  defeated  the  Austrians  at  the  memorable 
battle  of  Marengo  (1800),  and  compelled  them  to  capitulation,  by  which 
all  the  Italian  fortresses  were  again  evacuated.  By  the  peace  of  Lune- 
ville,  Feb.  9,  1801,  the  possession  of  Venice  was  confirmed  to  Austria, 
which  was  to  indemnify  the  duke  of  Modena,  by  the  cession  of  Brisgau. 
The  duke  of  Parma  received  Tuscany,  and  afterwards,  from  Bonaparte, 
the  title  of  king  of  Etruria.  Parma  was  united  to  France.  The  Cisal- 
pine and  Ligurian  republics  were  guaranteed  by  Austria  and  France,  and 
with  the  Ligurian  territories  were  united  the  imperial  fiefs  included  within 
their  limits.  The  king  of  Naples,  who  had  occupied  the  states  of  the 
church,  was  obliged  to  conclude  peace  at  Florence.  By  Russian  medi 
ation,  he  escaped" with  the  cession  of  Piombino,  the  Stato  degli  Presidj, 
and  his  half  of  the  island  of  Elba,  together  with  the  promise  of  closing 
his  harbours  against  the  British.  The  other  half  of  Elba,  Tuscany  had 
already  relinquished  to  France.  But  the  whole  island  was  obstinately 
defended  by  the  British  and  Corsicans,  with  the  armed  inhabitants,  and 
not  evacuated  until  autumn.  The  Stato  degli  Presidj  France  ceded  to 
Etruria,  September  19 ;  but  strong  detachments  of  French  troops  re- 
mained both  in  Naples  and  Tuscany,  and  their  support  cost  immense 
sums.  To  the  republics  of  Genoa  and  Lucca  the  first  consul  gave  new 
constitutions  in  1801.  But,  in  January,  1802,  the  Cisalpine  republic  was 
transformed  into  the  Italian  republic,  in  imitation  of  the  new  French  con- 
stitution, and  Bonaparte  became  president.  Genoa  also  received  a  new 
constitution,  and  Girolamo  Durazzo  for  doge.  Piedmont,  however,  was 
united  with  France. 

After  Bonaparte  had  become  emperor,  in  1804,  he  attached  (March  17, 
1805)  the  royal  crown  of  Italy  to  the  new  imperial  crown;  he  promised, 
however,  never  to  unite  the  new  monarchy  with  France,  and  even  to  give 
it  a  king  of  its  own.  The  new  constitution  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
French  empire.     Napoleon  founded  the  order  of  the  iron  crown,  and  hav 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  241 

ing  placed  the  crown  on  his  own  head,  at  Milan,  he  appointed  his  step- 
son, Eugene  Beauharnais,  viceroy  of  Italy,  who  laboured  with  great  zeal 
for  the  improvement  of  all  branches  of  the  government,  of  industry,  and 
the  arts.  Circumstances,  however,  ••endered  the  new  government  oppres- 
sive, as  the  public  expenses,  during  peace,  amounted  to  100,000,000  francs, 
which  were  all  to  be  contributed  by  less  than  4,000,000  people.  No  Eu- 
ropean power  recognized,  expressly,  the  Italian  kingdom  oi"  Xapoleon. 
The  emperor  continued  to  strengthen  his  power  against  the  active  ene- 
mies of  the  new  order  of  things,  and  gave  to  his  sister  Eliza  the  princi- 
pality of  Piombino,  and  to  her  husband,  Pasquale  Bacciocchi,  the  republic 
of  Lucca,  as  a  principality,  both  as  French  fiefs.  Parma,  Piacenza,  and 
Guastalla  were  incorporated  with  the  French  empire,  July  21st.  The 
pope  was  obliged  to  sanction  the  imperial  coronation  by  his  presence. 
Austria  now  acceded  to  the  alliance  of  Russia  and  Britain  against  France. 
Naples,  also,  again  suffered  the  British  and  Russians  to  land.  But  the 
success  of  the  Austrian  arms  was  frustrated  by  the  defeats  at  Ulm  and 
Austerlitz;  after  which  the  peace  of  Presburg  completed  the  French  su- 
premacy in  Italy.  Austrian  Venice,  with  Istria  and  Dalmatia,  were  unit- 
ed to  the  kingdom  of  Italy;  and  this,  with  all  the  French  institutions, 
Italy  recognized. 

The  kingdom  had  now  an  extent  of  35,450  square  miles,  with  5,657,000 
inhabitants.  Naples  was  evacuated  by  its  auxiliaries,  and  occupied  by 
the  French,  notwithstanding  the  attempts  of  ihe  queen  to  excite  an  uni- 
versal insurrection.  Napoleon  then  gave  the  crown  of  Naples  to  his 
brother  Joseph.  In  1803,  the  widow  of  tlie  king  of  F]truria,  who  con- 
ducted the  regency  in  behalf  of  her  minor  son,  was  deprived  of  her  king- 
dom, which  was  united  with  France.  Napoleon,  moreover,  appointed  his 
brother-in-law,  the  prince  Borghese,  governor-general  of  the  departments 
beyond  the  Alps,  and  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Turin.  As  Napoleon  had, 
nieanwhile,  given  his  brother  Joseph  the  crown  of  Spain,  he  filled  the 
throne  of  Naples  with  his  brother-in-law,  Joachim  Murat,  until  that  period 
grand-duke  of  Berg,  who  entered  Naples  Sept.  6,  1S08.  In  1309,  the  em- 
peror gave  Tuscany  to  his  sister  Eliza,  of  Piombino.  with  the  title  of 
grand-duchess.  In  the  same  year,  Austria  made  new  exertions  to  break 
the  excessive  power  of  France  •  but  Napoleon  again  drove  her  troops  from 
the  field,  and  appeared  once  more  victorious  in  Vienna,  where  he  pro- 
claimed (May  17)  the  end  of  the  secular  authority  of  the  popes,  and  the 
union  of  the  states  of  the  church  with  France.  Rome  became  the  sec- 
ond city  of  the  empire,  and  a  pension  of  2,000,000  of  francs  was  assigned 
to  the  pope. 

After  the  peace  of  Vienna,  by  which  Napoleon  acquired  the  Illyrian 
provinces,  Istria  and  Dalmatia  were  separated  from  the  kingdom  of  Italy, 
and  attached  to  them.  On  the  other  hand,  Bavaria  ceded  to  Italy  the 
circle  of  the  Adige,  a  part  of  Eisach,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  Clausen. 
The  power  of  the  French  emperor  was  now,  to  all  appearances,  firmly  es- 
tablished in  Italy.  While  the  Italian  people  were  supporting  French  ar- 
mies, sacrificing  their  own  troops  in  the  ambitious  wars  of  Napoleon  in 
remote  regions,  and  were  obliged  to  pay  heavy  taxes  in  the  midst  of  the 
total  ruin  of  their  commerce,  all  the  periodicals  were  full  of  praises  of 
the  institutions  for  the  encouragement  of  science,  arts,  and  industry,  in 
Italy.  After  the  fatal  retreat  from  Russia,  Murat,  whom  Napoleon  had 
personally  ofl'ended,  deserted  the  cause  of  France,  and  joined  Austria, 
(January  11,  1814),  whose  army  penetrated  into  Italy,  under  Bellegarde. 
The  viceroy,  Pugene,  continued  true  to  Napoleon  and  his  own  character, 
and  offered  to  the  enemies  of  his  dynasty  the  boldest  resistance,  which 
was  frustrated  by  the  fall  of  Napoleon  in  France. 

After  the  truce  of  April  21,  1814,  the  French  troops  evacuated  all  Italy, 
and  most  of  the  provinces  were  restored  to  their  legitimate  sovereigns. 
The  wife  of  Napoleon,  however,  the  empress  Maria  Louisa,  obtained  the 
16 


242  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

duchies  of  Parma,  Piacenza,  and  Guastalla,  with  reversion  to  her  son  , 
and  Napoleon  himself  became  sovereign  of  Elba,  of  which  he  took  pos- 
session,  May  4.  But  before  the  congress  of  Vienna  had  organized  the 
political  relations  of  Europe,  he  effected  his  return  to  France,  March  1, 
1815.  At  the  same  time,  Murat,  king  of  Naples,  abandoned  his  former 
ambiguous  attitude,  and  took  up  arms,  as  he  pretended,  for  the  indepen- 
dence of  Italy.  But  his  appeal  to  the  Italians  was  answered  by  a  decla* 
lion  of  war  by  Austria.  Driven  from  Bologna  by  the  Austrian  forces,  and 
totally  defeated  by  Bianchi  Toleniino,  he  lost  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  into 
which  the  Austrian  general  Nugent  had  penetrated  from  RomQ,  and  Bian- 
chi from  Aquila,  seven  weeks  after  the  opening  of  the  campaign.  He 
embarked  from  Naples,  with  a  view  of  escaping  to  France.  Ferdinand 
returned  from  Palermo,  and  Murat's  family  found  an  asylum  in  Austria. 
Murat  himself  made  a  descent  on  Calabria,  from  Corsica,  in  order  to  re- 
cover his  lost  kingdom.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Pizzo,  brought  before 
a  court  martial,  and  shot,  (Oct.  13,  1815). 

Meanwhile,  the  congress  of  Vienna,  by  the  act  of  June  9,  1815,  had  ar- 
ranged the  affairs  of  Italy : — 1.  The  king  of  Sardinia  was  reinstated  in 
his  territories,  according  to  the  boundaries  of  1792,  with  some  alterations 
on  the  side  of  Geneva;  for  the  portion  of  Savoy,  left  in  possession  of 
France  by  the  peace  of  Paris,  of  May  30,  1814,  was  restored  by  the  treaty 
of  Paris,  of  Nov.  20,  1815.  To  his  states  was  united  Genoa,  as  a  duchy, 
according  to  the  boundaries  of  that  republic,  in  1792,  and  contrary  to  the 
promises  made  to  Genoa. — 2.  The  emperor  of  Austria  united  with  his 
hereditary  states  the  new  Lombardo- Venetian  provinces  formerly  belong- 
ing to  Austria,  the  Valteline,  Bormio,  and  Chiavenna,  separated  from  the 
Grisons,  besides  Mantua  and  Milan.  Istria,  however,  was  united  with 
the  Germanic- Austrian  kingdom  of  Illyria;  Dalmatia,  with  Ragusa  and 
Cattaro,  constituting  a  distinct  Austrian  kingdom. — 3.  The  valley  of  the 
Po  was  adopted  as  the  boundary  between  the  stales  of  the  church  and 
Parma;  otherwise,  the  boundaries  of  Jan.  1,  1792,  were  retained.  The 
Austrian  house  of  Este  again  received  Modena,  Reggio,  Mirandola,  Massa, 
and  Carrara. — 4.  The  empress  Maria  Louisa  received  the  state  of  Parma, 
as  a  sovereign  duchess,  but,  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  of  June  10,  1817,  only 
for  life,  it  having  been  agreed  that  the  duchess  of  Lucca  and  her  descend- 
ants should  inherit  it. — 5.  The  arch-duke  Ferdinand  of  Austria  became 
again  grand-duke  of  Tuscany,  to  which  were  joined  the  Stato  degli  Pre- 
sidj,  the  former  Neapolitan  part  of  the  island  of  Elba,  the  principahty  of 
Piombino,  and  some  small  included  districts,  formerly  fiefs  of  the  German 
empire.  The  prince  Buoncompagni  Ludovisi  retained  all  his  rights  of 
property  in  Elba  and  Piombino. — 6.  The  Infanta,  Maria  Louisa,  received 
Lucca,  of  which  she  took  possession  as  a  sovereign  duchy,  1817,  with  an 
annnuity  of  500,000  francs,  till  the  reversion  of  Parma. — 7.  The  territo- 
ries of  the  church  were  all  restored,  with  the  exception  of  the  strip  of 
land  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Po  ;  and  Austria  retained  the  right  of  main- 
taining garrisons  in  Ferrara  and  Coramacchio. — 8.  Ferdinand  IV.  was 
again  recognized  as  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  Britain  retained  Malta, 
and  was  declared  the  protectress  of  the  United  Ionian  Islands.  The 
knights  of  Malta,  who  had  recovered  their  possessions  in  the  States  of 
the  Church  and  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  for  a  time  made  Ca- 
tania, and  after  1826,  Ferrara,  their  residence.  The  repubhc  of  San  Ma- 
rino, and  the  prince  of  Monaco,  whose  mountain- fortress  the  Sardinians, 
and  before  them  the  French  occupied,  alone  remained  unharmed  amid  the 
fifteen  political  revolutions  which  Italy  had  undergone  in  the  course  of 
twenty-five  years.  The  Austrian  predominance  was  thus  more  firmly 
established  than  ever  in  Italy. 

We  shall  now  proceed  wiih  a  history  of  Venice,  its  political  and  coirv. 
mercial  eminence  having  rendered  it  for  many  centuries  by  far  the  mnsi 
important  of  the  Italian  states. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  VENICE. 

Of  all  the  republics  of  Italy,  Venice  is  that  whose  history  is  the  most 
interesting  and  singular ;  it  has  all  the  startling  brilliancy  of  romance, 
and  fully  justifies  the  poetical  remark — "  Truth  is  strange,  stranger  than 
fiction."  Even  the  termination  of  her  independent  existence  differed 
from  that  of  other  states  ;  it  was  only  in  the  expiring  throes  of  her  once 
vast  power  that  the  springs  of  the  policy  which  were  created,  and  so  long 
maintained  by  that  power,  were  laid  bare  to  the  world's  gaze.  The  policy 
of  other  states  was  obvious  in  their  acts;  but  until  the  last  vestige  of 
Venetian  power  and  independence  was  annihilated  by  the  iron  hand  of 
Napoleon,  the  results,  only,  of  Venetian  policy  were  to  be  seen,  the  pro- 
cess never.  In  looking  with  stedfast  eye  upon  that  process  it  will  be  im- 
possible to  avoid  a  feeling  of  disgust  and  indignation  at  many  of  the 
mdividual  acts  of  the  government ;  but  equally  impossible  will  it  be  to 
withhold  praise  from  its  general  wisdom.  The  tyranny  to  which  some 
of  the  nolilest  and  best  blood  in  Venice  was  sacrificed  we  must  detest ; 
but  the  stern  severity  with  which  the  domestic  traitor  was  put  down,  and 
the  keen  policy  by  which  the  foreign  foe  was  hoodwinked,  we  cannot  but 
admire  and  approve.  The  history  of  Venice  is  now,  more  than  ever,  in- 
teresting to  us  ;  for  it  is  in  our  day  that  a  blow,  as  swift  and  crushing  as 
the  thunderbolt,  has  struck  out  of  the  list  of  independent  states  this  an- 
cient republic,  so  remarkable  in  site  and  in  institutions. 

At  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Italy,  between  the  Alps  and  the  north- 
western coast  of  the  Adriatic,  there  was  settled  from  a  very  early  age  a 
people  called  the  Heneti  or  Veneti,  from  whom  the  fertile  district  inques- 
was  called  Venetia.  From  their  position  at  the  extremity  of  Italy  it 
might  be  reasonably  inferred  that  they  were  originally  some  nomade  tribe 
of  Northmen,  and  among  the  latest,  if  not  the  very  latest  of  the  early 
colonizers  of  Italy  from  that  quarter.  But  a  very  great  difference  of 
opinion  exists  as  to  their  actual  origin.  Both  poetically  and  popularly 
they  have  been  supposed  to  be  the  Heneto-Paphlagones,  mentioned  by 
Homer,  who,  having  lost  their  leader  in  the  Trojan  war,  were  led  into 
Europe  by  Antenor,  and,  having  arrived  at  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  gulf, 
expelled  the  Euganei,  and  settled  there.  Strabo  thinks  differently,  and 
believes  them  to  have  been  originally  from  Gaul — there  having  been  a 
Gallic  tribe  of  that  name.  But  Polybius  states,  that  though  the  Veneti 
undoubtedly  resembled  the  Gauls  in  some  of  their  manners  and  customs, 
they  differed  from  them  in  language.  Moreover,  it  is  well  observed  by  a 
modern  historian,  that  whatever  might  be  the  resemblances  between  the 
Veneti  and  a  Gallic  tribe  of  the  same  name,  as  to  manners,  customs,  and 
even  dress,  there  is  one  striking  part  in  the  history  of  the  former  which 
may  be  looked  upon  as  almost  irrefragable  evidence  that  it  is  not  in  Gaul 
that  we  must  look  for  their  origin.  It  is  this  :  that,  having  a  Gallic  colony 
in  their  immediate  neighbourhod,  the  Veneti  constantly  took  the  part  of 
Rome  against  that  colony  in  all  occasions  of  dispute.  That  the  accoimt 
which  makes  them  the  Heneto-Paphlagones  of  Homer  is  correct,  seems 
by  no  means  improbable.  We  may  easily  suppose,  having  crossed  the 
Bosphorus,  they  passed  over  the  plains  of  Thrace,  skirted  the  Danube  and 
the  Save  into  Croatia,  and  at  length  halted  on  the  northwestern  shore  of 
the  Adriatic,  and  either  expelled  or  subjected  the  people  whom  they  found 
there.  Whatever  the  origin  of  the  Venetians,  it  is  quite  certain  that  at 
A  very  early  period  they  were  extremely  prosperous  and  powerful.     The 


244  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

very  nature  of  the  country  would  indicate  this,  as  well  as  account  for  the 
long  independence  of  Venice  ;  an  independence  which  lasted  during  some 
of  the  mightiest  desolations  of  the  world ;  which  witnessed  the  expiring 
agony  and  downfall  of  the  mighty  empire  of  Rome ;  the  rise  of  the 
French  empire  in  the  West,  when  Clovis  conquered  the  Gauls;  the  rise 
and  fall  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy  and  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain  ;  of  the 
Lombards  who  succeeded  the  former,  and  of  the  Saracens  who  supplanted 
the  latter  !  The  Comte  Figliosi,  a  learned  modern  historian  of  Venice, 
very  clearly  shows  that  in  the  most  distant  times  the  people  which  occu- 
pied the  country  since  called  the  Venetian  states  of  the  Terra  Firma, 
also  occupied  Rialto  and  its  sixty  neighbouring  islets ;  and  that  from  that 
circumstance  arose  the  titles  of  Vcnelia  Prima  and  Venetia  Secunda,  the 
first  being  applied  to  the  continental  territory,  the  second  to  the  Venetian 
isles.  The  fertility  of  the  former  naturally  inclined  the  inhabitants  to 
agriculture  ;  the  situation  of  the  latter  in  the  midst  of  canals,  at  the  em- 
bouchure of  rivers,  and  near  the  Grecian  islands,  as  naturally  disposed 
them  to  navigation  and  commerce,  and  led  to  maritime  skill,  and  the 
wealth  and  power  of  which  that  is  invariably  the  creator. 

It  is  not  until  the  fourth  century  after  the  building  of  Rome  that  we 
find  any  mention  made  of  the  Venetians  as  a  people ;  but  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  then  mentioned  by  Polybius,  shews  that  their  prosperity 
and  strength  must  even  then  have  been  of  long  standing,  and  arrived 
at  a  very  high  pitch.  We  have  it  on  the  authority  of  that  historian,  that 
the  very  existence  of  Rome  may  be  said  to  have  been  preserved  by  the 
Veneti,  on  an  occasion  when  the  Gauls  had  made  themselves  masters  of 
every  foot  of  the  eternal  city,  with  the  exception  of  the  capitol.  The 
Gauls,  a  restless,  bold,  and  greedy  people,  were  still,  even  in  the  fourth 
century  of  Rome,  an  almost  nomade  people.  Polybius  tells  us  that  they 
were  scattered  about  in  villages  unenclosed  by  walls.  Of  furniture  they 
knew  not  the  use.  Their  way  of  life  was  simple  as  that  of  the  most  un- 
reclaimed savages ;  they  knew  no  other  bed  than  the  grass  ;  nor  any 
other  nutriment  than  the  wild  animals  which  they  hunted  down  or  en- 
snared. The  arts  and  sciences  were  wholly  unknown  to  them.  Their 
wealth  consisted  of  gold  and  cattle :  the  sole  things  which  could  with 
facility  be  removed  from  place  to  place  as  vagrant  fancy  or  pressing  con- 
juncture might  demand.  Such  was  the  people  who,  in  the  year  364  from 
the  building  of  Rome,  defeated  the  Romans  in  the  pitched  battle  of  Allia, 
marched  upon  the  city  itself,  beating  the  Romans  in  every  skirmish  dur- 
ing three  successive  days,  and  obtained  possession  of  all  but  the  capitol 
itself.  At  this  most  critical  juncture  the  Veneti  poured  into  Gaul  with  a 
fury  which  speedily  relieved  Rome  of  her  foes,  who  hastened  to  defend 
their  families  and  possessions. 

Much  difference  of  opinion  has  existed  as  to  whether  the  Veneti  were 
at  this  time  the  allies  or  the  subjects  of  Rome  ;  but  we  are  disposed  to 
think  that  they  were  the  former,  or  Rome  would  not  have  sent  a  formal 
embassy  to  acknowledge  and  thank  them  for  this  timely  and  important 
service.  It  was  not  thus  that  haughty  Rome  treated  those  who  were 
already  subjected  to  her.  But  powerful  and  wealthy  as  the  Veneti  already 
were,  not  even  their  power  and  wealth  could  permanently  keep  them  in- 
dependent of  the  daily  increasing  power  and  profound  policy  of  Rome. 
Friendly  allies  probably  in  the  first  instance,  the  Veneti,  whether  from 
force,  fear,  or  in  the  well-founded  hope  of  protection,  at  length  became 
dependent  upon  Rome.  They  furnished  a  contingent  force  to  Rome  io 
the  second  Punic  war,  and  Rome,  on  the  other  hand,  defended  Venetia  as 
one  of  its  proper  provinces.  In  truth,  it  is  of  little  consequence  how 
Venetia  passed  from  alliance  to  subjection  ;  from  voluntarily  serving  a 
neighbour,  to  marching  under  the  orders  of  a  protector  and  master.  Such 
ftite  inevitably  awaited  the  smaller  and  weaker  of  the  neiglibouring  states  • 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  045 

sndthe  subtle  policy  of  Rome  was  little  likely  to  overlook  the  importance 
of  adding  to  its  provinces  a  district  which  contained  fifty  cities,  and  a 
population  of  from  a  million  to  a  million  and  a  half;  a  district  too,  which, 
in  addition  to  its  fertility  as  a  grain-growing  country,  could  boast  a  breed 
of  horses  which  frequently  carried  away  the  Olympic  victory  from  the 
swiftest  steeds  that  Greece  herself  could  produce.  However  subjected, 
it  is  certain  that  in  the  years  of  Rome  652-3,  just  after  the  defeat  of 
the  Cimbri  and  Teutones  by  Marius,  Venetia  became  a  part  of  the  Roman 
province  called  Transalpine  Gaul,  and  was  governed  by  a  prajtor.  From 
this  time  forth  we  must,  for  some  centuries,  speak  of  it  in  connection 
with  Rome  ;  of  whose  disasters  we  shall  see  that  fertile  Venetia  Prima 
was  the  desolated  victim — and  the  maritime  Venetia  Secunda  the  glorious 
and  mighty  consequence.  Continental  Venice,  if  subjected  to  the  power 
of  Rome,  was  at  the  same  time  admitted  to  its  privileges  and  made  par- 
ticipator of  its  advantages.  Governed  by  a  Roman  praetor,  they  also 
voted  in  the  Roman  assemblies  of  the  people  ;  and  furnishing  a  contingent 
of  men  and  money  when  the  affairs  of  Rome  demanded  it,  they  also  had 
the  aid  of  Roman  taste  and  Roman  wealth  in  improving  and  beautifying 
their  cities,  as  numerous  remains,  especially  in  Verona,  show  at  this 
day. 

From  the  annexation  of  Venice  to  Rome,  until  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  it  is  in  Roman  history  that  the  reader  must 
look  for  such  slight  mention  as  is  made  at  all  of  the  affairs  of  Venetia ; 
we  pass,  therefore,  in  the  present  sketch,  to  the  commencement  of  the 
fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The  fierce  northern  people  known 
by  the  name  of  Goths,  being  expelled  by  the  no  less  fierce  and  still  more 
powerful  Huns,  about  the  year  376,  were  allowed  to  settle  themselves 
in  the  vast  plains  of  Thrace.  Actuated  partly,  perhaps,  by  gratitude  to 
Rome,  but  still  more  by  hatred  of  the  Huns,  the  Goths  were  of  signal 
service  to  the  western  empire,  to  which  the  Huns  were  a  dreaded  and 
perpetually  troublesome  enemy.  Alaric,  the  Gothic  leader,  who  the  most 
distinguished  himself  in  this  auxiliary  warfare,  was  far  too  acute  not  to 
perceive  the  weakness  of  the  once  mighty  people  of  which  he  was  the 
temporary  ally  and  the  seemingly  grateful  guest :  and  he  was  far  too  am- 
bitious and  restless  in  his  nature,  to  see  that  weakness  without  design  to 
take  advantage  of  it.  From  merely  aiding  Theodosius  the  Great  to  re- 
pel the  Huns,  Alaric  easily  got  leave  to  assist  in  putting  down  the  rebel- 
lions of  Argobastes  and  Eugenius,  who  aimed  at  the  imperial  purple. 
This  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Rome  at  once  increased  Alaric's 
insight  into  her  actual  condition,  and  his  desire  to  become  the  master  of 
that  empire,  of  which  hitherto  he  had  only  been  the  sheltered  guest  or 
the  paid  servant.  A  considerable  territory  in  Thrace  and  high  honorary 
rank  in  the  Roman  army  should  have  been  ('.eemed  by  Alaric  himself  a 
sufficient  reward  for  all  the  services  he  had  rendered  to  Rome  ;  especially 
as  Rome  had  sheltered  the  Goths  as  distressed  fugitives  long  before  she 
asked  their  aid  as  warlike  allies.  But  a  plea  was  necessary  to  justify  the 
auxiliary  in  becoming  the  foeman;  and  accordingly  as  soon  as  Alaric 
saw  that  the  state  of  public  affairs  was  such  as  to  promise  him  success, 
he  began  to  call  men  and  angels  to  witness  how  faithfully  and  boldly  he 
had  served  Rome,  and  how  scantily  and  ungratefully  she  had  rewarded 
his  good  services. 

Both  courts,  the  eastern  and  western,  abounded  with  men  who  wished 
to  see  confusion  and  warfare  in  the  midst  of  their  country.  Rufinus, 
though  he  was  tutor  to  young  Arcadius  after  the  death  of  Theodosius 
the  Great,  was  the  most  active  traitor  who  wished  for  the  success  of  the 
barbarian  malcontent;  and  aided  him  not  only  with  secret  advice  and  in- 
formation, but  also  with  considerable  sums  of  money.  Thus  aided  and 
encouraged,  Alaric  overran  Pannonia.  Macedonia,  and   those  parts  0/ 


246  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Thrace  which  were  adjacent  to  his  settlement  and  sufficiently  wealthy  to 
be  worth  his  destroying  labour.  Stilicho,  the  general  of  Ilonorius,  who 
then  reigiicd  over  the  western  empire,  was  for  a  time  successful  against 
Alaric ;  but  by  an  unfortunate  over-confidence  gave  the  able  barbarian 
opportunity  of  retaliation,  which  he  so  efTectually  used,  that  Honorius 
was  fain  to  recall  his  general  from  aiding  the  Greeks,  and  convert  the 
Goth  from  an  enemy  into  an  ally,  by  giving  him  the  sovereignty  of  all 
lUyria.  The  increase  of  power  which  Alaric  necessarily  obtained  from 
increase  of  territory  was  little  likely  to  decrease  either  his  enmity  to 
Honorius,  whose  general  had  temporarily  defeated  him,  or  his  desire  to 
overrun  tiic  western  empire,  which  promised  much  richer  spoil  than  the 
Grecian  territory  he  had  already  ravaged.  Causing  himself  to  be  elevated 
upon  a  shield — the  ancient  enthronement  of  a  warrior  king — he  was  pro- 
claimed, amidst  the  shouts  of  his  fierce  soldiery,  king  of  the  Visigoths. 
Increasing  his  already  immense  army  by  recruits  from  the  banks  of  the 
Danube,  he  pointed  to  Rome  and  the  smiling  Italian  lands,  and  promised 
their  spoils  to  his  followers  ;  and,  unfortunately,  his  fierce  hatred  of  Rome 
and  love  of  bloodshed  and  plunder  were  fully  equalled  by  the  timidity  and 
irresolution  of  Honorius.  That  feeble  monarch  was  speedily  convinced 
of  his  inferiority  to  his  barbaric  opponent;  and  was  from  the  outset  of 
the  war  worsted  by  him,  in  despite  of  a  literally  innumerable  army,  com- 
posed partly  of  veteran  troops  ajid  partly  of  barbarian  levies  from  ths 
very  extremities  of  the  empire.  Stilicho,  the  man  who,  of  all  the  empe 
ror's  friends  and  advisers,  was  most  likely  to  have  proved  the  successful 
defender  of  the  empire,  had  been  sacrificed,  partly  to  that  vague  hatrec 
which  the  multitude  of  all  times  and  all  ages  bear  to  towering  talent,  and 
partly  to  the  timidity  and  treachery  of  Honorius  himself,  who  had  learned 
to  fear  ability  by  mere  dint  of  profiting  by  it. 

With  such  an  emperor,  just  such  a  people  was  joined   as  was  least 
likely  to  be  permanently  successful  in  resisting  a  bold,  greedy,  and  hardy 
race  of  barbarians  led  on  by  an  Alaric  or  an  Attila.     The  individual  har- 
dihood and  pride  of  manhood  that  had  characterized  the  Roman  of  the 
republic,  and  the  serried  discipline  and  national  pride  that  had  so  often 
given  prey  to  the  Roman  eagle,  under  the  Roman  emperors  who  were 
worthy  of  that  name,  had  passed  away  before  a  luxury  and  effeminacy 
which  would  be  incredible  were  they  not  related  to  us  by  the  pens  of  in- 
dignant Romans  who  describe  the  scenes  which,  loathing-,  they  lived  amidst 
and  witnessed.     Ammianus  Marcellinus,  more  especially,  describes  the 
luxury,  pride,  and  effeminacy  of  the  rich  as  being  more  than  eastern. 
"If,"  says  he,  "on  a  hot  day  they  muster  courage  to  sail  in  their  painted 
gallies  from  the  Lucrine  lake  to  their  elegant  villas  on  the  sea-coast  of 
Puteoli  and  Cayeta,  they  compare  the  exploit  to  the  expeditions  of  Alex- 
ander and   Caesar.     Yet  should  a  fly  settle  on  the  silken  folds  of  their 
umbrellas,  or  a  sunbeam  penetrate  some  unguarded  chink,  they  deplore 
their  hard  fate,  and  protest,  in  affected  language,  that 'twere  better  to  have 
been  born  in  the  land  of  the  Cimmerians,  the  region  of  perpetual  clouds 
and  darkness."     Innumerable  instances  might  be  given  of  this  effemi- 
nacy as  to  the  upper  orders  of  Romans  in  the  commencement  of  the 
fifth  century  ;  and  abundant  proofs  might  be  adduced  of  the  state  of  want, 
dependence  upon  public  alms,  or  still  more  enthralling  dependence  on  in- 
dividual patronage,  of  the  lower  orders.     But  enough  has  been  said  to 
show  that  the  state  of  Rome,  alike  in  government  and  people,  was  pre- 
cisely such  as  to  invite,  nay,  to  require,  the  rude  purfication  of  successive 
and   successful  invasions  of   hardier    races.      Alaric   again  and  again 
ravaged  the  Roman  territoies,. Honorius  and  his  ministers  literally  inviting 
him  to  do  so  by  their  pusillanimity  on  some  occasions  and  empty  threats 
on  others.     Adolphus,  brother-in-law  of  Alaric,  who  awfully  realized  his 
truculent  boast  that  where  his  horse  once  trod  the  grass  never  grow. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  247 

ravaged  Italy  in  every  direction ;  and  perhaps  no  part  of  the  empire,  if 
we  except  Aquiica,  which  was  so  utterly  destroyed  as  to  be  even  without 
traceable  ruins,  suffered  more  than  Venetia  Prima,  or  Continental  Venice, 
Concordia,  Oderso,  Altino,  and  Padua.  For  three  years  the  inhabitants 
of  these  places  were  never  for  an  instant  free  from  the  presence  of  the 
stranger  and  the  oppressor,  on  occasion  of  the  second  inroad  of  the  Gothic 
Alaric  ;  and  many  of  them,  even  during  the  tyranny  of  that  comparatively 
mild  tyrant,  took  refuge  in  the  various  islets  which  were  grouped  around 
Rialto.  Tiiis  island,  which  vvas  already  the  port  and  entrepot  of  the  com- 
merce of  Padua,  was  naturally  that  which  was  earliest  and  most  resorted 
to;  and  we  find  that  as  early  as  the  year  421  the  inhabitants  of  this  little 
islet  were  numerous  enough  to  allow  of  the  building  of  a  considerable 
church,  which  was  in  that  year  dedicated  to  St.  James,  in  pursuance  of  a 
vow  made  during  the  progress  of  a  great  fire  which  consumed  twenty- 
four  houses.  It  is  possible  that  the  retreat  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
fugitives  from  the  main  land  to  the  isles  was  merely  temporary,  and  that 
when  their  proper  country  was  abandoi>ed  by  the  barbarians,  they  would 
be  led,  either  by  a  pining  after  their  fertile  and  beautiful  land,  which  would 
be  remembered  with  the  greater  regret  by  being  contrasted  with  the  flat 
and  dreary  shores  of  the  isles,  or  by  a  vague  hope  of  finding  some  rem- 
nants of  plunder  left  behind  by  the  barbarians,  to  return  to  the  continent. 
But  that  the  number  of  permanent  emigrants  to  the  isles  even  at  this 
time  was  very  considerable,  is  evident  from  a  document  which  we  believe 
is  not  quoted,  if  even  referred  to,  by  any  modern  historian  of  Venice,  ex- 
cept Daru. 

The  document  in  question  is  an  old  and  only  partially  perfect  manu- 
script in  the  convent  of  St.  Michael — and  is  a  collection  of  "  various 
notices  relative  to  the  origin  of  Venice,"  which  was  formed  by  Fulgentius 
Tomasellus,  an  abbot  of  the  house,  and  since  translated  by  one  of  its 
librarians,  Father  Mitarelli.  It  bears  date  in  the  year  of  Christ  421,  and 
the  last  year  of  the  papacy  of  Innocent  I. ;  and  the  chief  passage  of  it 
that  was  sufRciently  legible  to  be  translated  into  Latin  by  the  learned  li- 
brarian, is  a  decree  of  the  consuls  and  the  senate  of  Padua,  for  erecting 
Rialto  into  a  chief  city,  in  which  the  scattered  population  of  the  whole 
of  the  adjacent  islands  might  congregate,  not  merely  for  their  own  greater 
comfort,  and  the  convenience  and  prosperity  of  their  own  port,  and  the 
patron  city  of  Padua,  but  likewise,  and  especially,  that  they  being  thus 
concentrated  might  keep  an  armed  fleet,  and  thus  defend  alike  themselves 
and  the  neighbouring  continent  against  the  recurrence  of  the  destruction 
by  fire  and  sword,  which  this  region  had  already,  and  to  so  fearful  an  ex- 
tent, experienced  at  the  hands  of  "  Gothorum  cum  rege  illorum  Alarico.'' 

"  Reliquum  legcre  non  potiii"  says  the  translator,  the  rest  is  not  legible  ; 
but  enough  appears  to  show,  that  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  isles  were 
comparatively  few  in  number,  scattered  hither  and  thither  without  judg- 
ment and  without  common  polity,  save  such  as  necessarily  resulted  from 
their  common  dependence  upon  Padua,  as  fishermen,  carriers,  and  traders 
in  general :  and  that  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  Alaric,  and  the  subsequent 
and  ruinous  occupation  of  the  cities  and  plains  of  Lombardy  by  his 
fierce  people,  so  much  increased  the  populousness  of  the  isles,  as  to  lead 
the  Paduans  to  order  the  concentration  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  consti- 
tution of  a  central  seat  of  population — in  short,  of  a  chief  city  of  the 
islets,  to  which  it  was  inevitable  the  rest  should  become  morally,  as  in 
the  end  they  also  were  physically,  united  and  subjected.  Imitating  upon 
a  small  scale  the  immemorial  policy  of  Rome  herself,  the  Paduans,  while 
they  assuredly  took  the  course  which  was  best  calculated  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  settlers  on  the  islands,  and  to  make  them  importantly 
useful  to  northeastern  Italy,  should  its  fate  ever  depend  upon  maritime 
warfare,  did  not  allow  the  islanders  to  forget  that  they  were  dependents 


248  THE  TKBASUEY  OF  HISTOKY. 

as  traders,  and,  in  some  degree,  as  colonists;  and,  accordingly,  the  new 
town  or  state  was  governed  by  officers  appointed  by  the  Paduans,  with 
the  title  of  consuls. 

Rialto,  or  Rivo  aha,  the  deep  river,  which  was  thus  made  the  chief 
town  of  the  isles,  was  subsequently  connected  with  the  opposite  bank  by 
abridge  whiclj  bore  the  same  name,  and  this  island  subsequently  had  built 
upon  it,  too,  the  exchange,  also  called  Rialto  ;  this  last  being  at  once  the 
homage  paid  to  the  chief  island,  and  surest  guarantee,  in  a  purely  com- 
mercial or  maritime  state,  for  preserving  the  chief  resort  and  influence  to 
it.  The  peculiar  situation  of  the  Venetian  isles  being  considered,  the 
obstacles  wliich  their  difficult  navigation  must  have  presented  to  foreign- 
ers and  barbarians  in  the  then  rude  state  of  the  maritime  art,  their  con- 
nection with  so  fertile  and  populous  a  portion  of  coniinental  Italy,  woulo 
prognosticate  immense  prosperity  immediately,  and  great,  if  not  prepon 
derating  power  ultimately,  to  the  new  state,  in  the  event  of  that  ruin  fall- 
ing upon  the  Roman  empire,  which  every  circumstance,  within  and  with- 
out, indicated  to  least  careful  and  attentive  observer;  even  should  no 
other  external  circumstances  favour  the  islanders.  Such  other  circum- 
stances, however,  were  not  to  be  wanting  in  the  causation  of  Venetian 
greatness. 

A  new  scourge  for  Italy  appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  multitude  of  Huns, 
who  were  led  from  the  depths  of  Scythia  by  Attila ;  a  leader  fierce  and 
able  as  Alaric  in  the  field,  and  far  more  cruel  and  unsparing  when  the  field 
was  won.  Having  carried  fire  and  sword  throughout  Macedonia,  Ger- 
many, and  Gallia,  from  which  last  he  found  it  prudent  to  retreat,  the  alarm 
was  suddenly  given  that  he  was  leading  the  Huns  and  their  swarming 
barbarous  allies  towards  the  Julian  Alps,  threatening  new  destruction  to 
the  beautiful  lands  of  Venelia,  and  new  miseries  to  the  Venetians  of 
the  main  land.  In  the  year  452  Attila  appeared  before  Aquilea;  and  that 
city  still  preserving  some  of  the  spirit  of  old  Rome,  of  which  it  was  a 
colony  and  offset,  made  a  defence  so  brave — though  insufficient  to  save  it 
from  the  fierce  host  that  assailed  it — that  when  it  was  at  length,  in  sheer 
necessity  yielded,  the  enraged  barbarian  literally  left  not  one  brick  or 
stone  standing  upon  another.  The  fate  of  Aquilea,  and  the  terrific  charac- 
ter of  its  destroyer,  naturally  struck  terror  into  the  inhabitans  of  the 
neighbouring  cities  of  Padua,  Altino,  Concordia,  and  Oderso  ;  who  hastily 
gatlaered  together,  all  their  property  that  was  moveable,  and  hastened  to 
take  refuge  in  the  isles  ;  the  difficult  navigation  of  which,  and  the  niari- 
time  habits  of  the  long  settled  and  proper  inhabitants  of  which,  gave  a 
promise  of  safety  from  pursuit  and  destruction,  which  the  example  of 
Aquilea  but  too  plainly  showed  to  be  hopeless  upon  the  main  land. 

The  cause  of  this  new  irruption  of  Attila  and  his  Huns,  as  being  also  a 
principal  cause  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  Venice  the  Superb,  must  not 
be  wholly  omitted  here ;  we  mean  the  treason  of  Honoria,  the  sister  of 
Valentinian  III.  This  princess,  having  dishonoured  her  rank  and  family 
by  her  intrigue  with  a  courtier,  which  intrigue  was  aided  by  the  careless- 
ness of  her  own  mother,  who  had  always  acted  as  if  she  was  regardless 
of  the  education  and  moral  conduct  of  her  daughter,  was  placed  under  the 
most  rigid  surveillance.  Naturally  of  a  gay,  perhaps  we  might  even  say 
of  a  licentious  turn,  this  restraint  wearied  her  to  such  a  pitch  of  despera- 
tion, that  she  contrived  to  send  a  ring  to  Attila,  as  a  pledge  of  love  and 
good  faith ;  and  with  it  a  pressing  message  demanding  his  support  and 
aid  against  her  own  family,  and  requesting  to  be  admitted  in  the  number 
of  his  wives.  Honoria  was  reputed  to  be  very  beautiful,  and  to  female 
beauty  the  barbarian  chieftain  was  by  no  means  unsusceptible.  But  he 
devised  a  considerable  improvement  upon  the  proposition  of  the  princess  ; 
he  preceded  his  new  advance  upon  the  empire  with  a  demand,  not  only 
of  the  hand  of  the  lady,  but  also  of  half  the  provinces  of  the  empire.     The 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  249 

refusal  he  met  with,  and  his  rage  thereupon,  led  to  the  destruction  ol 
Aquilea,  and  to  the  taking-  refuge  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  and  the  neigh- 
bouring cities  in  Rialto  and  the  dependent  Venetian  isles. 

If  not  so  wholly  destroyed  to  their  very  foundations  as  Aquilea,  the 
neighbouring  cities  were,  however,  so  completely  pillaged  and  so  con- 
siderably devastated,  that  a  'vast  number  of  the  inhabitants  not  merely 
sought  shelter  in  the  isles  during  the  actual  and  threatening  presence  of 
the  barbarians  upon  the  main  land,  but  were  so  wearied  by  the  losses 
they  had  already  sustained,  and  so  completely  dispirited  by  the  apparent 
probability  of  a  frequent  recurrence  of  similar  inflictions,  as  to  take  up 
their  permanent  residence  in  the  comparatively  inaccessible  isles,  where 
they  had  at  first  sought  only  a  temporary  shelter.  Some  would  doubtless 
return  to  the  main  land,  in  hope  to  find  their  homes  undestroyed,  what- 
ever might  have  befallen  the  homes  of  their  neighbours ;  but  being  as 
poor  as  the  poorest  of  the  islanders,  and  far  less  favourably  situated  as  to 
the  future  than  the  islanders  as  a  body,  it  was  not  at  all  reasonable  that 
the  former  should  claim  any  continuance  of  the  Paduan  authority  over 
the  isles  ;  the  more  especially,  as  no  one  knew  how  soon  a  new  incursion 
of  the  barbarians  might  once  more  render  the  isles  the  only  place  of  safe 
refuge  to  the  dwellers  upon  the  main  land.  The  authority  of  the  old 
towns  being  thus  tacitly  but  effectually  terminated,  the  islanders  and 
refugees  consolidated  themselves  together,  and  organized,  perhaps,  the 
very  best  kmd  of  society  for  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were 
placed. 

The  extent  of  the  immigration  had  made  it  impossible  for  the  chief  islet, 
Rialto,  to  accommodate  more  than  a  very  inconsiderable  portion  of  the 
fugitives.  The  remainder  had  of  necessity  distributed  themselves  amid 
the  other  islets,  all  of  which  were  now  populated  more  or  less  densely. 
Each  of  the  larger  of  these  islands,  containing  a  sufficient  population  to 
give  it  the  necessary  weight  and  importance  in  the  new  state,  it  was 
agreed  to  elect  a  tribune.  This  magistrate,  whose  term  of  office  was 
limited  to  one  year,  was  charged  with  the  administration  of  justice  in  his 
own  isle,  and  was  accountable  only  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  colony, 
which  alone  could  decide  upon  the  affairs  of  the  isles  en  masse.  In  a 
word,  the  islanders  formed  a  federative  republic ;  the  whole  governed  as 
to  external  affairs  and  affairs  of  common  import,  by  an  authority  delegated 
from  the  whole  ;  each  internally  and  in  matters  peculiar  to  itself  governed 
by  the  tribune  of  its  own  election.  For  a  long  time  their  chief  commodi- 
ties for  sale  were  salt  and  fish,  but  those  are  articles  peculiarly  profitable 
where  the  commerce  in  them  is  very  large  ;  however,  the  islanders 
could  not  fail  to  accumulate  riches,  the  great  source,  when  wisely  used,  of 
political  power — exempted  as  they  were  from  the  evils  to  which  the  cities 
on  the  main  land  had  become  the  victims. 

The  invasion  of  Italy  by  the  Heruli  under  Odoacer,  in  476,  when  the 
army  sent  by  Augustulus  was  vanquished,  and  its  general  slain  by  Odoa- 
cer's  own  hand ;  and  the  subsequent  invasion  of  the  Ostrogoths  under 
Theodoric,  who  dethroned  and  put  to  death  Odoacer,  the  dethroner  of 
Agustulus,  caused  a  new  increase  of  population  to  flow  into  the  Venetian 
isles ;  and  when  the  insular  republic  had  barely  a  hundred  years  of  exist- 
ence, it  already  began  to  be  respected  for  its  industry  and  numbers,  and 
admired  for  a  prosperity  so  strikingly  contrasted  with  its  small  number  of 
natural  productions.  Fish  and  salt  were  all  that  Venice  seemed  to  pos- 
sess ;  and  it  was  not  yet  known  how  far  better  a  nurse  commerce  is  to  a 
state  than  war.  The  disasters  to  which  the  empire  had  been  subjected 
both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west,  and  the  blots  which  barbarian  success 
had  cast  upon  the  escutcheon  of  Rome's  supposed  invincibility,  added  to 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  cities  of  Venetia  Prima,  probably  caused 
Rome's  power  to  be  held  in  comparatively  light  estimation  even  by  those 


250  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

who  returned  to  the  main  land  and  rebuilt  their  destroyed  homes.  And 
the  isolation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  isles,  their  early  poverty,  and,  above 
-ill,  the  hardly  practicable  sea-walls  that  stretched  around  tliem,  would 
seem  to  make  their  independence  of  disorganized  and  distracted  Rome  a 
matter  beyond  dispute.  It  has,  however,  been  disputed,  and  by  a  high 
authority,  but  we  lliink  on  very  inadequate  grounds.  Cassiodorus,  min- 
ister to  Theodoric,  wrote  a  highly  flattering  letter, — a  letter  penned  with 
most  oratorical  art  and  care,  and  evidently  with  great  anxiety  a.i  to  its 
success, — requesting  the  Venetians  to  effect  by  means  of  their  ves.sels  the 
transport  of  a  supply  of  wine  and  oil  from  Istria  to  Ravenna.  The  very 
care  and  polish  that  are  lavished  upon  this  letter  seem  to  us  to  be  quite 
decisive  as  to  Rome  having  no  recognized,  stated,  or  easily  available  au 
thority  over  the  Venetians  of  the  isles.  It  is  quite  true,  as  has  been  re- 
marked by  the  learned  count  Daru,  that  notwithstanding  the  urbanity  o( 
the  letter,  it  yet  evidently  contains  an  order.  It  seems  to  us,  that  the 
politely-couched  order  of  such  a  neighbour  as  Rome,  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  prove  aught  against  the  actual  political  independence  of  such  a  slate  as 
Venice,  and  at  so  early  a  stage  of  its  existence.  It  would  seem  far  more 
correct  to  consider  that  Rome  couched  a  demand,  which  she  knew  was 
not  strictly  just,  in  terms  which  she  judged  would  be  agreeable  to  her 
nascent  neighbour.  Even  in  her  decline,  Rome  was  far  too  formidable  a 
neighbour  not  to  feel  at  liberty  to  make  even  unreasonable  requests  of  a 
community  of  fishermen  and  small  merchants,  comparatively  prosperous 
as  that  community  might  be. 

With  increase  of  population  and  of  wealth,  the  Venetians,  by  which 
name  we  shall,  to  save  circumlocution,  henceforth  designate  only  the 
islanders,  began  to  feel  anxious  about  that  which  was  their  chief  and  cheap 
safeguard,  the  difficult  navigation  of  the  lagunes  ;  and  the  navigation  was 
forbidden  not  merely  to  strangers  in  general,  but  even  to  that  Padua  which 
once  was  the  metropolis  and  nursing  mother  of  the  island  republic. 
When  we  consider  the  horrors  to  which  the  cities  on  the  main  land  had 
been  exposed  by  the  barbarian  invaders,  and  reflect  how  probable  it  was 
that  new  invasions  would  occur,  which  only  the  difficulty  of  the  naviga- 
tion and  the  superiority  this  insured  to  the  vessels  of  the  islanders  could 
prevent  from  extending  to  the  isles,  we  can  scarcely  wonder  at  the  stern 
and  Jealous  rule  adopted  by  men  who  had  only  become  islanders  and 
fishers  after  they  had  been  ruined  agriculturists,  flying  in  haste  and  in 
terror  from  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  fertile  of  earth's  lovely  and  fer- 
tile spots.  Nor  was  it  long  ere  the  Venetians  had  good  reason  to  con- 
gratulate themselves  upon  the  care  they  had  bestowed  equally  upon  ac- 
quiring dexterity  in  the  navigation  of  their  narrow  and  difficult  creeks  and 
shallows,  and  preventing  alike  dexterity  from  being  acquired  by  others. 

The  Slavi,  a  barbarous  and  warlike  people,  had  established  themselves 
in  Dalmatia.  That  country,  however,  had  already  been  so  often  overrun 
and  plundered,  that  it  afforded  by  no  means  a  sufficient  amount  of  booty 
to  satisfy  so  numerous  and  so  greedy  a  people.  They  consequently 
availed  themselves  of  the  numerous  ports  and  creeks  their  new  country 
afforded  them,  to  imitate  the  piratical  example  of  the  Illyrians,  by  whom 
the  country  had  formerly  been  occupied,  and  speedily  became  a  name  of 
terror  to  all  who  had  occasion  to  be  upon  the  sea  in  that  direction.  The 
^''enetians,  perpetually  pursuing  their  commercial  and  carrying  avocations 
in  their  light  vessels,  were  especially  subjected  to  the  attacks  of  these 
daring  marauders,  to  whom  the  portable  but  valuable  freights  brought  by 
the  Venetians  from  the  ports  of  the  eastern  empire,  with  which  they  car 
ried  on  great  commerce,  were  an  irresistible  temptation.  The  hardy  hab 
its  and  active  life  of  the  fishers  and  merchants  of  the  Venetian  isles  had 
given  new  vigour  and  courage  to  the  people,  who,  while  living  in  com- 
parative luxury  upon  the  main  land,  had  abandoned  all  their  possessions 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  251 

to  the  barbarians,  rather  than  struggle  to  possess  them  at  the  risk  of  losing 
life  also.  Mustering  their  vessels,  they  boldly  encountered  the  pirates, 
beat  them,  and.  compelled  them  to  respect  the  liberty  of  the  seas  as  far  as 
Venetians  were  concerned  therein.  This,  in  addition  to  many  other  cir- 
cumstances, seems  to  have  been  a  link  in  a  long  and  unbroken  chain  of 
causation  of  the  prosperity  and  power  of  Venice  in  her  subsequent  palmy 
days  ;  for  while  the  success  with  which  the  traders  encountered  the  ter- 
riWe  and  notorious  pirates  was  especially  well  calculated  to  obtain  a  high 
ind  chivalrous  name  for  the  Venetians,  even  at  the  outset  of  their  career, 
the  very  struggle  and  warfare  in  which  they  were  from  time  to  time  en- 
gaged with  so  fierce  a  people,  and  with  everything  at  stake  upon  the  issue, 
must  have  had  a  mighty  share  in  increasing  the  energy  of  the  Venetians, 
and  in  forming  their  national  character  to  that  striking  commixture  of 
commercial  industry  and  warlike  spirit  and  skill  to  which  their  subsequent 
and  long-continued  greatness  may  so  greatly  be  ascribed. 

In  the  year  568  the  Lombards  invaded  Italy,  and  so  successfully,  as 
completely  to  cut  off  all  connexion  between  it  and  the  eastern  empire. 
The  Lombards,  who  came  from  Pannonia,  like  all  the  other  barbarian 
scourges  of  Italy,  commenced  their  destroying  and  plundering  career  in 
Venice  on  the  main  land.  And  now  again,  the  misfortune  of  the  main 
land  brought  benefit  to  the  isles.  Not  only  were  the  people  of  the  newly 
rebuilt  habitations  on  the  main  land  glad  to  abandon  their  incomplete  cities, 
and  take  refuge  in  the  isles  ;  not  only  did  the  islanders  see  the  inhabitants 
of  even  Padua,  their  former  patron  city,  imploring  shelter,  but  even  the 
clergy  settled  among  them,  and  permanently,  too  ;  for  the  Lombards  es- 
tablished Arian  preachers  in  tlie  towns  of  continental  Venice  ;  and  the 
consequence  was,  so  fierce  and  sanguinary  a  war  and  such  ceaseless 
schisms,  that  the  clergy  who  had  found  a  refuge  in  the  isles  did  not  think 
of  quitting  it.  Though  the  Lombards  persecuted  the  catholic  faith  pro- 
fessed by  the  Venetians,  the  former,  who  were  at  that  time  neither  a  com- 
mercial nor  a  maritime  people,  were  to  a  very  great  extent  dependent 
upon  the  islanders  for  their  supply  of  all  such  necessaries  or  luxuries  as 
came  from  foreign  countries ;  and  in  this  particular  superiority  of  the 
Venetians  to  the  Lombards,  and  subsequently  to  Charlemagne  and  his 
Franks,  the  attentive  and  thoughtful  reader  will  scarcely  fail  to  see  yet 
another  great  element  of  the  permanency  and  power  of  the  insular  state 
of  Venice.  Eginard,  the  contemporary  and  historian  of  Charlemagne, 
makes  emphatic  mention  of  the  coarseness  of  the  apparel  of  that  monarch 
and  his  court,  as  compared  to  the  fine  stuffs  and  rich  silks  brought  by  the 
Venetian  traders  from  the  ports  of  Syria,  the  Archipelago  and  the  Black 
Sea.  It  was  in  the  inevitable  nature  of  things,  that  the  very  increase  of 
population  which  tended  so  greatly  to  the  increase  of  the  prosperity  and 
consideration  of  the  comparatively  new  state,  should  bring  in  its  train 
such  a  diversity  of  interests,  such  a  difference  of  proportion  in  the  num- 
oers,  wealth,  and  power  of  the  numerous  insulated  members  of  the  feder- 
ative republic  as  should  call  aloud  for  a  change  in  the  political  system. 
Most  important  changes  afterwards  took  place ;  and  it  is  to  Venice  as  an 
acting  and  not  merely  growing  state,  that  we  have  henceforth  to  direct 
our  attention.  But  we  perceive  that  we  have  already  greatly  trespassed 
on  our  limits,  and  must  endeavour  to  finish  this  sketch  with  a  rapid  pen. 

The  original  form  of  Venetian  government  was  purely  democratical; 
magistrates  were  chosen  by  a  general  assembly  of  the  people,  who  gave 
them  the  name  of  tribunes ;  one  of  whom  was  appointed  to  preside  on 
each  island,  but  to  hold  his  office  only  for  a  year.  Tliis  form  subsisted 
for  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  it  then  appeared  expedient  to  make 
choice  of  a  chief  magistrate,  and  on  him  the  title  of  duke  was  conferred, 
V  hich  has  since  been  corrupted  to  doge ;  this  dignity  was  elective,  and 
»»eid  for  life ;  he  was  even  entrusted  with  the  power  of  nominating  to  all 


252  THE  TH-EASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

offices,  and  of  making  peace  and  declaring  war.  Paul  Luke  Anafeslo, 
the  first  duke,  was  elected  in  the  year  697;  and  such  was  the  confidence 
which  the  people  reposed  in  their  duke,  that  he  was  at  liberty  to  use  his 
own  discretion  how  far  he  would  avail  himself  of  the  advice  of  the  citi- 
zens. In  the  councils  which  he  called  on  any  matter  of  importance,  he  sen! 
messages  for  those  citizens  for  whose  judgment  he  had  the  greatest  es- 
teem, praying  that  they  would  come  and  assist  him  with  their  advice 
This  form  was  retained  by  succeeding  doges,  and  the  citizens  so  sent  foi 
were  called  pregadi  (from  the  Italian  word  pregare,  to  pray).  The  third 
doge,  whose  talents  for  war  had  proved  successful  in  extending  the  powei 
of  the  republic,  at  length  meditated  the  assumption  of  a  more  absolute 
sway,  wishing  to  render  the  supreme  authority  hereditary  in  his  family, 
but  such  conduct  excited  general  alarm  in  the  people;  he  was  assawlted 
in  his  palace,  and  there  put  to  death.  This  event  caused  the  government 
of  Venice  to  be  new  modelled,  and  a  chief  magistrate,  who  was  now  call- 
ed "master  of  the  militia,"  was  elected  annually;  but  his  power  while  iu 
office  was  the  same  as  before.  Such  form  of  government  continued  only 
five  years,  when  the  title  of  doge  was  revived  (a.  d.  740),  in  the  person  of 
the  son  of  him  who  had  been  assassinated. 

About  the  latter  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  when  every  other  part  of 
the  Christian  world  was  seized  with  a  frantic  rage  for  recovering  the  holy 
land,  the  Venetians  were  so  far  from  contributing  any  forces  for  the  cru- 
sades that  they  did  not  scruple  to  supply  the  Saracens  with  arms,  ammu- 
nition, and  every  other  necessary.  As  the  power  of  the  state  became 
augmented  by  the  acquisition  of  Istria  and  many  ports  of  Dalmatia,  the 
jealousy  of  the  people  towards  their  doge  became  stronger.  At  that  time 
the  only  tribunal  at  Venice  consisted  of  forty  judges ;  these  were  called 
"the  council  of  forty ;"  but  in  the  year  1173,  another  doge,  named  Michieli, 
being  assassinated  in  a  popular  insurrection,  the  council  of  forty  found 
means  to  new  model  the  government,  by  gaining  the  consent  of  the  peo- 
ple to  delegate  the  right  of  voting  for  magistrates,  which  each  citizen  pos- 
sessed, to  four  hundred  and  seventy  persons,  called  councillors,  who  re- 
ceived the  appellation  of  "the  grand  council;"  and,  acting  as  delegates  of 
the  people,  became  what  the  general  assembly  of  the  people  until  that  time 
had  been.  By  this  artful  innovation  (which  the  people  were  cajoled  into 
an  acquiescence  wiih,  by  retaining  the  right  of  electing  these  councillors 
annually),  the  democracy  became  presently  subverted  ;  and  an  aristocracy, 
in  its  fullest  and  most  rigid  form,  was  introduced,  by  restricting  the  power 
of  the  doge,  and  instituting  a  variety  of  officers  (all  of  whom  were,  in  a 
short  time,  chosen  from  among  the  nobility)  which  effectually  controlled 
both  the  prince  and  the  people. 

Ziani  was  the  first  doge  elected  after  the  government  had  received,  whai 
the  event  proves  to  have  been,  its  permanent  modification  ;  and  during  his 
administration  the  singular  ceremony  of  espousing  the  sea,  which  has 
been  annually  observed  ever  since,  was  first  adopted,  and  took  its  rise 
from  the  assistance  which  the  Venetians  gave  to  the  pope  Alexander  III. 
when  hard  pressed  by  the  emperor  Frederic  Barbarossa,  and  the  signal  vic- 
tory they  obtained  over  a  formidable  fleet  under  the  command  of  Otho, 
son  of  Frederic,  in  which  the  admiral  and  thirty  of  his  ships  were  taken. 
Alexander,  with  the  whole  city  of  Venice,  went  out  to  meet  Ziani,  the 
conqueror,  on  his  return ;  to  whom  his  holiness  presented  a  ring,  saying, 
"  Use  this  ring  as  a  chain  to  retain  the  sea,  henceforth,  in  subjection  to  the 
Venetian  state  ;  espouse  her  with  this  ring,  and  let  the  marriage  be  solem- 
nized annually,  by  you  and  your  successors,  to  the  end  of  time,  that  the 
latest  posterity  may  know  that  Venice  has  acquired  the  empire  of  the 
-waves,  and  holds  the  sea  in  subjection,  in  the  same  manner  as  a  wife  la 
ueld  by  her  husband."  During  the  continuance  of  the  republic  this  cere- 
mony was  performed  by  the  doge  dropping  a  ring  into  the  sea,  pronotf«i- 


THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY.  253 

cing"  at  the  same  time  the  words,  Desponsamus  te.  Mare,  in  signum  veri  per- 
petuique  dominii.  This  emblem  of  its  former  power  and  independence  is 
now  forever  gone  ;  and,  in  the  language  of  the  poet, 

"  The  spouseless  Adriatic  mourns  her  lord." 

The  Venetians  having  extended  their  territories  into  Lombardy,  Istria, 
and  Dalmatia,  became  masters  of  many  of  the  islands  in  the  Archipelago, 
particularly  the  large  and  importannt  one  of  Candia ;  they  were  masters 
of  the  Morea  ;  and,  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Dandolo, 
their  doge,  when  more  than  eighty  years  of  age,  in  conjunction  with  the 
French,  took  Constantinople  from  the  Turks.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
they  engrossed  the  lucrative  trade  in  the  manufactures  and  productions 
of  the  East  Indies,  which  they  procured  at  the  port  of  Alexandria,  and 
conveyed  to  every  market  of  Europe.  Under  Marino  Morosini  was  intro- 
duced the  latest  form  of  electing  the  doge;  and  at  this  juncture  jealousy 
and  envy  occasioned  the  war  with  Genoa,  which,  after  continuing  a  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years,  was  at  last  concluded  by  a  treaty  in  1381.  Dur- 
ing this  war,  Peter  Gradonigo,  the  doge,  procured  a  law  to  be  passed,  that 
none  but  the  nobility  should  be  capable  of  having  a  seat  in  the  grand 
council ;  and  thus  the  government  became  altogether  aristocratical.  In 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  the  Venetians  extended  their  pos 
sessions  in  Lombardy,  and,  in  1473,  the  last  king  of  Cyprus  appointed  the 
state  of  Venice  his  heir.  Towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth,  century  the 
commerce  and  power  of  the  Venetians  began  to  decline;  for  the  Portu- 
guese having  doubled  theCape  of  Good  Hope,  and  found  a  way  to  the  East 
Indies  by  sea,  that  valuable  trade  was  acquired,  first  by  the  discoverers 
and  afterwards  by  the  Dutch  and  English. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  (a.  d.  1509)  the  pope,  the  em- 
peror, France  and  Spain,  joined  in  the  famous  league  of  Cambray,  which 
threatened  the  subversion  of  the  Venetian  state;  but  the  republic  made  a 
brave  stand  against  its  numerous  and  powerful  enemies,  and  the  Vene- 
tians retained  their  independence,  although  with  the  loss  of  all  their  pos- 
sessions in  the  ecclesiastical  state  and  the  Milanese.  They  also  suffered 
much  from  the  Turks,  who  drove  them  out  of  Cyprus.  In  the  seven- 
teenth century  a  sharp  contest  arose  between  the  government,  the  clergy, 
and  the  pope,  in  which,  however,  the  former  had  the  advantage.  Venice 
was  also  long  engaged  in  fierce  wars  with  the  Turks,  during  which  they 
lost  Candia,  but  gained  part  of  Dalmatia  and  all  the  Morea;  the  latter, 
with  other  places  and  districts,  the  Turks  recovered  in  the  wars  which 
were  waged  during  the  early  part  of  the  last  century.  The  Venetian  gov- 
ernment, in  the  year  1737,  having  shown  particular  marks  of  respect  to  the 
prince,  who  was  generally  called  in  England  the  pretender,  when  he  vis- 
ited the  city,  under  the  character  of  count  of  Albany,  th«i  British  court 
took  great  offence,  and  the  Venetian  resident  at  London  'vas  ordered  to 
depart ;  but  proper  concessions  being  made  by  the  state,  a  friendly  inter- 
course was  re-established,  and  in  the  year  1745  the  earl  of  Holdernesse 
was  sent  ambassador  extraordinary  to  Venice.  In  the  year  1763  the  Ve- 
netians found  it  necessary  to  pay  a  subsidy  to  the  dey  of  Algiers,  to  pre- 
serve their  commerce  from  the  depredations  of  those  corsairs ;  but  they 
subsequently  carried  on  a  war  with  some  other  of  the  piratical  states, 
nearer  to  them,  on  that  coast. 

Thus  did  the  republic  of  Venice  continue  upwards  of  thirteen  hundred 
ears,  amidst  many  foreign  wars  and  intestine  commotions.  Its  gran- 
deur, as  we  have  seen,  was  chiefly  owing  to  its  trade ;  and,  after  the  de- 
cline of  that,  its  strength  and  power  suffered  considerable  diminution. 
No  republic  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  subsisted  for  so  long  a  space 
of  time ;  and,  as  its  independence  was  not  founded  on  usurpation,  nor 
cemented  with  blood,  fi  its  descent  from  that  splendour  and  power  which 


254 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


It  had  once  attaineo,  ir>stead  of  degrading,  reflects  the  highest  honour  on 
them.  None  of  the  causes  which  subverted  the  famous  republics  of  an- 
tiquity effected  the  dechne  of  Venice.  No  tyrants  enslaved,  no  dema- 
gogues deluded,  no  luxuries  enervated  them.  They  owed  their  greatness 
to  their  industry,  bravery,  and  maritime  skill ;  and  their  decline,  to  the 
revolutions  which  successful  pursuits  of  science  had  produced  in  the  na- 
tions of  F^urope.  For  many  years  they  withstood  the  whole  force  of  the 
Ottoman  empire  by  sea  and  land;  and,  although  their  treasures  were 
eventually  exhausted,  and  their  power  weakened,  their  enemies  have  ex- 
perienced consequences  scarcely  less  fatal.  No  government  has  been 
more  attacked  by  deep-laid  and  formidable  conspiraces  than  that  of  Ven- 
ice :  many  of  which  have  been  brought  to  the  very  eve  of  execution 
without  discovery  or  suspicion.  Bwt  though  the  entire  subversion  of  the 
state  has  been,  at  times,  impending  from  some  of  these  plots,  yet  until  the 
era  of  the  French  revolution,  they  have  been  constantly  rendered  abortive, 
either  by  the  vigilance  or  good  fortune  of  the  senate.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  these  conspiracies  was  formed  by  a  doge  named  Marino 
Faliero,  in  the  year  1355,  who  at  that  time  was  eighty  years  of  age  ;  but, 
conceiving  a  violent  resentment  against  the  senate,  he  formed  a  plan  in 
order  to  assassinate  the  whole  body.  The  design  was  timely  discovered, 
and  the  dignified  traitor  brought  to  trial,  found  guilty  upon  his  own  con- 
fession, and  publicly  beheaded.  In  the  great  chamber  of  the  palace-, 
where  the  portraits  of  the  doges  are  placed,  there  is  a  vacant  space  be- 
tween the  predecessor  and  successor  of  this  man,  where  appears  this  in- 
scription, "  iocws  jlfarmi  jpahm  £?eca;t)i7a<j."  "The  place  intended  for 
the  portrait  of  Marinus  Fallierus,  who  was  beheaded."  The  year  1618  is 
also  distinguished  by  a  no  less  remarkable  conspiracy,  the  contriver  and 
principal  agent  in  which  was  the  marquis  Bedamar,  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor residing  there.  The  elegant  pen  of  the  abbe  St.  Real  has  transmit- 
ted to  posterity  this  very  curious  instance  of  superior  talents  and  con- 
.^ummate  artifice,  which  were,  for  a  long  course  of  time,  exercised  in 
plotting  the  most  atrocious  deed,  being  no  less  than  the  total  destruction 
of  the  republic.  Otway  has  formed  a  very  pathetic  tragedy  upon  this 
story,  in  which  the  character  of  Belvidera,  and  the  love  scenes  between 
her  and  Jaffier,  are  the  only  fictions  of  the  poet. 

The  college,  called  "  the  seigniory,"  or  supreme  cabinet  council  of  the 
state,  was  originally  composed  of  the  doge  and  six  counsellors  only,  but 
to  those  at  different  periods  were  added,  six  of  the  grand  council  chosen 
by  the  senate,  who  are  called  savii  (sages),  then  five  savii  of  the  Terra 
Firma,  whose  more  immediate  department  it  was  to  superintend  the  busi- 
ness of  the  towns  and  provinces  belonging  to  the  republic  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe,  particularly  what  regarded  their  troops ;  at  one  time 
there  were  also  five  savii  for  maritime  affairs,  but  after  the  state  had  lost 
its  commercial  importance,  five  young  noblemen  vv^ere  chosen  by  the 
senate  every  six  months,  who  attended  the  meetings  of  the  seigniory 
without  having  a  vote,  though  they  gave  their  opinions  when  asked  :  this 
was  designed  as  an  initiation  into  public  business.  To  these  were  added 
the  chiefs  of  the  criminal  court  of  "  forty."  This  college  was  at  once  the 
cabinet  council  and  the  rcpresentive  of  the  republic.  The  consiglio  di  died, 
or  "  council  of  ten,"  was  the  high  penal  court,  which  consisted  of  ten 
counsellors ;  the  doge,  as  president,  and  his  six  conglieri,  or  counsellors. 
It  was  supreme  in  all  state  crimes,  and  possessed  the  power  of  seizing 
any  one  who  was  accused  before  them,  of  committing  him  to  close  con- 
finement, and  prohibiting  all  communication  with  his  relations  and  friends, 
of  examining  and  trying  him  in  a  summary  manner;  and,  if  a  majority  of 
the  council  pronounced  him  guilty,  of  condemning  him  to  death;  they 
also  might  order  the  execution  to  be  either  public  or  private,  as  they 
thought  j)r.>per.     This  formidable  tribunal  was  established  in  the  year 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  26fi 

1310.  About  two  centuries  after,  a  still  more  despotic  power  was  en 
trusted  to  three  individuals,  always  chosen  from  the  above  council  of  ten, 
and  forming  the  court  called  the  state  mquisition.  The  inquisitors  like- 
wise kept  the  keys  of  chests  which  are  placed  in  several  parts  of  the 
ducal  palace,  enclosed  within  the  open  jaws  of  lions'  heads  carved  in  the 
walls  ;  through  which  notes  were  conveyed  by  any  one  who  was  disposed 
to  drop  them  ;  and  thus  notice  was  secretly  given  to  the  government  of 
whatever  might  concern  it  to  know. 

The  history  of  Venice  furnished  a  dreadful  instance,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  of  a  number  of  confederated  villains,  who  con- 
certed their  measures  so  artfully  as  to  frame  false  accusations  against 
some  of  the  Venetian  nobles,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  their  judges,  con- 
victed them  of  treasonable  practices  against  the  state,  and  one  at  least 
was  publicly  executed.  At  length  the  frequency  of  accusations  created 
suspicions,  which  led  to  a  full  detection  of  the  infernal  scheme ;  upon 
which  every  possible  reparation  was  made  to  the  manes  of  the  innocent 
victim,  the  honour  of  whose  family  was  fully  restored ;  but  the  tribunal, 
which  decreed  the  sentence,  was  suffered  to  possess  the  same  unlimited 
power ;  the  only  alteration  being  that  anonymous  information  was  some- 
what more  cautiously  received ;  for  it  was  a  political  maxim  in  Venice, 
that  "it  is  of  more  importance  to  the  state  to  intimidate  every  one  even 
from  the  appearance  of  crime,  than  to  allow  a  person,  against  whom  a 
presumption  of  guilt  appears,  to  escape,  however  innocent  he  may  be." 
How  different  this  from  the  merciful  spirit  of  those  laws  which  hold  it 
better  ten  guilty  persons  escape  than  that  one  innocent  person  should 
suffer ! 

The  history  of  Venice  furnishes  two  instances  which  bear  a  strong 
similarity  to  the  conduct  of  the  Roman  Brutus.    In  the  year  1400,  Antonio 
Venier  being  doge,  his  son  having  committed  an  offence  of  no  great  enor- 
mity, was  condemned  in  a  fine  of  one  hundred  ducats,  and  to  be  impris- 
oned for  a  certain  time.     During  his  confinement,  he  fell  sick,  and  peti- 
tioned to  be  removed  to  a  purer  air.    The  doge  rejected  the  petition,  de- 
claring that  the  sentence  must  be  executed  literally,  and  that  his  son 
must  take  the  fortune  of  the  rest  in  the  same  situation.     The  youth  was 
much  beloved,  and  many  applications  were  made  that  the  sentence  might 
be  softened,  on  account  of  the  danger  which  threatened  him,  but  the  fa- 
ther was  inexorable,  and  the  son  died  in  prison.     Fifty  years  after  this, 
a  son  of  another  doge,  named  Foscari,  being  suspected  of  having  been  the 
instigator  of  the  murder  of  a  senator,  who  was  one  of  the  "  council  of  ten," 
was  tortured,  banished,  and  on  his  application  to  the  duke  of  Milan,  solic- 
iting him  to  exert  his  interest  for  his  recall,  was  brought  back  to  Venice, 
for  the  purpose  of  again  undergoing  the  torture,  and  being  closely  confin- 
ed in  the  state  prison  ;  the  only  mercy  shown  him  being  that  of  granting 
permission  for  the  doge,  the  father  of  the  unfortunate  youth,  to  pay  him  a 
visit  in  his  confinement.     The  father,  who  had  held  his  office  for  thirty 
years,  and  was  very  old,  exhorted  his  son  to  support  his  hard  fate  with 
firmness ;  whilst  the  son  protested  not  only  his  innocence,  but  that  he  was 
utterly  incapable  of  supporting  the  confinement  to  which  he  was  doomed. 
In  an  agony  of  grief  he  threw  himself  at  his  father's  feet,  imploring  him 
to  take  compassion  on  a  son  whom  he  had  ever  loved  with  the  fondest 
affection,  and  conjuring  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  council  to  miti- 
gate their  sentence,  that  he  might  be  saved  from  the  most  cruel  of  all 
deaths,  that  of  expiring  under  the  consuming  torture  of  a  broken  heart, 
secluded  from  every  creature  whom  he  loved.     This  melting  intercession 
had  no  other  effect  upon  the  father  than  to  draw  from  him  the  following 
reply:—"  My  son,  submit  to  the  laws  of  your  country,  and  do  not  ask  of 
roe  what  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  obtain."     After  this  interview,  the  mis- 
erable youth  languished  for  a  while,  and  then  expired  in  prison  ;  but  ths 


25R  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

violence  which  his  father,  as  a  magistrate,  did  to  his  paternal  feelings,  ter- 
minated his  life  somewhat  sooner.  A  short  time  after  this  catastrophe,  a 
Venetian  of  noble  rank,  being  on  his  death-bed,  confessed,  that,  urged  by 
private  resentment,  he  was  the  murderer  of  the  senator  whose  assassina- 
tion had  given  rise  to  this  tragic  scene. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

If  it  is  hard  to  carry  back  our  ideas  of  Rome  from  its  actual  state  to  the 
period  of  its  highest  splendour,  it  is  yet  harder  to  go  back  in  fancy  to  a 
time  still  more  distant,  a  time  earlier  than  the  beginning  of  its  authentic 
history,  before  the  art  of  man  had  completely  rescued  the  soil  of  the 
future  city  from  the  dominion  of  nature.  Here  also  it  is  vain  to  attempt 
accuracy  in  the  details,  or  to  be  certain  that  the  several  features  in  our 
description  all  existed  at  the  same  period.  It  is  enough  if  we  can  image 
to  ourselves  some  likeness  of  the  original  state  of  Rome,  before  the 
undertaking  of  those  great  works  which  are  ascribed  to  the  late  kings. 

The  Pomcerium  of  the  original  city  on  the  Palatine,  as  described  by 
Tacitus,  included  not  only  the  hill  itself,  but  some  portion  of  the  ground 
immediately  below  it ;  it  did  not,  however,  reach  as  far  as  any  of  the 
other  hills.  The  valley  between  the  Palatine  and  the  Aventine,  after- 
wards the  site  of  the  Circus  Maximus,  was  in  the  earliest  times  covered 
with  water;  so  also  was  the  greater  part  of  the  valley  between  the  Pala- 
tine and  the  Capitoline,  the  ground  afterwards  occupied  by  the  Roman 
forum.  But  the  city  of  the  Palatine  hill  grew  in  process  of  time,  so  as 
to  become  a  city  of  seven  hills.  Not  the  seven  famous  hills  of  imperial  or 
republican  Rome,  but  seven  spots  more  or  less  elevated,  and  all  belong- 
ing to  three  only  of  the  latter  seven  hills,  that  is  to  the  Palatine,  the 
Cselian,  and  the  Esquiline.  At  this  time  Rome,  already  a  city  on  seven 
hills,  was  distinct  from  the  Sabine  city  on  the  Capitoline,  Quirinal,  and 
Viminal  hills.  The  two  cities,  although  united  under  one  government,  had 
still  a  separate  existence  ;  they  were  not  completely  blended  in  one  till  the 
reigns  of  the  latter  kings.  The  territory  of  the  original  Rome  during  its 
first  period,  the  true  Ager  Romanus,  could  be  gone  round  in  a  single  day. 
It  did  not  extend  beyond  the  Tiber  at  all,  nor  probably  beyond  the  Anio; 
and  on  the  east  and  south,  where  it  had  most  room  to  spread,  its  limit  was 
between  five  and  six  miles  from  the  city.  This  Ager  Romanus  was  the 
exclusive  properly  of  the  Roman  people,  that  is  of  the  houses;  it  did  not 
include  the  lands  conquered  from  the  Latins,  and  given  back  to  them  again 
when  the  Latins  became  the  plebs,  or  commons  of  Rome. 

Well  may  the  inquiring  historian  exclaim,  "  What  was  Rome,  and 
what  was  the  country  around  it,  which  have  both  acquired  an  interest 
such  as  can  cease  only  when  the  earth  itself  shall  perish  ?"  The  hills  of 
Rome  are  such  as  we  rarely  see  ;  low  in  height,  but  with  steep  and  rocky 
sides.  Across  the  Tiber  the  ground  rises  to  a  greater  height  than  that  of 
the  Roman  hills,  but  its  summit  is  a  level  unbroken  line,  while  the  heights, 
w«ich  opposite  to  Rome  rise  immediately  from  the  river,  under  the 
names  of  Janiculus  and  Vaticanus,  then  sweep  away  to  some  distance 
from  it,  and  return  in  their  highest  and  boldest  form  at  the  Mons  Marius, 
just  above  the  Milvian  bridge  and  Flaminian  road.  Thus  to  the  west  the 
i-icw  is  immediately  bounded ;  but  to  the  north  and  north-east  the  eye 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  257 

ranges  over  the  low  ground  of  the  Campagna  to  the  nearest  line  of  the 
Apennines,  which  closes  up,  as  with  a  gigantic  wall,  all  the  Sabine,  Latin, 
and  Volscian  lowlands,  while  over  it  are  still  distinctly  to  be  seen  the 
high  summits  of  the  central  Apennines,  covered  with  snow,  even  at  this 
day,  for  more  than  six  months  in  the  year.  South  and  south-west  lies  the 
wide  plain  of  the  Campagna  ;  its  level  line  succeeded  by  the  equally  level 
line  of  the  sea,  which  can  only  be  distinguished  from  it  by  the  brighter 
light  reflected  from  its  waters.  Eastward,  after  ten  miles  of  plain,  the 
view  is  bounded  by  the  Alban  hills,  a  cluster  of  high  bold  points  rising  out 
of  the  Campagna,  on  the  highest  of  which  (about  three  thousand  feel) 
stood  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Latiarius,  the  scene  of  the  common  worship 
of  all  the  people  of  tlie  Latin  name.  Immediately  under  this  highest 
point  lies  the  crater-like  basin  of  the  Alban  lake;  and  on  its  nearer  rim 
might  be  seen  the  trees  of  the  grove  of  Ferentia,  where  the  Latins  held 
the  great  civil  assemblies  of  their  nation.  Further  to  the  north,  on 
the  edge  ()f  the  Alban  hills,  looking  towards  Rome,  was  the  town  and 
citadel  of  Tusculum;  and  beyond  this,  a  lower  summit  crowned  with  the 
walls  and  towers  of  Labicum,  seems  to  connect  the  Alban  hiijs  with  the 
line  of  the  Apennines,  just  at  the  spot  where  the  citadel  of  Prceneste,  high 
up  on  the  mountain-side,  marks  the  opening  into  the  country  of  the  Her- 
nicans,  and  into  the  valleys  of  the  streams  that  feed  the  Lyris. 

Returning  nearer  to  Rome,  the  lowland  country  of  the  Campagna  is 
broken  by  long  green  swelling  ridges.  The  streams  are  dull  and  slug- 
gish, but  the  hill  sides  above  them  constantly  break  away  into  little  rock 
clitFs,  where  on  every  ledge  the  wild  fig  now  strikes  out  its  branches,  and 
tufts  of  broom  are  clustering,  but  which  in  old  times  formed  the  natural 
strength  of  the  citadels  of  the  numerous  cities  of  Latium.  Except  in 
these  narrow  dells,  the  present  aspect  of  the  country  is  all  bare  and  des- 
olate, with  no  trees  nor  any  human  habitation.  But  anciently,  in  the 
early  times  of  Roipe,  it  was  full  of  independent  cities,  and  in  its  popula- 
tion and  the  careful  cultivation  of  its  little  garden-like  farms,  must  have 
resembled  the  most  flourishing  parts  of  Lombardy.  Such  was  Rome,  and 
such  its  neighbourhood. 

The  foregoing  topographical  observations  appear  to  be  necessary,  before 
the  reader  enters  upon  even  a  brief  recital  of  any  of  those  circumstances' 
which — whether  legendary  or  strictly  true,  whether  fabulous  or  merely 
exaggerated — have  been  handed  down  from  age  to  age  as  the  veritable 
history  of  Rome.  We  are  told,  in  the  first  place,  that  vEneas,  after  the 
destruction  of  Troy,  having  arrived  in  Italy,  married  Lavinia,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Latinus,  fifth  king  of  the  Latins,  and  succeeded  his  father-in-law,, 
after  having  deprived  Turnus,  king  of  the  Rutuli,  first  of  his  sceptre  and  then 
of  his  life.  Ascanias,  after  the  death  of  jEneas,  his  father,  united  with  it 
the  kingdom  of  Alba,  of  which  he  was  the  founder.  We  cannot,  however,, 
proceed  without  remarking,  that  whatever  relates  to  the  origin  of  Rome 
is  attended  with  the  greatest  uncertainty ;  and  that  the  records  of  some 
of  the  ancient  writers  are  more  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  vEneid  of  Virgil,, 
than  the  page  of  history.  In  illustration  of  this  remark,  we  sh'dll  take  the 
liberty  of  quoting  the  "  Legend  of  Romulus." 

"  NumiU)r  was  the  eldest  son  of  Procras,  king  of  Alba  Longa,  and  he 
had  a  younger  brother  called  Amulius.  When  Procras  died,  Amulius 
seized  by  force  on  the  kingdom,  and  left  to  Nnmitor  only  his  share  of  his 
father's  private  inheritance.  After  this  he  caused  Numitor's  only  son  to  be 
slain,  and  made  his  daughter  Silvia  become  one  of  tlie  virgins  who  watched 
the  ever-burning  fire  of  the  goddess  Vesta.  But  the  god  Mamers,  who  is 
called  also  Mars,  beheld  the  virgin  and  loved  her,  and  it  was  found  that 
she  was  going  to  become/the  mother  of  children.  Then  Amulius  order- 
ed that  the  children,  when  born,  should  be  thrown  into  the  river.  It  hap- 
pened that  the  river  at  that  time  had  flooded  the  country  ;  when,  therefore 
17 


o«;q  the  treasury  OF  HISTORY. 

the  two  children  in  their  basket  were  thrown  into  the  river,  the  waters 
carried  them  as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  Palatine  hill,  and  there  the 
basket  was  upset,  near  the  roots  of  a  wild  fig-  tree,  and  the  children 
thrown  out  upon  land.  At  this  moment  there  came  a  she-wolf  down  to 
the  water  to  drink,  and  when  she  saw  the  children,  she  carried  them  to 
her  cave  hard  by,  and  gave  them  suck  ;  and  while  they  were  there,  a 
woodpecker  came  backwards  and  forwards  to  the  cave,  and  brought  them 
food.  At  last  one  Faustulus,  the  king's  herdsman,  saw  the  wolf  suckling 
the  children  ;  and  when  he  went  up,  the  wolf  left  them  and  fled  ;  so  he 
took  them  home  to  his  wife  Laurentia,  and  they  were  bred  up  along  with 
her  own  sons  on  the  Palatine  hill;  and  they  were  called  Romulus  and 
Remus. 

"  When  Romulus  and  Remus  grew  up,  the  herdsmen  of  the  Palatine  hill 
chanced  to  have  a  quarrel  with  the  herdsmen  of  Numitor,  who  stalled 
their  cattle  on  the  hill  of  Aventinus.  Numitor's  herdsmen  laid  an  am- 
bush, and  Remus  fell  into  it,  and  was  taken  and  carried  off  to  Alba.  But 
when  the  young  man  was  brought  before  Numitor,  he  was  struck  with 
his  noble  air  and  bearing,  and  asked  him  who  he  was.  And  when  Remus 
told  him  of  his  birth,  and  how  he  had  been  saved  from  death,  together  with 
his  brother,  Numitor  marvelled,  and  thought  whether  this  might  not  be  his 
own  daughter's  child.  In  the  meanwhile,  Faustulus  and  E-omulus  hasten- 
ed to  Alba,  to  deliver  Remus ;  and  by  the  help  of  the  young  men  of  the 
Palatine  hill,  who  had  been  used  to  follow  him  and  his  brother,  Romulus 
look  the  city,  and  Amulius  was  killed  ;  and  Numitor  was  made  king,  and 
owned  Romulus  and  Remus  to  be  born  of  his  own  blood.  The  two 
brothers  did  not  wish  to  live  at  Alba,  but  loved  rather  the  hill  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber,  where  they  had  been  brought  up.  So  they  said  that 
they  would  build  a  city  there  ;  and  tliey  inquired  of  the  gods  by  augury,  to 
know  which  of  them  should  give  his  name  to  the  city.  They  watched 
the  heavens  from  morning  till  evening,  and  from  evening  till  morning ; 
and  as  the  sun  was  rising,  Remus  saw  six  vultures.  This  was  told  to 
Romulus  ;  but  as  they  were  telling  him,  behold  there  appeared  to  him 
twelve  vultures.  Then  it  was  disputed  again,  which  had  seen  the  truest 
sign  of  the  god's  favour;  but  the  most  part  gave  their  voices  for  Romulus, 
So  he  began  to  build  his  city  on  the  Palatine  hill.  This  made  Remus 
very  angry  ;  and  when  he  saw  the  ditch  and  the  rampart  which  were 
drawn  round  the  space  where  the  city  was  to  be,  he  scornfully  leapt  over 
them,  saying,  '  S'hall  such  defences  as  these  keep  your  city]'  As  he  did 
this,  Celer,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  building,  struck  Remus  with  the 
spade  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  slew  him  ;  and  they  buried  him  on 
the  hill  Remuria,  by  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  on  the  spot  where  he  had 
wished  to  build  the  city. 

"  But  Romulus  found  that  his  people  were  too  few  in  numbers ;  so  he 
set  apart  a  place  of  refuge,  to  which  any  man  might  flee,  and  be  safe  from 
his  pursuers.  So  many  fled  thither  from  the  countries  round  about ;  those 
who  had  shed  blood,  and  fled  from  the  vengeance  of  the  avenger  of  blood  ; 
those  who  were  driven  out  from  their  own  homes  by  their  enemies,  and 
even  men  of  low  degree  who  had  run  away  from  their  lords.  Thus  the 
city  became  full  of  people ;  but  yet  they  wanted  wives,  and  the  nations 
round  about  would  not  give  them  their  daughters  in  marriage.  So  Rom- 
ulus gave  out  that  he  was  going  to  keep  a  great  festival,  and  there  were 
to  be  sports  and  games  to  draw  a  multitude  together.  The  neighbours 
came  to  see  the  show,  with  their  wives  and  their  daughters;  there  came 
the  people  of  Caenina,  and  of  Crustumerium,  and  of  Antemna,  and  a  great 
multitude  of  the  Sabines.  But  while  they  were  looking  at  the  games,  the 
people  of  Romulus  rushed  out  upon  them,  and  carried  off  the  women  to  be 
their  wives.  Upon  this  the  people  of  Caenina  first  made  war  upon  the 
people  of  Romulus ;  lut  they  were  beaten,  and  Romulus  with  his  own 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  259 

fliand  slew  their  king  Acron.  Next  the  people  of  Crustumeriutn,  and  of 
Aiitemna,  tried  their  fortune,  but  Romulus  conquered  both  of  them.  Last 
of  all  came  the  Sabines,  with  a  great  army  under  Titus  Tatius,  their  king. 
Tliere  is  a  hill  near  to  the  Tiber,  which  was  divided  from  the  Palatine  hill 
by  a  low  and  swampy  valley  ;  and  on  this  hill  Romulus  made  a  fortress, 
to  keep  off  the  enemy  from  his  city.  But  when  the  fair  Tarpeia,  the 
daue;hter  of  the  chief  who  had  charge  of  the  fortress,  saw  the  Sabines 
draw  near,  and  marked  their  bracelets  and  collars  of  gold,  she  longed  after 
these  ornaments,  and  promised  to  betray  the  hill  into  their  hands  if  they 
would  give  her  those  bright  things  they  wore  upon  their  arms.  So  she 
opened  a  gate,  and  let  in  the  Sabines  ;  and  they,  as  they  came  in,  threw 
upon  her  their  bright  shields  which  they  bore  on  their  arms,  and  crushed 
her  to  death.  Thus  the  Sabines  got  the  fortress  which  was  on  the  hill 
Saturnius;  and  they  and  the  Romans  joined  battle  in  the  valley  between 
the  hill  and  the  city  of  Romulus.  The  Sabines  began  to  get  the  better, 
and  came  up  close  to  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city.  The  people  of  Romu- 
lus  shut  the  gate,  but  it  opened  of  its  own  accord  ;  once  and  again  they 
shut  it,  and  once  and  again  it  opened.  But  as  the  Sabines  were  rushing 
in,  behold  there  burst  forth  from  the  temple  of  Janus,  which  was  near  the 
gate,  a  mighty  stream  of  water,  and  swept  away  the  Sabines,  and  saved 
the  city.  For  this  it  was  ordered  that  the  temple  of  Janus  should  stand 
ever  open  in  the  time  of  war,  that  the  god  might  be  ever  ready,  as  on  this 
jay,  to  go  out  and  give  aid  to  the  people  of  Romulus. 

"After  this  they  fought  again  in  the  valley ;  and  the  people  of  Romu- 
■•.us  were  beginning  to  flee,  when  Romulus  prayed  to  Jove,  the  stayer  of 
Qight,  that  he  might  stay  the  people  ;  and  so  their  flight  was  stayed,  and 
Vhey  turned  again  to  battle.  And  now  the  fight  was  fiercer  than  ever : 
when,  on  a  sudden,  the  Sabine  women,  who  had  been  carried  off,  ran 
down  from  the  hill  Palatinus,  and  ran  in  between  their  husbands  and  their 
fathers,  and  prayed  them  to  lay  aside  their  quarrel.  So  they  made  peace 
with  one  another,  and  the  two  people  became  as  one  :  the  Sabines  with 
their  king  dwelt  on  the  hill  Saturnius,  whioh  is  called  Capitolium,  and  on 
the  hill  Quirinalis ;  and  the  people  of  Romulus  with  their  king  dwelt  on 
the  hill  Palatinus.  But  the  kings  with  their  counsellors  met  in  the  valley 
between  Saturnius  and  Palatinus,  to  consult  about  their  common  matters; 
and  the  place  where  they  met  was  called  Comitium,  which  means  '  the 
place  of  meeting.'  Soon  after  this.  Tatius  was  slain  by  the  people  of 
Laurentum,  because  some  of  his  kinsmen  had  wronged  them,  and  he 
would  not  do  them  justice.  So  Romulus  reigned  by  himself  over  both 
nations;  and  his  own  people  were  called  the  Romans,  for  Roma  was 
the  name  of  the  city  on  tJie  hill  Palatinus :  and  the  Sabines  were 
called  Quirites,  for  the  name  of  their  city  on  the  hills  Saturnius  and  Qui- 
rinalis was  Quirium.  The  people  were  divided  into  three  tribes ;  the 
Ramnenses,  and  the  Titienses,  and  the  Luceres :  the  Ramnenses  were 
called  from  Romulus,  and  the  Titienses  from  Tatius ;  and  the  Luceres 
were  called  from  Lucumo,  an  Etruscan  chief,  who  had  come  to  help 
Romulus  in  his  war  with  the  Sabines,  and  dwelt  on  the  hill  called  Ca;lius. 
In  each  tribe  tliere  were  ten  curiae,  each  of  one  hundred  men;  so  all  the 
men  of  the  three  tribes  were  three  thousand,  and  these  fought  on  foot,  and 
were  called  a  legion.  There  were  also  three  hundred  horsemen,  and 
these  were  called  Celerians,  because  their  chief  was  that  Celer  who  had 
slain  Remus.  There  was  besides  a  council  of  two  hundred  men,  which 
was  called  a  senate,  that  is,  a  council  of  elders.  Romulus  was  a  just  king 
and  gentle  to  his  people  :  if  any  were  guilty  of  crimes,  he  did  not  put 
them  to  death,  but  made  them  pay  a  fine  of  sheep  or  of  oxen.  In  his  wars 
he  was  very  successful,  and  enriched  his  people  with  the  spoils  of  their 
enemies.  At  last,  after  he  had  reigned  nearly  forty  years,  it  chanced  that 
one  day  he  called  his  people  together  in  the  field  of  Mars,  near  the  Goats 


250  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Pool ;  when,  all  on  a  sudden,  there  arose  a  dreadful  storm,  and  all  was 
dark  as  night ;  and  the  rain,  and  thunder  and  lightning,  were  so  terrible, 
that  all  the  people  fled  from  the  field,  and  ran  to  their  several  homes.  At 
last  the  storm  was  over,  and  they  came  back  to  the  field  of  Mars,  but 
Romulus  was  nowhere  to  be  found  ;  for  Mars,  his  father,  had  carried  him 
up  to  heaven  in  his  chariot.  The  people  knew  not  at  first  what  had  be- 
come of  him ;  but  when  it  was  night,  as  one  Proculus  Julius  was  coming 
from  Alba  to  the  city,  Romulus  appeared  to  him  in  more  than  mortal 
beauty,  and  grown  to  more  than  mortal  stature,  and  said  to  him,  '  Go,  tell 
my  people  that  they  weep  not  for  me  any  more ;  but  bid  them  be  brave 
and  warlike,  and  so  shall  they  make  my  city  the  greatest  in  the  earlh.' 
Then  the  people  knew  that  Romulus  was  become  a  god;  so  they  built  a 
temple  to  him,  and  offered  sacrifice  to  him,  and  worshipped  him  evermore 
by  the  name  of  the  god  Quirinus." 

But  to  quit  the  hyperbole  of  legendary  lore  and  speak  in  plain  terms,  it 
amounts  to  this — Romulus,  the  grandson  of  Numiior,  king  of  the  Latins, 
joined  with  his  brother  Remus  in  an  attempt  to  re-establish  his  grand- 
lather  in  the  possession  of  his  throne,  and  Amulius,  the  usurper,  was  put 
to  death.  Having  thus  far  succeeded,  the  two  young  heroes  next  assem- 
bled a  number  of  the  lowest  orders  of  the  people,  and  built  a  city  on  the 
Aventine  hill,  to  which  Romulus  gave  his  name  ;  and  soon  after  becoming 
jealous  of  his  brother,  caused  him  to  be  assassinated. 

We  turn  to  the  pages  of  Dr.  Arnold,  who,  after  referring  those  who 
desire  to  go  deeply  into  the  whole  question,  to  the  '  immortal  work  of 
Niebuhr,'  very  justly  observes,  that  "  the  first  question  in  the  history  of 
every  people  is,  what  was  their  race  and  language  1  the  next,  what  was 
the  earliest  form  of  their  society,  their  social  and  political  organization  !" 
"  The  language  of  the  Romans  was  not  called  Roman,  but  Latin.  Po- 
litically, Rome  and  Latium  were  clearly  distinguished,  but  their  language 
appears  to  have  been  the  same.  This  language  is  diflferent  from  the  Etrus- 
can, and  from  the  Oscan  ;  thus  the  Romans  are  marked  out  as  distinct 
from  the  great  nations  of  central  Italy,  whether  Etruscans,  Umbrians, 
Sabines,  or  Samnites.  On  the  other  hand,  the  connection  of  the  Latin 
language  with  the  Greek  is  manifest.  Many  common  words,  which  no 
nation  ever  derives  from  the  literature  of  another,  are  the  same  in  Greek 
and  Latin  ;  the  declensions  of  the  nouns  and  verbs  are,  to  a  great  degree, 
similar.  It  is  probable  that  the  Latins  belonged  to  that  great  race  which, 
in  very  early  times,  overspread  both  Greece  and  Italy,  under  the  various 
names  of  Pelasgians,  Tyrsenians,  and  Siculians.  It  may  be  believed, 
that  the  Hellenians  were  anciently  a  people  of  this  same  race,  but  that 
some  peculiar  circumstances  gave  to  them  a  disUnct  and  superior  charac- 
ter, and  raised  them  so  far  above  their  brethren,  that,  in  after  ages,  they 
disclaimed  all  connection  with  them.  But  in  the  Latin  language  there  is 
another  element  besides  that  which  it  has  in  comniun  with  the  Greek. 
This  element  belongs  to  the  languages  of  central  Italy,  and  uiay  be  called 
Oscan.  The  terms  relating  to  agriculture  and  domestic  life'are  mostly  de 
rived  from  the  Greek  part  of  the  language ;  those  relating  to  arms  and 
war  are  mostly  Oscan.  It  seems,  then,  not  only  that  the  Latins  were  a 
mixed  people,  but  that  they  arose  out  of  a  conquest  of  the  Pelasgians 
by  the  Oscans ;  so  that  the  latter  were  the  ruling  class  of  the  united 
nation,  the  former  its  subjects.  The  Latin  language,  then,  may  aflbrd 
us  a  clue  to  the  origin  of  the  Latin  people,  and  m  far  to  that  of  the  Ro- 
mans. But  it  does  not  explain  the  ditference  between  Romans  and  Latins, 
to  which  the  peculiar  fates  of  the  Roman  people  owe  their  origin.  We 
must  inquire,  then,  what  the  Romans  were  which  the  other  Latins  were 
not ;  and  as  language  cannot  aid  us  here,  we  must  have  recourse  toother 
SBBistance,  to  gcograpliy  and  national  traditions.  And  thus,  at  the  same 
time,  we  shall  arrive  at  an  answer  to  the  second  question  in  Roman  his- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  261 

x«y,  what  was  the  earliest  form  of  civil  society  at  Rome  1  If  we  look 
it  the  map,  we  shall  see  that  Rome  lies  at  the  farthest  extremity  of  La- 
tium,  divided  from  Etriiria  only  by  the  Tiber,  and  having  the  Sabines  close 
oa  the  north,  between  the  Tiber  and  the  A.nio.  No  other  Latin  town,  so 
far  as  we  know,  was  built  on  the  Tiber ;  some  were  clustered  on  and  round 
the  Alban  hills,  others  lined  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean;  but  from  all 
these  Rome,  by  its  position,  stoop  aloof.  Tradition  reports  that  as  Rome 
was  thus  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  Latin  cities,  and  so  near  a  neighbour 
to  the  Etruscans  and  Sabines,  so  its  population  was  in  part  formed  out 
of  these  nations,  and  many  of  its  rites  and  institutions  borrowed  from  the 
other.  Tradition  describes  the  very  first  founders  of  the  city  as  the  shep- 
herds and  herdsmen  of  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  and  tells  how  their  numbers 
were  presently  swelled  by  strangers  and  outcasts  from  all  the  countries 
about.  It  speaks  of  a  threefold  division  of  the  Roman  people,  in  the  very 
earhest  age  of  its  history ;  the  tribes  of  the  Ranmenses,  Titienses,  and 
Luceres.  It  distinctly  acknowledges  the  Titienses  to  have  been  Sabines  ; 
and  in  some  of  its  guesses  at  the  origin  of  the  Luceres,  it  connects  their 
name  with  that  of  the  Etruscan  Lucumones,  and  thus  supposes  them  to 
have  been  composed  of  Etruscans.  We  know  that  for  all  points  o  detail, 
and  for  keeping  a  correct  account  of  time,  tradition  is  worthless.  It  is 
very  possible  that  all  the  Etruscan  rites  and  usages  came  in  with  the 
Tarquinii,  and  were  falsely  carried  back  to  an  earlier  period.  But  the 
mixture  of  Sabines  with  the  original  people  of  the  Palatine  hill,  cannot 
be  doubted ;  and  the  stories  of  the  asylum,  and  of  the  violence  done  to 
the  Sab'ne  women,  seem  to  shew  that  the  first  settlers  of  the  Palatine 
were  a  n  ixed  race,  in  which  other  blood  was  largely  mingled  with  that 
of  the  Latins.  We  may  conceive  of  this  earlier  people  of  Mamers,  as  of 
'le  Mamertini  of  a  more  historical  period:  that  they  were  a  band  of  reso- 
lute adventurers  from  various  parts,  practised  in  arms,  and  little  scrupu- 
lous how  they  used  them.  Thus  the  origin  of  the  highest  Roman  nobility 
greatly  resembled  that  of  the  larger  band  of  adventurers  who  followed 
the  standard  of  William  the  Norman,  and  were  the  founders  of  the  no- 
bility of  England.  The  people  or  citizens  of  Rome,  were  divided  into 
the  three  tribes  of  the  Ramnenses,  Titienses,  and  Luceres,  from  whatever 
circumstances  they  may  have  risen.  Each  of  these  tribes  was  divided 
into  ten  smaller  bodies  called  curiae  ;  so  that  the  whole  people  consisted 
of  thirty  curitB:  the  same  divisions  were  in  war  represented  by  the  thirty 
centuries  which  made  up  the  legion,  just  as  the  three  tribes  were  repre- 
sented by  the  three  centuries  of  horsemen ;  but  that  the  soldiers  of  each 
century  were  exactly  a  hundred,  is  apparently  unfounded. 

We  see,  then,  that  this  city,  which  afterward  became  the  mistress  of 
the  world,  was  at  this  time  but  a  large  village.  Its  principal  inhabitants 
laboured  with  the  plough  in  an  unproductive  soil.  Everyone  made  choice 
of  the  spot  he  meant  to  cultivate ;  and,  until  the  taking  of  Rome  by  the 
Gauls,  334  years  after  its  foundation,  it  was  rather  to  be  called  amass  of 
separated  dwellings  than  a  regularly  built  city.  Whereas,  the  circumfer- 
ence of  the  walls,  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  was  thirty  thousand  paces, 
without  including  the  part  that  approached  the  Tiber,  which  was  twenty 
thousand ;  independent,  also,  of  the  suburbs.  Its  embellishments  were 
superb  and  prodigious.  But  to  return  to  the  first  foundation  of  Rome. 
There  were  very  few  women  at  this  time  among  the  Romans;  and  their 
neighbours  being  unwilling  to  marry  their  daughters  to  these  heroic  rob- 
bers, K.omulus  caused  public  games  to  be  exhibited,  at  which  many  of  the 
Sabine  women  were  present,  who  were  seized  by  the  Romans.  This 
conduct  produced  a  war  between  the  two  nations,  which  terminated  in 
their  union.  Romulus  being  acknowledged  king,  endeavoured  to  civilize 
his  new  subjects  ;  and,  having  ascertained  their  number,  which  was  3,000 
men,  he  divided  them  into  three  tribes  of  1,000  each,  and  each  tribe  into 


262  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ten  curi<E  of  100  each.  He  employed  by  turns  force  and  address  to  com- 
plete the  work  he  had  begun  :  he  formed  a  body  of  cavalry,  consisting  of 
three  hundred  men;  and  chose  for  his  council  one  hundred  old  men,  or  aS 
least  such  as  had  experience  to  recommend  them.  To  these  he  gave  the 
name  of  senators.  Romulus  governed  happily  during  five  years  with  Ta- 
tius,  whom  he  had  associated  in  the  government:  but  Tatius  being  killed 
at  Lavinium,  Romulus  was  left  sole  possessor  of  the  sovereign  power. 
He  conquered  the  Fiden;e  and  the  Veientes  ;  and  cemented,  by  salutary 
law.=,  the  strength  and  tranquility  of  Rome  ;  but  afterward,  aiming  to  be- 
come a  despot,  he  was  assassinated  in  the  senate. 

After  an  interregnum,  Numa  Pompilius  was  elected  king.  The  amiable 
and  humane  disposition  of  this  prince  softened  the  warlike  and  ferocious 
temper  of  the  Romans.  To  restain  them  from  outrage  and  barbarity,  he 
pretended  to  have  received  his  instruction  from  the  nymph  Egeria;  an 
artifice  which  had  the  desired  effect.  His  reign  was  pacific  throughout  : 
he  inspired  the  people  with  a  love  of  religion  and  peace  ;  he  encouraged 
agriculture  ;  amended  the  calendar  ;  moderated  the  laws  relative  to  pater- 
nal authority  ;  created  the  pontiffs,  the  vestals,  &c.,  and  died  justly  regret- 
ted by  the  people,  who  lamented  him  as  a  father  and  a  king.  It  was  Numa 
who  established  the  different  religious  ceremonies  and  orders  of  priests ; 
namely,  thirty  curiones,  or  priests  of  the  curiae,  one  for  each  ;  three  flam- 
ens,  or  priests  of  Jupiter,  Mars,  and  Quirinus ;  three  hundred  celeres,  or 
sacrificers  ;  a  body  of  augurs,  who  interpreted  signs,  dreams,  &c.;  four 
vestal  virgins,  priestesses  of  Vesta,  leading  a  life  of  continence,  and  pre- 
serving a  perpetual  fire  in  the  temple  of  the  goddess ;  the  salii  who  had 
charge  of  twelve  sacred  shields,  suspended  in  the  temple  of  Mais  ;  feciales, 
or  heralds  ;  and  pontifices,  who  presided  over  all  religious  affairs.  The 
latter  formed  a  college,  the  head  of  which  was  termed  the  pontifex  maxi- 
nius,  and  was  generally  some  eminent  person  in  the  state,  as  the  king, 
consul,  or  emperor.  There  was  another  class  of  ministers  of  religion, 
called  haruspices,  who  pretended  to  foretell  events  by  inspecting  the  en- 
trails of  beasts  offered  in  sacrifices ;  but  Numa  did  not  allow  such  sacri- 
fices in  his  reign. 

Tullus  Hostilius,  his  successor,  was  an  ambitious  and  intrepid  prince, 
who  delighted  in  war ;  he  defeated  the  Fidenates  and  the  Sabines,  and 
demolished  Alba.  The  Horatii  and  the  Curatii  were  chosen  to  fight  three 
against  three  :  two  of  the  Horatii  being  killed,  the  remaining  one  had  re- 
course to  stratagem,  and  by  that  means  conquered  his  adversaries :  after 
having  gained  the  victory,  he  killed  his  sister  for  shedding  tears  for  one 
of  the  Curatii.  Tullus  Hostilius  is  said  to  have  died  by  a  thunderbolt,  but 
more  probably  by  conspiracy.  The  fine  disposition  of  Numa  reappeared 
in  Ancus  Martins,  a  friend  to  the  arts,  to  religion,  and  to  peace.  The 
Latins,  mistaking  the  character  of  Ancus,  made  war  upon  him  ;  but  were 
soon  taught  that  he  was  equally  capable  of  humbling  his  enemies  as  of 
making  his  people  happy  ;  he  subdued  the  Veientes,  the  Fidenates,  and 
the  Volscians.  He  embellished  Rome,  built  public  prisons,  and  founded  the 
port  of  Ostia.  Tarquin  the  Elder,  descended  from  an  illustrious  family 
of  Corinth,  was  elected  as  the  successor  of  Ancus.  The  introduction  of 
plebeians  into  the  senate,  the  decoration  of  Rome  with  superb  edifices,  and 
the  foundation  of  the  capitol,  were  the  principal  events  of  his  reign.  Ser- 
vius  Tullius,  a  man  of  obscure  birth,  succeeded  Tarquin  in  the  Roman 
throne.  He  subdued  the  enemies  of  Rome,  enacted  salutary  laws,  en- 
larged the  city,  established  quit-rents,  and  a  body  of  magistrates  to  judge 
particular  causes.  Having  formed  the  design  of  making  his  subjects  free, 
it  was  his  intention  to  change  the  form  of  government  from  a  monarchy 
to  that  of  a  republic  ;  but,  being  murdered  by  Tarquin,  who  succeeded 
him  on  the  throne,  this  generous  resolution  was  prevented  from  fulfilment. 
He  reigned  gloriously,  and  cemented  liie  union  between  Rome  and  the 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  263 

neighbouring  states.  He  was  the  first  Roman  king  who  stamped  coin. 
Tarquln  the  Superb,  a  proud  and  ferocious  tyrant,  mounted  the  throne 
after  having  murdered  Servius  TulUus,  his  wife's  father.  He  formed 
projects  disgraceful  to  his  country.  He  dehghted  in  luxury  and  debauch- 
ery ;  paying  little  regard  to  the  established  laws,  he  oppressed  the  people 
and  endeavoured  to  destroy  the  senate,  a  body  instituted  with  so  much 
wisdom,  and  who  already  began  to  be  the  immovable  rampart  of  the  liberty 
of  the  people.  The  Romans  in  this  reign  triumphed  over  the  Sabines  and 
the  Volscians,  and  finished  the  capitol.  The  excesses  and  despotism  of 
Tarquin  and  his  sons  incretised  so  much  the  public  hatred  against  him, 
that  he  was  precipitated  from  a  throne  which  he  disgraced. 

It  is  observable,  in  this  sketch  of  the  Roman  history,  that  the  Greeks 
were,  in  every  respect,  superior  to  the  Romans  when  their  state  was  in 
its  infancy;  the  Romans  never  quitting  their  huts  upon  the  seven  hills, 
but  to  make  captives  of  women,  and  pillage  the  neighbouring  villages. 
The  Greeks,  on  the  contrary,  were  occupied  in  defending  their  liberties  : 
they  repulsed  large  armies  and  fleets  of  the  Persians  ;  and  they  cultivated 
and  brought  to  perfection  the  fine  arts,  of  which  the  Romans  were  almost 
totally  ignorant  until  the  time  of  Scipio  Africanus.  The  ferocity  and 
spirit  of  rapine  which  prevailed  among  the  first  Romans,  one  might  sup- 
pose would  have  induced  the  surrounding  nations  to  exterminate  them: 
but  the  necessities  which  urged  them  to  commit  depredations,  animated 
their  courage,  and  rendered  their  acts  of  injustice  irresistible.  They  were 
successful  in  war,  from  bemg  inured  to  it;  and,  at  the  end  of  four  centu- 
ries, they  had  conquered  all  the  nations  from  the  Adriatic  Gulf  to  the  river 
Euphrates. 

The  Roman  Republic. 

This  republic,  hereafter  so  celebrated,  commenced  with  the  expulsion 
of  Tarquin,  the  last  king  of  Rome;  and  it  having  been  declared  by  the 
senate  that  he  had  forfeited  the  royal  dignity,  they  elected  two  chief 
magistrates,  called  consuls,  whose  power  was  to  last  only  one  year. 
The  consuls  had  several  other  magistrates  subordinate  to  them,  such  as 
preetors,  magistrates  whose  office  it  was  to  render  justice  :  tribunes,  the 
magistrates  of  the  people:  they  might  oppose  all  the  resolutions  of  the 
other  magistrates,  and  their  persons  were  held  sacred  and  inviolable : 
quaestors,  officers  who  took  charge  of  the  public  money :  cediles,  officers 
who  superintended  the  buildings,  and  the  exhibition  of  public  games  :  cen- 
sors, officers  whose  business  it  was  to  rate  the  people,  and  inspect  and 
correct  their  manners  :  proconsuls,  magistrates  commissioned  to  govern 
provinces  with  consular  authority  ;  and,  on  particular  occasions,  a  dictator 
was  appointed,  who  possessed  sovereign  authority. 

This  revolution  was  the  epoch  of  the  glory  of  Rome.  Each  consul 
exerted  himself  for  the  benefit  of  his  country  during  his  short  administra- 
tion, in  order  to  merit  a  future  election;  but  the  jealousy  of  the  people 
demonstrated  itself  from  the  first  consulates.  Valerius,  famous  for  his 
victories,  became  suspected ;  and,  to  satisfy  the  plebeians,  a  law  was 
made,  which  permitted  an  appeal  to  the  people,  after  condemnation  from 
the  senate  and  consuls,  in  all  cases  where  the  punishment  of  a  Roman 
citizen  was  intended.  In  the  meantime  the  Tarquins  were  busy  in  solicit- 
ing the  neighbouring  nations  to  avenge  their  quarrel.  Porsenna,  king  of 
Etruria,  marched  against  Rome,  and  reduced  it  to  the  greatest  extremities  , 
but  the  spirit  shown  by  the  republicans  astonished  their  enemies,  who 
could  no  longer  resist  their  impetuosity  ;  and  from  this  time  the  Tarquins 
lost  all  hope.  The  jealousy  which  had  hitherto  subsisted  between  the 
patricians  and  tl  e  plebeians  augmented  rather  than  abated  ;   the  latter 


254  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

thought  the  power  invested  in  the  consuls  too  great,  although  it  had  been 

considerably  lessened  by  the  Valerian  law.  They  accordingly  retired  to 
the  sacred  mountain,  and  violent  measures  were  used  in  vain  to  reduce 
them  ;  but  the  mild  and  simple  eloquence  of  Menenius  Agrippa  induced 
them  to  listen  to  terms  of  accomodation.  They  demanded  a  magistrate, 
whose  business  it  should  be  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  over  their  interests, 
and  defend  them  against  the  intrigues  of  the  consuls  and  the  senate ; 
accordingly,  tribunes  were  created,  and  established  by  a  law,  denominated 
sacred,  and  which  in  some  measure  relieved  them  from  the  yoke  of  aris- 
tocracy, now  become  nearly  as  heavy  as  the  despotism  of  their  kings. 

The  Roman  people  continued  to  be  everywhere  successful  in  battle ; 
but  their  intestine  divisions  brought  them  frequently  into  the  most  immi- 
nent danger.  Coriolanus,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  generals,  was  ban- 
ished by  a  popular  faction,  and  his  services  wholly  forgotten.  Enraged 
at  their  ingratitude,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Volscians,  marched 
againr-t  his  country,  and  would  probably  have  become  its  conqueror,  had 
it  not  been  that  the  entreaties  of  his  mother  prevailed  on  him  to  desist 
from  his  enterprise.  Spurius  Cassius,  aspiring  at  tyranny,  proposed  the 
agrarian  law,  and  thereby  opened  a  new  source  of  discord ;  he  was  thrown 
from  the  Tarpeian  rock,  the  death  destined  for  the  punishment  of  traitors. 
Soon  after  this,  Cincinnatus  quitted  his  plough  for  the  good  of  the  repub- 
lic ;  he  left  his  field  for  the  city ;  and  his  peaceful  rustic  employment  for 
the  rude  clamour  of  war.  This  celebrated  character  suppressed,  during 
the  consulate,  the  factions  of  the  tribunes ;  and,  while  dictator,  defeated 
the  enemies  of  the  republic.  After  having  performed  several  other  actions 
which  added  glory  to  his  character,  he  augmented  it  by  another  superior 
to  them  all ;  that  of  returning  to  his  plough  without  ambition,  but  with  the 
honest  pride  of  having  served  his  country. 

The  imperfection  of  the  laws  in  a  nation  so  addicted  to  war  as  the  Ro- 
mans, obliged  the  people  of  Rome  to  borrow,  from  those  of  Athens,  the 
laws  of  Solon.  The  decemvirs,  to  whom  the  examination  of  these  laws 
was  committed,  adopted  those  which  appeared  to  them  most  eligible;  pro- 
fiting by  the  sagacity  of  the  Greeks,  as  the  Greeks  had  done  by  the  Egyp- 
tians. After  having  digested  them,  they  delayed  to  put  them  in  force, 
and  governed  with  despotic  authority.  The  ill  success  against  the 
./Equites  and  Sabines ;  the  murder  of  Siccius  Dentatus,  a  man  of  great 
valour,  but  obscure  birth,  who  had  opposed  their  tyranny ;  the  reciprocal 
hatred  subsisting  between  the  army  and  the  senate;  and,  lastly,  the  death 
of  Virginia,  stabbed  by  her  father  to  save  her  from  the  dishonour  intend- 
ed her  by  Appius,  gave  the  finishing  blow  to  their  power  and  despotism ; 
and  the  same  crime  which  had  proved  fatal  to  monarchy,  was  the  ruin  of 
the  decemvirate. 

The  consuls  and  the  military  tribunes  succeeded  each  other  alternately 
during  seventy-eight  years,  in  which  time  the  enemies  of  Rome  reaped 
considerable  advantages  from  their  internal  dissensions.  Camillus,  who 
opposed  the  tribunes  concerning  the  agrarian  law,  was  banished.  R.ome 
was  soon  after  attacked  by  the  Gauls,  who  plundered  and  burnt  great  part 
of  it.  Camillus  was  recalled,  and  made  dictator:  he  entirely  defeated  the 
invaders  and  Rome  arose  from  its  ashes  with  additional  splendour.  The 
people,  pro.TiDted  by  the  tribunes,  were  on  the  point  of  quitting  Rome, 
and  transferri(':g  the  republic  to  the  Veientes  ;  but  Camillus  opposed  the 
design,  and  turned  their  restless  thoughts  toward  military  achieve- 
ments. He  began  with  the  Samnites,  a  fierce  and  warlike  nation,  hitherto 
unconquered.  A  long  and  bloody  war  took  place.  The  senate  punished, 
with  extreme  severity,  the  treason  of  some  of  the  Roman  troops,  who, 
charmed  with  the  climate  of  Padua,  where  they  lay  in  garrison,  formed  a 
design  of  murdering  the  inhabitants,  and  establishing  themselves  in  the 
possession  of  their  country.     Manlius  had  his  son  put  to  death,  although 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  265 

a  conqueror,  for  fighting  without  orders.  About  the  same  time  the  famous 
war  of  Tarentam  called  the  celebrated  Pyrrhus  into  Italy.  Active  and 
restless,  he  was  continually  forming  schemes,  and  occupied  himself  more 
in  the  affairs  of  others  than  in  his  own.  He  was  a  perfect  master  of  the 
military  art,  but  totally  ignorant  of  that  of  governing.  In  addition  to  the 
opposition  of  his  army  to  that  of  the  Roman,  he  introduced  elephants  into 
the  field,  which  being  new  to  the  Roman  troops,  was  the  cause  of  their 
discomfiture.  But,  being  aware  of  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  his  oppo- 
nents, he  solicited  an  alliance  with  them  through  the  means  of  the  orator 
Cyneas.  He  attempted  to  corrupt,  by  presents,  the  virtue  of  Fabricius. 
He  passed  into  Sicily,  with  a  view  to  succour  that  island  against  the  Car- 
thaginians. And  afterwards  returning  to  Italy,  he  abandoned  them  entire- 
ly, filled  with  veneration  for  a  people  whose  courage  and  constancy  he 
was  unable  even  to  shake. 

Rome  now  began  to  fix  the  attention  of  strangers.  It  received  ambas 
sadors  from,  and  accepted  an  alliance  with,  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  king 
of  Egypt,  the  enlightened  protector  of  the  arts  and  sciences.  About  this 
time  luxury  was  first  introduced  among  the  Roman  people,  the  source  of 
all  their  future  misfortunes.  It  destroyed  republican  virtue;  it  debilitated 
their  courage ;  and  was  thus,  eventually,  the  cause  of  the  downfall  of 
Rome.  The  siege  of  Messina  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  their  union  with 
Hiero,  king  of  Syracuse,  caused  the  first  Punic  war.  Hiero  soon  after 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  Romans,  and  remained  ever  after  faithful  to 
their  cause.  The  love  of  glory  rendered  them  as  unconquerable  on  the 
sea  as  they  had  before  been  on  the  lc;nd.  Sicily,  the  object  of  their  ambi- 
tion, was  the  witness  of  their  naval  victories.  Africa  herself  trembled  at 
the  sight  of  her  fleets.  However,  Xantippus,  the  Lacedemonian,  whom 
the  Carthaginians,  with  the  basest  ingratitude,  deprived  of  his  life,  defeat- 
ed and  made  prisoner  the  brave  but  unfortunate  Regulus.  The  Cartha- 
ginians demanded  peace,  and  Regulus  himself,  who  was  one  of  the  am- 
bassadors, opposed  the  treaty,  and  fell  a  victim  to  the  love  of  his  country : 
he  returned  to  Carthage  to  meet  the  most  horrid  death  that  enraged  Car- 
thaginians could  inflict.  Hamilcar  was  afterwards  defeated,  which  ter- 
minated the  first  Punic  war. 

The  siege  and  conquest  of  Saguntum,  a  city  in  alliance  with  the  Ro- 
mans, gave  birth  to  the  second  Punic  war.  Hannibal,  already  famous  for 
his  brilliant  success  in  Spain,  who  had  from  his  infancy  been  taught  to 
regard  the  Romans  with  detestation,  advanced  towards  Italy  at  the  head 
of  an  army;  crossed  the  Rhone ;  traversed  the  Alps  in  the  midst  of  win- 
ter ;  defeated  Scipio  on  the  banks  of  the  Vesin ;  was  conqueror  at  Tre- 
bia,  Thrasymenus,  and  Cannae;  and  filled  Rome  itself  with  alarm.  The 
pleasures  of  Capua,  it  is  said,  where  he  had  the  imprudence  to  winter, 
saved  Rome  from  destruction.  It  gave  the  Romans  time  to  recover  from 
the  consternation  which  his  rapid  progress  had  occasioned  ;  they  collect- 
ed all  their  force,  and  rose  more  terrible  than  ever,  by  their  constancy, 
their  discipline,  their  courage,  and  their  policy.  Their  numerous  victo- 
ries astonished  Spain  and  Sicily.  They  declared  war  against  Philip,  the 
ally  of  Carthage  ;  took  Syracuse,  Agrigentum,  and  Capua ;  defeated  As- 
drubal ;  and  all  Spain  submitted  to  the  younger  Scipio.  This  general 
M'ent  into  Africa,  and,  by  his  successes,  obliged  Hannibal  to  quit  Europe, 
and  return  home.  The  interview  between  these  two  great  generals  hap- 
lenedthe  battle  of  Zama,  where  every  manoeuvre  in  the  art  of  war  whs 
displayed.  Scipio  was  tht.  conqueror,  and  the  Roman  senate  dictated  the 
conditions  of  peace.  I'his  victory  augmented  the  already  immoderate 
ambition  of  Rome,  which  threatened  the  world  with  slavery. 

Hannibal,  after  having  passed  some  time  at  the  court  of  Antiochus, 
king  of  Syria,  whom  he  bad  engaged  to  declare  war  against  the  Romans, 
returned  to  Bilhynia;  but  fearing  that  he  should  be  delivered  UD  to  his  in- 


266  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

veterate  enemy,  he  put  an  end  to  his  existence  by  poison.  The  war  with 
Philip,  kiii^  of  Macedon,  and  afterwards  with  Perseus,  his  son,  was  a 
remarkabh;  epoch.  Philip,  after  having  suffered  great  loss,  made  peace 
with  the  Jiomans;  but  Perseus,  with  a  view  of  recovering  back  what  his 
father  had  lost,  renewed  a  war  which  deprived  him  both  of  liberty  and 
life,  and  reduced  the  kingdom  to  a  Roman  province.  Antiochus,  king  of 
Syria,  who  had  declared  war  against  the  Konians  in  compliance  with  the 
wishes  of  Hannibal,  was  likewise  obliged,  in  order  to  obtain  peace,  to  cede 
all  the  country  he  possessed  on  the  western  side  of  Mount  Taurus. 

The  Romans  beheld  with  pain  the  existence  of  Carthage,  and  eagerly 
sought  an  occasion  to  commence  hostilities.  An  opportunity  soon  pre- 
senred  itself.  The  Carthaginians  being  at  war  with  Massinissa,  king  of 
Numidia,  the  Romans  armed  in  his  favour,  and  sent  a  strong  force  against 
Carthage  itself.  The  Carthaginians  defended  themselves  courageously ; 
but  the  Roman  commander,  Publius  Cornelius  Scipio,  becoming  master 
of  it,  reduced  it  to  ashes,  and  carried  with  him  its  riches  to  Rome.  Thus 
ended  the  third  Punic  war;  and  thus  fell  Carthage,  the  ancient  and  pow- 
erful rival  of  Rome,  b.  c.  147.  Carthage  was  originally  a  colony  from 
Tyre,  founded  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  about  70  years  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  city  of  Rome.  It  was  a  commonwealth,  governed  by  a  senate 
and  magistrates,  annually  elected;  and  had  risen  to  great  wealth  and  pow- 
er by  its  commercial  enterprise,  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities  with 
Rome.  Upon  a  philosophical  examination  of  these  two  republics,  it  will 
be  found  that  a  variety  of  causes  contributed  to  give  Rome  the  superiority 
over  Carthage  : — 1st.  Two  opposing  parties  continually  divided  the  sen- 
ate of  Carthage  :  the  rich  were  constantly  advocates  for  peace  ;  the  poor 
for  war,  expecting  thereby  to  enrich  themselves  by  its  spoils.  2dly.  Av- 
arice dictated  all  their  deliberations ;  they  conquered  but  to  amass 
wealth.  3dly.  Carthage,  not  having  any  allies,  had  not  the  assistance 
of  auxiliaries.  The  only  advantage  which  they  possessed  over  the  Ro- 
mans, consisted  in  the  superiority  of  their  marine.  4thly.  The  state  was 
poor,  and  individuals  were  very  rich.  At  Rome,  the  love  of  war  was  the 
spirit  that  animated  all  orders  of  the  state.  Every  man  was  a  soldier; 
glory  decided  every  thing.  They  were  ambitious  of  the  empire  of  the 
world  ;  they  opposed  to  undisciplined  troops,  citizens  on  whose  courage 
and  virtue  they  could  depend;  and  they  had  allies  without  number  disper- 
sed around  them.  The  destruction  of  Carthage  increased  the  ambition  of 
the  Romans.  They  marched  an  army  against  the  cities  of  Greece,  which 
were  in  league  against  their  power,  and  obliged  them  to  submit;  but  not 
before  the  city  of  Corinth  had  been  taken,  and  destroyed.  The  Spaniards, 
who  had  revolted  about  the  same  time,  were  defeated;  and  the  taking  of 
Numantia  brought  all  Spain  under  their  power. 

To  these  triumphs  abroad,  intestine  divisions  often  succeeded.  Tibe- 
rius Gracchus,  and  afterwards  Caius  Gracchus  caused  the  plebeians  to  re- 
volt against  the  aristocracy.  Jugurtha,  king  of  Numidia,  being  dissatisfi- 
ed with  the  manner  in  which  Micipsa,  his  father,  had  disposed  of  the  king- 
dom,— having  divided  it  between  himself  and  his  two  brothers,— caused 
them  to  be  put  to  death  ;  and  found  means,  for  some  time,  by  presents,  to 
render  the  Romans  favourable  to  his  schemes  ;  but  being  attacked  by 
them,  Metellus  took  several  places  from  him.  At  length,  Marius,  a  man 
of  obscure  birth,  but  of  great  military  talents,  being  elected  consul,  put 
an  end  to  this  war;  and  Jugurtha  was  led  in  captivity  to  Rome,  where  he 
died  of  hunger.  Marius  defeated  the  Teutori,  the  Cimbri,  and  other 
northern  nations,  who  had  niade  irruptions  iniO  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Italy; 
and  during  the  war,  which  was  carried  on  twelve  years,  signalized  him 
self  by  his  ability  and  his  courage.  The  people  of  Italy  took  up  arm^ 
against  Rome,  for  having  refused  them  the  rights  of  citizenship.  Thi» 
insurrection  was  the  more  difficult  to  overcome,  as  the  insurgents  wcrs 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  267 

perfectly  acquainted  with  the  military  discipline  of  the  Romans.  Tlie 
senate  disarmed  a  part  of  them,  by  an  acquiescence  with  part  of  their  de- 
mands ;  and  this  mistaken  policy  was  the  occasion  of  a  civil  war.  It  was 
followed  by  that  of  Mithridates  of  Pontus,  the  civil  war  of  Marius  and 
Sylla,  and  that  of  the  gladiators.  Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  powerful 
and  proud,  yet  brave  and  active,  and  as  implacable  in  his  hatred  to  Rome 
as  Hannibal,  determined,  if  possible,  to  humble  that  haughty  republic. 
He  began  by  a  general  massacre  of  the  Romans  within  his  territory  :  he 
next  reduced  several  Roman  provinces  in  Asia,  and  caused  a  Roman  gen- 
eral to  be  murdered.  Sylla,  the  consul,  was  charged  with  the  conduct  of 
this  war;  but  Marius,  by  his  intrigues,  not  only  caused  him  to  be  removed, 
but  obtained  the  appointment  for  himself.  This  proceeding  brought  on 
the  civil  war  so  destructive  in  its  consequences  both  to  Italy  and  Spain : 
to  the  latter  Sertorius,  the  partizan  of  Marius,  had  retired.  Sylla  joined 
to  courage  and  activity  immense  wealth  and  suavity  of  manners,  which 
gave  him  considerably  the  advantage  over  Marius,  who  died  in  the  second 
year  of  the  civil  war.  Mithridates  having  been  defeated  both  by  sea  and 
land,  solicited  peace,  vv^hich  was  granted  to  him :  but  Murena,  one  of  the 
lieutenants  of  Sylla,  having  infringed  ihe  treaty,  the  war  recommenced. 
Mithridates  prevailed  upon  Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia  Major,  to  engage 
in  the  quarrel :  by  his  assistance,  he  defeated  the  Romans,  and  invaded 
Bithynia.  The  consul  LucuUus  then  marched  against  Mithridates,  entire- 
ly disconcerted  his  measures,  and  obliged  him  to  retire  into  Armenia. 
Two  successive  victories,  which  he  gained  over  the  Armenians,  would 
have  furnished  him  with  the  means  of  dictating  the  terms  of  peace,  if 
Glabrion  had  not  been  appointed  in  his  place.  Under  this  consul.  Mithri- 
dates recovered  his  losses,  and  ravaged  Cappadocia  :  but  Pompey,  already 
rendered  famous  for  his  bravery  in  the  war  against  the  pirates  of  Cilicia, 
which  he  terminated  in  forty  days,  being  appointed  to  the  command,  drove 
Mithridates  out  of  Pontus,  pursued  him  to  Armenia,  and  defeated  him  on 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  where,  in  a  paroxysm  of  despair  he  put  an 
end  to  his  existence.  Thus  terminated  a  war  which  had  lasted,  with  un- 
abating  fury,  twenty  years.  Pompey  returned  to  Rome  crowned  with 
laurel,  and  possessed  of  immense  riches. 

During  the  time  of  Rome's  victories  abroad,  great  dissensions  prevailed 
at  home.  The  slaves,  contrary  to  tbeir  inclinations,  had  been  compelled 
to  become  gladiators.  Spartacus,  one  of  them,  found  means  to  escape 
from  the  school  at  Capua,  and  assemble  a  considerable  army,  whose 
standards  bore  the  word,  "  liberty,"  as  a  motto.  He  defeated  the  Romans 
in  several  engagements ;  but  was  at  length  totally  routed  by  Licinius 
Crassus.  Spartacus,  perceiving  the  alternative  was  no  other  than  to 
be  made  a  prisoner,  or  to  die,  was  killed  in  battle,  fighting  heroically.  A 
new  conspiracy  exposed  Rome  to  the  greatest  danger.  Lucius  Sergius 
Catiline,  a  man  of  high  birth,  but  plunged  in  debauchery  and  debt,  had 
formed  a  design  of  becoming  master  of  Rome.  Cicero,  the  orator,  dis- 
covered the  plot.  The  army  raised  for  his  nefarious  purpose,  was  routed, 
Catiline  killed,  and  the  greater  part  of  his  accomplices  taken  and  beheaded 
Sylla,  having  set  a  bad  example,  several  Romans  there  were,  who,  pos- 
sessing equally  his  ambition,  but  wanting  his  abilities,  aspired  at  sovereigi. 
authority.  But  Pompey,  Crassus,  and  Ctesar,  more  bold  and  more  active 
ihan  their  competitors,  divided  the  government  between  them.  This 
coalition  was  termed  the  first  triumvirate.  Caesar,  however,  would 
have  no  equal ;  Pompey  disdained  to  have  a  superior;  and  the  rivalry  of 
these  two  powerful  men  soon  occasioned  the  ruin  of  the  state.  Caesar 
obtained  the  consulate,  and  with  it  the  government  of  Gaul  for  five  years. 
Pompey  and  Crassus  remained  at  Rome,  while  Cccsar  was  busied  in  ex- 
tending his  conquests,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  his  future  greatness. 
He  attached  Pompey  to  his  interests,  by  giving  him  his  daughter  in  mar- 


868  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ringe;  anJ,  ioiiiing  valour  with  policy,  he  signalized  himself  by  the  great- 
est military  enterprises.  He  defeated  the  Swiss,  who  had  endeavoured 
to  establish  themselves  in  Fraiiche  Comte ;  subdued  Ariovistus,  king  ol 
the  Germans,  who  had  invaded  that  provmce ;  conquered  the  Belgians  or 
Flemings,  and  reduced  with  wonderful  facility  the  whole  of  Gaul.  He 
invaded  Britain,  and  imposed  a  tribute  upon  the  inhabitants.  All  these 
achievements  were  performed  in  the  space  of  eight  years.  Crassus  hav- 
ing  been  killed  in  a  battle  with  the  Parthians,  and  the  daughter  of  C.tsar, 
the  wife  of  Pompey,  being  dead,  Pompey  beheld  with  a  jealous  eye  the 
brilliant  actions  of  his  father-in-law,  and  sought  by  every  means  in  his 
power,  to  render  him  obnoxious  to  the  people ;  he  even  endeavoured  to 
deprive  him  of  his  government.  Caesar,  assured  of  the  fidelity  of  his 
troops,  .narched  directly  to  Rome,  when  Pompey  and  his  partizans  imme- 
diately '..bandoned  it. 

Caesar  had  now  become  a  perpetual  dictator;  he  gained  the  people  by 
his  bounties,  by  his  valour,  and  his  wisdom,  and  intimidated  his  enemies 
He  pursued  Pompey  to  Greece.  Aher  several  events,  those  great  rivals 
met  on  the  plains  of  Pharsalia;  and  victory  declared  in  favour  of  Caesar, 
who  was  as  remarkable  for  his  clemency  after  the  battle,  as  he  had  been 
for  his  bravery  during  the  engagement.  The  vanquished  Pompey  retired 
into  Egypt.  Ptolemy,  king  of  that  country,  thinking  thereby  to  make  his 
court  to  Caesar,  had  him  assassinated,  and  sent  his  head  to  that  conqueror, 
who  could  not  refrain  from  shedding  tears  to  the  memory  of  so  great  a 
man.  It  was  at  this  period  that  Caesar  became  acquainted  with  Cleopatra, 
whom  he  caused  to  be  proclaimed  queen  of  Egypt,  her  brother,  Ptolemy, 
having  been  drowned  in  the  Nile.  He  marched  against  Pharnaces,  the 
son  of  Mithridates,  whom  he  conquered  with  so  much  ease  that  he  thought 
three  words  were  sufficient  to  announce  his  victory — "  Vent,  vidi,  vici.''^ 
Two  sons  of  Pompey  endeavoured  to  revenge  the  death  of  their  father ; 
but  fortune  was  unpropitious  to  their  designs;  after  an  obstinate  battle, 
their  aiiny  was  defeated.  Caius  Pompey,  the  eldest  son,  was  killed ;  and 
it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  that  the  youngest  escaped  the  hands  of  the 
conqueror.  It  was  in  this  war  that  Cato,  disdaining  to  survive  liberty, 
put  an  end  to  his  existence  at  Utica.  Caesar  returned  to  Italy ;  but,  in- 
flated with  his  extraordinary  success,  displayed  more  ostentation  and 
pride  than  he  had  hitherto  done.  Rome  groaned  under  the  intolerable 
yoke  he  had  imposed;  and  a  conspiracy  having  been  formed  against  him, 
he  was  assassinated  by  Brutus  in  the  senate. 

Lepidus  and  Antony,  lieutenants  of  Caesar,  breathed  extreme  vengeance. 
Antony  examined  the  will  of  the  dictator;  and  by  it  he  had  adopted  Oc- 
tavius,  the  son  of  his  sister  Julia.  He  bequeathed  his  gardens  to  the 
people,  and  a  sum  of  money  to  each  particular  citizen.  There  were  like- 
wise legacies  to  several  of  the  conspirators,  particularly  to  Brutus,  with 
reversion  to  Octavius.  The  funeral  oration  delivered  on  this  occasion, 
the  appearance  of  the  veteran  soldiers  in  tears,  who  threw  their  arms  and 
crowns  upon  the  funeral  pile  of  their  illustrious  general,  arid  the  cries  of 
the  Roman  ladies,  transported  the  people  with  rage  against  the  conspira- 
tors, whose  houses  and  property  they  burnt.  It  was  thus  that  the  people 
laid  the  foundation  of  their  future  misery  and  slavery.  Octavius,  who 
was  in  Greece  at  the  time  of  his  uncle's  murder,  did  not,  on  his  return 
to  Rome,  find  Antony  disposed  to  relinquish  the  power  he  had  assumed 
in  his  absence.  Brutus  possessed  the  government  of  Gaul,  which  Antony 
now  obtained  of  the  people,  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  senate,  and  he 
marched,  aided  by  Octavius,  against  Btutus,  in  order  to  dispossess  him 
thereof  by  force.  This  conduct  offended  the  senators.  Antony  being 
defeated,  went  to  Lepidus,  then  in  Gaul ;  and  the  senate  confirmed'  Brutus 
in  his  office.  Octavius,  highly  offended  at  this  action  of  the  senate,  formed 
an  alliance  with  Antony  and  Lepidus  ;  and  this  union  formed  the  second 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  269 

triumvirate.  It  was  agreed  between  them,  that  Italy,  and  the  coast, 
should  be  in  common  ;  that  Antony  should  command  in  Gaul,  Lepidus  in 
Spain,  and  Octavius  in  Africa  and  Sicily.  Lepidus  remained  at  Rome  to 
defend  Italy ;  while  Antony  and  Octavius  were  employed  in  combating 
Cassius  and  Brutus.  Thus  all  their  common  enemies  were  immolated  in 
the  cause  of  the  triumvirate,  and  their  particular  friends  were  sacrificed 
to  the  resentment  of  each  triumvir.  Octavius  destroyed  Cicero.  His 
head  and  hands  being  severed  from  his  body,  were  fastened  to  the  tribune, 
where  that  great  orator  had  so  often  astonished  Rome  by  his  eloquence. 
Antony  abandoned  his  uncle,  Lepidus  his  brother.  Three  hundred  sena- 
tors, and  four  thousand  knights,  were  proscribed.  Thus  Rome  became 
the  theatVe  of  horror  and  infamy ;  and  the  cruelties  were  renewed  thai 
had  been  heretofore  practised  in  the  contest  between  Marius  and  Sylla. 

In  the  meantime,  Cassius  and  Brutus  were  defeated  at  Philippi :  and 
each  of  them  put  an  end  to  his  existence,  in  order  to  avoid  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  conqueror.  Octavius  returned  to  Rome  ;  Antony  went 
into  Asia.  He  there  cited  Cleopatra  to  appear  before  his  tribunal,  for 
having  taken  part  with  the  assassins  of  Cresar ;  becoming  enamoured  with 
her  beauty,  he  sacrificed  thereto  his  glory  and  his  interest.  He  did  not 
return  to  Italy  for  upwards  of  a  year,  when  he  married  Octavia,  sister  to 
Octavius,  and  widow  of  Marcelkis.  A  new  division  of  the  empire  now 
took  place  ;  all  the  eastern  parts  were  ceded  to  Antony,  the  western  to 
Octavius,  and  Africa  to  Lepidus,  who  contested  Sicily  with  Octavius.  Le- 
pidus, deserted  by  his  friends,  was  exiled  to  a  small  town  in  Latium. 
Antony,  fascinated  by  the  charms  of  Cleopatra,  employed  liis  time  in 
giving  superb  entertainments,  instead  of  attending  to  the  concerns  of  his 
army.  He  endeavoured  to  justify  his  conduct  to  the  senate;  but  they 
were  incensed  at  his  neglect,  and  declared  war  against  him.  The  armies 
met  at  Actium,  where  Octavius  gained  that  celebrated  victory,  which 
made  him  master  of  the  whole  Roman  republic.  Cleopatra,  alarmed,  set 
sail  for  the  Peloponnesus;  and  Antony  abandoned  his  fleet,  and  the  em- 
pire of  half  the  world,  to  accompany  his  mistress  to  Egypt.  Being  pur- 
sued by  his  conqueror,  he  fell  upon  his  sword,  and  thereby  put  an  end  to 
his  life.  Cleopatra  shut  herself  within  the  temple  of  Antony,  where  she 
applied  an  asp  to  her  bosom,  and  expired  at  the  b3.se  of  the  statue  of  her 
infatuated  admirer.  Octavius  now  returned  to  Rome,  and  had  a  public 
triumph  during  three  days.  Having  become  sole  master,  he  feigned  a  de- 
sire to  resign  his  authority,  and  demanded  the  advice  of  Agrippa  and 
Mecjenas.  The  former  advised  him  to  re-establish  the  republic;  but  the 
opinion  of  the  latter  being  contrary,  and  Octavius  abiding  by  it,  the  slavery 
of  Rome  was  decided.  He  left  some  appearance  of  authority  yet  in  the 
hands  of  the  senate,  in  dividing  with  them  the  provinces  of  the  empire  ; 
but  reserved  to  himself  all  those  in  which  the  troops  were  stationed,  that 
he  might  at  all  times  be  master  of  the  army.  Thus  commenced  the 
mightiest  monarchy  that  any  age  has  produced. 

It  will,  perhaps,  be  interesting  to  investigate  the  cause  of  the  astonisliing 
and  rapid  elevation  of  the  Roman  empire.  1st.  The  indignity  with  which 
they  treated  all  those  whom  the  fortune  of  war  had  placed  within  their 
power;  being  as  ambitious  of  becoming  masters  of  their  persons  as  of 
their  dominions,  in  order  that  they  might  load  them  with  chains,  drag 
them  in  triumph  after  their  chariots,  and  put  them  to  ignominious  deaths  ; 
and  as  these  princes  were,  almost  without  exception,  devoted  to  luxury 
and  effeminacy,  they  beheld  Rome  with  terror  and  humility;  and  the  pre- 
sence of  an  army  of  veterans  was  enough  to  reduce  them  to  servitude. 
2nd.  Experience  having  taught  the  Roman  senate  how  much  the  people 
of  Europe  were  better  adapted  to  war  than  those  of  Asia,  it  prohioited 
entirely  the  people  of  Asia  from  comhig  into  Europe,  and  the  Europeans 
from  going  into  Asia.     3rd.  The  extent  of  their  jurisdiction  being  all  the 


370  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

then  known  world,  the  senate  decided,  before  their  own  tribunals,  all  tne 
quarrels  which  took  place  between  the  dependent  kings  and  their  subjects, 
and  between  different  nations.  These  they  terminated  according  to  their 
pleasure,  always  enfeebling  those  from  whom  they  had  anything  to  fear  ; 
and,  on  the  contrary,  supporting  those  from  whom  they  had  anything  to 
hope.  4ih.  When  any  two  nations,  over  whose  quarrels  the  senate  had 
no  immediate  right  of  decision,  commenced  war  with  each  other,  the 
Romans  always  declared  themselves  in  favour  of  the  weaker  party,  whe- 
ther their  assistance  had  been  inplored  or  not.  The  stronger  being  re- 
duced, the  one  through  fear,  and  the  other  through  gratitude,  submitted  to 
chains  imposed  by  the  conqueror.  They  then  assumed  to  themselves  the 
titles  of  protectors  of  the  distressed,  supporters  of  the  weak,  and  the 
avengers  of  wrongs ;  and  these  brilliant  titles  contributed  as  much  to 
extend  and  confirm  their  authority,  as  it  made  them  beloved  by  those 
whom  they  had  it  in  their  power  to  serve,  and  feared  by  those  who  dread- 
ed their  punishment.  5th.  The  senate  always  accustomed  itself  to  speak 
in  the  haughtiest  manner  to  the  ambassadors  of  the  different  nations  to 
whom  they  gave  audience ;  and  if,  in  return,  the  Romans  were  treated 
with  contempt,  they  complained  loudly  of  the  violation  of  their  rights,  and 
of  the  insult  offered  to  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  people.  Thus  they  de- 
clared war  against  those  who  would  not  submit  to  their  insolence  or  flatter 
their  pride.  6th.  When  they  were  determined  to  make  war  upon  any 
nation,  they  allied  themselves  with  some  of  their  neighbours,  at  whose 
charge  it  was  carried  on.  They  always  had  in  their  neighbourhood  a 
second  army,  before  they  risked  a  battle  with  the  first;  and  a  third  in 
Rome,  ready  upon  all  occasions;  these  important  precautions  rendered 
their  legions  inexhaustible.  7th.  When  they  foresaw  a  probability  of 
having  to  encounter  two  nations  at  the  same  time,  they  negotiated  with 
the  weakest,  who  generally  accepted,  with  avidity,  the  offer  of  peace.  It 
was,  therefore,  very  difificult  to  form  a  powerful  league  against  the  Romans, 
because,  as  they  were  implacable  in  their  resentments  against  their  ene- 
mies, they  intimidated,  by  their  approach,  all  those  who  had  formed  plang 
inimical  to  the  interest  of  the  republic.  The  senate,  although  proud,  and 
addicted  to  vengeance,  were,  nevertheless,  perfect  masters  of  the  art  of 
dissimulation,  when  it  was  not  in  their  power  to  revenge  an  injury:  they 
sometimes  even  refused  sufficient  satisfaction  when  offered  it,  at  a  time 
they  were  otherwise  employed,  that  the  right  of  reprisal  might  still  remain, 
and  wliich  they  intended  to  exercise,  when  a  more  favourable  opportunity 
presented  itself.  Thus  they  never  made  war  but  when  it  was  convenient 
to  their  interests.  8th.  If  any  general,  after  having  received  a  check, 
made  an  inglorious  peace,  the  senate  always  refused  to  ratify  it.  Thus 
the  prisoners  of  war,  which  the  conquerors  had  spared,  and  released  upon 
their  parole,  appeared  again  in  arms  under  a  new  chief.  These  were  the 
more  terrible,  as  they  had  to  efface,  by  their  valour,  the  disgrace  which 
they  had  formerly  sustained.  The  general  who  was  the  author  of  the 
<featy,  was  delivered  up  to  the  enemy;  and  this  was  termed,  by  the  senate, 
i  respect  to  the  rights  of  the  people.  9th.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  enemy, 
enfeebled  by  defeat,  demanded  peace,  the  senate  appeared  satisfied  with 
the  conditions  they  offered,  and  accepted  their  terms  :  in  the  meantime, 
having  rectified  their  legions,  they  would  express  a  dislike  to  some  of 
the  articles  of  the  negotiation,  and  offer  others  with  which  they  knew  the 
enemy  would  not  coasply.  The  war  then  recommenced;  and  the  enemy, 
in  hopes  of  peace,  having  neglected  their  army,  were  presently  subdued. 
10th.  When  the  Romans  were  at  war  with  a  prince,  if  his  children  betrayed 
him,  his  subjects  revolted,  or  his  allies  deserted  him,  the  senate  afforded 
them  an  asylum,  and  declared  them  their  allies  :  this  title  rendered  sacred 
all  those  who  received  it,  and  it  protected  them  in  the  commission  of  all 
crimes  that  might  be  useful  to  the  state.     11th.  Every  treaty  of  peace 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  071 

was  concluded  with  an  alliance  ;  that  is  to  say,  an  ho  lorable  servitude  ; 
because  the  allies  of  Rome  were  obliged  to  assist  her  in  all  her  wars,  and 
could  not  undertake  any  without  her  participation,  and  against  her  ene- 
mies. Thus  one  nation  conquered  another,  weaicening  themselves,  and 
strengthening  Rome.  This  species  of  alliance  was,  nevertheless,  courted, 
as  the  Romans  would  not  suffer  any  other  nation  to  oppose  those  whom 
they  protected.  12th.  The  first  condition  of  every  treaty,  was  a  stipula- 
tion for  a  tribute  to  Rome ;  with  which,  however  exorbitant,  the  other 
contracting  party  was  obliged  to  comply,  or  deliver  up,  as  a  security  for 
so  doing,  their  frontiers.  13th.  That  the  repetition  of  conquest  should  not 
diminish  the  thirst  of  glory  among  the  troops,  the  greatest  part  of  the  plun- 
der taken  was  divided  among  them;  it  therefore  appeared  as  if  the  senate 
made  war  not  to  enrich  themselves,  but  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  vol- 
untarily enlisted  in  their  service.  The  Roman  dominion  was  thereby 
extended  with  the  greater  certainty,  and,  as  it  were,  insensibly  ;  being-hid 
under  the  exterior  and  seducing  names  of  friendship,  of  protection,  and  of 
liberality.  14th.  The  nations  submitted  to  the  Roman  arms  with  less 
reluctance,  because  there  seemed  nothing  terrible  in  the  yoke  they  im- 
posed; they  were  left  in  the  possession  of  their  laws,  manners,  and 
language  :  thus  they  appeared  liberal  as  friends  ;  but  the  entire  subjection 
of  their  tributaries,  although  progressive,  was  positively  certain. 

Thus  war,  and  a  strict  adherence  to  political  maxims,  by  degrees  raised 
Rome  to  almost  universal  monarchy.  Theij  success  was  viewed  with  as 
much  astonishment  by  the  nations  which  they  subjugated,  as  we  regard, 
with  wonder,  the  exploits  of  their  Scipios,  -^heir  Syllas,  and  their  Caesars. 

The  Roman  Empire. 

We  have  seen  Caesar,  the  conqueror  of  Pompey,  in  the  fields  of  Phar- 
salia,  return  triumphant  to  Rome,  and  assassinated  by  Brutus  and  Cassius 
in  the  senate.  Antony,  under  the  pretence  of  avenging  his  death,  united 
himself  with  Lepidus  and  Octavius  the  nephew  of  C^sar.  Octavius,  dis- 
daining a  division  of  the  empire,  found  means  to  quarrel  with  them  both, 
defeated  them  in  succession,  returned  crowned  with  victory  to  Rome,  and 
assumed  the  name  of  Augustus.  From  the  time  of  .lulius  Cssar,  the  re- 
public took  the  name  of  empire  ;  and  those  who  were  at  the  head  of  its 
government  were  denominated  emperors.  The  first  twelve  assumed  the 
name  of  Caesar,  that  is  to  say,  from  Julius  Caesar  to  Domitian.  Augustus, 
the  first  emperor,  was  a  most  fortunate  warrior,  and  a  profound  politician. 
His  liberality  to  the  people,  his  fidelity  to  his  friends,  and  his  love  of  the 
;irts  and  sciences,  obliterated  from  the  minds  of  the  people  the  proscrip- 
tions which  had  taken  place  during  the  wars  which  had  distracted  the 
empire  at  the  commencement  of  his  career.  During  his  reign,  Biscay, 
Dalmatia,  Egypt,  Pannonia,  Aquintaine,Illyricum,  Rhcetia,  the  country  of 
llie  Viiidelicians,  and  all  the  maritime  towns  in  Pontus,  became  subject  to 
liie  Roman  state.  He  defeated  the  Germans,  the  Parthians,  and  the 
Oacians,  and  died  with  the  reputation  of  a  happy  monarch.  The  reign 
(if  Augustus  was  remarkable  for  literary  characters,  among  whom  were 
Virgil,  author  of  the  vEneid  ;  Horace,  of  Odes,  Satires,  and  Epistles  ;  and 
Ovid,  of  the  Metamorphoses,  and  other  poems.  It  has  since  become  a 
proverbial  expression  to  call  any  period,  when  the  literature  of  a  nation 
IS  particularly  cultivated,  its  Augustan  age.  The  reign  of  Augustus  was 
;ilso  distinguished  by  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  v.'hich  took  place  in  the 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-fourth  year  from  the  foundation  of  Rome,  and  ir, 
the  thirtieth  year  of  the  reign  of  Augustus.  Tiberius,  who  had  married 
the  daughter  of  Augustus,  and  by  whom  he  had  been  adopted,  abandoned 
himself  to  voluptuousness,  and  governed  by  his  ministers.  His  cruelty 
and  avarice  rendered  him  an  object  of  general  detestation.     Incapable  of 


272  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

distinguishing  himself  in  the  field,  he  left  the  conduct  of  his  wars  to  his 
generals.  Germanicus  defeated  the  Germans,  and  Tiberius  rewarded  his 
services  by  ordering  him  to  be  poisoned.  This  monster  of  perfidy,  ingrat- 
itude, and  cruelly,  died  at  Campania,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his 
age.  In  the  eigliteenth  year  of  his  reign,  Jesus  Christ  was  put  to  death  at 
Jerusalem. 

The  Pratorian  Guards  were  a  body  of  10,000  men,  under  the  especial 
orders  of  the  praitor  of  Rome,  who  was  usually  also  one  of  the  consuls,  or 
subsequently  the  emperor.  They  were  quartered  by  Augustus,  in  small 
detachments,  in  different  parts  of  Italy  ;  but  Tiberius  brought  them  all  to 
Rome,  and  fixed  them  in  its  neighbourhood  in  a  fortified  camp.  They 
soon  found  the  unarmed  and  timid  populace  of  Rome  too  feeble  to  oppose 
them,  and  took  upon  themselves  the  nomination  or  disposal  of  the  emper- 
ors. Caius  Ca?sar,  called  also  Caligula,  was  the  son  of  Germanicus,  grand- 
son of  Drusus,  and  great  nephew  of  Tiberius;  and  succeeded  to  the  impe- 
rial dignity  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  His  life  was  a  continued 
scene  of  debaucherjs  worse,  even,  than  that  of  his  predecessor.  He 
made  war  against  the  Suabian  Germans,  without  displaying  the  least  pro- 
mise of  military  talents.  He  was  killed  in  his  palace,  in  the  twenty-ninth 
year  of  his  age.  <?laudius,  uncle  and  successor  to  Caligula,  gave  by  turns, 
symptoms  of  good  sense  and  moderation,  folly  and  cruelty.  He  made 
war  upon  Britain,  which  he  reduced  :  at  his  return  he  had  a  triumph,  and 
took  the  name  of  Britannicus.  He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  He 
was  the  husband  of  Messalina,  so  dishonoured  by  her  licentious  life. 

Nero,  the  son  of  Domitian  iEnobarbus  and  Agrippina,  daughter  of  Ger- 
manicus, and  sister  to  Caligula,  began  his  reign  by  aspiring  to  virtues 
which  he  did  not  possess.  This  seeming  goodness  was,  however,  of  short 
duration ;  lie  threw  oflf  the  mask,  and  appeared  to  the  people  in  his  true 
character.  He  tarnished  the  reputation,  and  diminished  the  power  of  the 
Roman  empire.  He  never  undertook  any  military  expedition;  but  suffer- 
ed tlie  Parthians  to  make  themselves  masters  of  Armenia,  and  obliged  the 
Roman  legions  to  pass  under  tiie  yoke.  He  had  Rome  set  on  fire,  and 
put  his  own  mother,  his  preceptor,  and  several  other  persons  to  death  in 
the  most  wanton  and  cruel  manner.  At  length  the  senate  declared  him 
an  enemy  to  his  country ;  and  he  was  condemned  to  be  conducted,  quite 
naked,  with  his  head  between  the  prongs  of  a  pitcWork,  through  the 
streets  of  Rome  ;  then  to  be  whipped  to  death,  and  afterward  to  be  thrown 
from  a  high  rock  into  the  Tibei*.  Nero  saved  himself  from  this  sentence 
by  self-murder,  at  the  house  of  one  of  his  freedmen  in  the  country,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-two  years,  and  the  fourteenth  of  his  reign.  In  his  person 
the  family  of  Augustus  became  extinct. 

Sergius  Galba,  a  senator,  of  an  ancient  and  noble  family,  was,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-three,  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  Spaniards  and  the  Gauls;  and 
his  election  was  approved  by  the  whole  army.  He  possessed  some  virtue, 
but  it  was  eclipsed  by  his  cruelty  and  his  avarice.  He  fell  into  the  snare 
which  he  had  laid  for  Otho,  and  was  killed  at  Rome  in  the  seventh  month 
from  his  election.  Otho  succeeded  as  emperor.  He  united  in  his  person 
the  extremes  of  valour  and  effeminacy.  Having  been  overcome  in  battle 
by  Vitellins,  his  competitor,  he  stabbed  himself,  being  in  the  thirty-eighth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  ninety-fifth  day  of  his  reign.  Vitellins  mounted 
the  imperial  tlirone  after  the  death  of  Otho.  He  reigned  without  honour, 
and  was  cruel  in  his  government. ,  He  killed  Sabiiui.s,  the  brother  of  Ves- 
pasian, and  burned  him  with  the  capitol.  He  was  an  extreme  glutton,  and 
was  killed  by  an  officer  in  the  service  of  Vespasian,  in  the  fifty-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  having  reigned  eight  months  and  one  day.  His  body, 
after  having  been  dragged  through  Rome,  was  thrown  into  tlie  Tiber. 

Vespasian  succeeded  to  the  purple.  He  brouglit  under  the  Roman 
yoke   many  powerful   nations  ;  he  took    Jerusalem,  and   entered    it    in 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  273 

triumph  with  his  son  Titus.  His  deatn  was  much  regreU<>.d  by  the  senate 
and  the  people.  He  was  good-tempered,  moderate,  humane,  witty,  capa- 
ble of  friendship,  and,  on  the  whole,  the  greatest  emperor  since  Augustus 
Titus  succeeded  his  father ;  he  was  perfectly  a  master  of  his  passions, 
and  governed  the  empire  so  admirably  as  to  gain  the  name  of  the  "  Love 
and  delight  of  the  Human  Racey  His  eloquence,  his  valour,  and  his  mod- 
eration, where  the  charms  by  which  he  gained  the  hearts  of  his  subjects. 
He  died  in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  age,  having  reigned  two  years,  eight 
months  and  twenty  days.  Domitian,  the  younger  brother  of  Titus, 
ascended  the  throne.  He  abandoned  himself  to  every  vice,  and  was  ca- 
pable of  every  crime.  He  raised  many  considerable  edifices  in  Rome; 
and  was  killed  in  his  palace,  by  his  domestics,  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his 
reign.  Nerva,  already  advanced  in  age,  was  next  elected  emperor.  He 
governed  with  justice,  and  chose  Trajan  for  his  successor.  He  died  at 
Rome  at  the  age  of  seventy,  having  reigned  four  months  and  eight  days, 
••egretted  by  a  people  whom  he  had  rendered  happy.  Trajan,  by  birth  a 
Spaniard,  succeeded  Nerva.  He  was  a  successful  soldier,  and  extended 
the  bounds  of  the  Roman  empire.  He  was  just,  and  an  enemy  to  flattery 
and  envy  ;  he  was  friendly,  and  loved  his  subjects  ;  and  it  has  been  said 
that  his  only  defects  were  a  love  of  war  and  wine.  He^ied  in  Asia  in 
the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age.  Adrian  was  raised  to  the  throne  by  the 
means  of  Plotina,  the  wife  of  Trajan.  He  had  a  happy  disposition  ;  was 
a  protector  of  the  arts,  and  of  artists ;  and  his  greatest  ambition  was  to 
have  the  reputation  of  being  learned.  He  was  a  perfect  master  of  the 
Greek  language,  and  jealous  of  those  who  spoke  or  wrote  better  than  him- 
self. He  abandoned  many  provinces  conquered  by  Trajan,  and  built  a 
temple  in  honour  of  Venus  on  mount  Calvary.  He  died  in  the  Campania 
of  Rome  at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  Antoninus  Pius,  of  Nismes,  suc- 
ceeded Adrian.  He  treated  his  subjects  as  his  children.  Liberality, 
clemency,  and  affability,  formed  only  a  part  of  the  good  qualities  of  this 
prince ;  his  wit  was  polished,  his  sentiments  noble.  He  defeated  the 
Britons  by  his  generals.  He  repulsed  the  Moors,  and  took  part  of  Egypt. 
His  death  took  place  at  a  country  seat  called  Lorium,  four  leagues  from 
Rome,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  the  successor  of  Antoninus,  took  Lucius  Verus  as  his 
colleague  in  the  empire ;  they  made  war  upon  the  Parthians.  Lucius 
Verus  intended  to  command  in  person,  but  stopped  at  Antioch,  and  gave 
his  orders  to  his  lieutenants,  who  defeated  the  Parthians,  and  took  Seleu- 
cia,  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  Syria.  Lucius  Verus  returned  to  Rome, 
and  had  a  triumph.  He  did  at  Venice,  of  apoplexy,  or  poison,  having 
reigned  nine  years.  After  the  death  of  Verus,  Marcus  Aurelius  governed 
alone,  with  all  the  wisdom  which  characterizes  a  good  prince.  He  over- 
came several  northern  nations,  and  sold  the  most  precious  part  of  his 
property  to  compensate  his  soldiers,  rather  than  oppress  the  people. 
This  crowned  philosopher  would  serve  as  a  perfect  model  for  princes, 
if  his  extreme  kindness  had  not  sometimes  degenerated  into  weakness. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-one.  Commodus,  son  of  Aurelius,  but  unwor- 
thy of  such  a  parent,  succeeded  his  father  to  the  throne.  He  made  him- 
self detestable  by  his  debaucheries ;  but  carried  on  a  successful  war 
against  the  Germans.  After  having  practised  the  cruelties  of  a  Nero,  and 
the  wickedness  of  a  Caligula,  by  sacrificing  the  wisest  among  the  Romans, 
and  murdering  his  wife  and  his  sister,  he  died,  as  is  supposed,  by  poison. 

Pertinax,  prefect  of  Rome,  succeeded  Commodus,  at  the  ago  of  seventy. 
He  was  originally  a  schoolmaster  in  Liguria,  which  he  quitted  for  a  mili- 
tary life.  In  endeavouring  to  establish  dicipline  in  the  army,  he  was 
killed  by  the  soldiers  of  his  own  guard,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-four  days. 

Julian  usurped  the  empire  after  the  death  of  Pertinax  ;  but  he  was  de- 
feated by  his  rival,  Septimus  Severus,  and  was  slain  in  his  palace  in  the 
18 


274  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

seventh  month  of  his  reign.  Severus,  who  had  already  assumed  the 
title  of  emperor  in  Illyria,  succeeded  Julian.  He  defeated  and  killed 
Pescennius  Niger,  who  had  been  proclaimed  emperor  in  the  east.  He 
also  defeated  Clodius  Albin,  who  had  assumed  the  title  of  Caesar  in  Gaul. 
He  subjugated  the  Parthians  and  the  Arabs,  and  joined  to  his  military 
skill  the  reputation  of  learning.  In  England  he  built  the  famous  wall  in 
the  north,  which  extended  from  sea  to  sea — and  which  is  in  part  remain- 
ing at  this  hour — in  order  to  prevent  the  inroads  of  the  Picts  and  Scots. 
He  died  at  York,  after  having  reigned  gloriously  eighteen  years  and  four 
months. 

Caracalla  and  Geta,  the  sons  of  Severus,  were  elected  emperors. 
Caracalla  having  killed  Geta,  whom  the  senate  had  declared  an  enemy  to 
the  republic,  reigned  alone.  He  governed  tyrannically,  and  abandoned 
himself  to  the  most  infamous  and  degrading  vices.  He  carried  on  a  war 
with  some  success  against  the  Germans  ;  and  was  preparing  to  march 
against  the  Parthians,  when  he  was  killed  at  Edessa,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
three  years  ;  after  having  reigned  six  years  and  two  months,  the  detesta- 
tion of  the  Roman  people.  Here  we  date  the  decline  of  the  Roman 
empire.  Macrinus  and  Diadamenis,  father  and  son,  were  placed  on  the 
imperial  throne.  They  were  killed  by  the  soldiers,  after  having  reigned 
fourteen  months.  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  surnamed  Heliogabalus, 
priest  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  array. 
He  was  a  monster  of  lasciviousness  ;  and  was,  with  his  mother  Semiasyra, 
killed  by  the  soldiers,  after  having  reigned  two  years  and  eight  months. 
Alexander  Severus,  cousin  to  the  last  emperor,  mounted  the  throne  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years.  The  army  gave  him  the  name  of  Caesar,  and  the 
senate  of  Augustus.  He  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the  Persians  ;  and 
was  noted  as  a  patron  of  the  arts  and  sciences.  He  was  killed  in  Gaul, 
by  a  soldier  whom  he  had  raised  from  the  ranks,  after  a  reign  of  thirteen 
years ;  during  which  he  consoled  the  empire,  by  his  virtues  and  his  kind- 
ness, for  the  tyranny  of  the  preceding  reigns.  Maximinian,  of  the  Gothic 
race,  elected  emperor  by  the  soldiers,  was  the  son  of  a  poor  peasant,  and, 
from  the  station  of  a  common  soldier,  arose  step  by  step  to  the  first  dig- 
nities in  the  empire.  He  was  eight  feet  high,  and  a  most  voracious  glut- 
ton. He  commenced  his  reign  by  the  murder  of  his  best  friends,  and 
was  himself  murdered  by  his  soldiers.  Gordian  was  placed  upon  the 
imperial  throne  by  the  soldiers.  He  appointed  his  son  as  his  colleague, 
whom  he  sent  into  Africa  against  Capellian,  governor  of  Numidia  and 
Mauritania.  The  younger  Gordian  was  vanquished  and  killed  by  the 
Numidians,  at  the  age  of  forty-five  years.  Gordian  the  elder  died  with 
despair,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign. 

Maximus  and  Balbinus,  the  first  the  son  of  a  smith,  and  the  latter  of 
noble  origin,  had  been  during  the  life-time  of  Maximinian  elected  emperors 
by  the  senate,  and  now  assumed  the  throne.  But  the  soldiers,  dissatis- 
fied with  their  election,  entered  their  palaces  and  massacred  them.  They 
then  set  up  the  grandson  of  Gordian,  whom  the  senate  had  also  declared 
Cssar  after  the  death  of  his  grandfather.  Gordian  H.,  invested  with  the 
purple,  opened  the  temple  of  Janus,  and  carried  on  a  successful  war 
against  the  Parthians  and  Persians.  He  pursued  Sapor  totHe  confines  of 
Persia,  where  he  was  killed  through  the  treachery  of  Philip,  whom  he  had 
constituted  his  lieutenant.  The  Romans,  for  his  virtues,  ranked  him 
among  the  gods.  The  two  Philips,  father  and  son,  were  proclaimed  em- 
perors. The  father  was  the  son  of  an  Arab  chief  of  robbers.  Before  he 
came  into  Italy,  he  had  made  his  peace  with  Sapor.  He  abandoned  some 
of  the  provinces  of  the  empire  ;  visited  Arabia  ;  and  built,  at  the  place  of 
liis  birth,  a  city  which  he  called  Philipopolis.  During  the  reign  of  the 
Philips,  was  celebrated  at  Rome,  with  great  magnificence,  the  year  one 
thousand  from  the  foundation  of  the  city.     Philip,  the  father,  was  killed 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  075 

tt  Verona,  and  the  son  at  Rome,  after  having  reigned  about  six  years. 
Decius  and  his  son,  who  had  been  sent  against  the  Scythians,  being  suc- 
cessful, receiv*'d  from  the  soldiers  the  imperial  crown.  Decius  possessed 
the  qualities  of  a  good  soldier  and  an  honest  man.  He,  however,  perse- 
cuted the  Christians  with  rigour,  on  account  of  what  he  considered  their 
fanaticism.  After  having  reigned  two  years,  he,  together  with  his  son, 
perished  by  an  ambuscade  prepared  for  them  by  Trebonianus  Gallus. 

Hostilius  and  Gallus  succeeded  Decius  in  the  empire.  Hostilius  had 
been  named  by  Decius  as  his  successor;  but  he  died  soon  after  his  eleva- 
tion, with  the  plague,  at  Rome.  Gallus,  who  was  saluted  emperor  by  the 
legions,  divided  his  power  with  his  son  Volusius.  Lucinius,  brother  of 
Hostilius,  prepared  to  fight  him,  but  was  abandoned,  and  killed  by  his  sol- 
diers in  lUyria.  Gallus  and  Volusius  marched  against  Emilius,  who  had 
revolted  in  Mossia,  and  were  killed  at  Terano,  after  having  reigned  about 
two  years. 

Emilius,  an  African,  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  legions  which  had 
revolted  against  Gallus;  but  the  soldiers  having  learned  that  Valerian  had 
taken  the  purple  in  Gaul,  they  killed  Emilius,  after  having  reigned  three 
months.  Valerian,  and  Gallien,  his  son,  governed  the  empire  jointly. 
They  were  unfortunate  in  their  wars,  particularly  in  that  carried  on  against 
Sapor,  king  of  Persia,  who  defeated  Valerian  in  Mesopotamia,  took  him 
prisoner,  and  treated  him  with  every  indignity.  Gallien  defeated  and 
killed  Ingenuus,  who  had  taken  the  purple.  The  weakness  of  the  Roman 
government  had  encouraged  the  Germans,  who  made  irruptions  into  Gaul 
and  Italy.  At  the  same  time  the  governors  of  the  provinces  aimed  at 
becoming  independent;  and  at  one  time  not  less  than  thirty  had  declared 
themselves  emperors.  Posthumus  usurped  the  empire  in  Gaul,  which  he 
governed  ten  years  by  his  valour  and  prudence.  Pie  laid  siege  to  May- 
ence,  which  had  revolted  at  the  solicitation  of  Lollius,  elected  emperor  by 
the  troops  he  commanded.  Posthumus  and  Lollius  were  killed  by  their 
own  soldiers.  Marius,  originally  a  blacksmith,  elected  emperor  after 
the  death  of  Posthumus,  was  killed  on  the  second  day  of  his  reign,  by  a 
soldier  who  had  been  his  boy  at  the  forge.  He  ran  his  sword  through  his 
body  ;  telling  him,  at  the  same  time,  tJial  it  was  of  his  own  forging. 

Victorinus  succeeded  Marius,  and  was  killed  at  Cologne,  by  a  writer, 
whose  wife  he  had  seduced.  Tetricus  succeeded  Victorinus,  and  took 
the  purple  at  Bourdeaux.  Gallus  succeeded,  and  \vas  killed  with  Vale- 
rian, his  brother,  at  Milan,  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign.  Claudius  II. 
succeeded  Gallus.  He  totally  defeated  the  Goths,  who  had  committed 
great  ravages  in  Greece.  His  modesty,  moderation,  equity,  and  other 
good  qualities,  gained  him  general  esteem.  He  died  of  a  contagious  fever, 
in  the  second  year  of  his  reign.  Quintillus,  the  brother  of  Claudius,  was 
saluted  emperor  by  the  soldiers,  but  killed  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  his 
reign.  Aurelian  succeeded  Quintillus,  and  was  esteemed  for  his  valour 
and  his  prudence.  He  defeated,  near  Chalons,  in  Champagne,  the  army 
of  Tetricus.  He  fought  a  bloody  battle  with  Zenobia,  a  celebrated  prin- 
cess. This  astonishing  woman,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  Odenatus, 
who,  under  the  emperor  Gallus,  was  proclaimed  emperor  of  the  East,  com- 
manded the  arTiy  in  person  with  much  success.  Aurelian  took  her  pris 
oner,  and  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  making  Zenobia  walk  before  his  cha- 
riot. She  possessed  extraordinary  beauty,  and  a  great  mind.  Aurelian 
was  assassinated  by  the  means  of  his  secretary,  in  the  road  between  Con- 
stantinople and  Heracleum. 

The  army  having  refused  at  this  time  to  bestow  the  imperial  throne,  the 
senate  resumed  its  ancient  right.  The  choice  fell  on  an  old  man,  named 
Tacitus.  He  died  in  the  sixth  month  of  his  reign.  He  was  just  and  en- 
lightened, perfectly  disinterested,  and  a  man  well  suited  to  close  the 
wounds  of  the  state.     Florian  succeeded  Tacitus,  his  brother ;  but  reigned 


276  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

only  two  months  and  twenty  days.  The  prince  demanded  the  empire  as 
the  right  of  his  family.  Probus,  saluted  emperor  after  Florian,  was  of  ob- 
scure birth ;  but  he  possessed  heroic  valour ;  he  drove  from  Gaul  the  many 
barbarians  who  had  nearly  overrun  it.  He  defeated  Saturninus  in  the 
east,  and  Proculus  and  Bonosus  near  Cologne,  usurpers  of  the  empire. 
Probus  was  killed  by  his  own  soldiers,  after  having  reigned  with  glory 
about  six  years.  Aurelius  Carus  succeeded  Probus ;  and  soon  after  he 
had  been  named  Augustus,  he  created  his  sons,  Carinus  and  Numerian, 
Caesars,  with  whom  he  reigned  about  two  years.  He  defeated  the  Salma- 
tians,  and  afterwards  the  Persians,  and  was  killed  by  lightning  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tigris.  Numerian,  who  was  with  his  father  in  the  east,  was 
assassinated  in  his  litter.  Carinus,  whom  his  father  had  left  in  the  west, 
to  govern  lUyria,  Gaul,  and  Italy,  had,  by  his  crimes,  become  the  scourge 
of  the  human  race.  The  victorious  army  of  Persia  refused  to  acknowledge 
him,  and  saluted  Diocletian  as  emperor. 

Diocletian  was  no  sooner  elected  emperor  than  he  marched  against  Ca- 
rinus, and  defeated  him  in  a  general  battle  in  Moesia.  He  bestowed  the 
name  of  Caesar  on  Maximin,  surnamed  Hercules,  and  sent  him  into  Gaul, 
to  quell  an  insurrection  of  the  peasants,  which  duly  he  soon  effectively 
performed.  Carausius,  general  of  part  of  the  troops  of  the  empire,  and 
■whom  Maximin  had  ordered  to  be  killed,  took  the  purple,  and  possessed 
himself  of  Britain.  Achilleus  took  possession  of  Egypt ;  and  Narses  used 
every  effort  to  render  himself  master  of  the  east.  Diocletian  now  took 
for  his  colleague  in  office,  Maxin)in  Hercules,  and  named  him  Augustus  ; 
and  gave  the  title  of  Caesar  to  Constance  and  Galerus.  The  two  emperors 
accommodated  matters  with  Carausius.  They  defeated  the  Persians  un- 
der Narses,  and  on  their  return  to  Rome,  received  the  honour  of  a  superb 
triumph.  But  they  presently  grew  weary  of  their  grandeur,  and  both 
emperors  relinquishing  the  purple  on  the  same  day,  appeared  in  the  habit 
of  common  citizens ;  Diocletian  at  Nicomede,  and  Maximin  at  Milan. 
The  former  retired  to  Salona,  in  Dalmatia;  the  latter  to  Lucania.  Dio- 
cletian was  a  philosopher,  possessing  a  commanding  genius.  Maximin 
•was  fierce  and  cruel,  possessing  more  of  the  courage  of  the  soldier,  than 
the  genuis  of  a  general.  Constantius  Clorus  and  Galerus  were  declared 
emperors  by  the  senate.  These  two  princes  divided  the  empire  between 
them.  Constantius  had  Gaul,  Italy,  and  Africa ;  Galerus,  lUyria,  Asia, 
and  the  east.  Constantius  died  after  a  reign  of  about  two  years,  with  the 
character  of  a  just  prince. 

Constantine  the  Great,  son  of  Constantius,  was  elected  emperor  at 
York.  But  the  soldiers  of  the  praetorian  guard,  who  had  revolted  at  Rome, 
gave  the  title  of  Augustus  to  Maxentius,  son  of  Maximin  Hercules.  Maxi- 
min, who  now  felt  regret  at  having  resigned  the  purple,  left  Lucania,  and 
came  to  Rome,  from  whence  he  wrote  in  vain  to  Diocletian  to  re-assume 
the  imperial  throne.  Galerus  sent  Severus  to  Rome,  to  oppose  Maxen- 
tius. Severus  besieged  Rome,  but  was  betrayed,  and  defeated  ;  and  soon 
after  Maxentius  caused  him  to  be  strangled  between  Rome  and  Capua. 
Maximin  having  in  vain  endeavoured  to  dispossess  his  son,  Maxentius, 
retired  into  Gaul,  in  search  of  Constantine,  his  son-in-law,  with  a  design 
to  kill  him.  Fausta,  daughter  of  Maximin,  and  wife  of  Constantine,  being 
acquainted  with  the  design  of  her  father,  informed  her  husband.  Maxi- 
min, in  order  to  save  himself  from  the  fury  of  Constantine,  endeavoured 
to  embark  at  Marseilles  for  Italy,  but  was  killed  in  that  city  by  the  order 
of  Constantine.  Galerus  honoured  Licinius  with  the  purple,  and  died  soon 
after.  The  Romans  at  this  time  obeyed  three  emperors ;  Constantine, 
Maxentius,  and  Licinius.  Consiantine  possessed  talents  both  for  war  and 
politics ;  he  defeated  the  army  of  Maxentius,  and  afterwards  attacked 
Licinius,  who  had  married  his  sister,  and  having  defeated  him  in  several 
actions  both  by  sea  and  land,  the  vanquished  Licinius  surrendered  at  dis 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  277 

cretion  to  the  conqueror.  Licinius  retired  to  Thessalonia,  where  he  lived 
in  privacy  and  tranquility,  until  Constantine,  hearing  that  he  was  alive, 
ordered  him  to  be  put  to  death.  Constantine,  now  sole  master  of  the  em- 
pire, transferred  the  seat  of  government  to  Byzantium,  which  he  named 
Constantinople.  Under  him  Christianity  began  to  flourish  ;  he  received 
baptism  ;  but,  although  he  was  a  nominal  Christian,  many  of  his  qualities 
were  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  Christianity.  He  died  near  Nicomede. 
Constantine  II.,  Constance,  and  Constantius,  divided  the  empire  between 
them,  agreeable  to  the  will  of  Constantine  their  father.  Constantine  had 
Spain,  Gaul,  and  the  Alps  ;  Constance,  Asia,  Egypt,  and  the  East ;  Con- 
stantius, Italy,  Sicily,  and  Africa.  This  division  was  the  ruin  of  the  em- 
pire. Constantine  was  killed  by  the  soldiers  of  his  brother  Constantius, 
who  perished  by  treason  a  little  time  after.  Constance,  sole  master  of 
the  empire,  reigned  twenty-four  years.  Destitute  of  glory,  weak,  and  in- 
consistent, he  was  neither  loved  nor  feared. 

Julian,  called  by  the  Christians  the  Apostate,  by  others  the  Philoso- 
pher, was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  troops  in  the  lifetime  of  Constance. 
This  prince  was  just,  frugal,  an  enemy  to  vain-glory  and  flattery,  and  af- 
fected to  hate  the  name  of  Christian.  He  died  a  hero  fighting  against  the 
Persians.  Jovian,  elected  by  the  principal  oflUcers  of  the  army,  governed 
with  wisdom,  and  encouraged  Christianity.  He  reigned  about  eight 
months.  Valentinian  succeeded  Jovian;  he  joined  in  the  government  his 
brother  Valens.  They  divided  the  empire  of  the  East  and  the  empire  of 
the  West.  Valentinian  had  the  West,  and  Valens  the  East.  Gratian  as- 
cended the  imperial  throne  after  the  death  of  his  father  Valentinian.  Va- 
lens, defeated  by  the  Goths  and  other  barbarians  who  were  established 
in  Thrace  and  menaced  Constantinople,  died  leaving  few  subjects  to  re- 
gret his  loss.  Gratian  appointed  Theodosius  governor  of  the  East,  where, 
by  his  zeal  for  the  Christiai?  hgion,  his  abhorrence  of  its  opponents,  and 
by  his  courage,  he  rendere(!.  .himself  popular.  Gratian  being  dead,  and 
Valentinian,  emperor  of  the  West,  being  assassinated  in  the  year  393,  and 
Theodosius  having  vanquished  Maximus  and  Eugenius,  who  had  declared 
themselves  emperors,  re-united  the  whole  empire,  which  he  divided  be- 
tween his  sons.  After  the  death  of  Theodosius,  all  degenerated;  and 
from  this  epoch  may  be  dated  the  fall  of  the  Romans.  The  decline 
of  the  Roman  empire,  in  fact,  followed  the  age  of  the  Antonines.  The 
eff"eminate  and  luxurious  manners  of  the  nobles  and  people  of  Rome ; 
the  vices  of  the  emperors ;  the  means  by  which  they  rose  to  power;  the 
disposal  of  sovereignty  by  the  military  ;  the  recruiting  of  the  army  by 
natives  of  Germany  and  other  barbarous  countries ;  and  the  increasing 
numbers  and  audacity  of  the  "barbarians,"  precipitated  Rome  from  that 
eminence  which  she  had  attained  during  the  consulate  and  the  first  years 
of  the  empire. 

In  order  to  connect  the  present  with  the  past,  and  thereby  render  our 
sketch  of  Roman  history  the  more  complete,  we  shall  now  make  some 
abridged  extracts  from  the  observations  of  a  modern  tourist,  M.  GaliflTe, 
of  Geneva,  in  his  work  entitled  "  Italy  and  its  inhabitants  ;"  and  conclude 
with  a  slight  historical  notice  of  Papal  Rome,  or  States  of  the  Church. 

"If  we  were  to  judge  of  the  state  of  society  in  Rome  under  the  kingly 
power,  from  the  tales  which  so  many  writers  have  dignified  with  the  title 
of  Roman  history,  we  should  find  it  very  difficult  indeed  to  account  for 
the  astonishing  magnificence  of  its  earliest  monuments.  The  Cloaca 
Maxima^hmM  by  the  elder  Tarquin,  is,  I  believe,  the  most  stupendous  work 
known  in  Europe — a  work  which  even  Egyptian  kings  might  have  ad- 
mired. The  Curia  Hostilia  offers  remains  of  similar  architecture ;  walls 
and  vaults,  built  with  stones  of  such  enormous  size,  and  so  closely  joined, 
that  they  are  likely  enough  to  endure  to  the  end  of  the  world.  From 
Ehese  remains  alone  it  would  be  easy  to  show  how  ridictr'ous  is  the  sup- 


273  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

position  that  the  common  people  were  of  any  consideration  in  the  a^ate 
nnder  the  kings  of  Rome  ;  they  were  slaves,  and  could  be  nothing  else. 
It  is  clear  that  they  had  no  votes  to  give,  that  they  were  never  consulted, 
that  the  public  resolutions  were  not  even  communicated  to  them,  except 
in  so  far  as  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  know  what  duties  were 
prescribed  for  their  performance ;  in  short,  that  they  were  very  nearly  on 
the  same  footing  as  the  Russian  peasants  in  our  days — perhaps  rather 
worse  than  better.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  aristoc- 
racy had  a  much  higher  degree  of  power  and  dignity  than  they  are  gener- 
ally represented  and  supposed  to  have  possessed.  All  those  lords  who 
were  called  patricians,  were  very  nearly  on  a  level  with  their  chief,  whom 
they  called  kng.  Their  more  immediate  armed  followers,  very  probably 
formed  that  part  of  the  nation  called  populus  in  the  general  assemblies. 
The  plebs  were  considered  as  far  below  the  populus,  which  its  name  indeed 
implies — a  name  more  expressive  than  polite  ;  but  politeness  to  that  por- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  was  then  quite  out  of  the  question. 

"  It  was  not  till  very  long  after  the  expulsion  of  the  kings,  that  the  ple- 
beians began  to  feel  that  they  were  human  beings,  and  that  the  distance 
at  which  they  were  kept  by  their  lords  began  to  wound  their  feelings. 
And  it  is  probable,  that  they  would  never  have  dared  to  make  the  least 
attempt  to  raise  themselves  above  the  condition  of  their  masters'  cattle,  if 
their  services  in  war  had  not,  by  slow  degrees,  opened  their  eyes  to  their 
disgraceful  situation.  In  time  of  peace  they  had  either  no  leisure  to 
make,  or  no  means  to  circulate,  observations  of  this  nature  ;  but  in  camps, 
where  the  clients  of  different  patrons  were  necessarily  often  lodged 
together,  and  were  led  to  compare  their  respective  leaders,  to  talk  of  their 
deeds,  and  discuss  their  private  as  well  as  public  conduct,  they  could  not 
fail,  sooner  or  later,  to  make  serious  reflections  on  the  extreme  difference 
Avhich  existed  between  themselves  and  their  masters ;  a  difference  not  to 
be  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  any  disparity  of  natural  means  ;  notwith- 
standing that  the  habit  of  command  on  the  one  side,  and  that  of  blind 
obedience  and  low  obsequiousness  on  the  other,  might  have  established  a 
perceptible,  and  even  a  striking  diversity  of  features  as  well  as  of  temper 
between  them.  That  diversity,  besides,  must  have  gradually  diminished, 
as  every  succeeding  war  augmented  the  consequence,  and  at  the  same 
time  enlarged  the  feelings  and  the  understandings,  of  the  lower  classes. 

"When  the  plebeians  had  achieved  a  complete  equality  of  rights  with 
the  patricians,  the  progress  of  the  Roman  republic  towards  universal  do- 
minion became,  from  the  mere  nature  of  things,  excessively  rapid. 
Though  we  may  not  be  able  to  ascertain  that  the  first  plebeian  who  was 
made  consul  did  anything  in  particular  to  prove  himself  deserving  of  that 
distinction,  we  may  be  pretty  sure  that  none  were  raised  to  the  dignity 
but  men  capable  of  illustrating  their  name  by  their  deeds — at  least  in  the 
earlier  times  ;  afterwards,  indeed,  it  was  grown  into  a  custom,  and  the 
election  of  a  plebeian  consul  had  ceased  to  be  a  party-stroke.  On  tho 
other  hand,  the  patricians  were  deeply  interested  in  rivalling  and  excelling 
their  plebeian  colleagues  ;  so  that  this  double  motive  of  action  gave  pro- 
digious strength  to  the  government,  and  such  an  impetus  to  the  whole- 
nation,  that  none  of  the  radical  defects  of  its  constitution  could  impede 
its  progress  through  a  long  series  of  conquests.  But  those  defects  stuck 
closely  to  it,  though  concealed  by  the  very  triumphs  which  seemed  tc 
disprove  their  existence ;  and  they  penetrated  into  its  core,  and  gnawer 
its  vital  parts,  while  its  outward  appearance  inspired  terror  even  in  the  na 
tions  among  whom  it  had  not  yet  carried  destruction. 

"  The  religion  of  the  first  Romans  seems  to  have  been  more  simpk 
and  more  serious  that  that  of  other  heathen  nations.  They  were 
strangers  to  that  immense  multitude  of  gods,  which  the  over-luxuriant 
imagination  of  the  Greeks  and  Asiatics  had  created.     Their  gods  were 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  270 

lew  in  number;  and  as  they  were  believed  to  be  virtuous  and  severe,  they 
were  accordingly  respected  and  feared.  Religious  fear  too  frequently 
produces  superstition ;  the  Romans  were  extremely  superstitious.  But 
if  the  excess  of  their  credulity  made  them  attach  a  high  degree  of  impor- 
tance to  ceremonies,  which  certainly  were  infinitely  more  absurd  than 
even  the  most  extravagant  practices  of  the  most  superstitious  sects  of 
Christians,  the  perfect  sincerity  of  belief  which  animated  every  class, 
gave  them  a  moral  strength  which  has  never  been  sufficiently  appreciated. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  that  in  those  early  times  their  priests  were  not  a 
stipendiary  class ;  they  were  the  chiefs  who  led  the  people  to  war,  and 
who  maintained  them  in  peace  ;  without  whose  permission  and  inter- 
ference nothing  material  could  be  done,  and  who  introduced  some  particu- 
lar religious  rites  into  every  action  of  life.  This  mixture  of  civil  and  ec- 
clesiastical power  in  the  chief  of  every  noble  family,  over  his  children 
and  clients,  formed  such  a  bond  of  union  between  them,  that  no  external 
influence  could  have  broken  it ;  and  even  long  after  the  plebeians  had  ac- 
quired a  rank  in  society,  and  a  considerable  degree  of  influence  in  the 
state,  they  hardly  dared  to  think  that  those  religious  rites  could  be  per- 
formed by  any  but  an  hereditary  patrician.  As  soon  as  they  began  to 
discover  that  they  could  perform  them  with  equal  efficacy  themselves, 
their  deep  respect  for  religion  received  a  wound  from  which  it  never 
recovered.  All  the  divinities  of  the  conquered  countries,  however  im- 
moral and  impure,  were  freely  admitted  and  adopted;  and  they  complete- 
ly changed  the  nature  as  well  as  the  form  of  public  and  private  worship. 
The  great  men  began  to  be  as  free  in  their  speeches  on  the  subject,  as  the 
same  class  in  France  affected  to  be  during  the  last  two  reigns  of  the 
Bourbons.  Indifference  and  incredulity  glided  down  from  the  higher  to 
ihe  lower  classes;  and  that  Rome  which  conquered  Carthage,  had  long 
ceased  to  to  exist,  when  Cresar  made  himself  master  of  its  corpse.  The 
winding-sheet  was  indeed  more  brilliant  than  any  imperial  robe,  and 
seemed  an  object  well  worthy  of  his  ambition. 

*'  The  luxury  of  the  Romans  was  gradually  carried  to  so  extravagant  a 
pitch,  that  the  wise  and  the  thinking  even  of  their  own  nation  were  shocked 
at,  and  condemned  it ;  but  idle  declamations  can  do  no  good  in  such 
cases.  Many  of  those  who  were  accounted  the  most  virtuous  and  best 
citizens,  were  infected  with  this  disorder,  and  delighted  in  it  hardly  less 
than  the  worst.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  it  was  a  part  of  their  luxury 
to  employ  their  riches  in  raising  splendid  edifices,  for  the  astonishment  of 
posterity.  Posterity  was  nothing  to  them  ;  present  enjoyment  was  their 
only  care.  They  levelled  mountains,  they  digged  or  filled  up  lakes,  they 
sent  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth  for  every  delicacy  of  the  table  for 
which  each  country  was  renowned;  they  filled  a  great  number  of  elegant 
villas  with  the  most  costly  furniture,  they  kept  an  immense  number  of 
servants  and  slaves,  and  thus  they  squandered  thousands  of  millions,  of 
which  hardly  any  trace  remains  except  the  names  of  the  places  from 
whence  they  dated  elegant,  philosophical  epistles  to  their  friends  !  The 
whole  space  beyond  the  Capitol  is  full  of  ruins;  and  those  ruins 
are  the  more  interesting,  as  the  names  of  but  very  few  of  tliem  are 
known.  The  form  as  well  as  the  height  of  the  hills,  has  been  changed 
by  the  immense  heaps  of  ruins  which  were  thrown  down  in  the  lower 
parts  of  the  town,  and  which  in  many  places  rose  up  to  the  level  of  those 
buildings  which  towered  above  them  before.  Houses  have  been  built  in 
places  where  none  existed  in  ancient  times  ;  just  because  those  places 
happened  to  be  less  encumbered  with  ruins,  and  because  the  ground  was 
more  solid.  Trees  have  been  planted  on  the  top  of  the  rubbish  which 
filled  up  some  streets,  more  particularly  the  Forum  Romanum.  But  Rome, 
as  it  is,  offers  abundance  to  occupy  the  leisure  hours  of  a  man  of  taste  for 
years.    The  Colosseum  alone,  so  vast,  so  grand  (notwithstanding  defects 


280  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

in  its  architecture)  is  so  uncommonly  picturesque  in  many  points  of  view, 
that  it  well  deserves  to  be  visited.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  admire  the 
Romans  of  former  times,  and  to  hate  their  present  governors,  in  order  to 
take  a  lively  interest  in  this  magnificent  fragment  of  antiquity.  There 
are  twelve  obelisks  in  Rome ;  and  five  grand  pillars,  the  two  finest  of 
which  are  those  called  the  columns  of  Trajan  and  Antonine.  The  first 
gives  its  name  to  a  square,  the  middle  of  which  has  been  excavated  as  low 
down  as  the  level  of  the  ancient  place,  which  is,  if  I  remember  well,  about 
eight  or  ten  feet  lower  than  that  of  the  buildings  around.  The  other 
stands  in  tlie  middle  of  the  Piazzo  Colonna;  there  is  a  staircase  within 
it,  as  in  the  London  monument.  The  general  appearance  of  these 
columns  is  very  agreeable  as  well  as  grand,  and  they  are  noble  decora- 
tions to  ja.  square.  The  Capitol  is  so  very  different  from  what  it  was  in 
ancient  times,  that  it  affords  but  little  satisfaction  at  first  sight ;  it  is,  how- 
ever, far  from  being  so  insignificant  as  some  would  have  it  to  be,  and  it 
grows  more  interesting  on  a  nearer  examination.  What  people  call  the 
Capitol  at  present,  was  only  the  Intermontium  of  ancient  Rome,  a  sort  of 
midway  hill,  which  joined  the  Tarpeian  rock  to  the  real  Capitoline 
Mount.  The  latter  is  extremely  high,  as  one  may  easily  perceive  from 
the  church  of  Ara  CceU  on  its  top.  The  Tarpeian  rock  is  lower,  but  yet 
quite  lofty  enough  for  its  known  destination.  It  must  be  observed  that 
the  Romans  were  far  from  posssessing  any  well-founded  pretensions  to 
elegance ;  they  imitated  the  Greeks  as  closely  as  they  could,  without  ever 
attaining  to  their  pitch  of  excellence.  They  thought  there  could  never 
be  too  much  of  a  good  or  a  fine  thing ;  and  they  crowded  temples,  houses, 
statues,  obelisks,  and  every  sort  of  ornament,  in  a  manner  that  must  have 
seemed  absurd  to  a  person  of  taste.  The  Roman  arms  conquered  the 
territory  of  Greece,  but  the  Grecian  accomplishments  subdued  the  Romans 
themselves ;  and  the  latter  victory  was  more  glorious  than  the  former, 
which  was  only  the  inevitable  consequence  of  a  disproportion  of  mere 
physical  force  between  the  combatants." 


PAPAL  ROME,  OR  STATES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

The  name  of  Pope,  or  Father,  was  formerly  given  to  all  bishops.  But 
since  the  time  of  Gregory  VH.  it  has  been  solely  applied  to  the  bishop  of 
Rome.  The  temporal  grandeur  of  the  Roman  pontiff  commenced  in 
times  very  remote.  Constantine  gave  to  the  church  of  Lateran  up- 
wards of  one  thousand  marks  in  gold,  and  about  thirty  thousand 
marks  in  silver,  besides  the  assignment  of  rents.  The  Popes,  charged 
with  sending  missionaries  to  the  east  and  west,  and  with  providing  for 
the  poor,  obtained  for  these  pious  purposes,  from  the  richer  Christians, 
without  much  trouble,  considerable  sums.  The  emperors,  and  the  kings 
of  the  Lombards,  gave  to  the  Holy  Father  lands  in  various  parts;  and 
many  others,  by  gift,  and  by  will,  increased  his  patrimony.  In  the 
seventh  century  we  find  the  pontiff  possessed  of  great  riches  in  various 
countries,  and  exempted  from  tax  or  tribute.  The  Popes  formed  the 
design  to  render  themselves  independent.  Under  the  reign  of  Pepin, 
father  of  Charlemagne,  this  revolution  commenced  ;  and  it  was  completed 
under  that  of  his  son.  Adrian  I.  caused  money  to  be  coined  with  his 
name  ;  and  the  custom  rf  kissing  the  feet  of  the  Pope  began  about  the 
close  of  the  eighth  century,  when  they  assumed  regal  rights,  and  their 
power  and  riches  increased  rapidly.  Gregory  IV.  rebuilt  the  port  of 
Ostia  ;  and  Leo  IV,  fortified  Rome  at  his  own  expense. 

The  election  of  Pope  has  been  different  in  the  different  ages  of  the 
ohurch.  The  people,  and  the  clergy,  were  the  first  electors  ;  and  the 
emperor  had  the  power  of  confirming  the  election,  after  the  death  of  Pope 
Simphcius,  in  483.     Odoacer,  king  of  the  Heruli,  and  of  Italy,  made  a 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  281 

w>v  which  struck  at  the  right  of  election,  under  pretence  of  remedying 
the  divisions  which  fsometimes  look  place  on  the  election  of  a  pope. 
Th/a  law  was  abolished  about  twenty  years  after,  in  the  fourteenth  coun- 
cil o»  Rome,  held  in  502,  under  Pope  Simmacus,  with  the  consent  of  the 
king  I?jeodoric.  But  this  prince,  who  was  an  Arian,  becoming  cruel 
towards  tue  latter  end  of  his  life,  caused  Pope  John  to  be  laid  in  prison, 
where  he  jied  mrserably,  in  526.  He  then  usurped  to  himself  the  right  of 
creating  a  pope,  and  named  to  the  pontifical  chair  Felix  IV. 

The  Gotnic  kings  who  succeeded  him  followed  his  example;  yet  not 
entirely,  for  thoy  contented  themselves  with  confirming  the  election  which 
the  clergy  had  made.  Justinian,  who  destroyed  the  empire  of  the  Goths 
in  Italy,  and  after  him  the  other  emperors,  preserved  this  right ;  and  they 
obliged  the  new-elected  pope  to  pay  a  sum  of  money  for  the  confirmation 
of  his  election.  Constantino  Pogonat  delivered  the  church  from  this  ser- 
vitude and  exaction  in  681.  Notwithstanding  this  apparent  relinquish- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  emperors,  they  always  preserved  some  authority 
in  the  election  of  popes,  until  the  time  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  in  824,  and 
his  successors,  Lothaire  I.  and  Louis  II.,  who  ordained  that  the  election 
of  popes  should  henceforward  be  free,  and  canonical,  according  to  ancient 
usage.  Parties  in  favour  of  the  different  candidates  for  the  popedom 
had  now  arisen  to  a  great  height,  and  were  the  cause  of  the  schisms 
which  followed  in  the  church.  The  emperors  were  obliged  to  take  on 
themselves  the  right  of  election;  but  after  the  schism  of  Peter  and  Victor 
IV.  had  been  extinguished,  all  the  cardinals  re-united  under  the  obedience 
of  Innocent  II.  After  his  death,  the  cardinals  were  the  only  electors  of 
Celestine  II.  in  1143  ;  since  which  time  they  have  been  in  full  possession 
of  this  privilege.  Honorius  III.  in  1216,  or,  according  to  others,  Gregory 
X.  in  1247,  ordained,  that  the  election  should  be  made  in  the  conclave. 
The  conclave  is  a  part  of  the  palace  of  the  Vatican,  composed  of  many 
cells,  where  the  cardinals  are  shut  up  for  election,  which  takes  place  on 
ihe  morning  of  the  tenth  day  after  the  death  of  the  pope. 

The  pope  may  be  considered  under  four  different  titles :  first,  as  chief 
jf  the  church  ;  second,  as  patriarch  ;  third,  as  bishop  of  Rome ;  and 
fourth,  as  a  temporal  prince.  As  primate,  he  is  the  superior  of  all  the 
catholic  churches.  As  patriarch,  his  rights  extend  over  the  kingdoms 
and  provinces  within  the  pale  of  the  Romish  church.  As  bishop  of  Rome, 
he  exercises  in  the  diocese  of  Rome  the  ordinary  functions  which  he  has 
not  a  right  to  exercise  in  other  dioceses.  As  a  temporal  prince,  he  is 
sovereign  of  Rome,  and  the  states  which  have  been  acquired  by  donation, 
or  by  proscription.  No  throne  upon  earth  has  been  filled  with  men  of 
more  exalted  genius,  higher  ambition,  or  more  depraved  vice,  than  the 
pontifical  chair  ;  but  they  are  in  general  old  men,  well  versed  in  the  know- 
ledge of  men  and  the  world.  Their  council  is  composed  of  men  resem- 
bling themselves ;  and  their  orders,  for  a  length  of  time,  embraced  almost 
the  universe.  Cardinal  Braschi  (Pius  VL)  was  elected  in  the  early  part 
of  the  year  1775,  on  the  death  of  the  celebrated  (Ganginelli)  Clement 
XVI.  He  occupied  the  pontifical  chair  until  the  breaking  out  of  the 
French  revolution  in  1789  ;  or  rather  till  after  the  execution  of  Louis  XV^I., 
when  he  was  induced  to  take  a  part  in  the  war  carrying  on  against 
France,  by  the  emperor  and  other  potentates.  The  French  armies  having 
overrun  Italy,  seized  upon  Rome,  and  made  the  venerable  pontiff  prisoner 
•n  1798;  from  whence  he  was  conveyed  into  France,  where  he  died  at 
Valence,  in  August,  1799,  at  a  very  advanced  age.  In  1800  a  successor  to 
the  popedom  was  elected  at  Venice,  who  took  the  name  of  Pius  VII. 
\t  his  death  Leo  XII.  was  elected ;  who  in  1829  was  succeeded  by 
Pius  VIII. 

The  government  is  wholly  ecclesiastical,  no  one  being  eligible  to  fill 
iny  civil  ofiice  who  has  not  attained  the  rank  of  abbot.     The  pope  enacts 


2S-2  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

all  laws,  and  nominates  to  all  clerical  appointments.  He  is  assisted,  how- 
ever, by  the  high  college  of  cardinals,  comprising  about  seventy  members; 
and  the  different  branches  of  the  government  are  conducted  each  by  con- 
gregations, with  a  cardinal  at  its  head.  The  laws  in  force  are  merely 
those  of  the  Justinian  code  ;  but  the  pope  has  power  to  alter  or  annul  any 
previous  laws.  Brigandage  is  less  frequent  than  formerly  ;  but  the  police 
and  the  law  are  still  very  defective  ;  assassinations  and  other  crimes  of 
violence  daily  taking  place  without  the  perpetrators  being  ever  brought  to 
justice.  On  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  the  alienation  of  church  domains  was 
confirmed ;  but  the  compensation  since  made  to  their  former  owners,  and 
the  restoration  of  suppressed  churches  and  convents,  have  cost  the  gov- 
ernment prodigious  sums,  and  are  the  principal  causes  of  the  wretched 
state  of  the  finances.  Within  the  limits  of  the  Papal  States  there  are  no 
fewer  than  eight  archbishops',  and  fifty-nine  bishops'  sees  ;  and  it  is  esti- 
mated that  in  Rome  there  is  a  clergyman  for  every  ten  families.  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  this  superabundance  of  priests,  instead  of  promoting 
religion  and  morality,  is,  in  fact,  a  principal  cause  of  their  low  state  in  the 
city.  The  outward  deportment  of  the  papal  court  is,  however,  at  present 
highly  decorous.  Those  times  so  disastrous  and  disgraceful,  when  the 
popes  had  so  many  nephews,  and  those  nephews  built  many  splendid 
palaces  and  villas,  called  by  the  Romans,  in  derision,  miracles  of  St. 
Peter,  are  now  almost  as  much  forgotten  in  Rome,  as  the  time  when 
horses  were  made  consuls,  and  eunuchs  emperors. 


NAPLES 


Of  the  remote  antiquity  of  this  country  there  are  but  scanty  documents. 
At  a  very  early  period  most  part  of  the  coasts  of  Naples  and  Sicily  were 
occupied  by  Greek  colonists,  the  founders  of  some  of  the  greatest  and 
most  flourishing  cities  in  the  ancient  world.  They  received,  from  this 
circumstance,  the  name  of  Magna  Graecia,  But,  rapidly  as  the  Greek 
republics  of  Italy  rose  to  notice,  it  is  certain  that  luxury  and  corruption 
kept  equal  pace  with  their  prosperity;  and  in  the  time  of  Polybius,  the 
very  name  of  Magna  Graecia  was  disused.  Continental  Naples  submitted 
to  the  Romans  at  an  early  period  of  the  republic,  subsequent  to  which  it 
underwent  many  vicissitudes.  In  the  fifth  century  it  became  a  prey  to 
the  Goths.  Belisarius,  general  of  the  emperor  Justinian,  took  Naples  in 
537.  Destined  to  pass  from  master  to  master,  it  was  conquered  by  Totila 
in  543.  The  Lombards  next  got  possession  of  it,  and  kept  it  until  Char- 
lemagne put  an  end  to  that  kingdom.  His  successors  divided  it  with  the 
Greek  emperors,  and  the  latter  soon  after  became  its  sole  masters.  In 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  the  Saracens  possessed  Naples,  and  after 
them,  the  Normans.  Sicily  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French  in 
1058. 

The  French  formed  Naples  into  a  monarchy,  of  which  Roger  was  its 
first  king.  Constance,  last  princess  of  the  blood  of  Roger,  and  heiress 
of  the  two  kingdoms  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  was  married,  in  1186,  to  Henry, 
son  of  the  emperor  Barbarossa.  This  marriage  was  the  source  of  great 
misfortunes.  At  length  this  family  became  extinct  in  1265,  when  Pope 
Clement  IV.  gave  the  investiture  of  Naples  and  Sicily  to  Charles,  count  of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  283 

Anjou.  Charles  was  opposed  by  Conradiii,  nephew  of  Manfroid,  whc 
came  from  Germany  to  dispute  with  him  the  crown.  Charles  defeated 
him  in  battle,  and  having  taken  him  prisoner,  with  Frederic  of  Austria, 
caused  them  both  to  be  executed  in  the  market-place  of  Naples  in  126S. 
This  execution  made^he  king  detested  by  his  new  subjects :  and  the 
French  in  Naples  were  equally  obnoxious  as  in  Sicily.  A  Frenchman  had 
committed  in  Sicily  an  atrocious  act  of  violence  on  a  woman.  On  the 
morrow  after  Easter,  1282,  the  people  assembled  together,  and  murdered 
every  Frenchman  on  the  island,  with  the  exception  of  one  gentleman,  a 
native  of  Provence.  The  innocent  perished  with. the  guilty,  and  the  blood 
of  Conradin  was  terribly  avenged. 

The  descendants  of  Charles  of  Anjou  possessed  the  crown  until  1384, 
when  Jane  1.  adopted,  by  her  will,  Louis  I.,  duke  of  Anjou,  son  of  King 
John.  At  the  same  time,  Charles  Duras,  or  Durazzo,  a  cousin  of  Queen 
Jane,  established  himself  upon  the  throne.  This  event  occasioned  a  long 
war  between  the  two  princes,  and  even  between  their  successors.  The 
posterity  of  Charles  Durazzo,  however,  maintained  their  situation,  while 
that  of  the  count  of  Anjou  also  bore  the  title  of  king  of  Naples.  Jane  II., 
last  sovereign  of  Naples,  of  the  house  of  Durazzo,  appointed,  by  her  will, 
Rene  of  Anjou  as  her  successor,  which  gave  the  Anjouan  family  a  double 
right  to  the  kingdom  ;  but  Rene  never  possessed  it.  Alphonso,  king  of 
Arragon,  took  possession  of  Naples  and  the  crown. 

The  kings  of  Arragon  possessed  Naples  until  the  time  of  Charles  VIII., 
when  Louis  XII.  conquered  the  kingdom.  The  great  general,  Gonsalvo, 
of  Cordova,  drove  out  the  French  army.  Notwithstanding  the  treaty 
made  between  Louis  XII.  and  Ferdinand,  king  of  Spain,  in  favour  of  the 
former,  the  successors  of  Ferdinand  enjoyed  it  until  the  death  of  Charles 
II.,  but  not  without  frequent  revolts  on  the  part  of  the  Neapolitans.  The 
revolt  of  1647  was  headed  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Massaniello,  a  fisher- 
man, who,  during  fifteen  days,  could  reckon  upward  of  100,000  men,  over 
whom  he  held  a  most  absolute  sway.  Henry,  duke  of  Guise,  a  knight- 
errant  of  his  day,  taking  advantage  of  the  troubles  which  rent  Naples 
asunder,  procured  himself  to  be  declared  king,  when,  after  he  had  been 
some  months  in  Naples,  he  was  made  prisoner  by  the  Spaniards  ;  and  his 
partizans  not  only  disavowed  him,  but  submitted  to  his  conquerors. 

After  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  who  had  left  Philip  V.  as  the  inheritor 
of  his  kingdom,  the  Neapolitans  acknowledged  him  as  their  king.  Ferdi- 
nand IV.,  the  late  king  of  Naples,  joined  the  grand  confederacy  against 
France  at  an  early  period  of  the  war.  He  afterward  made  his  peace,  but 
again  joining  in  the  war,  the  French  made  themselves  masters  of  Naples 
in  January,  1799,  and  the  royal  family  were  compelled  to  fly  from  that 
portion  of  the  Neapolitan  dominions,  and  take  refuge  in  Sicily.  In  Feb- 
ruary it  was  divided  into  eleven  departments,  and  the  government  new- 
modelled  on  the  French  plan ;  but  Admiral  Nelson  appearing  upon  the 
coast,  the  French  capitulated,  the  democratic  system  was  overturned,  the 
old  monarchy  and  government  restored,  and  the  king  returned  to  his 
throne.  The  kingdom  of  Naples  was  again,  however,  placed  under 
French  dominion  by  Bonaparte,  and  its  crown  conferred  on  his  brother 
Joseph  :  the  legitimate  king  having  again  fled  to  Sicily,  where  he  was  long 
supported  by  a  British  force  under  Sir  John  Stewart.  In  the  spring  of 
1808  Bonaparte  removed  Joseph  to  Spain,  and  raised  Murat  to  the  tribu- 
tary and  usurped  throne  of  Naples,  where  he  remained,  without  having 
been  able  to  annex  Sicily  to  his  usurpation,  until  he  was  in  turn  hurled 
from  the  throne  in  1815.  Early  in  May  of  that  year,  the  capital  was  sur- 
rendered to  a  British  squadron;  and  on  the  17th  of  June,  Ferdinand  IV 
re-entered  it,  amid  loud  and  apparently  sincere  plaudits  of  the  multitude. 

During  the  time  of  Mural's  reign  considerable  changes  took  place,  the 
good  effects  of  which  every  impartial  person  was  ready  to  allow.     AU 


ng4  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

branches  of  the  public  administration  were  invigorated  and  improved ; 
society,  in  the  upper  ranks,  was  reconstructed  upon  the  Parisian  scale  ; 
the  French  code  superseded  the  cumbrous  and  vicious  jurisprudence  of 
ancient  Naples ;  and  the  nation,  notwithstanding  its  subordination  to  the 
imperial  politics,  and  its  participation  in  Napoleoi^'s  wars,  appeared  to  be 
destined  to  take  a  higher  rank  than  before  in  the  scale  of  natioES.  Irt 
July,  1820,  a  revolt,  headed  by  General  Pepe,  broke  out  among  the  troops, 
and  the  universal  cry  was  for  a  constitution,  though  no  person  seemed  to 
know  exactly  what  constitution  to  adopt,  or  how  to  frame  a  new  one. 
At  length  it  was  determined  to  imitate  that  of  the  Spanish  cortes,  and  the 
parliament  was  expressly  summoned  to  modify  and  correct  it.  An  epi- 
sode to  this  revolutionary  movement  was  about  the  same  time  exhibited 
in  Sicily.  No  sooner  had  the  citizens  of  Palermo  heard  what  had  been 
transpired  at  Naples,  and  that  a  parliament  had  been  convoked  there,  than 
they  determined  to  have  a  parliament  and  constitution  of  their  own.  Of 
their  taste  for  liberty,  as  well  as  their  fitness  for  it,  they  gave  an  immedi- 
ate specimen,  by  letting  loose  from  prison  nearly  a  thousand  atrocious 
malefactors.  They  assailed  the  houses  of  the  Neapolitan  officers,  and 
threw  the  soldiers  into  dungeons.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  send 
a  large  force  from  Naples  to  put  down  the  rebellion ;  but  when  that  force 
approached  Palermo,  a  dreadful  scene  of  slaughter  and  cruelty  ensued  in 
that  unhappy  city.  All  who  refused  to  join  this  militia  of  criminals  were 
shamefully  murdered,  then  cut  into  pieces,  and  their  quivering  limbs  ex- 
posed on  pikes  and  bayonets.  In  the  meanwhile  those  who  led  the  Nea- 
politan troops  permitted  Palermo  to  surrender  on  terms  of  capitulation. 

While  at  Naples  they  were  thus  amusing  themselves  at  constitution- 
mongering,  and  in  Sicily  every  species  of  horrid  barbarity  was  practised, 
the  allied  powers  took  into  their  deliberation  the  changes  which  popular 
force  had  worked  in  the  political  system  of  the  country  and  the  king 
of  the  Two  Sicilies  was  invited  to  the  congress.  The  result  was, 
that  the  Austrians  crossed  the  Po  on  the  28th  of  January,  and  marched 
to  Naples.  Rieti  was  immediately  taken  by  the  Austrians,  and  the  Nea- 
politan army  fell  back  upon  Aquila.  The  Austrians  appeared  in  sight; 
General  Pepe  was  almost  instantly  deserted  by  his  troops,  and  obliged  to 
escape  as  well  as  he  could.  This  dispersion  was  followed  by  that  of  the 
troops  at  Mignana,  who  fired  on  their  officers,  and  then  disbanded. 
The  Austrians  entered  Naples  on  the  morning  of  the  29th;  and  thus  ended 
the  Neapolitan  revolution. 

There  is  something  so  unique  and  striking  in  the  Neapolitan  character, 
that  we  are  tempted  to  conclude  this  article  with  an  extract  from  Mr. 
Forsyth's  account  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital : — "  Naples,  in  its  inte- 
rior, has  no  parallel  on  earth.  The  crowd  of  London  is  uniform  and  in- 
telligible :  it  is  a  double  line  in  quick  motion;  it  is  the  crowd  of  business. 
The  crowd  of  Naples  consists  in  a  general  tide  rolling  up  and  down ;  and 
in  the  middle  of  this  tide,  a  hundred  eddies  of  men.  Here  you  are  swept 
on  by  the  current  ;  there  you  are  wheeled  round  by  the  vortex.  A  diver- 
sity of  trades  dispute  with  you  in  the  streets.  You  are  stopped  by  a 
carpenter's  bench,  you  are  lost  among  shoemakers'  tools,  you  dash  amorhg 
the  pots  of  a  maccaroni  stall,  and  you  escape  behind  a  lazzaroni's  night- 
basket.  In  this  region  of  caricature,  every  bargain  sounds  like  a  battle  ; 
the  popular  exhibitions  are  full  of  the  grotesque ;  some  of  their  church 
processions  would  frighten  a  war-horse. 

"  The  mole  seems,  on  holidays,  an  epitome  of  the  town,  and  exhibits 
most  of  its  humours.  Here  stands  a  methodislical  friar  preaching  to  one 
row  of  lazzaroni  ;  there.  Punch,  the  representative  of  the  nation,  holds 
forth  to  a  crowd.  Yonder,  another  orator  recounts  the  miracles  performed 
by  a  sacred  wax- work  on  which  he  rubs  his  agnuses,  and  sells  them,  thus 
impregnated  with  grace,  for  a  grain  a  piece.    Beyond  him  are  quacks  iii 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  285 

nussar  uniforms,  exalting  their  drugs  and  brandishing  their  sabres,  as  if 
not  content  with  one  mode  of  killing;.  The  next  professore  is  a  dog  of 
knowledge,  great  in  his  own  little  circle  of  admirers.  Opposite  to  hina 
stand  two  jocund  old  men,  in  the  centre  of  an  oval  group,  singing  alter- 
nately to  their  crazy  guitars.  Further  on  is  a  motley  audience,  seated  on 
planks,  and  listening  to  a  iragi-comic  Jilosopho,  who  reads,  sings,  and  ges- 
ticulates old  Gothic  tales  of  Orlando  and  his  Paladins.  If  Naples  be  '  a 
paradise  inhabited  by  devils,'  I  am  sure  it  is  by  merry  devils.  Even  the 
lowest  class  enjoy  every  blessing  that  can  make  the  animal  happy — a  de- 
licious climate,  high  spirits,  a  facility  of  satisfying  every  appetite,  a  con- 
science which  gives  no  pain,  a  convenient  ignorance  of  their  duty,  and  a 
church  that  ensures  heaven  to  every  ruffian  who  has  faith.  Here  tatters 
are  not  misery,  for  the  climate  requires  little  covering ;  filth  is  not  misery 
to  those  who  are  born  to  it ;  and  a  few  fingerings  of  maccaroni  can  wind 
up  the  rattling  machine  for  the  day. 

"  They  are,  perhaps,  the  only  people  on  earth  who  do  not  pretend  to 
virtue.  On  their  own  stage  they  suffer  the  Neapolitan  of  the  drama  to  be 
always  a  rogue.  If  detected  in  theft,  a  lazzaroni  will  ask  you,  with  impu- 
dent surprise,  how  you  could  possibly  expect  a  poor  man  to  be  an  angel. 
Yet  what  are  these  wretches  ?  Why,  men,  whose  persons  might  stand 
as  models  to  a  sculptor  ;  whose  gestures  strike  you  with  the  commanding 
energy  of  a  savage  ;  whose  language,  gaping  and  broad  as  it  is,  when  kin- 
dled by  passion,  bursts  into  oriental  metaphor ;  whose  ideas,  indeed,  are 
cooped  within  a  narrow  circle,  but  a  circle  in  which  they  are  invincible. 
If  you  attack  them  there  you  are  beaten.  Their  exertion  of  soul,  their 
humour,  their  fancy,  their  quickness  of  argument,  their  address  at  flattery, 
their  rapidity  of  utterance,  their  pantomime  and  grimace,  none  can  resist 
but  a  lazzaroni  himself." 


SICILY. 

Sicily,  the  largest,  most  fertile,  and  best  peopled  island  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean  sea,  now  forming  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  or  the  Two  Sici- 
lies, was  inhabited  by  a  people  originally  from  Hispania,  and  called  Sica- 
nians.  The  Sicules,  inhabitants  of  Latium,  penetrated  afterward  into  this 
island,  and  drove  the  Sicanians  from  the  south  and  west  parts.  Several 
colonies  of  Greeks  next  transported  themselves  into  Sicily,  and  the  an- 
cient inhabitants  were  obliged  to  retire  into  the  interior  of  the  country. 
The  Greeks  built  several  handsome  cities,  which  are  remaining  to  this 
day;  but  the  most  considerable  was  Syracuse,  founded  by  the  -Stolians. 
Archius  of  Corinth,  a  bold  and  enterprising  man,  entered  Sicily  with  a 
colony  of  Dorians,  and  made  himself  master  of  Syracuse,  about  765  b.  c. 
The  fertility  of  the  country,  and  the  convenience  of  the  port,  induced 
him  to  enlarge  the  city  considerably,  and  it  soon  became  one  of  the  first 
in  Europe. 

Agrigentum,  the  next  city  in  Sicily  after  Syracuse,  was  equally  exposed 
to  revolution.  Phalaris  made  himself  master  of  it  in  the  year  572  before 
Christ,  and  exercised  there,  during  sixteen  years,  every  species  of  cru- 
elty. He  was  killed  by  Telemachus,  the  grandson  of  Theron,  the  libera- 
tor of  his  country,  and  afterward  its  monarch.    The  fugitives  of  Syracuse, 


286  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

wishing  once  more  to  get  possession  of  their  city,  in  the  year  491,  implor- 
ed succor  from  Gelon,  king  of  Gela,  a  city  of  Sicily.  Gelon  conducted 
himself  with  so  much  prudence,  that  the  Syracusians  unanimously  elected 
him  to  be  their  king.  His  first  care  was  to  reinstate  agriculture  ;  and  he 
worked  in  the  fields  at  the  head  of  the  labourers.  He  augmented  Syra- 
cuse, fortified  it,  and  became  afterward  so  powerful  as  to  be  master  of  all 
Sicily.  The  Carthaginians  made  several  attempts  upon  this  island,  bat 
were  always  repulsed.  Gelon  died  in  the  year  476  b.  c,  leaving  behind 
him  the  character  of  a  great  prince,  and  regretted  by  all  ranks  of  Sicilians. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Hieron,  a  man  naturally  morose  and 
severe,  but  softened  by  Simonides,  Pinder,  and  Xenophon,  whom  he  en- 
couraged, and  always  kept  at  his  court.  He  died  466  b.  c,  and  left  the 
throne  to  his  brother,  Thrasybulus,  who  possessed  all  the  vices  of  Hieron, 
without  his  good  qualities.  He  was  driven  out  for  his  tyranny ;  and  Sicily 
was  a  short  time  free. 

Dionysius  rendered  himself  master  of  Sicily  in  405  b.  c.,  and  reigned 
thirty-seven  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Dionysius  the  tyrant,  who 
reigned  twenty-five  years  :  being  driven  out  by  Timoleon,  he  took  refuge 
in  Corinth,  where  he  set  up  a  school.  Agalhocles  brought  the  Sicilians 
under  his  yoke  317  b.  c.,  and  reigned  twenty-six  years.  From  his  death 
Sicily  was  a  theatre  of  continual  war  between  the  Carthaginians  and  the 
Romans.  Not  the  fortifications  of  Syracuse,  nor  the  machines  invented 
by  Archimides  for  its  defense,  were  sufficient  to  prevent  Marcellus  from 
becoming  master  of  it  in  the  year  208  b.  c.  Sicily  flourished  under  the 
Romans ;  but  in  the  decline,  or  rather  toward  the  fall,  of  that  empire,  it 
came  under  the  Vandals,  and  afterward  the  kings  of  Ital}'.  The  Saracens 
were  continual  in  their  attacks  upon  it ;  and  in  the  year  823  after  Christ, 
the  emperors  of  the  East  ceded  it  to  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  emperor  of  the 
West ;  from  which  time  the  Saracens  occupied  a  part  of  it  (a.  d.  837), 
until  driven  out  by  the  Normans  in  1004. 

Soon  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Saracens,  the  feudal  system  was  intro- 
duced ;  and  in  1072,  earl  Roger,  the  Norman,  also  established  a  represen- 
tative assembly,  or  parliament,  in  which  the  nobles  and  clergy  had  an  over- 
whelming majority,  and  which  subsisted,  notwithstanding  the  many 
changes  the  island  has  undergone,  down  to  our  own  times.  The  Nor- 
mans kept  possession  of  the  island  till  the  establishment  of  the  Suabiaa 
dynasty,  in  1194.  In  1265  Charles  of  Anjou  became  master  of  Sicily; 
but  the  massacre  planned  by  John  of  Procida,  known  by  the  name  of 
the  "Sicilian  Vespers,"  (March  29,  1282),  put  an  end  to  the  Augevines. 
It  soon  after  became  a  dependency  of  Spain,  and  was  governed  by  Spanish 
viceroys.  At  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  of  Spain,  his  spoils  became  an 
object  of  furious  contention;  and  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  in  1711,  it  was 
ceded  to  Victor  Amadens,  of  Savoy,  who  not  many  years  after  was  forced 
by  the  emperor  Charles  VI.  to  relinquish  it  for  Sardinia.  The  Spaniards, 
however,  not  having  been  instrumental  in  effecling  this  disadvantageous 
exchange,  made  a  sudden  attempt  to  recover  Sicily,  in  which  they  failed, 
through  the  vigilonce  of  the  English  admiral  Byng,  who  destroyed  theii 
fleet,  and  compelled  them  for  that  time  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  In 
1734  the  Spanish  court  resumed  their  design  with  success.  The  infant 
Don  Carlos  drove  the  Germans  out,  and  was  crowned  king  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  at  Palermo.  When  he  passed  into  Spain,  to  take  possession  of 
that  crown,  he  transferred  the  Sicilian  diadem  to  his  son  Ferdinand  HI. 
of  Sicily  and  IV.  of  Naples.  While  the  continental  dominions  of  Naples 
were  held  by  Napoleon,  Palermo  was  the  residence  of  the  court,  the  island 
being  defended  by  an  English  fleet  and  garrison. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  287 

Since  1750,  however,  improvements  of  various  kinds  have  been  slowly, 
but  gradually  gaining  ground  ;  and,  within  the  last  few  years,  several  im- 
portant and  substantial  reforms  have  been  introduced,  that  will,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  conspire  to  raise  this  fine  island  from  the  abyss  into  which  it  has 
been  cast  by  bad  laws  and  bad  government. 


GENOA. 

A  history  of  the  various  revolutions  of  Genoa  would  be  a  record  oi  con- 
tinual turbulence,  but  still  interesting.  Our  limits,  however,  prevent  us 
from  attempting  even  a  synopsis  of  them.  In  the  time  of  the  second  Pu- 
nic war,  it  was  a  considerable  city  under  the  dominion  of  Rome.  Mago, 
a  Carthaginian  general,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  attacked,  look,  and  des- 
troyed it.  The  senate  thereupon  sent  the  pro-consul  Spurius,  who  in  less 
than  two  years  raised  it  to  its  former  splendour.  It  remained  under  the 
Romans  until  it  submitted  to  the  Goths.  The  Lombards  next  possessed 
and  almost  ruined  it.  Charlemagne  annexed  it  to  the  French  empire. 
Pepin,  his  son,  gave  the  city  of  Genoa,  and  its  dependencies,  to  a  French 
lord  of  the  name  of  Adhesnar,  under  the  title  of  count.  His  descendants 
reigned  until  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  when  the  Genoese  revolted 
against  their  count,  set  themselves  at  liberty,  and  chose  magistrates  from 
among  the  nobles.  In  the  next  century,  the  city  was  taken  by  the  Sara- 
cens, who  put  all  the  men  to  the  sword,  and  sent  the  women  and  children 
as  slaves  into  Africa. 

When  again  re-established,  the  inhabitants  availed  themselves  of  their 
fine  situation,  turned  their  attention  to  commerce,  enriched  themselves, 
became  powerful  in  proportion  to  their  riches,  and  erected  their  country 
into  a  republic.  Their  enthusiasm  for  liberty  rendered  this  republic  capa- 
ble of  great  things.  In  it  were  joined  the  opulence  of  commerce  with 
the  superiority  of  arms.  The  jealousy  and  ambition  of  the  citizens  at 
length  caused  great  troubles  ;  the  emperors,  the  kings  of  Naples,  the  Vis- 
contis,  the  Sforzas,  and  France,  successively  called  in  by  the  different 
parties,  divided  the  republic.  In  1217,  the  principal  Genoese,  fearful  of 
once  more  becoming  the  victims  of  civil  war,  chose  as  their  first  magis- 
trate a  stranger.  In  1339,  the  state  appeared  in  a  somewhat  more  regular 
form,  and  had  acquired  tranquility.  Simon  Bocanegra,  a  man  of  an  illus- 
trious family,  was  elected  duke,  or  doge,  with  a  council  composed  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  principal  families.  In  1396,  the  Genoese  put  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  Charles  VI.,  king  of  France,  whom  they  acknowl- 
edged as  their  sovereign.  In  1409,  they  massacred  the  French,  and  gave 
their  government  to  the  marquis  of  Montferrat.  *In  1458,  Francis  Sforza, 
duke  of  Milan,  was  acknowledged  sovereign  protector  of  the  republic  of 
Genoa ;  but  his  administration  tending  to  despotism,  they  set  themselves 
at  liberty.  It  was  at  this  time  that  they  offered  the  sovereignty  of  their 
city  to  Louis  XL  Louis,  well  acquainted  with  the  disposition  of  the 
Genoese,  unfiit  either  to  command  or  obey,  made  this  answer  to  their  so- 
licitations: "If  the  Genoese  give  themselves  to  me,  I  will  give  them  all 
to  the  devil." 

In  1528,  Andrew  Doria  had  the  happiness  and  address  to  unite  and  con- 
ciliate this  refractory  people,  and  establish  an  aristocratic  government. 
This  form  continued  until  the  French  republicans  made  their  rapid  con- 
quests in  Italy.  Genoa  was  the  scene  of  many  hard-fought  battles.  At 
length,  in  1797,  a  new  republic  was  raised,  under  the  name  of  the  Ligurian 
republic  ;  but  which,  like  the  rest  of  the  modern  French  creations,  was 
dissolved  at  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  in  1815,  and  transformed  to  a  de- 
pendent province  of  Sardinia. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  SARDINIA 

ISardinia  is  an  insular  and  continental  kingdom  in  the  south  of  Europe. 
The  continental  part  occupies  the  north-west  portion  of  Italy,  and  is 
bounded  by  Switzerland  on  the  north,  the  duchies  of  Milan  and  Parma  on 
the  east,  the  Mediterranean  on  the  south,  and  France  on  the  west.  It 
stretches  about  200  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  130  from  east  to  west. 
It  consists  at  present  of  Piedmont,  with  the  county  of  Nice  ;  the  duchy 
of  Montferrat ;  part  of  the  duchy  of  Milan ;  the  territory  of  the  late  republic 
of  Genoa ;  Savoy  (not  properly  included  in  Italy),  and  the  island  of  Sar- 
dinia, with  the  adjacent  isles. 


THE  ISLAND  OF  SARDINIA 

is  divided  from  Corsica  by  the  Strait  of  Bonifacio.  The  Greeks  called  it 
Ichnusa  Sandaliotis,  and  Sardo.  While  it  was  in  the  possession  of  the 
Romans,  it  was  a  place  of  banishment ;  and  afterward  the  Saracens  pos- 
sessed it  nearly  four  centuries.  Their  expulsion  could  not  be  effected  by 
the  Pisanese,  on  whom  Pope  Innocent  III.  had  assumed  the  prerogative 
of  bestowing  it  in  1132.  The  emperor  Frederic  paid  so  little  regard  to 
this  grant,  that  he  again  reunited  it  with  the  empire ;  but  the  Pisanese 
taking  advantage  of  the  long  interregnum,  got  possession  of  it  in  1257. 
A  difference  afterward  arising  between  them  and  the  see  of  Rome,  the 
pope  again  bestowed  the  island,  in  1298,  on  James  II.  of  Arragon,  whose 
son,  Alphonso  IV.  made  himself  master  of  it  in  1324.  From  this  time  it 
continued  under  the  crown  of  Spain,  governed  by  a  viceroy  until  1708, 
when  the  English  making  a  conquest  of  it  for  King  Charles  III.,  afterward 
emperor,  by  the  title  of  Charles  VI.,  it  was  confirmed  to  him  by  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht.  In  1717,  it  was  recovered  by  the  Spaniards  ;  and  in  1718  the 
emperor  exchanged  it  for  Sicily  with  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  put  in 
actual  possession  of  it  in  1720,  and  took  the  title  of  king  of  Sardinia. 

"The  inhabitants  of  Sardinia,"  says  Mr.  Salt,  "  (I  speak  of  the  common 
oeople),  are  yet  scarcely  above  the  negative  point  of  civilization ;  perhaps 
;t  would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  they  appear  to  have  sunk  a  certain 
way  back  into  barbarism.  They  wear,  indeed,  linen  shirts,  fasted  at  the 
collar  by  a  pair  of  silver  buttons,  like  hawks'  bills ;  but  their  upper  dress 
of  shaggy  goats'  skins  in  the  pure  savage  style.  A  few  have  gone  one 
step  nearer  to  perfectability,  and  actually  do  wear  tanned  leather  coats, 
made  somewhat  in  the  fashion  of  the  armour  worn  in  Europe  in  the  15th 
century.  With  such  durable  habiliments,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  thejf 
do  not  require  much  assistance  from  the  manufactures  of  foreign  coun- 
tries." Another  writer,  whom  we  have  frequently  quoted  in  this  work 
says,  "Notwithstanding  her  extent,  the  richness  of  her  soil,  her  position 
in  the  centre  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  her  convenient  harbours,  Sardinia 
has  been  strangely  neglected,  not  only  by  her  own  governments,  but  by 
the  European  powers  generally ;  and  has  remained,  down  to  our  own 
times,  in  a  semi-barbarous  state.  A  long  series  of  wars  and  revolutions 
followed  by  the  establishment  of  the  feudal  system  in  its  most  vexatious 
and  oppressive  form  ;  the  fact  of  her  having  been  for  a  lengthened  period 
a  dependency  of  Spain,  and,  if  that  were  possible,  worse  governed  even 
than  the  dominant  country ;  the  division  of  the  island  into  immense  es- 
tates, most  of  which  were  acquired  by  Spanish  grandees ;  the  want  of 
leases,  and  the  restrictions  on  industry,  have  paralysed  the  industry  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  sunk  them  to  the  lowest  point  in  the  scale  of  civilization 


BAVARIA. 

Bavaria,  now  one  of  the  principal  secondary  states  of  Germany,  was 
derived  from  a  circle  of  the  German  empire,  of  the  same  name,  bounded 
by  Franconia  and  Bohemia  on  the  north,  Austria  on  the  east,  Tyrol  on  the 
south,  and  Suabia  on  the  west.  The  earhest  inhabitants  of  Bavaria  were 
a  tribe  of  Celtic  origin  called  the  Boii,  from  whom  it  received  its  old  Latin 
name  of  Boiaria ;  but,  about  the  time  of  Augustus,  the  Romans  subdued 
it,  and  it  afterwards  formed  a  part  of  v*^hat  they  termed  Rhaitia,  Vinde- 
licia  and  Noricum.  After  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  empire,  Bavaria 
fell  under  the  dominion  of  the  Ostrogoths  and  Franks,  by  whom  it  was 
governed  till  Charlemagne  took  possession  of  the  country,  and  committed 
the  government  to  some  of  his  counts ;  and  on  the  partition  of  his  impe- 
rial dominions  among  his  grandsons,  Bavaria  was  assigned  to  Louis  the 
German.  Its  rulers  bore  the  title  of  margrave  till  920,  when  Arnold,  its 
reigning  prince,  was  raised  to  the  title  of  duke,  which  his  successors  con- 
tinued to  bear  till  1623,  when  Maximilian  I.,  having  assisted  Ferdinand  11. 
against  his  Bohemian  insurgents,  was  elevated  to  the  electoral  dignity. 

In  1070,  Bavaria  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Guelphs  ;  and  in 
1180  it  was  transferred  by  imperial  grant  to  Otho,  count  of  Wiltelsbach, 
whose  descendants  branched  out  into  two  families,  the  Palatine  and  the 
Bavarian,  the  former  inheriting  the  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  latter  the 
duchy  of  Bavaria.  Few  events  of  any  importance  occurred  till  the  war  of 
the  Spanish  succession,  when  Bavaria  suffered  severely  from  following 
the  fortunes  of  France.  It,  however,  received  a  great  accession  in  1777, 
when,  upon  the  extinction  of  the  younger  line  of  Wittelsbach,  the  palati- 
nate, after  a  short  contest  with  Austria,  was  added  to  the  Bavarian  terri- 
tory. After  the  adjustment  of  the  Austrian  pretensions,  the  electorate 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  peace  till  the  French  revolution,  which  involved 
all  Germany  in  the  flames  of  civil  discord.  The  elector  remained  on  the 
side  of  the  Imperialists  till  1796,  when  the  French  marched  a  powerful 
army  into  his  dominions,  and  concluded  a  treaty  for  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities. In  the  following  year  was  signed  the  treaty  of  Campo-Formio, 
and  in  1801  that  of  Luneville,  by  which  all  the  German  dominions  left  of 
the  Rhine  were  annexed  to  France,  and  the  elector  lost  the  palatinate  of 
the  Rhine,  his  possessions  in  the  Netherlands  and  Alsace,  and  the  duchies 
of  Juliers  and  Deux  Ponts  ;  receiving  as  indemnities  four  bishoprics,  with 
ten  abbeys,  fifteen  imperial  towns,  and  two  imperial  villages. 

In  the  conflicts  between  France  and  the  continental  powers,  Bavaria 
continued  to  maintain  a  neutrality  till  1805,  when  the  elector  entered  into 
an  alliance  with  Napoleon,  who  shortly  afterwards  raised  him  to  the  dig- 
nity of  king,  and  enlarged  his  dominions  at  the  same  time,  by  the  annexa- 
tion of  several  imperial  provinces.  Of  all  the  allies  of  the  French  empe- 
ror, no  country  has  retained  more  solid  advantages  than  Bavaria.  Shortly 
after  the  campaign  of  1806,  when  Austria,  to  purchase  peace,  sacrificed 
part  of  her  possessions,  Bavaria  received  a  further  enlargement,  by  the 
addition  of  Tyrol,  Eichstadt,  the  eastern  part  of  Passau,  and  other  terri- 
tories ;  when  she  began  to  assume  a  more  important  station  among  the 
surrounding  states. 

At  the  dissolution  of  the  Germanic  confederation,  and  the  formation  of 
the  Rhenish  confederation,  another  alteration  took  place,  the  duchy  of 
Berg  being  resigned  for  the  margraviate  of  Anspach,  together  with  the 
imperial  town  of  Augsburg  and  Nuremburg.  In  1809,  Bavaria  again  took 
part  with  France  against  Austria,  and  again  shared  in  the  spoils  of  war; 
19 


200  THE  TIIEASUII"X  OF  HISTORY 

but  subsequently  ceded  some  of  her  territories  to  Wirtemburg  and  Wurtz. 
burg ;  and  by  another  alteration,  which  sJiortly  followed,  exchanged  a 
great  part  of  Tyrol  for  Bayreuth  and  Ralisbon. 

But  the  friendship  of  the  Bavarian  monarch  for  his  ally  and  patron  was 
soon  to  be  put  to  the  test.  When  the  thirst  for  military  conquest  induced 
Napoleon  to  march  the  French  armies  to  Moscow,  the  Bavarian  troops 
were  among  the  number.  Apprehending  the  ruin  that  awaited  the  French, 
but  while  the  fortunes  of  Napoleon  were  still  doubtful,  the  king  of  Bavaria 
seized  the  criiicai  moment,  and  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the  emperor  Oi. 
Austria,  and  joined  the  alUes  in  crushing  that  power  which  had  long  belt 
so  many  nations  in  thraldom.  These  important  services  were  not  for 
gotten.  Bavaria  was  confirmed  in  her  extensive  acquisitions  by  the 
treaties  of  1814  and  1815;  for  though  Austria  recovered  her  ancient  pos- 
sessions in  the  Tyrol,  &c.,  Bavaria  received  equivalents  in  Franconia  and 
the  vicinity  of  the  Rhine.  Though  the  inferior  kingdoms  and  states  of 
Germany  are  of  too  little  importance  to  become  principals  in  any  Euro- 
pean wars,  they  are  frequently  found  very  effective  allies,  as  was  the  case 
with  Bavaria.     Its  army  during  the  war  amounted  to  sixty  thousand  men. 

In  the  history  of  Greece  it  will  be  seen  that  Otho,  a  Bavarian  prince, 
was,  in  1832,  elected  king  of  that  country ;  and  that,  in  1 843,  he  consented 
to  g^ive  his  subjects  a  more  liberal  government. 


HANOVER. 

The  kingdom  of  Hanover,  which,  until  the  year  1815,  was  an  electorate 
•was  formed  out  of  the  duchies  formerly  possessed  by  several  familieo 
belonging  to  he  junior  branches  of  the  house  of  Brunswick.  The  house 
of  Hanover  may,  indeed,  vie  with  any  in  Germany  for  antiquity  and  noble- 
ness. It  sprung  from  the  ancient  family  of  the  Guelphs,  dukes  and  elec- 
tors of  Bavaria,  one  of  whom,  Henry  the  Lion,  in  1140,  married  Maude, 
eldest  daughter  of  Henry  II.  king  of  England.  Their  son  William,  called 
Longsword,  was  created  first  duke  thereof.  The  dominions  descended 
in  a  direct  line  to  Ernest,  who  divided  them,  upon  his  death  in  1546,  into 
two  branches  ;  that  of  Brunswick  Wolfenbuttle,  and  Brunswick  Lune- 
burg.  The  possessor  of  the  latter,  Ernest  Augustus,  was,  in  1692,  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  an  elector ;  before  which  he  was  head  of  the  college  oi 
German  princes.  Ernest  married  Sophia,  daughter  of  Frederic,  elector 
palatine,  and  king  of  Bohemia,  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  I.,  king 
of  Great  Britain.  Sophia  being  the  next  protestant  heir  to  the  crown  ol 
England,  through  the  medium  of  ihe  house  of  Stuart,  the  parliament  fixed 
the  succession  upon  her,  on  the  demise  of  the  reigning  queen  Anne. 
Sophia  died  a  short  time  before  the  queen  ;  and  her  eldest  son,  George 
Louis,  in  consequence,  became  king  of  Great  Britain.  This  was  in  1714 
from  which  time  till  1837,  at  the  death  of  William  IV.,  both  England  and 
Hanover  have  had  the  same  sovereign. 

The  families  set  aside  from  the  succession  by  the  parliament  on  that  oc- 
casion, independent  of  the  family  of  King  James  II.  by  Mary  of  Este, 
were  as  follows  :  the  royal  houses  of  Savoy,  France,  and  Spain,  descend- 
ants of  Charles  I.,  through  his  daughter  Henrietta  ;  Orleans  and  Lorraine, 
descendants  of  James  I.  through  Charles  Louis,  elector  palatine,  eldest 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  291 

son  of  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  said  king;  Salm,  Ursel,  Conde,  Conti, 
Maine,  Modena,  and  Austria,  descendants  of  James  I.,  through  Edward, 
elector-palatine,  youngest  son  of  the  said  Elizabeth.  The  history  of  Han- 
over for  the  two  centuries  preceding  the  Lutheran  reformation  presents 
little  interest,  except  in  the  connection  of  its  princes  with  the  wars  of  the 
Guelphs  and  Ghibelines,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
Among  the  most  zealous  supporters  of  the  reformation,  however,  were  the 
princes  of  Brunswick  ;  and  their  subjects,  during  the  thirty  years'  war,  very 
effectively  supported  their  anti-papal  efforts.  Ernest  of  Zell,  the  reigning 
duke  at  that  period,  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  defenders  of  Luther  at 
the  diet  of  Worms;  and  his  endeavours  to  improve  the  people  by  estab- 
lishing clerical  and  general  schools,  when  learning  was  appreciated  by 
only  a  few,  shew  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  enlightened  and  liberal  views. 

On  the  accesssion  of  her  present  Majesty  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain, 
the  Hanoverian  crown,  by  virtue  of  the  salic  law,  devolved  on  her  uncle 
Ernest,  duke  of  Cumberland,  fifth  but  eldest  surviving  son  of  George  HI. 
It  had  previously  been  for  many  years  under  the  viceroyship  of  the  duke 
of  Cambridge.  Hanover  suffered  in  the  French  war  of  1757  ;  but  it  ex- 
perienced still  greater  sufferings  during  the  French  revolutionary  war, 
after  the  enemy  got  possession  of  it.  At  the  peace  af  Amiens,  it  was 
given  up  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain ;  but  that  peace  being  of  very  short 
duration,  it  again  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  without  resistance,  or 
without  an  effort  to  save  it,  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  or  the  govern- 
ment. In  1804  Prussia  took  possession  of  Hanover,  but  ceded  it  in  the 
same  year  to  the  French,  who  constituted  it  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of 
Westphalia,  established  in  1808.  At  the  peace  of  1813,  the  king  of  Great 
Britain  reclaimed  his  rightful  dominions,  which  were  then  formed  into  a 
kingdom,  and  much  enlarged  by  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  Vienna. 

The  countries  which  compose  what  is  called  Hanover,  consist  of  Lune- 
burg,  acquired  by  inheritance  in  1292 ;  Danneburg,  by  purchase,  1303 ; 
Grubenhagen,  by  inheritance,  1679;  Hanover  (Culenburg),  by  inheri- 
tance, 1679  ;  Diephollz,  by  exchange,  1685  ;  Hoya,  by  inheritance,  in  part, 
1582;  the  remaining  part  by  a  grant  from  the  emperor,  in  1705  ;  Lauen- 
burg,  by  inheritance,  1706;  Bremen  and  Verden,  by  purchase,  1715  and 
1719  ;  Wildeshausen,  by  purchase,  1720  ;  and  the  Hadeln-land,  1731.  The 
district  of  Lauenburghas  since  been  ceded  for  the  bishopric  of  Hildeshiem, 
the  principality  of  East  Friesland,  the  districts  of  Lingen,  Harlingen,  &c. 

Hanover  so  long  formed  an  appendage  to  the  British  crown  that  we  are 
induced  to  extend  this  slight  history  by  quoting  a  further  account  of  its 
government :  "  Before  Prussia  ceded  Hanover  to  France,  in  1804,  the 
form  of  government  was  monarchial,  and  the  various  territories  were  sub- 
ject to  feudal  lords.  The  peasants  of  the  marsh  lands  had  more  freedom, 
and  in  East  Friesland  the  constitution  of  the  country  was  almost  republi- 
can. In  the  territories  of  the  princes  of  the  empire,  the  representation  of 
the  people  by  estates,  composed  of  the  nobles,  prelates,  and  deputies  from 
the  towns,  served  to  check  the  power  of  the  sovereign,  as  in  other  parts  of 
Germany.  In  1808,  when  Napoleon  created  the  kingdom  of  Westphatia, 
the  territories  of  Hanover,  with  the  districts  of  Hildesheimand  Osnabruck, 
formed  a  part  of  it,  and  the  code  Napoleon  took  the  place  of  the  ancient 
laws,  and  a  sham  representative  government  was  established.  On  the 
return  of  the  rightful  sovereign  to  Hanover,  in  1813,  the  French  institu- 
tions were  summarily  abolished,  and  the  old  forms  re-established  ;  and  in 
1818  the  estates,  summoned  upon  the  ancient  footing,  drew  up  the  form 
of  anew  constitution,  modelled  on  that  of  England  and  France,  and  sub- 
stituting a  uniform  system  of  presentation  for  the  various  representative 
forms  which  prevailed  under  the  empire.  As  the  salic  law,  excluding  fe- 
males from  the  succession  to  the  throne,  prevails  in  Hanover,  William  IV. 
was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  surviving  brother,  Ernest,  duke  of  Cumber- 


292  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

land,  in  England.  He,  however,  is  considered  an  arbitrary  ruler,  quite 
incableof  concentrating  the  affections  of  his  people.  A  treaty  of  mutual 
inheritance  has  long  existed  between  Hanover  and  Brunswick,  which  wan 
formally  renewed  in  1836,  and  by  which  the  Hanoverian  crown  is  declared 
to  descend  to  the  dukes  of  Brunswick  on  the  extinction  of  male  heirs  of 
the  line  of  Hanover." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

This  deservedly  celebrated  country  of  antiquity — the  seat  of  science, 
literature,  and  the  fine  arts,  at  a  period  when  the  greater  part  of  the  Euro- 
pean continent  was  involved  in  the  obscurity  of  a  barbaric  ignorance — in 
its  most  palmy  state  comprised  the  southern  portion  of  the  great  eastern 
peninsula  of  Europe,  and  extended  to  about  42°  of  north  latitude,  including 
Thessaly  and  a  part  of  Modern  Albania,  with  the  Ionian  islands,  Crete, 
and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago.  Modern  Greece,  although  not  so  con- 
siderable in  extent  as  the  far-famed  Greece  of  ancient  date,  comprises  the 
territories  of  all  the  most  celebrated  and  interesting  of  the  Grecian  states. 

By  all  the  accounts  which  have  been  handed  down,  the  earliest  inhab- 
itants of  Greece  were  barbarous  in  the  extreme.  They  lived  on  those 
fruits  of  the  earth  which  grew  spontaneously  ;  their  shelter  was  in  dent 
or  caves,  and  their  country  was  one  wild  uncultivated  desert.  By  slow 
degrees  they  advanced  towards  civilization,  forming  themselves  into  regu 
lar  societies  to  cultivate  the  lands,  and  build  towns  and  cities.  But  their 
original  barbarity  and  mutual  violence  prevented  them  from  uniting  as 
one  nation,  or  even  into  any  considerable  community:  and  hence  the  great 
number  of  states  into  which  Greece  was  originally  divided. 

The  history  of  Greece  is  divided  into  three  principal  periods — the 
periods  of  its  rise,  its  power,  and  its  fall.  The  first  extends  from  the 
origin  of  the  people,  about  1800  b.  c,  to  Lycurgus,  875  years  b.  c;  the 
second  extends  from  that  time  to  the  conquest  of  Greece  by  the  Romans, 
146  B.  c, ;  the  third  shows  us  the  Greeks  as  a  conquered  people,  constant- 
ly on  the  decline,  until  at  length,  about  a.  d.  300,  the  old  Grecian  states 
were  swallowed  up  in  the  Byzantine  empire.  According  to  tradition,  the 
Pelasgi,  under  Inachus,  were  the  first  people  who  wandered  into  Greece. 
They  dwelt  in  caves  in  the  earth,  supporting  themselves  on  wild  fruits, 
and  eating  the  flesh  of  their  conquered  enemies,  until  Phoroneus,  who  is 
called  king  of  Argos,  began  to  introduce  civilization  among  them. 

Some  barbarous  tribes  received  names  from  the  three  brothers,  Achaeus, 
Pelasgus,  and  Pythius,  who  led  colonies  from  Arcadia  into  Thessaly,  and 
also  from  Thessalus  andGrsecus  (the  sons  of  Pelasgus)  and  others.  Deu- 
calion's flood,  1514  B.  c.,  and  the  emigration  of  a  new  people  from  Asia, 
the  Hellenes,  produced  great  changes.  The  Hellenes  spread  themselves 
over  Greece,  and  drove  out  the  Pelasgi,  or  mingled  with  them.  Their 
name  became  the  general  name  of  the  Greeks.  Greece  now  raised  itself 
from  its  savage  state,  and  improved  still  more  rapidiy  afier  the  arrival  o. 
some  Phosnician  and  Egyptian  colonies.    About  sixty  years  after  the" 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  293 

flood  of  Deucalion,  Cadmus  the  Phoenician  settled  in  Thebes,  and  intro- 
duced a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet.  Ceres  from  Sicily,  Triptnlemus  from 
Eleusis,  taught  the  nation  agriculture,  and  Bacchus  planted  the  vine. 

Now  began  the  heroic  age,  to  wlaoh  Hercules,  Jason,  Pirithous,  and 
Theseus  belong,  and  that  of  the  old  bards  and  sages,  as  Tamyris,  Aniphion, 
Orpheus,  Linus,  Musaeus,  Chiron,  and  many  others.  A  warlike  spirit 
tilled  the  whole  nation,  so  that  every  quarrel  called  the  heroes  of  Greece 
to  arms ;  as,  for  instance,  the  war  against  Thebes,  and  the  Trojan  war, 
1200  B.C.,  which  latter  forms  one  of  the  principal  epochs  in  the  history  of 
Greece.  This  war  deprived  many  kingdoms  of  their  princes,  and  produced 
a  general  confusion,  of  which  the  Heraclidse  took  advantage,  eighty  years 
after  the  destruction  of  Troy,  to  possess  themselves  of  the  Peloponnesus. 
They  drove  out  the  lonians  and  Achccans,  who  took  refuge  in  Attica. 
But,  not  finding  here  sufficient  room,  Neleus  (1044)  led  an  Ionian  colony 
to  Asia  Minor,  where  a  colony  of  ^Eolians,  from  the  Peloponesus,  had 
already  settled,  and  was  followed  eighty  years  after,  by  a  colony  of 
Dorians.  In  other  states  republics  were  founded,  viz.,  in  Phocis,  in 
Thebes,  and  in  the  Asiatic  colonies,  and  at  length  also  in  Athens  and 
many  other  places  ;  so  that  for  the  next  400  years,  all  the  southern  part  of 
Greece  was,  for  the  most  part,  occupied  by  republics.  Their  prosperity 
and  the  fineness  of  the  climate,  in  the  meantime,  made  the  Asiatic  colonies 
4he  mother  of  the  arts  and  learning.  They  gave  birth  to  the  songs  of 
Homer  and  Hesoid.  There  commerce,  navigation  flourished.  Greecej 
however,  still  retained  its  ancient  simplicity  of  manners,  and  was  unac- 
quainted with  luxury.  If  the  population  of  any  state  became  too  numer- 
ous, colonies  were  sent  out ;  for  example,  in  the  7th  and  8th  centuries,  the 
powerful  colonies  of  Rhegium,  Syracuse,  Sybaris,  Crotona,  Tarentum, 
Gela,  Locris,  and  Messena  were  planted  in  Sicily  and  the  southern  parts 
of  Italy.  The  small  independent  states  of  Greece  needed  a  common  bond 
of  union.  This  bond  was  found  in  the  temple  of  Delphi,  the  Amphictyonic 
council,  and  the  solemn  games,  among  which  the  Olympic  were  the  most 
distinguished,  the  institution,  or  rather  revival  of  which,  776  b.  c.  furnishes 
the  Greeks  with  a  chronological  era.  From  this  time  Athens  and  Sparta 
begsm  to  surpass  the  other  states  of  Greece  in  power  and  importance. 

At  the  time  of  the  Persian  war,  Greece  had  already  made  important  ad- 
vances in  civilization.     Besides  the  art  of  poetry,  we  find  that  philosophy 
began  to  be  cultivated  600  b.  c.,  and  even  earlier  in  Ionia  and  Lower  Italy 
than  in  Greece  Proper.     Statuary  and  painting  were  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition.     The  important  colonies  of   Massilia  (Marseilles)  in  Gaul,  and 
Agrigentum  in  Sicily,  were  founded.     Athens  was  continually  extending 
her  commerce,  and  established  important  commercial  posts  in  Thrace. 
In  Asia  Minor,  the  Grecian  colonies  were  brought  under  the  dominion  of 
the  Lydian  CroBsus,  and  soon  after  under  that  of  Cyrus.     Greece  itself 
was  threatened  with  a  similar  fate  by  the  Persian  kings,  Darius  and  Xerxes. 
Then  the  heroic  spirit  of  the  free  Greeks  shovved  itself  in  its  greatest 
brilliancy.     Athens  and  Sparta  almost  alone  withstood  the  vast  armies  of 
the  Persian ;  and  the  battles  of  Marathon,  Thermopylae,  and  Plataea,  as 
well  as  the  sea  fights  at  Artemisium,  Salamis,  and  Mycale,  taught  the 
Persians  that  the  Greeks  were  not  to  be  subdued  by  them.     Athens  now 
exceeded  all  the  other  states  in  splendour  and  in  power.     The  supremacy 
which  Sparta  had  hitherto  maintained,  devolved  on  this  city,  whose  com- 
mander, Cimon,  compelled  the  Persians  to  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  Asia  Minor     Athens  was  also  the  centre  of  the  arts  and  sciences.     The 
Peloponnesian  war  now  broke  out,  Sparta  being  no  longer  able  to  endure 
the  overbearing  pride  of  Athens.     This  war  devastated  Greece,  and  en- 
slaved Athens,  until  Thrasybulus  again  restored  its  freedom ;  and,  for  a 
short  time,  Sparta  was  compelled,  in  her  turn,  to  bend  before  the  Theban 
heroes,  Epaminondas  and   Pelopidas.     In  spite  of  these  disturbances 


294  THE  TIlEASUilY  OF  HISTORY. 

poets,  philosophers,  artists,  ani  statesmen,  continued  to  arise,  commerce 
flourished,  and  manners  and  customs  were  carried  to  tlie  highest  degree 
of  refinement.  But  tiiat  unhappy  period  had  now  arrived,  when  the 
Greeks,  ceasing  to  be  free,  ceased  to  advance  in  civilization. 

A  kingdom,  formed  by  conquest,  had  grown  up  on  the  north  of  Greece, 
the  ruler  of  which,  Philip,  united  courage  with  cunning.  The  dissensions 
which  prevailed  among  the  different  states,  afforded  him  opportunity  to 
execute  his  ambitious  plans,  and  tiie  battle  of  Chaeronea,  338  b.  c,  gave 
Macedonia  the  connnand  of  all  Greece.  In  vain  did  the  subjugated  states 
hope  to  become  free  after  his  death.  The  destruction  of  Thebes  was 
sufficient  to  subject  all  Greece  to  the  young  Alexander.  This  prince,  as 
generalissimo  of  the  Greeks,  gained  the  most  splendid  victories  over  the 
Persians.  An  attempt  to  liberate  Greece,  occasioned  by  a  false  report  of 
his  death,  was  frustrated  by  Antipater.  The  Lamian  war,  after  the  death 
of  Alexander,  was  equally  unsuccessful.  Greece  was  now  little  better 
than  a  Macedonian  province.  Luxury  had  enervated  the  ancient  courage 
and  energy  of  the  nation.  At  length,  most  of  the  states  of  southern 
Greece,  Sparta  and  iEtolia  excepted,  concluded  the  Achteau  league,  for 
the  niaintainance  of  their  freedom  against  the  Macedonians.  A  dispute 
having  arisen  between  this  league  and  Sparta,  the  latter  applied  to  Mace- 
donia for  help,  and  was  victorious.  But  this  friendship  was  soon  fatal, 
for  it  involved  Greece  in  the  contest  between  Philip  and  the  Romans, 
who,  at  first,  indeed,  restored  freedom  to  the  Grecian  states,  while  they 
changed  ^tolia,  and  soon  after  Macedonia,  into  Roman  provinces ;  but 
they  afterward  began  to  excite  dissensions  in  the  Achaean  league,  inter- 
fered in  the  quarrels  of  the  Greeks,  and  finally  compelled  them  to  take 
up  arms  to  maintain  their  freedom.  So  unequal  a  contest  could  not  long 
remain  undecided  ;  the  capture  of  Corinth,  146  b.  c,  placed  the  Greeks  in 
the  power  of  the  Romans. 

During  the  whole  period  which  elapsed  between  the  battle  of  Chceronea 
and  the  destruction  of  Corinth  by  the  Romans,  the  arts  and  sciences 
flourished  among  the  Greeks ;  indeed,  the  golden  age  of  the  arts  was  in 
the  time  of  Alexander.  The  Grecian  colonies  were  yet  in  a  more 
flourishing  condition  than  the  mother  country  ;  especially  Alexandria,  in 
Egypt,  which  became  the  seat  of  learning.  As  they,  also,  in  process  of 
time,  fell  under  the  dominion  of  the  Romans,  they  became  like  their 
mother  country,  the  instructors  of  their  conquerors.  In  the  time  of 
Augustus,  the  Greeks  lost  even  the  shadow  of  their  former  freedom,  and 
ceased  to  be  an  independent  people,  although  their  language,  manners, 
customs,  learning,  arts,  and  taste  spread  over  the  whole  Roman  empire. 
The  character  of  the  nation  was  now  sunk  so  low,  that  the  Romans  es- 
teemed a  Greek  as  the  most  worthless  of  creatures.  Asiatic  luxury  had 
wholly  corrupted  them  ;  their  ancient  love  of  freedom  and  independence 
was  extinguished;  and  a  mean  servility  was  substituted  in  its  place.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  the  nation  scarcely  showed  a  trace 
of  the  noble  characteristics  of  their  fathers.  The  barbarians  soon  after 
began  their  ruinous  incursions  into  Greece. 

The  principal  traits  in  the  character  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  were  sim- 
plicity and  grandeur.  The  Greek  was  his  own  instructor,  and  if  he  learned 
anything  from  others,  he  did  it  with  freedom  and  independence.  Nature 
was  his  great  model,  and  in  his  native  land  she  displayed  herself  in  all 
her  charms.  The  uncivilized  Greek  was  manly  and  proud,  active  and 
enterprising,  violent  both  in  his  hate  and  in  his  love.  He  esteemed  and 
exercised  hospitality  toward  strangers  and  countrymen.  These  features 
of  the  Grecian  character  had  an  important  influence  on  the  religion,  poli- 
tics, manners,  and  philosophy  of  the  nation.  The  gods  of  Greece  were 
not,  like  those  of  Asia,  surrounded  by  a  holy  obscurity  :  they  were  human 
in  their  faults  and  virtues,  but  were  placed  far  above  mortals.     They  kept 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  295 

up  an  intercourse  with  men ;  good  and  evil  came  from  their  hands  ;  all 
physical  and  moral  endowments  were  their  gift.  The  moral  system  of  the 
earliest  Greeks  taught  them  to  honour  the  gods  by  an  exact  observance  of 
customs;  to  hold  the  riglits  of  hospitality  sacred,  and  even  to  spare  mur- 
derers, if  they  fled  to  the  sanctuaries  of  the  gods  for  refuge.  Cunning 
and  revenge  were  allowed  to  be  practiced  against  enemies.  No  law  en- 
forced continence.  The  power  of  the  father,  of  the  husband,  or  the  bro- 
ther, alone  guarded  the  honour  of  the  female  sex,  who  therefore  lived  in 
continual  dependence.  The  seducer  brought  his  gifts  and  offerings  to  the 
gods,  as  if  his  conduct  had  been  guiltless.  The  security  of  domestic 
life  rested  entirely  in  the  master  of  the  family. 

From  these  characteristic  traits  of  the  earliest  Greeks  originated,  in 
the  sequel,  the  peculiarities  of  their  religious  notions,  their  love  of  free- 
dom and  action,  their  taste  for  the  beautiful  and  the  grand,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  their  manners.  The  religion  of  the  Greeks  was  not  so  much 
mingled  with  superstition  as  that  of  the  Romans  ;  thus,  for  example,  they 
were  unacquainted  with  the  practice  of  augury.  The  Greek  was  inclined 
to  festivity  even  in  religion,  and  served  the  gods  less  in  spirit  than  in  out- 
ward ceremonies.  His  religion  had  little  influence  on  his  morals,  his 
belief,  and  the  government  of  his  thoughts.  All  it  required  was  a  belief 
in  the  gods,  and  in  a  future  existence ;  freedom  from  gross  crimes,  and 
an  observance  of  prescribed  rites.  The  simplicity  of  their  manners,  and 
some  obscure  notions  of  a  supreme  God,  who  hated  and  punished  evil, 
loved  and  rewarded  good,  served  at  first  to  maintain  good  morals  and 
piety  among  them.  These  notions  were  afterwards  exalted  and  systema- 
tized by  poetry  and  philosophy ;  and  the  improvement  spread  from  the 
cultivated  classes  through  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 

In  the  most  enlightened  period  of  Greece,  clearer  ideas  of  the  unity  of 
the  deity,  of  his  omniscience,  his  omnipresence,  his  holiness,  his  good- 
ness, his  justice,  and  of  the  necessity  of  worshipping  him  by  virtue  and 
purity  of  heart,  prevailed.  The  moral  system  of  some  individuals  among 
the  Greeks  was  equally  pure.  The  precepts  of  morality  were  delivered 
at  first  in  sententious  maxims ;  for  example,  the  sayings  of  the  seven 
wise  men.  Afterwards,  Socrates  and  his  disciples  arose,  and  promulgated 
their  pure  doctrines.  The  love  of  freedom  among  the  Greeks  sprang 
from  their  good  fortune,  in  having  lived  so  long  without  oppression  or 
fear  of  other  nations,  and  from  their  natural  vivacity  of  spirit.  It  was 
this  which  made  small  armies  invincible,  and  which  caused  Lycurgus, 
Solon,  ;ind  Timoleon  to  refuse  crowns.  Their  freedom  was  the  work  of 
nature,  and  the  consequence  of  their  original  patriarchal  mode  of  life. 
Their  first  kings  were  considered  as  fathers  of  families,  to  whom  obedi- 
ence was  willingly  paid,  in  return  for  protection  and  favours.  Important 
affairs  were  decided  by  the  assemblies  of  the  people.  Each  man  was 
master  in  his  own  house,  and  in  early  times  no  taxes  were  paid.  But  as 
the  kings  strove  continually  to  extend  their  powers,  they  were  ultimately 
compelled  to  resign  their  dignities  ;  and  free  states  arose,  with  forms  of 
government  inclining  more  or  less  to  aristocracy  or  democracy,  or  com- 
posed of  a  union  of  the  two ;  the  citizens  were  attached  to  a  government 
which  was  administered  under  the  direction  of  wise  laws,  and  not  of  arbi- 
trary power  It  was  this  noble  love  of  a  free  country,  which  prompted 
Leonidas  to  say  to  the  king  of  Persia,  that  he  would  rather  die  than  hold  a 
despotic  sway  over  Greece.  It  was  this  which  inspired  Solon,  Themis- 
tocles,  Demosthenes,  and  Phocion,  when,  in  spite  of  the  ingratitude  of 
their  countrymen,  they  chose  to  serve  the  state  and  the  laws,  rather  than 
their  own  interests.  The  cultivation  of  their  fruitful  country,  which,  by 
the  industry  of  the  inhabitants,  afforded  nourishment  to  several  millions, 
and  the  wealth  of  their  colonies,  prove  the  activity  of  the  Greeks.  Com- 
merce, navigation,  and  manufactures  flourished  on  all  sides ;  knowledge 


296  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  every  sort  was  accumulated  ;  the  spirit  of  invention  was  busily  at 
work;  the  Greeks  learned  to  estimate  the  pleasures  of  society,  but  they 
also  learned  to  love  luxury.  From  these  sources  of  activity  sprang 
also  a  love  of  great  actions  and  great  enterprises,  so  many  instances  of 
which  are  furnished  by  Grecian  history.  Another  striking  trait  of  the 
Grecian  character,  was  a  love  of  the  beautiful,  both  physical  and  intellec- 
tual. This  sense  of  the  beautiful,  awakened  and  developed  by  nature, 
created  for  itself  an  ideal  of  beauty,  which  served  them,  and  has  been 
transmitted  to  us,  as  a  criterion  for  every  work  of  art. 

CHAPTER  II. 

We  have  seen  to  what  a  state  of  degradation  the  Greeks  were  reduced 
in  a  few  centuries  after  their  subjugation  by  the  Romans.  Thus  it  con- 
tinued as  long  as  it  was  either  really  or  nominally  a  portion  of  the  Roman 
empire ;  till  at  length,  like  the  imperial  mistress  of  the  world  herself,  it 
bent  before  the  all-subduing  Alaric  the  Goth,  a.  d.  400;  and  shared  in  all 
the  miseries  which  were  brought  by  the  northern  barbarians  who  succes- 
sively overran  and  ravaged  the  south  of  Europe.  After  the  Latin  con- 
quest of  Constantinople,  in  1204,  Greece  was  divided  into  feudal  princi- 
palities, and  governed  by  a  variety  of  Norman,  Venetian,  and  Prankish 
nobles;  but  in  1261,  with  the  exception  of  Athens  and  Nauplia,  it  was 
re-united  to  the  Greek  empire  by  Michael  Paleologus.  But  it  not  long 
remained  unmolested  ;  for  the  Turks  then  rising  into  notice,  aimed  at 
obtaining  power  in  Europe  :  and  Amurath  II.  deprived  the  Greeks  of  all 
iheircities  and  castles  on  the  Euxine  sea,  and  along  the  coasts  of  Thrace, 
Macedon,  and  Thessaly  ;  carrying  his  victorious  arms,  in  short,  into  the 
midst  of  the  Peloponnesus.  The  Grecian  emperors  acknowledged  him 
as  their  superior  lord,  and  he,  in  turn,  afTorded  them  protection.  This 
conquest,  however,  was  not  effected  without  a  brave  resistance,  particu- 
larly from  two  heroic  Christians,  John  Hunniades,  a  celebrated  Hungarian 
general,  and  George  Castriot,  an  Albanian  prince,  better  known  in  history 
by  the  name  of  Scanderberg. 

When  Mohammed  II.,  in  1451,  ascended  the  Ottoman  throne,  the  fate 
of  the  Greek  empire  seemed  to  be  decided.  At  the  head  of  an  army  of 
300,000  men,  supported  by  a  fleet  of  300  sail,  he  laid  siege  to  Constanti- 
nople, and  encouraged  his  troops  by  spreading  reports  of  prophecies  and 
prodigies  that  portended  the  triumph  of  Islamism.  Constantine,  the  last 
of  the  Greek  emperors,  met  the  storm  with  becoming  resolution,  and 
maintained  the  city  for  fifty-three  days,  though  the  fanaticism  and  fury  of 
the  besiegers  were  raised  to  the  highest  pitch.  At  length,  (May  29,  1453) 
the  Turks  stormed  the  walls,  and  the  brave  Constantine  perished  at  the 
head  of  his  faithful  troops.  The  final  conquest  of  Greece  did  not,  how- 
ever, take  place  till  1481.  Neither  were  the  conquerors  long  left  in  un- 
disturbed possession  of  their  newly-acquired  territory  ;  and  during  ihe 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  Greece  was  the  scene  of  obstinate 
wars,  till  the  treaty  of  Passarovitz,  in  1713,  confirmed  the  Turks  m  their 
conquest ;  and  for  a  century  from  that  tmie  the  inhabitants  of  Greece 
groaned  under  their  despotic  sway. 

At  the  time  of  the  expedition  of  the  French  into  Egypt,  the  Greeks, 
strongly  excited  by  the  events  of  the  war,  which  was  thus  approaching 
them,  waited  for  them  as  liberators,  with  the  firm  resolution  of  going  to 
meet  them  and  regaining  their  liberty  ;  but  again  their  hopes  were  dis- 
appointed, and  the  succors  they  expected  from  France  were  removed  to  a 
distance.  Having  waited  in  vain,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  events  which 
in  several  respects  have  changed  the  whole  face  of  Europe  in  this  centuiy, 
the  Greeks,  taking  counsel  only  of  their  despair,  and  indignant  at  living 
always  as  helots  on  the  ruins  of  Sparta  and  of  Athens,  when  nation?  but 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  297 

of  yesterday  were  recovering  their  rights  and  recogniznig  their  social  re- 
lations, rose  against  their  despotic  and  cruel  masters,  perhaps  with  greater 
boldness  than  prudence.  The  first  decided  movement  took  place  in  the 
year  1800,  when  the  Servians,  provoked  by  the  cruelty  of  their  oppressors 
the  Turks,  made  a  general  insurrection,  which  was  headed  by  their  famous 
chief  Czerni  George,  who  had  been  a  sergeant  in  the  Austrian  service, 
aad  afterward  became  a  bandit  chief.  He  was  possessed  of  much  energy 
of  character  and  bravery ;  and  under  him  the  Servians  obtained  several 
victories.  He  blockaded  Belgrade  ;  and,  one  of  the  gates  being  surren- 
dered to  him,  he  made  his  entry  into  the  city  and  slaughtered  all  thp 
Turks  that  were  found  in  it. 

At  this  time  the  affairs  of  the  Porte  were  in  great  disorder.  It  had  but 
just  terminated  its  war  with  France  ;  and  the  efforts  by  which  it  had  been 
endeavouring  to  reduce  Paswan  Oglou,  pacha  of  Widden,  had  failed  and 
ended  in  disgrace.  At  home  the  Janissaries  were  ever  dissatisfied,  and 
Roumelia  was  in  a  disturbed  state.  The  divan,  however,  exerted  them- 
selves to  quell  the  Servians,  and  they  were  aided  by  the  Bosnians,  incon- 
sequence of  which  many  sanguinary  combats  took  place.  But  relying 
on  the  promises  of  Russia,  and  receiving  pecuniary  succour  from  Ypsilanti, 
the  insurgents  continued  the  contest,  issuing  from  their  fastnesses  on  every 
favourable  opportunity,  and  making  their  progress  a  terror  to  the  country 
by  spreading  devastation  in  every  direction.  In  the  meantime  Russia 
openly  declared  war  against  the  Porte  in  1607,  and  carried  on  the  war  until 
1S12,  when  the  treaty  of  Bucharest  was  negociatcd ;  and  though  some 
efforts  were  made  to  obtain  a  concession  in  favour  of  their  Servian  allies, 
yet  one  difficulty  after  another  being  started  by  the  Porte,  a  peace  was 
at  length  concluded,  as  before,  upon  such  terms  as  left  the  insurgents  to 
their  fate.  At  length  it  was  agreed,  that  Milosh,  brother-in-law  to  Czerni 
George,  a  native,  should  be  their  prince  ;  that  the  sum  of  c£lOO,000  sliould 
be  paid  yearly  to  the  Turks,  whose  garrisons  in  the  fortresses  of  the  Dan- 
ube were  to  be  limited,  and  that  the  prince  should  maintain  a  few  national 
forces,  for  the  regulation  of  the  internal  policy. 

The  period  that  intervened  between  1815  and  1820  was  apparently  tran- 
quil :  the  Ottoman  affairs  seemed  prosperous  ;  the  Sultan  Mahmoud,  by 
his  vigorous  measures,  maintained  peace  with  his  neighbours,  quelled  the 
spirit  of  the  mutinous  Janissaries,  suppressed  several  revolts  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  empire,  drove  the  Wechabites  from  Mecca,  and  gave  more 
weight  to  the  imperial  firmans  than  they  had  heretofore  possessed.  But 
under  this  appearance  of  tranquillity,  all  those  projects  were  forming 
which  produced  what  we  term  "  the  Greek  revolution."  The  Greeks 
soon  became  more  open  in  their  plots  against  their  oppressors,  and  enter- 
tained some  considerable  hopes  from  the  probable  arrangements  of  the 
congress  of  Vienna ;  but  that  congress  closed  without  effecting  any  result 
favourable  to  the  liberties  of  Greece.  This,  however,  did  not  damp  the 
ardour  of  its  friends,  nor  induce  them  to  abandon  the  plans  they  had  pro- 
jected. At  length,  in  1820,  symptoms  of  a  general  rising  appeared  :  and 
all  civilized  nations  seemed  disposed  to  aid  the  cause  of  the  oppressed. 
But  that  generous  feeling  in  a  great  measure  subsided,  as  the  petty  dissen- 
tions  of  party,  or  the  despotic  notions  of  arbitrary  power,  severally  dis- 
played themselves.  The  Turks  and  Greeks  never  became  one  nation  ; 
the  relation  of  conquerors  and  conquered  never  ceased.  However  abject 
a  large  part  of  the  Greeks  became  by  their  continued  oppression,  they 
never  forgot  that  they  were  a  distinct  nation  ;  and  their  patriarch  at  Con- 
stantinople remained  a  visible  point  of  union  for  their  national  feelings. 

On  the  7th  of  March,  1821,  a  proclamation  of  Ypsilanti  was  placarded 
in  Jassy,  under  the  eyes  of  the  hospodar,  Michael  Suzzo,  which  declared, 
that  all  the  Greeks  had  on  that  day  thrown  off  the  Turkish  yoke ;  that  he 
would  put  himself  at  their  head,  with  his  countrymen ;  that  Prince  Suzzo 


J98  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

wished  the  happiness  of  the  Greeks  ;  and  that  nothing  was  to  be  feared, 
as  a  great  power  was  going  to  march  against  Turkey.  Several  officers 
and  members  of  the  Hetaireia  had  accompanied  Ypsilanti  from  Bessara- 
bia and  Jassy.  Some  Turks  were  murdered,  but  Ypsilanti  did  all  in  his 
power  to  prevent  excess,  and  was  generally  successful.  He  wrote  to  the 
emperor  of  Russia,  Alexander,  who  was  then  at  Laybach,  asking  his  pro- 
tection for  the  Greek  cause,  and  the  two  principalities,  Wallachia  and 
Moldavia  ;  but  the  revolutions  in  Spain  and  Piedmont  had  just  then  broke 
out,  and  that  monarch  considered  the  Greek  insurrection  to  be  nothing 
but  a  political  fever,  caught  from  Spain  and  Italy,  which  could  not  be 
checked  too  soon;  besides,  Ypsilanti  was  actually  in  the  service  of  Rus- 
sia, and  therefore  had  undertaken  this  step  against  the  rules  of  military 
disc  pline.  Alexander  publicly  disavowed  the  measure  ;  Ypsilanti's  name 
was  struck  from  the  army  rolls,  and  he  was  declared  to  be  no  longer  a 
subject  of  Russia.  The  Russian  minister,  and  the  Austrian  internuncio 
at  Constantinople,  also  declared  that  their  cabinets  would  not  take  advan- 
tage of  the  internal  troubles  of  Turkey,  in  any  shape  whatever,  but  would 
remain  strictly  neutral.  Yet  the  Porte  continued  suspicious,  particularly 
after  the  information  of  an  Englishman  had  led  to  the  detection  of  some 
supposed  traces  of  the  Greek  conspiracy  at  Constantinople.  It,  therefore, 
ordered  the  Russian  vessels  to  be  searched,  contrary  to  treaty.  The  com- 
merce of  Odessa  suffered  from  this  measure,  which  occasioned  a  serious 
correspondence  between  Baron  StroganofF,  the  Russian  ambassador,  and 
the  reis  etfendi.  The  most  vigorous  measures  were  taken  against  all 
Greeks;  their  schools  were  suppressed;  their  arms  seized;  suspicion 
was  a  sentence  of  death ;  the  flight  of  some  rendered  all  guilty,  and  it  was 
prohibited  under  penalty  of  death  :  in  the  divan,  the  total  extinction  of  the 
Greek  name  was  proposed ;  Turkish  troops  marched  into  the  principali- 
ties ;  the  hospodar  Suzzo  was  outlawed  ;  the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople 
and  Jerusalem  excommunicated  all  insurgents  (March  21) ;  and  a  hatti- 
sheriff  of  March  31,  called  upon  the  Mussulmans  to  arm  against  the  rerbels 
for  the  protection  of  the  Islams.  No  Greek  was,  for  some  time,  safe  in 
the  streets  of  Constantinople  ;  women  and  children  were  thrown  uito  the 
sea ;  the  noblest  families  openly  violated,  and  murdered  or  sold  ;  the  pop- 
ulace broke  into  the  house  of  Fonton,  the  Russian  counsellor  of  letjaiion  ; 
and  Prince  Murusi  was  belieaded  in  the  seraglio.  After  the  arrival  of  the 
new  grand-vizier,  Benderli  Ali  Pacha,  who  conducted  a  disorderly  army 
from  Asia  to  the  Bosphorus,  the  wildes  fanaticism  raged  in  Constantino 
pie.  In  Wallachia  and  Moldavia  the  bloody  struggle  was  brought  to  a 
close  through  the  treachery,  discord,  and  cowardice  of  the  pandoors  and 
Arnaouts,  wiih  the  annihilation  of  the  valiant  "  sacred  band  "  of  the  Heta- 
ireia,  in  the  battle  of  Dragashan  (June  19,1821),  and  with  Jordaki's  heroic 
death  in  the  monastery  of  Seek. 

In  Greece  Proper,  no  cruelty  could  quench  the  fire  of  liberty ;  the  beys 
of  the  Morea  invited  all  bishops  and  the  noblest  Greeks  to  Tripolizza,  under 
pretence  of  consulting  with  them  on  the  deliverance  of  the  people  from 
their  cruel  oppression.  Several  fell  into  the  snare  :  when  they  arrived, 
they  were  thrown  into  prison.  Germanos,  archbishop  of  Patras,  alone 
penetrated  the  intended  treachery,  and  took  measuK  s  with  the  others  for 
frustrating  the  designs  of  their  oppressors.  The  beys  of  the  Morea  then 
endeavoured  to  disarm  the  separate  tribes ;  but  it  was  too  late  ;  the  Mai- 
notes,  always  free,  descended  from  Mount  Taygetos,  in  obedience  to  Ypsi- 
lanti's  proclamation  ;  and  the  heart  of  all  Greece  beat  for  liberty.  The 
revolution  in  the  Morea  began,  March  23,  1821,  atCalavrita  a  small  place 
in  Achaia,  where  eighty  Turks  were  made  prisoners.  Qn  the  same  day 
the  Turkish  garrison  of  Patras  fell  upon  the  Greek  inhabitants  ;  but  they 
were  soon  relieved,  h  the  ancient  Laconia,  Colocotroni  and  Peter  Mav- 
romichalis  roused  the  people  to  arms.    The  archbishop  Germanos  co.- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  299 

lected  the  peasants  of  Achaia.  InPatras  and  the  other  places,  the  Turks 
retreated  into  the  fortresses.  As  early  as  April  6,  a  Messenian  senate 
assembled  in  Calamata,  and  the  bey  of  Maina,  Peter  Mavromichalis,  as 
commander-in-chief,  proclaimed  that  the  Morea  had  shaken  of  the  yoke 
of  Turkey  to  save  the  Christian  faith,  and  to  restore  the  ancient  character 
of  their  country.  "From  Europe,  nothing  is  wanted  but  money,  arms, 
and  counsels."  From  that  time  the  suffering-  Greeks  found  friends  in 
Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  Britain,  and  the  United  States,  who  sym- 
pathized with  them,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to  assist  them  in  their 
struggle.  The  cabinets  of  Europe,  on  the  contrary,  threw  every  impedi- 
ment in  the  way  of  the  Hellenists,  until  they  were  finally  obliged,  against 
their  inclination,  to  interfere  in  their  favour. 

Jussuf  Selim,  pacha  of  Lepanto,  having  received  information  of  these 
events  from  the  diplomatic  agent  of  a  European  power,  hastened  to  re- 
lieve the  citadel  of  Patras,  and  the  town  was  changed  into  a  heap  of  ruins. 
The  massacre  of  the  inhabitants,  April  15,  was  the  signal  for  a  struggle 
of  life  and  death.  Almost  the  whole  war  was  thenceforward  a  succes- 
sion of  atrocities.  It  was  not  a  war  prosecuted  on  any  fixed  plan,  but 
merely  a  series  of  devastations  and  murders.  The  law  of  nations  could 
not  exist  between  the  Turks  and  Greeks,  as  they  were  then  situated. 
The  monk  Gregoras,  soon  after,  occupied  Corinth,  at  the  head  of  a  bod}' 
of  Greeks.  The  revolution  spread  over  Attica,  Boeotia,  Phocis,  ^Etolia, 
and  Acarnania.  The  ancient  names  were  revived.  At  the  same  time, 
the  islanders  declared  themselves  free.  In  some  islands  the  Turks  were 
massacred,  in  revenge  for  the  murder  of  the  Greeks  at  Patras ;  and,  in 
retaliation,  the  Greeks  were  put  to  death  at  Smyrna,  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
in  those  islands  which  had  not  yet  shaken  off  the  Turkish  yoke.  The 
exasperation  was  raised  to  its  highest  pitch  by  the  cruelties  committed 
against  the  Greeks  in  Constantinople  after  the  end  of  March.  On  mere 
suspicion,  and  often  merely  to  get  possession  of  their  property,  the  divan 
caused  the  richest  Greek  merchants  and  bankers  to  be  put  to  death.  The 
rage  of  the  Mussulmans  was  particularly  directed  against  the  Greek  clergy. 
The  patriarch  of  Constantinople  was  murdered,  with  his  bishops,  in  the 
metropolis.  In  Adrianople,  the  venerable  patriarch  Cyrillus,  who  had 
retired  to  solitude,  and  Proesos,  archbishop  of  Adrianople,  and  others,  met 
the  same  fate.  Several  hundred  Greek  churches  were  torn  down,  without 
the  divan  paying  any  attention  to  the  remonstrances  of  the  Christian  am- 
bassadors. The  savage  grand-vizier,  indeed,  lost  his  place,  and  soon  after 
his  life ;  but  Mahmoud  and  his  favourite,  Halet  effendi,  persisted  in  the 
plan  of  extermination. 

The  commerce  of  Russia,  on  the  Black  Sea,  was  totally  ruined  by  the 
blockade  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  the  ultimatum  of  the  ambassador  was  not 
answered.  Baron  Stroganoff,  therefore,  broke  off  all  diplomatic  relations 
with  the  reis  effendi,  July  18,  and  on  the  31st,  embarked  for  Odessa.  He 
had  declared  to  the  divan  that,  if  the  Porte  did  not  change  its  system, 
Russia  would  feel  herself  obliged  to  give  "  the  Greeks  refuge,  protection, 
and  assistance."  The  answer  of  the  reis  effendi  to  this  declaration,  given 
too  late,  was  sent  to  Petersburg ;  but  it  was  after  the  most  atrocious  ex- 
cesses, committed  by  the  janissaries,  and  the  troops  from  Asia,  that  the 
foreign  ministers,  particularly  the  British  minister.  Lord  Strangford,  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  the  grand-seignior  to  recall  the  command  for  the  arm- 
ing of  all  Mussulmans,  and  to  restore  order. 

CHAPTER  HI. 

All  eyes  were  fixed  on  Tripolizza,  which  was  now  in  a  state  of  close 
blockade,  and  its  fall  daily  expected.  The  usual  population  was  about 
fifteen  thousand  souls ;  it  is  also  computed,  that  the  garrison,  with  all  the 


300  THE  TREASOttY  OF  HISTORY. 

Albanians  of  the  Kiayah,  amounted  to  eight  thousand  men ;  there  could 
not,  thcri;fore,  have  been  fewer  than  twenty  thousand  persons  within  the 
walls;  yet  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  blockaded  by  five  thousand  un- 
disciplined and  ill-armed  Greeks,  without  artillery  or  cavalry.  While  the 
Turkish  horse  were  in  a  stale  for  service,  the  Greeks  did  not  attemptany- 
thing  in  the  plain ;  but  their  forage  soon  failed,  and  the  only  food  they 
could  get  was  vine  leaves.  Provision  was  very  scarce,  and  the  Greeks 
had  cut  the  pipes,  and  thus  intercepted  the  supply  of  water.  Ypsilanti, 
however,  was  impatient,  and  felt  anxious  to  begin  a  regular  siege  ;  but  he 
had  neither  proper  ordnance  nor  engineers.  Some  cannon  and  mortars 
had  indeed  been  brought  from  INIalvasia  and  Navarin,  and  were  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  an  Italian  adventurer;  but  in  the  first  essay  he  burst  a  mor- 
tar, and  was  dismissed.  Things  were  in  this  state,  when  Prince  Mavra- 
cordato  arrived,  bringing  with  him  some  French  and  Italian  officers. 

In  the  beginning  of  October  the  Turks  began  to  make  propositions  for 
a  capitulation,  and  the  treaty  was  proceeding,  on  the  5th,  when  an  acci- 
dental circumstance  rendered  it  of  no  avail,  and  hastened  the  catastrophe. 
Some  Greek  soldiers,  having  approached  one  of  the  gates,  began  to  con- 
verse and,  as  usual,  to  barter  fruit  with  the  sentinels.  The  Turks  impru- 
dently assisted  them  in  mounting  the  wall,  but  no  sooner  had  they  gained 
the  top  than  they  threw  down  the  infidels,  opened  the  gate,  and  displayed 
the  standard  of  the  cross  above  it ;  the  Christians  instantly  rushed  from 
all  quarters  to  the  assault,  and  the  disorder  became  general.  The  Turks 
immediately  opened  a  brisk  fire  of  cannon  and  small  shot ;  but  the  gates 
were  carried ;  the  walls  scaled,  and  a  desperate  struggle  was  kept  up  in 
the  streets  and  houses.  Before  the  end  of  the  day  the  contest  was  over, 
and  the  citadel,  which  held  out  till  the  next  evening,  surrendered  at  discre- 
tion. About  six  thousand  Turks,  it  is  said,  perished,  some  thousands 
were  made  prisoners,  and  numbers  fled  to  the  mountauis. 

While  these  transactions  were  occurring  at  Tripolizza,  four  pachas  pro- 
ceeded, in  the  month  of  August,  from  the  frontiers  of  Thessaly  and 
Macedonia,  to  Zeitouni,  with  the  design  of  forcing  the  straits  of  Ther- 
mopylae, and  in  conjunction  with  the  Ottoman  troops  at  Thebes  and 
Athens,  relieving  the  besieged  fortresses  in  the  Morea.  Odysseus  was 
stationed  on  a  height  above  the  defiles  at  a  place  called  Fontana.  They 
sent  a  body  of  three  hundred  horse  to  reconnoitre  his  position,  but  this 
detachment  was  cut  to  pieces.  The  next  day  they  attacked  him  with 
their  whole  force  ;  at  first  the  Greeks  gave  way,  but  a  brave  chief,  named 
Gonraz,  made  a  stand,  and  rallied  the  fugitives.  They  returned  to  the 
charge,  and  the  infidels  were  routed  with  the  loss  of  twelve  hundred  men. 
One  of  the  pachas  was  slain,  and  vast  quantities  of  baggage  and  ammuni- 
tion taken.  This  was  on  the  31st  of  Aug.,  and  was  a  victory  of  immense 
importance  to  the  cause.  About  the  same  time  the  bishop  of  Carj'stus 
raised  an  insurrection  in  Euboea,  and  endeavoured  to  intercept  the  commu- 
nication between  Athens  and  that  island.  An  assembly  was  now  called, 
to  meet  at  Argos,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  government,  and  the 
prince  repaired  thither  to  attend  it ;  while  deputies  in  the  meantime  arrived 
from  different  parts  to  demand  succours  from  the  administration  of  the 
peninsula,  and  to  report  what  was  doing  in  their  districts.  In  Macedonia 
the  monks  of  Mount  Athos,  provoked  by  the  violent  proceedings  of  the 
Turks,  were  driven  into  revolt. 

The  assemblage  of  congress  had  been  regarded  as  a  new  and  important 
era  in  the  Greek  revolution ;  the  anxiety  of  the  nation  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  government  was  evident  from  the  eagerness  with  which  the 
people  elected  the  deputies.  By  the  middle  of  December  not  less  than 
sixty  had  arrived,  including  ecclesiastics,  landowners,  merchants,  and 
civilians,  most  of  whom  had  been  liberally  educated.  They  first  named 
a  commission  to  draw  up  a  political  code;  the  rest  were  occupied  in  ex 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  301 

i.ni.iiiif  ihe  general  state  of  the  nation,  and  laying  plans  for  the  next  cam- 
paign. On  the  27th  of  January,  1822,  the  indendence  of  the  country  was 
proclaimed,  and  its  code  published  amid  the  joyful  acclamations  of  the 
deputies,  the  army,  and  the  people.  The  government  was  for  the  present 
Btyled  "provincial,"  while  the  promulgation  of  the  constitution  was  ac- 
companied with  an  address,  exhibiting  the  reasons  for  shaking  off  the 
Turkish  yoke.  Five  members  of  the  congress  were  nominated  as  an  ex- 
ecutive, and  Prince  Mavrocordato  was  appointed  president.  Ministers 
were  appointed  for  the  different  departments  of  war,  finance,  public  instruc- 
tion, the  interior,  and  police  ;  and  a  commission  named  of  three  individu- 
als to  superintend  the  naval  affairs. 

The  new  government  signalized  their  liberty  by  a  decree  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery,  as  well  as  the  sale  of  any  Turkish  prisoners  who  might 
fall  into  their  hands,  prohibiting  it  under  the  severest  penalties;  they  also 
passed  another  edict  for  a  compensation  for  military  services,  and  a  pro- 
vision for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  should  fall  in  battle  ;  and 
a  third  regulating  the  internal  administration  of  the  provinces.  The  organ- 
ization of  the  army  was  also  commenced ;  a  corps,  called  the  first  regi- 
ment of  the  line  was  formed  and  officered  from  the  volunteers  of  different 
nations,  and  as  there  were  more  of  them  than  were  requisite  for  this  ser- 
vice, a  second  was  formed  of  the  remainder,  which  took  the  name  of  Phil- 
hellenes.  Patras  was  blockaded  again  by  three  thousand  men,  and  a 
smaller  body  under  the  French  colonel  Voutier  was  sent  to  Athens,  to 
reduce  the  Acropolis ;  the  forces  before  Napoli  were  augmented,  and 
Modon  and  Coron  closely  invested  by  the  armed  peasantry  around.  An 
event,  the  most  terrific  and  atrocious  that  history  has  ever  recorded, 
marked  the  commencement  of  the  second  campaign :  the  destruction  of 
Scio,  and  its  miserable  inhabitants.  The  Sciots  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
movement  of  1821.  In  the  beginning  of  May,  in  that  year,  a  small  squad- 
ron of  Ipsariots  appearing  off  the  coast,  furnished  the  aga  with  a  pretext 
for  his  oppressions,  and  he  began  by  seizing  forty  of  the  elders  and  bish- 
ops, who  were  immured  as  hostages  for  the  good  conduct  of  the  people. 

"On  the  23rd  of  April,"  says  Mr.  Blaquiere,  "a  fleet  of  fifty  sail,  in- 
cluding five  of  the  line,  anchored  in  the  bay,  and  immediately  began  to 
bombard  the  town,  while  several  thousand  troops  were  landed  under  the 
guns  of  the  citadel,  which  also  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  the  Greeks.  It  was 
in  vain  for  the  islanders  to  make  any  resistance  :  deserted  by  the  Samians, 
most  of  whom  embarked  and  sailed  away  when  the  Turkish  fleet  hove  in 
sight,  they  were  easily  overpowered  and  obliged  to  fly.  From  this  mo- 
moment,  until  the  last  direful  act,  Scio,  lately  so  great  an  object  of  admi- 
ration to  strangers,  presented  one  continued  scene  of  horror  and  dismay. 
Having  massacred  every  soul,  whether  men,  women,  or  children,  whom 
they  found  in  the  town,  the  Turks  plundered  and  then  set  fire  to  it,  and 
watched  the  flames  until  not  a  house  was  left,  except  those  of  the  foreign 
consuls.  Three  days  had,  however,  been  suffered  to  pass,  before  the  infi- 
dels ventured  to  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  the  island,  and  even  then 
their  excesses  were  confined  to  the  low  grounds.  While  some  were 
occupied  in  plundering  the  villas  of  rich  merchants,  and  others  setting  fire 
to  the  villages,  the  air  was  rent  with  the  mingled  groans  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  who  were  falling  under  the  swords  and  daggers  of  the  infi- 
dels. The  only  exception  made  during  the  massacre  was  in  favour  of 
young  women  and  boys,  who  were  preserved  to  be  afterward  sold  as 
slaves.  Many  of  the  former,  whose  husbands  had  been  butchered,  were 
running  to  and  fro  frantic,  with  torn  garments  and  dislievelled  hair,  pres- 
sing their  trembling  infants  to  their  breasts,  and  seeking  death  as  a  relief 
from  the  still  greater  calamities  that  awaited  them.  About  forty  thou- 
sand of  both  sexes  had  already  either  fallen  victims  to  the  sword,  or  been 
geleoted  for  sale  in  the  bazaars,  when  it  occurred  to  the  pacha,  that  no 


302  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

time  should  be  lost  in  persuading  those  who  had  fled  to  the  more  inacces- 
sible parts  of  the  island,  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  submit.     It  being 
impossible  to  effect  this  by  force,  they  had  recourse  to  a  favourite  expe- 
dient with  Mussulmans — that  of  proclaiming  an  amnesty.     In  order  that 
no  doubt  should  be  entertained  of  their  sincerity,  the  foreign  consuls, 
more  particularly  those  of  England,  France,  and  Austria,  were  called  upon 
to  guarantee  the  promises  of  the  Turks  ;  they  accordingly  went  forth  and 
invited  the  unfortunate  peasantry  to  give  up  their  arms  and  return.     Not- 
withstanding their  long  experience  of  Turkish  perfidy,  the  solemn  pledge 
given  by  the  consuls  at  length  prevailed,  and  many  thousands  who  might 
'lave  successfully  resisted  until  succours  had  arrived,  were  sacrificed : 
or  no  sooner  did  they  descend  from  the  heights,  and  give  up  their  arms, 
than  the  infidels,  totally  unmindful  of  the  proffered  pardon,  put  them  to 
death  without  mercy.     The  number  of  persons,  of  every  age  and  sex,  who 
became  the  victims  of  this  perfidious  act  was  estimated  at  seven  thousand. 
After  having  devoted  ten  days  to  the  work  of  slaughter,  it  was  natural  to 
suppose  that  the  monsters  who  directed  this  friglitful  tragedy  would  have 
been  in  some  degree  satiated  by  the  blood  of  so  many  innocent  victims ; 
but  it  was  when  the  excesses  had  begun  to  diminish,  on  the  part  of  the 
soldiery,  that  fresh  scenes  of  horror  were  exhibited  on  board  the  fleet  and 
in  the  citadel.     In  addition  to  the  women  and  children  embarked  for  the 
purpose  of  being  conveyed  to  the  markets  of  Constantinople  and  Smyrna, 
several  hundreds  of  the  natives  were  also  seized,  and  among  these,  all  the 
gardeners  of  the  island,  who  were  supposed  to  know  where  the  treasures 
of  their  employers  had  been  concealed.     There  were  no  less  than  five 
hundred  of  the  persons  thus  collected  hung  on  board  the  different  ships; 
when  these  executions  commenced,  they  served  as  a  signal  to  the  com- 
mandant of  th^  citadel,  who  immediately  followed  the  example,  by  sus- 
pending the  whole  of  the  hostages,  to  tlie  number  of  seventy-six,  on  gib- 
bets erected  for  the  occasion.     With  respect  to  the  numbers  who  were 
either  killed  or  consigned  to  slavery,  during  the  three  weeks  that  followe* 
the  arrival  of  the  capitan-pacha,  there  is  no  exaggeration  in  placing  the 
former  at  twenty-five  thousand  souls.     It  has  been  ascertained  that  above 
thirty  thousand  women  and  children  were  condemned  to  slavery,  while 
the  fate  of  those  who  escaped  was  scarcely  less  calamitous.     Though 
many  contrived  to  get  off  in  open  boats,  or  such  other  vessels  as  they 
could  procure,  thousands,  who  were  unable  to  do  so,  wandered  about  the 
mountains,  or  concealed  themselves  in  caves,   without  food  or  clothing, 
for  many  days  after  the  massacre  had  begun  to  su!)side  on  the  plains. 
Among  those  who  had  availed  themselves  of  the  pretended  amnesty,  many 
families  took  refuge  in  the  houses  of  the  consuls,  who  were  indeed  bound 
by  every  tie  of  honour  and  humanity,  to  afford  them  protection.     It  has 
however  been  asserted,  upon  authority,  that  the  wretched   beings  thus 
saved  from  Mussulman  vengeance  were  obliged  to  pay  large  ransoms  be- 
fore they  could  leave  the  island  ;  nay,  that  it  was  extremely  diflficult  to  ob- 
tain even   temporary  protection  under  the  Christian  flags,  without  first 
gratifying  avaricious  demands." 

At  the  commencement  of  the  campaign,  Colocotroni,  with  three  hundred 
men,  was  dispatched  to  Patras,  where  a  part  of  the  Turkish  fleet  had 
landed  a  great  body  of  men  in  the  latter  end  of  February.  On  his  appoach 
the  Turks  went  to  meet  him  with  almost  all  their  force.  Colocotroni,  not 
considering  himself  strong  enough  to  meet  them,  retreated  to  the  moun- 
tains ;  but  suddenly  stopped,  addressed  his  men,  and  wheeling  about,  ad- 
vanced toward  the  enemy.  Upon  this  the  Turks,  struck  with  a  panic, 
thinking  he  had  received  notice  of  a  reinforcement,  turned  their  backs, 
and  were  pursued  by  the  Greeks  up  to  the  walls  of  the  town ;  five  hun- 
dred of  them  were  slain  in  less  than  two  hours,  and  Colocotroni  block- 
aded the  place.    The  Ottoman  fleet  was  pursued  by  the  Greeks  under 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  303 

Miauli  and  Tombasi,  and  the  admiral's  frigate  nearly  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Greeks.  Marco  Bozzario  and  Rango  gained  many  advantages  in 
Epirus,  and  took  Arta,  the  key  of  Albania ;  but,  owing  to  the  treachery 
of  Tairabos,  it  was  abandoned.  Odysseus  and  his  companions  endeavour- 
ed to  check  the  enemy  in  Livadia  and  Negropont;  but  the  disaster  of  the 
Greeks  at  Cassandra  so  much  strengthened  them,  that  they  advanced 
again,  and  threw  some  reinforcements  into  Athens. 

The  fall  of  Ali  Pacha  had  now  so  much  increased  the  resources  of 
Choursid,  that  he  concerted  measures  which  would  have  been  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  Greek  cause,  had  they  been  skillfully  executed.  Mavrocordato, 
in  order  to  frustrate  them,  laid  a  plan  to  undertake  an  expedition  into  Epi- 
rus, draw  off  the  Turks  from  the  Morea,  relieve  the  Suliotes,  and  carry 
the  war  into  the  heart  of  Albania.  He  communicated  his  plan  to  the  ex- 
ecutive, and  it  was  determined  to  place  five  thousand  men  at  the  disposal 
of  the  president,  who  was  to  lead  the  expedition  in  person.  The  only 
forces,  however,  which  could  be  mustered,  were  the  corps  of  the  Philhel- 
lenes,  and  the  first  regiment  of  the  line,  neither  of  them  complete,  with 
seven  hundred  men,  commanded  by  General  Norman  and  Kiriakouii,  to 
relieve  the  Suliotes.  He  arrived  at  Patras  on  the  12th  of  June;  but  Col- 
ocotroni  here  opposed  many  difficulties  to  any  of  his  troops  being  detach- 
ed, and  he  was  obliged  to  leave  without  the  expected  assistance.  Accord- 
ingly, he  sailed  to  Missolonghi  with  only  a  few  hundred  men.  A  large 
force  of  the  enemy  was  in  the  meantime  collected  at  Larissaand  Zetouni ; 
Colocotroni  suddenly  left  the  blockade  of  Patras,  and  proceeded,  with 
all  his  army,  to  Tripolizza,  leaving  an  opportunity  for  the  Turkish  garrison 
either  to  enter  the  Morea,  or  cross  the  Lepanto.  Consternation  prevailed 
in  the  Peloponnesus  ;  and  Corinth  was  abandoned  and  reoccupied  by  the 
enemy,  not  without  the  suspicion  of  treachery. 

The  situation  of  Ypsilanli  was  at  this  time  very  critical :  he  had  no 
money  or  provisions,  and  hardly  thirteen  hundred  men  to  oppose  thirty 
thousand;  he,  therefore,  in  order  to  stop  the  enemy's  progress,  threw  him- 
self into  the  citadel  of  Argos,  while  Colocotroni  took  up  the  strong  posi- 
tion of  Lerno  on  the  west  of  the  gulf.  The  first  body  of  the  Turks,  con- 
sisting of  seven  thousand  cavalry  and  four  thousand  foot,  halted  near 
Argos,  and  part  of  it  proceeded  to  Napoli ;  soon  after  Marchmont  Pacha 
arrived  with  ten  thousand  more.  The  pacha,  however,  entered  Napoli, 
and  continued  several  days  inactive  ;  when,  threatened  with  tlie  extremi- 
ties of  famine  and  drought,  he  gave  orders  for  the  return  to  Corinth,  and 
his  army  set  out  in  the  greatest  disorder.  Colocotroni  attacked  and  de- 
stroyed five  thousand  of  them  in  a  few  hours ;  the  advanced  guard  was 
attacked  in  the  defiles  by  the  Mainiotes  under  Nikitas,  and  twelve  hundred 
perished  in  the  first  onset.  These  successes  happened  between  the  4th 
and  7th  of  August.  On  the  16th  the  pacha  attempted  to  draw  the  Greeks 
into  an  ambuscade,  but  they  got  into  his  rear,  and  he  was  defeated  with 
great  loss  ;  the  next  day,  determining  to  regam  the  position  they  had  lost, 
the  Turks  again  attacked  under  Hadji  Ah,  who  was  slain  in  the  engage- 
ment, and  nearly  two  thousand  of  his  men  were  lost,  as  well  as  a  large 
quantity  of  baggage  and  several  hundred  horses.  The  Greeks,  however, 
had  no  means  of  following  up  their  successes. 

Ypsilanti  advanced  to  Napoli  to  assist  in  its  reduction,  while  the  troops 
left  under  the  command  of  Coliopulo,  not  being  supplied  with  rations  or 
pay,  became  so  weary  of  the  service  that  the  greater  part  withdrew, 
leaving  Colocotroni's  eldest  son  with  two  or  three  hundred  men  to  con- 
tinue the  blockade  of  Corinth.  Soon  after  this,  Colocotroni,  at  the  passes 
near  the  isthmus,  stopped  the  Turks  who  wished  to  bring  succours  to  Na- 
poli:  and  they  being  driven  to  the  greatest  extremity  of  famine,  and  the 
jPalamida  or  citadel  having  been  surprised,  the  garrison  had  no  alternative 
left  them  but  to  surrender.    The  Greeks  took  possession  of  this  important 


i04  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

place  on  ihe  11th  of  January.  The  Turkish  commanders,  on  the  surren- 
der of  Napoli,  determined  to  proceed  to  Patras,  which  the  Greeks  haj 
lately  neglected  blockading.  Setting  out  in  the  middle  of  January,  they 
had  reached  Akrata  near  Vostitza,  when  a  detachment  from  Missolonghi 
stopped  one  of  the  passes,  and  shortly  after  another  body  blocked  up  The 
other:  so  that  the  Turks  were  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits,  feeding 
upon  horses,  the  herbs  on  the  rocks,  their  saddles,  and  at  last  one  another. 
For  nearly  three  weeks  longer  the  place  held  out,  when  Odysseus  arriv- 
ing, and,  one  of  the  beys  being  acquainted  with  him,  a  negociation 
was  commenced,  by  which  the  garrison  obtained  permission  to  embark, 
and  the  beys  were  sent  prisoners  to  Napoli.  The  number  of  the  enemy 
that  perished  on  this  occasion,  without  firing  a  shot,  amounted,  it  is  said,  to 
two  thousand.  Thus  ended  tiie  second  campaign  in  the  JNIorea,  costing 
the  Turks  not  fewer  than  twenty-five  thousand  men  in  the  Peloponnesus 
alone. 

The  operations  in  Epirus,  though  on  a  smaller  scale,  were  little  less 
interesting.  Mavrocordato  put  his  forces  in  motion,  and  first  making  a 
feint  as  if  he  wished  to  reach  Salona,  returned  on  the  village  of  Thera- 
sova,  and  entered  Missolonghi  on  the  17th  of  October,  where  greater  dif- 
ficulties than  ever  awaited  him.  Here  he  was  besieged  by  the  Turks 
until  the  9lh  of  November,  when  the  blockading  squadron  was  chased  away 
by  six  vessels  bearing  the  Greek  flag;  and  on  the  14th  Mavromichalis 
arrived  with  the  long  expected  succours.  A  sortie  was  then  made  ;  but 
it  was  of  little  avail,  and  the  garrison  so  much  weakened,  that  Omar 
Vrioni  determined  to  attack  the  place.  Accordingly,  on  the  morning  of 
Christmas-day,  at  five  o'clock,  eight  hundred  men  approached  the  walls 
with  scaling  ladders  unperceived,  and  had  even  fixed  some,  but  they  were 
instantly  cut  down;  the  conflict  that  followed  was  desperate  and  sangui- 
nary, and  the  Turks  were  obliged  to  retire  with  the  loss  of  twelve  hun- 
dred men  and  nine  pieces  of  cannon.  The  rising  now  became  general 
through  the  country,  and  the  retreat  of  the  enemy  was  intercepted  in  all 
quarters;  so  that  of  the  whole  force  brought  into  the  country,  only 
three  months  before,  not  half  escaped.  Mavrocordato  arrived  in  the 
Peloponnesus  in  the  early  part  of  April,  1823,  after  an  absence  of  ten 
months. 

The  national  congress  met  at  Astros,  a  small  town  in  Argos,  on  the  10th 
of  April,  1823,  in  a  garden  under  the  shade  of  orange  trees;  nearly 
three  hundred  deputies  were  occupied  in  the  debates,  which  began  at  sun- 
rise. The  following  oath  was  taken  at  the  first  meeting  by  each  mem- 
ber: — "I  swear,  in  the  name  of  God  and  my  country,  to  act  with  a  pure 
and  unshaken  patriotism,  to  promote  a  sincere  union,  and  abjure  every 
thought  of  personal  interest  in  all  the  discussions  which  shall  take  place 
in  this  second  national  congress."  Having  settled  a  number  of  important 
points,  its  labours  ended  on  the  30th.  The  third  meeting  of  the  congress 
was  deferred  for  two  years ;  and  the  executive  and  legislative  body  was 
transferred  to  Tripolizza,  where  measures  were  immediately  taken  for 
opening  the  third  campaign.  The  enemy  was  not  idle  as  the  summer 
advanced;  a  fleet  of  seventeen  frigates,  and  sixty  smaller  vessels,  was 
sent  with  stores  to  supply  the  remaining  fortresses  in  Negropont,  Candia 
and  the  Morea ;  and  after  accomplishing  this  object,  the  capitan  pacha 
arrived  at  Patras  about  the  middle  of  June.  Yusuff"  Pacha  led  on  a  large 
body  to  Thermopylfe,  and  Mustapha  conducted  another  to  the  pass  of 
Neopatra,  near  Zeitouni,  the  former,  especially,  laying  waste  the  whole 
country,  and  committing  all  manner  of  excesses-  Odysseus  in  the  mean- 
time arrived  from  Athens,  and  Nikitas  from  Tripolizza,  and  a  sort  of 
guerilla  warfare  was  commenced,  which  so  harrassed  the  Turks  under 
Yusuff  that  they  retreated  in  the  greatest  disorder.     Mustapha  was  at- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  305 

tacked,  and  forced  to  take  refuge  at  Carystos,  where   he  was  closely- 
blockaded. 

Marco  Bozzaris.  who  commanded  tlie  Greeks  at  Crionero,  fell  on  the 
Turks,  and  either  killed  or  captured  two-thirds  of  their  number.  The 
same  brave  leader  undertook  a  forced  march  against  Mustapha,  who  had 
14,000  men,  while  he  had  only  2000.  On  assigning  each  man's  part  at 
midnight  on  the  19th,  his  last  words  were,  "If  you  lose  sight  of  me 
during  the  combat,  seek  me  in  the  pacha's  tent."  On  his  arrival  at  the 
centre,  he  sounded  his  bugle,  as  agreed  upon,  and  the  enemy,  panic- 
struck,  fled  in  all  directions.  In  the  midst  of  the  attack,  which  was  now 
general,  he  was  twice  wounded,  and  at  last  carried  off  from  the  field  ex- 
piring ;  the  struggle,  however,  was  maintained  till  day-light ;  when  the 
Greeks  were  victorious  on  all  points,  and  the  loss  of  the  enemy  was  not 
less  than  three  thousand.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  capitan  pacha,  on  his 
arrival  with  his  fleet,  had  been  to  declare  Missolonghi,  and  every  other 
Greek  port,  in  a  state  of  blockade.  The  entrance  of  a  few  Greek  gun- 
boats, however,  was  sufficient  to  set  the  capitan  pacha  at  defiance  ;  having 
remained  inactive  for  above  three  months,  and  lost  nearly  a  third  of  his 
crews  by  epidemics,  he  at  length  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  the  Archi- 
pelago. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1824,  proclamation  was  issued  by 
the  president  and  senate  of  the  United  States  of  the  Ionian  islands,  de- 
claring their  neutrality,  and  their  firm  resolution  not  to  take  any  part  in 
the  contest ;  also  prohibiting  any  foreigner,  who  should  do  so,  from  re- 
siding in  the  islands.  Among  the  Greeks,  dissensions  still  prevailed,  every 
faction  following  its  own  plans,  and  seeking  to  advance  its  own  influence. 
Mavrocordato,  Colocotroni,  and  Ypsilanti,  headed  diflerent  factions, 
among  the  members  of  which  there  was  neither  unanimity  of  counsel, 
nor  uniformity  of  action.  The  Turkisli  fleet  sailed  on  tlie  23rd  of  April. 
The  Greek  senate  summoned  Colocotroni  to  surrender  himself,  and  to  de- 
liver up  Napoli  and  Tripolizza,  but  he  refused;  the  troops  that  were  in- 
vesting Patras  quarrelled  about  the  division  of  some  of  their  booty,  and 
were  withdrawn;  in  the  meantime  the  Turks  sailed  from  Lepanto  with 
fourteen  ships,  and  blockaded  Missolonghi.  In  order  to  encourage  the 
Greeks,  a  loan  of  about  jG800,000  was  contracted  for  in  London.  About 
this  period  Ipsara  was  threatened  by  the  Turkish  fleet,  which  was  now  at 
Mitylene.  The  island  of  Caso  was  attacked  on  the  8th  of  June  by  an 
Egyptian  squadron,  and  after  an  obstinate  resistance  was  taken  on  the 
9th.  Several  naval  actions  occurred  about  this  time,  in  which  the  Greeks 
generally  had  the  advantage ;  and  had  not  the  long  delay  in  paying  the 
loan  in  London  threatened  ruin  to  the  cause,  the  success  of  their  arms 
was  such  as  to  give  great  hopes  of  a  speedy  deliverance  from  the  Otto- 
man power.  On  the  18lh  of  April,  this  year,  Lord  Byron  died  at  Missa- 
longhi,  of  an  inflammatory  fever,  after  having  zealously  devoted  himself 
to  the  cause  of  the  Greeks  from  the  time  he  first  landed,  in  August,  1823, 
up  to  the  period  of  his  death.  His  exertions  hud  been  great  and  unremit- 
ting, but  he  never  seems  to  have  been  free  from  apprehension  lest  the 
jealousies  and  divisions  among  the  Greek  leaders  should  ultimately 
prove  destructive  to  all  their  patriotic  efforts. 

Taking  advantage  of  an  insurrection  that  broke  out  on  the  Morea,  at 
the  head  of  which  were  Colocotroni  and  his  sons,  the  troops  of  Mahomet 
Ali,  pacha  of  Egypt,  were  directed  to  land  in  great  force  there ;  and  it 
now  became  evident  that  the  neighbourhood  of  Navarino  was  destined  to 
be  the  seat  of  war.  On  the  1st  of  May  the  Egyptian  fleet,  from  sixty-five 
to  seventy  sail,  left  the  port  of  Suda,  where  it  had  been  watched  by  a 
Greek  squadron  under  Miaoulis,  who  now  sailed  to  Navarino.  On  the 
8th,  MiaouHs'  squadron,  amounting  to  twenty-two  vessels,  was  near 
Zante ;  the  Egyptian  fleet,  forty-six  in  number,  being  off  Sphacteria.    In 


306  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

about  an  nour  from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand  troops  effected  a  de- 
barkation from  the  Eg;yptian  fleet,  on  the  island.  The  garrison  of  old 
Navarino  c;ipitulated  on  the  tenth,  and  the  garrison  of  Navarino  on  the 
twenty- third.  After  the  surrender  of  .Sphacteria,  a  great  part  of  the 
Egyptian  fleet  was  followed  by  Miaoulis  into  the  harbour  of  Modon,  and 
more  than  half  of  it  destroyed  by  fire-ships.  In  the  end  of  May  the 
Turkish  admiral  left  the  Dardanelles,  and  on  the  first  of  June  was  en- 
countered by  the  Hydriote  Sakhturi,  who,  by  means  of  his  fire-ships,  de- 
stroyed three  men  of  war  and  some  transports.  Soon  after  the  capitan 
pacha  entered  Suda,  and  joined  the  Egyptian  fleet  from  Navarino.  The 
Greek  fleet  was  dispersed  by  a  tempest,  and  having  no  fire-ships,  they  re- 
tired to  Hydra,  while  the  Turkish  admiral  landed  a  reinforcement  of  five 
thousand  men  at  Navarino,  and  went  to  Missolonghi  with  seven  frigates 
and  many  smaller  vessels.  The  siege  was  now  vigorously  pressed  ;  the 
lagune  was  penetrated  on  the  21st  of  July,  and  Anatolica,  an  island  on 
the  north,  surrendered  to  the  Turks.  The  supply  of  water  was  now  cut 
oft',  batteries  had  been  erected  near  the  main  works  of  the  place,  the  ram- 
parts had  been  injured,  and  part  of  the  ditches  filled  up;  at  length  a  gen- 
eral attack  was  ordered  on  the  1st  of  August,  and  the  town  assailed  in 
four  places  at  once.  On  the  3rd  the  Greek  fleet,  consisting  of  twenty-five 
brigs,  attacked  and  destroyed  two  small  ships  of  war  and  all  the  boats  in 
the  lagune,  relieved  Missolonghi,  and  obliged  the  enemy's  fleet  to  retire. 
On  the  10th  the  Greeks  attempted,  but  without  success,  to  burn  the  Turk- 
ish fleet  in  the  harbour  of  Alexandria.  On  the  20th  the  fleet  of  the  Greeks, 
about  thirty  sail,  commanded  by  Miaoulis,  engaged  the  Turks  between 
Zante,  Cephalonia,  and  Chiarenza,  and  an  action  ensued,  which  lasted 
with  little  intermission  for  two  days  and  nights,  till  at  length  the  Greeks 
were  obliged  to  retire.  On  the  29th  another  naval  action  took  place,  and 
skirmishes  on  the  two  next  days,  when  the  Greeks  forced  the  enemy  to 
lake  shelter  in  the  gulf. 

Nothing  of  importance  happened  during  the  year  1826  to  give  the  Greeks 
encouragement.  After  a  lengthened  blockade  of  Missolonghi,  in  which 
every  effort  was  made  by  the  Greeks  to  defend  it,  that  important  fortress 
was  taken  by  assault  and  sacked.  Nor  were  the  events  of  the  early  part 
of  1627  such  as  to  hold  out  hopes  of  a  successful  issue  of  this  prolonged 
and  barbarous  contest.  Athens  was  taken  in  May  by  the  Turks  under 
Kiutaki,  not  long  after  the  arrival  of  the  gallant  lord  Cochrane  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood, with  a  considerable  naval  force.  The  loss  of  the  Greeks  on 
this  occasion  amounted  to  seven  hundred  men  killed,  and  two  hundred 
and  forty  taken  prisoners,  including  eighteen  Philhellenians  of  different 
countries.  Kiutaki,  supposing  that  Lord  Cochrane  and  General  Church 
were  among  the  Europeans,  had  the  prisoners  brought  before  him,  and, 
after  examing  them  carefully,  caused  the  eighteen  Europeans  to  be  po- 
niarded before  his  eyes,  and  ordered  the  two  hundred  and  twenty-two 
Greeks  to  be  massacred.  The  interference  of  the  great  European  powers 
could  no  longer  well  be  deferred;  and  an  important  treaty  between  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Russia  was  concluded,  expressly  with  a  view  to  put 
an  end  to  this  horrid  warfare,  and,  under  certain  tributary  stipulations,  to 
establish  the  independence  of  Greece.  The  ambassadors  of  the  three 
powers,  on  the  16th  of  August,  presented  the  said  treaty  to  the  Porte,  and 
waited  for  an  answer  till  the  31st.  Meanwhile  the  Greek  government 
proclaimed  an  armistice  in  conformity  with  the  treaty  of  London ;  but 
the  reis  eft'endi  rejected  the  intervention  of  the  three  powers.  The  Greeks 
then  commenced  hostilities  anew,  and  on  the  9th  of  September  the  Tur- 
kish-Egyptian fleet  entered  the  bay  of  Navarino.  A  British  squadron  ap- 
peared in  the  bay  on  the  13th,  under  Admiral  Codrington.  To  this  a 
French  squadron,  under  Admiral  Rigny,  and  a  Russian,  under  Count  Hey- 
den,  united  themselves  on  the  22nd.     They  demanded  from  Ibrahim  Pa- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  307 

cha  a  cessation  of  hostilities  ;  this  he  promised,  and  went  out  with  a  part 
of  his  fleet,  but  was  forced  to  return  into  the  bay.  He,  however,  con- 
tinued the  devastations  in  the  Morea,  and  gave  no  answer  to  the  com- 
plaints of  the  admirals. 

The  combined  squadrons  of  England,  France,  and  Russia  now  entered 
the  bay,  where  the  Turkish-Egyptian  fleet  was  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle. 
The  first  shots  were  fired  from  the  Turkish  side,  and  killed  two  English- 
men. This  was  the  signal  for  a  deadly  contest,  in  which  Codrington 
nearly  destroyed  the  Turkish-Egyptian  armada  of  one  hundred  and  ten 
ships.  Some  were  burned,  others  driven  on  shore,  and  the  rest  disabled 
Enraged  at  the  battle  of  Navarino,  the  Porte  seized  all  the  ships  of  the 
Franks  in  Constantinople,  detained  them  for  some  time,  and  stopped  all 
communication  with  the  allied  powers,  till  indemnification  should  be  made 
for  the  destruction  of  the  fleet.  At  the  same  time  it  prepared  for  war; 
and  the  several  ambassadors  left  Constantinople.  Upon  this  the  Porte 
aflfected  to  adopt  conciliatory  measures  ;  but  it  was  evident  they  were  in- 
sincere; for  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  the  ayans  were  now  called  to 
Constantinople,  and  discussed  with  the  Porte  the  preparations  for  war ; 
and  all  the  Moslems,  from  the  age  of  nineteen  to  fifty,  were  called  on  to 
arm.  In  the  meantime,  the  president  of  the  Greeks,  Capo  d'Istrias,  es- 
tablished a  high  national  council  at  Napoli  di  Romania :  took  measures 
for  instituting  a  national  bank ;  and  put  the  military  on  a  new  footing. 
The  attempts  at  pacification  were  fruitless,  because  the  Porte  rejected 
every  proposal,  and  in  Britain  the  battle  of  Navarino  was  looked  on  as  an 
"untoward  event."  In  this  state  of  indecision  and  uncertainty,  Ibraham 
took  the  opportunity  of  sending  a  number  of  Greek  captives  as  slaves  to 
Egypt.  In  the  meantime,  the  French  cabinet,  in  concurrence  with  the 
British,  to  carry  into  execution  the  treaty  of  London,  sent  a  body  of  troops 
to  the  Morea,  while  Admiral  Codrington  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  vice- 
roy of  Egypt,  at  Alexandria  (August  G),  the  terms  of  which  were  that 
Ibrahim  Pacha  should  evacuate  the  Morea  with  his  troops,  and  set  at  lib- 
erty his  Greek  prisoners.  Those  Greeks  who  had  been  carried  into  slavery 
in  Egypt,  were  to  be  freed  or  ransomed  :  one  thousand  two  hundred  men, 
however,  were  to  be  allowed  to  remain  to  garrison  the  fortresses  in  the 
Morea.  To  force  Ibrahim  to  comply  with  these  terms,  the  French  gen- 
eral Maison  arrived,  on  the  29th  of  the  following  August,  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty-four  transport  ships  in  the  bay  of  Coron.  After  an  amicable  ne- 
gotiation, Ibrahim  left  Navarino,  and  sailed  (October  4)  with  about  twen- 
ty-one thousand  men,  whom  he  carried  with  the  wreck  of  the  fleet  to  Al- 
exandria; but  he  left  garrisons  in  the  Messenian  fortresses,  amounting  to 
twenty-five  thousand  men.  Maison  occupied  the  town  of  Navarino  with- 
out opposition ;  and  after  a  mere  show  of  resistance  on  the  part  of  those 
who  held  the  citadels  of  Modon,  Coron,  and  Patras,  the  flags  of  the  allied 
powers  floated  on  their  walls. 

Nothing  hostile  was  undertaken  against  the  Turks  by  the  French  out 
of  the  Morea,  because  the  sultan  would  in  that  case  have  declared  war 
against  France;  and  Britain  and  France  carefully  avoided  such  a  result, 
that  they  might  be  able  to  mediate  between  the  Porte  and  Russia.  To 
defend  the  Morea,  however,  from  new  invasions  from  the  Turks,  the  three 
powers  agreed  to  send  a  manifesto  to  the  Porte  to  this  eff'ect :  "That  they 
should  place  the  Morea  and  the  Cyclades  under  their  protection  till  the 
time  when  a  definite  arrangement  should  decide  the  fate  of  the  provinces 
which  the  allies  had  taken  possession  of,  and  that  they  should  consider 
the  entrance  of  any  military  force  into  this  country  as  an  attack  upon 
themselves.  They  required  the  Porte  to  come  to  an  explanation  with 
them  concerning  the  final  pacification  of  Greece." 

The  Greeks,  in  the  meantime,  continued  hostilities ;  and  the  Turks  re- 
laxed not  in  retaliating  with  bitter  vengeance  on  all  who  came  within  their 


303  THE  TREASURY  OF  HJ8T0RY 

power ;  nor  would  Mahmoud  recall  the  edict  of  extermination  which  ne 
had  pronounced  when  he  commanded  Dram  Ali,  a  few  years  before,  to 
bring  him  the  ashes  of  Peloponnesus.  Ibrahim  had  wantonly  burned  down 
the  olive  groves  as  far  as  his  Arabians  spread,  and  the  Greeks  were  sunk 
in  the  deepest  misery. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  allied  powers  were  wholly  unmindful 
of  the  great  object  they  had  undertaken;  but  many  serious  obstacles  tend- 
ing to  delay  its  accomplishment  presented  themselves  at  every  step  of  the 
negotiation.  The  basis  of  a  settlement  was,  however,  at  length  agreed 
upon,  the  principal  points  of  which  may  be  thus  briefly  stated  : — The 
Greeks,  to  pay  to  the  Porte  an  annual  tribute ;  a  joint  commission  of 
Turks  and  Greeks  to  determine  the  indemnification  of  the  Turks  for  the 
loss  of  property  in  Greece;  Greece  to  enjoy  a  qualified  independence, 
under  the  sovereignty  of  the  Porte  ;  the  government  to  be  under  an  hered- 
itary Christian  prince,  not  of  the  family  of  either  of  the  allied  sovereigns; 
at  every  succession  of  tlie  hereditary  prince,  an  additional  year's  tribute 
to  be  paid;  mutual  amnesty  to  be  required  ;  and  all  Greeks  to  be  allowed 
a  year  to  sell  their  properly  and  leave  the  Turkish  territories. 

The  situation  of  Capo  d'lstrias,  the  president,  was  all  this  time  most 
embarrassing.  He  was  without  means,  in  a  land  torn  by  discord  ;  yet  his 
attention  had  been  zealously  directed  towards  the  maintenance  of  order, 
the  suppression  of  piracy,  and  the  formation  of  a  regular  army;  the  es- 
tablishment of  courts  of  justice,  and  schools  of  mutual  instruction ;  o/ 
means  for  collecting  the  revenue,  and  providing  for  the  subsistence  of  the 
wretched  remnants  of  the  population.  He  called  together  the  fourth  na- 
tional assembly,  at  Argos,  and  in  a  long  address  (July  23,  1829),  gave  an 
account  of  the  state  of  the  country  and  of  his  measures,  particularly  di- 
recting the  attention  of  the  assembly  to  the  organization  of  the  forces 
and  the  revenue. 

The  conferences  between  the  ministers  of  the  three  powers,  at  London, 
had  now  for  their  object  to  select  a  prince  to  wear  the  crown  of  Greece. 
It  was  first  offered  to  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe  Coburg,  February  3,  1830, 
and  was  accepted  by  him,  as  "sovereign  prince  of  Greece,"  on  the  20th. 
On  further  consideration,  however,  he  resigned  the  honour ;  alledging  as 
his  reasons — the  unwillingness  of  the  Greeks  to  receive  him,  and  their 
dissatisfaction  at  the  settlement  of  the  boundaries.  He  further  observed, 
that  the  answer  of  the  president  of  Greece  to  his  appointment,  in  his  judg- 
ment, announced  a  forced  submission  to  the  allied  powers,  and  even  that 
forced  submission  was  accompanied  by  reservations  of  the  highest  im- 
portance. Much  dissatisfaction  was  shown  in  England,  and  various  mo> 
tives  were  assigned  to  the  prince  for  his  refusal ;  but  it  is  perhaps  unne- 
cessary to  seek  for  any  other  motive  than  that  which  would  force  itself  on 
the  notice  of  any  man  of  correct  feelings  and  good  taste,  namely,  the  irk- 
someness  of  filling  a  regal  station,  with  the  consciousness  that  his  unwil- 
ling  subjects  regarded  him  as  an  intruder  and  a  tyrant.  After  the  resig- 
nation  of  Leopold,  several  princes  were  proposed  as  candidates  for  the 
throne ;  and  at  length  Otho,  a  younger  son  of  the  king  of  Bavaria,  accepted 
the  trust,  and  was  proclaimed  at  Nauplia,  August  30,  1832.  During  the 
discontents  and  jealousies  of  the  previous  year,  Count  Capo  d'Istria,  the 
president,  was  assassinated. 

Such  havoc  had  the  ravages  of  war  made  in  Greece,  and  so  necessary 
was  repose  to  all  classes  of  its  inhabitants,  that  the  first  years  of  Otho's 
reign  passed  away  in  a  comparatively  tranquil  manner;  although  the  sul- 
len murmur  of  discontent  was  occasionally  heard  as,  one  by  one,  the  sev- 
eral state  appointments  were  filled  bv  the  king's  German  friends,  to  the 
exclusion  of  natives.  At  length,  in' September,  1843,  the  people,  urged 
by  distress  and  dissatisfaction,  rose  against  the  constituted  authorities  of 
the  kingdom,  and  accomplished  a  revolution  without  bloodshed  or  vio- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  309 

lence — without  endangering-  the  personal  safety,  or  inflicting  any  humilia 
lion  on  the  king.  The  ministers  were  arrested  at  their  houses,  but  were 
liberated  in  a  few  hours.  The  populace  assembled  in  front  of  the  palace, 
and  demanded  a  constitution.  The  king  assured  the  people  that  he  would 
consider  their  demand,  and  that  of  the  army,  after  consulting  with  his 
ministers,  the  state  council,  and  foreign  ambassadors,  but  was  informed 
that  the  ministers  were  no  longer  recognized,  and  that  the  council  of  state 
were  then  deliberating  on  the  best  course  to  pursue.  An  address  from 
this  body  was  subsequently  presented  to  the  king,  in  which  the  instant 
dismissal  of  the  Bavarian  ministers  was  insisted  on,  and  a  list  of  those 
chosen  to  succeed  them  in  office  was  presented.  Wisely  foreseeing  the 
result  of  resisting  demands,  which  were  founded  in  justice  and  reason,  his 
majesty  with  a  good  grace  acceded  to  them,  and  the  affair  terminated 
apparently  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties.  It  is,  however,  too  important 
a  catastrophe  in  the  history  of  Greece  to  be  dismissed  with  so  slight  a 
notice ;  we  shall  therefore  avail  ourselves  of  the  following  extract  from 
an  account  of  this  bloodless  revolution,  as  given  in  a  Greek  paper  of  the 
15th  of  September,  1843:— 

"  A  wise  revolution,  accomplished  in  one  day,  amid  the  most  perfect 
order,  without  a  single  offensive  cry  being  uttered,  even  against  the  Bava- 
rians, has  renewed  the  claims  of  Greece  to  the  esteem  and  sympathy  of 
nations  and  their  governments.  Every  body  knows  the  unfortunate  situ- 
ation in  which  Greece  was  placed.  The  Greeks  had  exhausted  every 
means  in  their  power  to  induce  the  government  to  adopt  a  truly  national 
policy.  The  parliaments  of  France  and  England,  and  the  London  confer- 
ence, had  vainly  acknowledged  the  many  grievances  of  the  Greek  people  ; 
the  government  obstinately  persevered  in  its  evil  course.  The  nation  had 
no  other  alternative  but  to  plunge  itself  into  the  abyss  opened  by  ten  years' 
mistakes  and  incapacity,  or  to  extricate  itself  therefrom  by  a  dangerous 
but  inevitable  effort.  For  some  time  the  movement  was  in  progress  of 
preparation  on  different  points  of  the  country,  that  it  might  be  effected 
without  any  disorder.  The  hostile  attitude  assumed  by  the  government 
against  those  who  sought  to  enlighten  it,  the  extraordinary  dispositions 
adopted  within  the  last  few  days,  with  a  view  to  assail  the  liberty,  and  the 
very  lives  of  the  citizens  (a  military  tribune  had  been  established)  most 
devoted  to  the  national  interests,  necessarily  tended  to  hasten  the  mani- 
festation of  the  contemplated  movement. 

"Last  night,  at  two  o'clock,  a.  m.,  a  few  musket  shots,  fired  in  the  air, 
announced  the  assembling  of  the  people  in  different  quarters  of  Athens. 
Soon  after,  the  inhabitants,  accompanied  by  the  entire  garrison,  marched 
toward  the  square  of  the  palace,  crying,  '  The  constitution  for  ever  !'  On 
reaching  the  place,  the  entire  garrison,  the  artillery,  cavalry,  and  infantry, 
drew  up  under  the  windows  of  the  king,  in  front  of  the  palace,  and  the  peo- 
ple, having  stationed  themselves  in  the  rear,  all  in  one  voice  demanded  a 
constitution.  The  king  appeared  at  a  low  window,  and  assured  the  people 
that  he  would  take  into  consideration  their  demand  and  that  of  the  army 
after  consulting  with  his  ministers,  the  council  of  state,  and  the  represent- 
atives of  the  foreign  powers.  But  the  commander,  M.  Calegri,  having 
stepped  forward,  made  known  to  his  majesty  that  the  ministry  was  no 
longer  recognized,  and  that  the  council  of  state  was  already  deliberating 
on  the  best  course  to  be  adopted  under  existing  circumstances.  xV  depu- 
tation of  the  council  shortly  after  waited  on  the  king  with  the  documents 
ihat  had  been  prepared  for  his  perusal.  The  new  ministry  soon  afterward 
repaired  to  the  palace,  where  they  held  a  long  consultatior\  with  his  ma- 
jesty, who  shortly  appeared  in  the  balcony,  surrounded  by  his  ministers 
and  other  personages,  and  was  received  with  acclamations  by  the  people. 
The  cry  of  '  Long  live  the  constitutional  king,'  resounded  together  with 


310  THE  TIIEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

that  of  the  '  constitution  for  ever.'    The  new  ministers  entered  immedi 
ately  on  the  discharge  of  llieir  functions." 

It  may  be  well  to  close  the  present  historic  sketch  with  a  few  remarks 
on  Greece  in  iis  past  and  present  state.  The  government  of  the  diflferent 
states  of  ancient  Greece  was  purely  monarchical  ;  it  subsequently  varied 
from  a  mixed  monarchy,  as  in  Sparta,  to  a  democracy,  as  at  Athens.  In 
most  stales  there  was  a  continued  struggle  between  an  oligarchical  and 
popular  faction  :  and,  as  one  or  other  prevailed,  their  adversaries  were 
exiled,  or  unrelentingly  put  to  death.  In  their  cultivation  of  literature 
and  the  arts,  they  surpassed  all  nations.  Tlie  poems  of  Homer  are  still 
unrivalled ;  and  Hesiod  and  others,  maintained  the  reputation  which 
their  great  poet  had  won.  Dramatic  composition  was  invented  by  Thes- 
pis,  and  brought  to  perfection  by  TEschincs,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  and 
Aristophanes.  History  was  cultivated  with  success  by  Herodotus,  Thu- 
cydides,  and  Xenophon  ;  subsequently  by  Polybius,  Diodorus,  Siculus, 
Arrian,  and  Plutarch.  In  oratory  also  the  Greeks  excelled  :  there  is,  in- 
deed, no  name  in  history  more  honoured  for  commanding  eloquence  than 
that  of  Demosthenes.  Philosophy  was  also  prosecuted  at  a  very  early 
date,  and  there  were  several  eminent  teachers  cotemporary  with  Solon- 
Pythagoras,  who  lauglit  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  came  next ;  but 
it  flourished  most  after  the  time  of  Socrates,  e.  c.  400,  who  introduced  a 
pure  system  of  morality,  with  a  correct  mode  of  reasoning,  into  Greece. 
Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Xenophon,  who  were  termed  academics,  succeeded 
him  ;  and  other  schools  were  also  set  up ;  as  tlie  skeptics,  by  Pyrrho ; 
the  stoics,  by  Zeno ;  the  cynics,  by  Aristippus ;  and  the  epicureans,  by 
Epicurus:  the  object  of  all  these  schools  being  to  discover  what  was  the 
chief  aim  of  human  existence.  The  mathematical  sciences  were  also 
objects  of  early  attention  in  Greece ;  and  were  pursued  by  many  of  their 
teachers,  in  conjunction  with  those  which  were  purely  philosophical.  In 
painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  also,  the  Greeks  gave  proof  of  the 
highest  excellence;  the  finest  statues  in  the  world  are  of  Greek  execution  ; 
and  the  styles  of  architecture,  distinguished  as  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinth- 
ian, are  those  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  our  most  splendid  public  edi- 
fices. With  some  few  exceptions  the  Greeks  were  a  people  of  lively 
temperaments,  fertile  imagination,  social  habits,  and  elegant  taste  :  but 
they  were  fickle  and  vindictive,  caring  little  for  principle,  and  even  incul- 
cating a  crafty  and  overreaching  policy.  They  ever  showed  an  extreme 
proneness  to  civil  discord,  and  through  their  own  dissensions  and  treach- 
ery they  first  fell  a  prey  to  Macedon,  and  afterward  to  Rome. 

The  modern  Greeks  are  thus  described  ; — "  There  is  a  pretty  marked 
distinction  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  three  great  divisions  of  Greece — 
Greece  north  of  the  Isthmus,  the  Peloponnesus,  and  the  islands.  The  in- 
habitants of  northern  Greece  have  retained  a  chivalrous  and  warlike  spirit, 
with  a  simplicity  of  manners  and  mode  of  life  which  strongly  remind  us 
of  the  pictures  of  the  heroic  age.  The  soil  here  is  generally  cultivated  by 
Bulgarians,  Albanians,  and  Wallachians.  In  eastern  Greece,  Parnassus, 
with  its  ancient  bulwarks,  is  the  only  place  where  the  Hellenic  race  has 
maintained  itself;  in  the  mountainous  parts  of  western  Greece  there  are 
also  some  remnants  of  the  Hellenic  stock.  In  these  parts  the  language 
is  spoken  with  more  purity  than  elsewhere.  The  population  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus consists  nearly  of  the  same  races  as  that  of  northern  Greece, 
but  the  Peloponnesians  are  more  ignorant  and  less  honest  than  the  inhab- 
itants of  Hellas.  The  Albanians  occupy  Argolia  and  a  part  of  the  ancient 
Triphylia.  Among  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants,  who  all  speak  Greek,  there 
are  considerable  social  differences.  The  population  of  the  towns  is  of  a 
mixed  character,  as  in  northern  Greece,  where  there  is  an  active  and  in- 
telligent body  of  proprietors,  merchants,  and  artisans  in  the  towns,  and 
among  them  some  of  Greek  stock.     The  Maniotes  form  a  separate  class 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  31] 

of  the  population  :  they  are  generally  called  Maniotes  from  the  name  of 
one  of  their  districts  ;  but  their  true  name,  which  they  have  never  lost,  is 
Spartans.  They  occupy  the  lofty  and  sterile  mountains  between  the 
gulfs  of  Laconia  and  Messenia,  the  representatives  of  a  race  driven  from 
the  sunny  valley  of  the  Eurotas  to  the  bleak  and  inhospitable  tracts  of 
Taygetos,  though  the  plains  whicli  are  spread  out  below  them  are  no 
longer  held  by  a  conqueror,  and  the  fertile  lands  lie  uncultivated  for  the 
want  of  labourers.  In  the  islands,  there  is  a  singular  mixture  of  Alba- 
nians and  Greeks.  The  Albanians  of  Hydra  and  Spozzia  have  long  been 
known  as  active  traders  and  excellent  mariners.  The  Hydriotes  made 
great  sacrifices  for  the  cause  of  independence  in  the  late  war;  the  Spez- 
ziotes,  more  prudent  and  calculating,  increased  their  wealth  and  their 
merchant  navy.  The  island  of  Syra,  which  has  long  been  the  cen- 
tre of  an  active  commerce,  now  contains  the  remnant  of  the  popu- 
lation of  Ipsara  and  Chios.  The  Ipsariots  are  an  active  and  handsome 
race,  and  skilful  seamen  ;  the  Chiots,  following  the  habits  of  their  ances- 
tors, are  fond  of  staying  at  home  and  attending  to  their  shops  and  mer- 
cantile speculations ;  they  amass  wealth,  but  they  employ  it  in  founding 
establishments  of  public  utility,  and  in  the  education  of  their  children.  In 
Tinos,  the  peasants,  who  are  also  the  proprietors,  cultivate  the  vine  and 
the  fig  even  amid  the  most  barren  rocks  ;  in  Syra,  Santorin,  and  at  Naxos, 
they  are  the  tenants  of  a  miserable  race  of  nobility,  whose  origin  is  traced 
to  the  time  of  the  crusades,  and  who  still  retain  the  Latin  creed  of  their 
ancestors.  Besides  these,  there  are  various  bodies  of  Suliotes,  of  people 
from  the  heights  of  Olympus,  Candiotes,  many  Greek  families  from  Asia 
Minor,  Fanariotes,  and  others,  who  have  emigrated,  or  been  driven  by  cir- 
cumstances, within  the  limits  of  the  new  kingdom.  The  Ipsariots  are 
those  who  are  supposed  to  have  the  least  intermixture  of  foreign  blood. 
They  have  the  fine  and  characteristic  Greek  physiognomy,  as  preserved 
in  the  marbles  of  Phidias  and  other  ancient  sculptors  ;  they  are  ingenious, 
loquacious,  lively  to  excess,  active,  enterprising,  vapouring,  and  disputa- 
tious. The  modern  Greeks  are  generally  rather  above  the  middle  height, 
and  well  shaped  ;  they  have  the  face  oval,  features  regular  and  expressive, 
eyes  large,  dark,  and  animated,  eyebrows  arched,  hair  long  and  dark,  and 
complexions  olive-coloured." 


THE    HISTORY 

OF    THE 

OTTOMAN  OR  TURKISH  EMPIRE. 

The  Turks  are  of  Tartarian  or  Scythian  extraction  ;  and  this  appella- 
(ion  was  first  given  them  in  the  middle  ages  as  a  proper  name  ;  it  being  a 
general  title  of  honour  to  all  the  nations  comprehended  under  the  two 
principal  branches  of  Tartar  and  Mongol,  who  therefore  never  use  it  as  a 
proper  name  of  any  particular  nation.  The  Scythian,  or  Tartarian 
nation,  to  which  the  name  of  Turks  has  been  peculiarly  given,  dwelt 
Detwixt  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas,  and  became  first  known  in  the  seventh 
centu^3^  when  Heraclius,  emperor  of  the  East,  took  them  into  his  service  •, 
m  which  they  so  distinguished  themselves,  by  their  fidelity  and  bravery  in 


315  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  conquest  of  Persia,  that  the  Arabian  and  Saracen  caliphs  had  not  only 
select  bodies  of  tlieiii  for  guards,  but  thoir  armies  were  composed  of  them. 
Thus  gradually  getting  tlie  power  into  tlieir  liands,  they  set  up  or  de- 
throned caliphs  at  pleasure,  liy  this  strict  union  of  the  'J'urks  with  the 
Saracens  or  Arabs,  the  former  were  brought  to  embrace  the  Maliornetan 
religion,  so  that  they  are  now  become  intermixed,  and  have  jointly  enlarged 
their  conquests  ;  but  as  ihe  Turks  became  superior  to  the  Saracens,  they 
subdued  them. 

The  following  account  has  been  given  of  the  origin  of  the  Ottoman  em 
pire.  Gengliis-khan  at  the  head  of  his  horse,  issued  out  of  Great  Tartary 
and  made  himself  master  of  a  vast  tract  of  land  near  the  Caspian  Sea, 
and  even  of  all  Persia  and  Asia  Minor.  Incited  by  his  example  and  suc- 
cess, Shah  Solyman,  prince  of  the  t(jwn  of  Nera,  on  the  Caspian  Sea,  in 
the  year  1214,  passed  Mount  Caucasus  with  fifty  thousand  men,  and  pene- 
trated as  far  as  the  borders  of  Syria;  and  though  his  career  was  stopped 
there  by  Genghis-khan,  yet  in  the  year  1219  he  penetrated  a  second  time 
into  Asia  Minor,  as  far  as  the  Euphrates.  Othman,  his  grandson,  made 
himself  master  of  several  countries  and  places  in  Lesser  Asia,  belonging 
to  the  Grecian  empire;  and  having,  in  the  year  1300,  at  the  city  of 
Carachifer,  assumed  the  title  of  emperor  of  the  Othmans,  called  his  peo- 
ple after  his  own  name.  Tliis  prince,  among  many  other  towns,  took,  in 
the  year  1326,  Prusa,  in  Bithynia,  now  called  Bursa,  w-hich  Orchan,  his  son 
and  successor,  made  the  seat  of  his  empire.  Orchan  sent  Solyman  and 
Amurath,  his  two  sons,  on  an  expedition  into  Europe;  the  former  of 
■whom  reduced  the  city  of  Callipolis,  and  the  latter  took  Tyrilos.  Amu- 
rath succeeded  his  father  in  the  government,  in  1360;  took  Ancyra, 
Adrianople,  and  Philipopolis  ;  and,  in  1362,  overran  Servia,  and  invaded 
Macedonia  and  Albania. 

Bajazet,  his  son  and  successor,  was  very  successful  both  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  defeating  the  Christians  near  Nicopolis  ;  but,  in  1401,  he  was  routed 
and  taken  prisoner  by  Tamerlane.  His  sons  disagreed;  but  Mahomet  I. 
enjoyed  the  sovereignty,  and  his  son  Amurath  II.  distinguished  himself 
by  several  important  enterprises,  and  particularly  in  the  year  1444  gained 
a  signal  victory  over  the  Hungarians  near  Varna.  The  Byzantine  empire 
was  already  cut  off  from  the  west,  when  Mahomet  II.,  the  son  of  Amu- 
rath and  his  successor,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  completed  the  work  ol 
conquest.  It  is  said,  that  the  reading  of  ancient  historians  had  inspired 
him  with  the  ambition  of  equalling  Alexander.  He  soon  attacked  Con- 
stantinople, which  was  taken  May  29,  1453 ;  aud  the  last  Paleologus, 
Constantine  XI.,  buried  himself  under  the  ruins  of  his  throne. 

Mahomet  now  built  the  castle  of  the  Dardanelles,  and  organized  the 
government  of  the  empire,  taking  for  his  model  Nushirvan's  organization 
of  the  Persian  empire.  In  1456,  he  subdued  the  Morea,  and  in  1461,  led 
Comnenus,  emperor  of  Trebizond,  prisoner  to  Constantinople.  Pius  II. 
called  in  vain  upon  the  nations  of  Christendom  to  take  up  arms. 

Mahomet  conquered  the  remainder  of  Bosnia  in  1470,  and  Epirus  in 
1465,  after  the  death  of  Scanderbeg.  He  took  Negropont  and  Lemnos 
from  the  Venetians,  Caffa  from  the  Genoese,  and,  in  1473,  obliged  the 
khan  of  the  Crim  Tartars,  of  the  family  of  Genghis-khan,  to  do  him  bom- 
age.  In  1480,  he  had  already  conquered  Otranto,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  when  he  died,  in  the  midst  of  great  projects  against  Rome  and 
Persia.  His  grandson,  Selim  I.,  who  had  dethroned  and  murdered  his 
father,  drove  back  the  Persian  power  to  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris. 
He  defeated  the  Mamelukes,  and  conquered,  in  1517,  Egypt,  Syria,  aiid 
Palestine.  During  fifty  years,  the  arms  of  the  Ottomans,  by  sea  and  by 
land,  were  the  terror  of  Europe  and  of  Asia,  especially  under  Solyman  TI. 
the  Magnificent,  also  called  the  Lawgiver,  who  reigned  between  1519  and 
1566.    In  1522,  he  took  Rhodes  from  the  knights  of  St.  John,  and,  bj 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  313 

llie  victory  of  Mohaez,  in  1526,  subdued  half  of  Hungary.  He  exacted  a 
tribute  from  Moldavia,  and  was  successful  against  the  Persians  ia  Asia,  so 
as  to  make  Bagdad,  Mesopotamia,  and  Georgia  subject  to  him.  He  was 
already  threatening  to  overrun  Germany,  and  to  plant  the  standard  of 
Mahomet  in  the  west,  when  he  was  checked  before  the  walls  of  Vienna, 
in  15-29.  But  as  Hungary  had  placed  its  king,  John  Zapolya,  under  the 
powerful  protection  of  the  padishah,  and  the  successful  corsair  Barbarossa 
was  master  of  the  Mediterranean,  had  conquered  Northern  Africa,  and 
laid  waste  Minorca,  Sicily,  Apulia,  and  Corfu,  the  sultan  Solyman  might 
have  conquered  Europe,  had  he  known  how  to  give  firmness  and  consis- 
tency to  his  plans.  He  was  resisted  at  sea  by  the  Venetians,  and  the 
Genoese  Andrew  Doria,  by  the  grand-master  Lavalette  in  Malta,  and  by 
Zriny,  under  the  walls  of  Zigeth. 

Twelve  sultans,  all  of  them  brave  and  warlike,  and  most  of  them  con- 
tinually victorious,  had  now,  during  a  period  of  two  centuries  and  a  half, 
raised  the  power  of  the  crescent ;  but  the  internal  strength  of  the  state 
was  yet  undevelped.  Solyman,  indeed,  by  his  laws,  completed  the  or- 
ganization begun  by  Mohammed  H.,  and  in  1538  united  the  priestly 
dignity  of  the  caliphate  to  the  Ottoman  porte  ;  but  he  could  not  incorpo- 
rate into  a  whole  the  conquered  nations.  He  also  imprisoned  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  seraglio. 

From  this  time,  the  race  of  Osman  degenerated,  and  the  power  of  the 
porte  declined.  From  Solyman's  death,  in  1556,  to  our  own  time,  most 
of  the  Ottoman  sovereigns  have  ascended  the  throne  from  a  prison,  and 
lived  in  the  seraglio  until,  as  it  not  unfrequently  happened,  they  again 
exchanged  a  throne  for  a  prison.  Several  grand  viziers  have,  at  different 
periods,  alone  upheld  the  fallen  state,  while  the  nation  continued  to  sink 
deeper  into  the  grossest  ignorance  and  slavery  ;  and  pachas,  more  rapa- 
cious and  more  arbitrary  than  the  sultan  and  his  divan,  ruled  in  the  pro- 
vinces. In  its  foreign  relations,  the  porte  was  the  sport  of  European' 
politicians,  and  more  than  once  was  embroiled  by  the  cabinet  of  Ver- 
sailles in  a  war  with  Austria  and  Russia.  While  all  P^urope  was  making 
progress  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  of  war,  the  Ottoman  nation  and  govern- 
ment remained  inactive  and  stationary.  Blindly  attached  to  their  doc- 
trines of  absolute  fate,  and  elated  by  their  former  military  glory,  the 
Turks  looked  upon  foreigners  with  contempt,  as  infidels.  Without  any 
settled  plan,  but  incited  by  hatred  and  a  thirst  for  conquest,  they  carried 
on  the  war  with  Persia,  Venice,  Hungary,  and  Poland.  The  revolts  of 
the  janizaries  and  of  the  governors  became  dangerous.  The  suspicions  of 
the  despot,  however,  were  generally  quieted  with  the  dagger  and  the  bow- 
string; and  the  ablest  men  of  the  divan  were  sacrificed  to  the  hatred  of 
the  soldiery  and  of  the  ulema.  The  successor  to  the  throne  frequently 
put  to  death  all  his  brothers  ;  and  the  people  looked  with  indifference  upon 
the  murder  of  a  hated  sultan,  or  the  deposition  of  a  weak  one. 

Mustapha  I.  was  twice  dethroned;  Osman  I\.  and  Ibrahim  were 
strangled,  the  former  in  1622,  the  latter  in  1648.  Selim  H.,  indeed,  con- 
quered Cyprus  in  1571,  but  in  the  same  year,  Don  John  of  Austria  defeated 
the  Turkish  fleet  at  Lepanto.  A  century  after,  under  Mahomet  IV.,  in 
1669,  Candia  was  taken,  after  a  resistance  of  thirteen  years ;  and  the 
vizier  Kara  Mustapha  gave  to  the  Hungarians,  who  had  been  oppressed 
by  Austria,  their  general,  Count  Tekeli,  for  a  king,  in  1682  ;  but,  the  very 
next  year,  he  was  driven  back  from  Vienna,  which  he  had  besieged,  and, 
after  the  defeat  at  Mohaez,  in  1687,  the  Ottomans  lost  most  of  the  strong 
places  in  Hungary.  The  exasperated  people  threw  their  sultan  into  pri- 
son ;  but,  in  a  short  time,  the  grand  vizier,  Kiuprili  Mustapha,  restored 
order  and  courage,  and  recalled  victory  to  the  Turkish  banners  ;  but  he 
was  slain  in  the  battle  against  the  Germans  near  Salankemen,  in  1691. 
At  last,  the  sultan  Mustapha  II.  himself  took  the  field  ;  but  he  was  opposed 


314  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTOaV. 

by  the  hero  Eugene,  the  conqueror  at  Zenlha,  in  1G97;  and,  on  the  Don, 
Peter  tlie  Great  conquered  Azoph.  He  was  obliged,  therefore,  by  the 
treaty  of  Carlowitz,  in  1G99,  to  renounce  his  claims  upon  Transylvania 
and  the  country  between  the  Danube  and  the  Theias,  to  give  up  the 
Morea  to  the  Venetians,  to  restore  Podolia  and  the  Ukraine  to  Poland, 
and  to  leave  Azoph  to  the  Russians. 

Thus  commenced  the  fall  of  the  Ottoman  power.  A  revolt  of  the  jani- 
zaries, who,  abandoning  their  ancient  rigid  discipline,  wished  to  carry  on 
commerce,  and  live  in  houses,  obliged  the  sultan  to  abdicate.  His  suc- 
cessor, the  imbecile  and  voluptuous  Achmet  HI.,  saw  with  indifference 
the  troubles  in  Hungary,  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  and  the 
great  northern  war.  Charles  XH.,  whom  he  protected  after  his  defeat  at 
Pultowa,  finally  succeeded  in  involving  him  in  a  war  with  Peter;  but  the 
czar,  although  surrounded  with  his  whole  army,  easily  obtained  the  peace 
of  the  Pruth,  by  the  surrender  of  Azoph,  in  1711.  In  1715,  the  grand 
vizier  attacked  Venice,  and  took  the  Morea;  but  Austria  assisted  the 
republic,  and  Eugene's  victories  at  Peterwardein  and  Belgrade  in  1717, 
obliged  the  porte  to  give  up,  by  the  treaty  of  Passarowitz,  in  171":,  Te- 
meswar,  Belgrade,  with  a  part  of  Servia  and  Wallachia,  but  still  it  re- 
tained the  Morea.  Equally  unsuccessful  were  Achmet's  arms  in  Persia ; 
in  consequence  of  which  an  insurrection  broke  out,  and  he  was  thrown 
into  prison  in  1730.  In  1736,  the  Russian  general  Miinmich  humbled 
the  pride  of  the  Ottomans  ;  but  Austria,  the  ally  of  Russia,  was  not 
successful,  and  the  French  ambassador  in  Constantinople  effected  the 
treaty  of  Belgrade,  by  which  the  porte  regained  Belgrade,  with  Servia  and 
Wallachia. 

Catherine,  empress  of  Russia,  soon  after  her  elevation,  began  to  make 
it  a  favourite  object  in  her  plan  of  politics  to  gain  a  dictatorial  ascendency 
over  the  king  and  diet  of  Poland.  This  she  effected  partly  by  the  intri- 
gues and  persuasive  bribes  of  her  minister  at  the  court  of  Warsaw,  and 
partly  by  marching  a  powerful  army  into  that  kingdom :  but  as  soon  as 
this  hostile  step  was  taken,  the  porte  took  the  alarm,  and  stimulated  by 
jealousy  of  its  northern  rival,  resolved  to  support  the  liberties  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  Poles.  These  resolutions  being  formed  in  the  divan  of 
Constantinople,  M.  Obreskow,  the  Russian  resident  there,  was,  according 
to  the  constant  practice  of  the  Turks  on  such  occasions,  committed  a 
prisoner  to  the  castle  of  the  Seven  Towers,  (October  5, 17G8.)  War  was 
declared  against  the  empress  of  Russia,  and  the  most  vigorous  prepara- 
tions were  made  to  collect  the  whole  force  of  the  empire.  The  court  of 
Russia  was  far  from  seeking  a  rupture  with  the  porte,  being  fully  employed 
in  important  objects  nearer  home  ;  but  being  unable  to  prevent  a  war, 
two  armies,  amounting  together  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men, 
were  formed,  at  the  head  of  the  largest  of  which  Prince  Galliizin  crossed 
the  Dniester,  and  entered  Moldavia,  with  a  view  of  becoming  master  of 
Choczin;  but  the  prudent  measures  taken  by  the  Turkish  vizier  frustrated 
all  his  attempts,  and  obliged  him  to  repass  the  river,  'j'he  impatience  of 
the  Turks  to  pursue  these  advantages,  and  to  transfer  the  seat  of  war 
into  Podolia,  excited  a  general  disgust  at  the  cautious  and  circumspect 
conduct  of  their  leader;  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  removed,  and 
Maldovani  Ali  Pacha,  a  man  precipitate  and  incautious,  appointed  in  his 
stead ;  who,  by  repeated  attempts  to  cross  the  Dneister  in  sight  of  the 
Russian  army,  lost  in  the  short  space  of  a  fortnight  twenty-four  thousand 
of  his  best  troops  ;  which  spread  such  general  discontent  through  the 
army,  that,  renouncing  all  subordination,  the  troops  retreated  tuinultu- 
ously  towards  the  Danube,  and  no  less  than  forty  thousand  men  are  said 
to  have  abandoned  the  standard  of  Mahomet  in  this  precipitate  flight. 
The  Turkish  provinces  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  were  overrun  by  the 
Russians,  and  most  of  the  places  of  strength  became  easy  preys  Co  tae 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  315 

conqueror.  The  campaign  which  opened  so  auspiciously  for  the  Ottomans, 
oy  the  rashness  and  folly  of  their  general  ended  in  their  disgrace  and 
ruin.     The  vizier  was  degraded  and  banished. 

The  czarina,  who  almost  from  the  commencement  of  her  reign  had 
endeavoured  to  establish  an  efficient  naval  force,  which,  under  the  super 
intendence  of  Sir  Charles  Knowles,  had  been  successfully  effected,  now 
caused  a  large  fleet  of  Russian  men-of-war,  commanded  by  Count  Orlow, 
to  proceed  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Mediterranean,  to  annoy  the  Turks  on 
their  extensive  coasts  in  the  Levant.  The  unskilfulness  of  the  Russians 
in  maritime  affairs  greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  their  fleet ;  and  it  was 
not  until  the  spring  of  1770,  that  it  arrived  at  the  scene  of  action,  al- 
though many  experienced  British  officers  were  volunteers  in  the  expedi- 
tion. The  Turks,  to  whom  the  sea  has  ever  proved  a  fatal  element,  for 
some  time  had  no  force  capable  of  opposing  the  enemy,  so  that  the  Morea 
was  exposed  to  their  ravages,  and  several  places  of  strength  were  taken ; 
the  Greek  inhabitants  everywhere  joyfully  received  the  invaders  ;  but  at 
length  an  army  of  Albanians  being  collected,  they  drove  the  Russians  to 
their  ships,  and  having  recovered  the  whole  country,  chastised  the  revolt 
of  Its  inhabitants  by  the  lawless  vengeance  of  a  licentious  soldiery.  The 
Russians,  now  driven  from  the  Morea,  had  advanced  in  full  force  into  the 
Egean  sea,  and,  passing  the  straits  which  divide  the  island  of  Scio  from 
the  coast  of  Natolia,  were  met  by  a  Turkish  fleet  of  superior  force.  A 
furious  engagement  ensued  on  the  5th  of  July,  in  vvhich  the  Russian  ad- 
miral Spiritof  encountered  the  capitan  pacha,  in  the  Sultana  of  ninety 
guns,  yard-arm  and  yard-arm.  The  two  ships  running  close  together, 
grappled  each  other.  The  Russians,  by  throwing  hand  grenades,  set  the 
enemy's  ship  on  fire,  which  rapidly  spread,  and  soon  reached  tiie  Russian 
ship.  This  dreadful  spectacle  suspended  the  action  between  the  two 
fleets,  until  both  ships  blew  up.  Only  twenty-four  Russians  were  saved, 
among  whom  were  the  admiral,  his  son,  and  Count  Theodore  Orlow  ;  the 
ship  carried  ninety  brass  guns,  and  had  on  board  a  chest  containing  500,000 
rubles  (c£ll2,500  sterlmg.) 

Although  each  fleet  was  equally  affected  by  this  event,  yet  it  infused  a 
panic  among  the  Turks,  which  the  Russians  did  not  partake  of.  During 
the  remainder  of  the  day  the  Turks  maintained  the  action ;  but  on  the  ap- 
proach of  night,  the  capitan  pacha,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  officers, 
gave  orders  for  each  ship  to  cut  its  cables,  and  run  into  a  bay  on  the  coast 
of  Natolia,  near  a  small  town  anciently  called  Cyssus,  but  now  known  by 
the  name  of  Chisme.  Hossein  Bey,  who  had  raised  himself  by  his  talents 
for  war  to  be  second  in  command,  saved  his  ship  by  bravely  forcing  his 
way  through  the  enemy's  fleet.  Here  the  Russian  fleet  soon  after  blocked 
them  up,  and  began  a  furious  cannonade  ;  which  being  found  ineffectual, 
a  fire-ship  was  sent  in  at  midnight,  on  the  7th  of  .July,  which,  by  the  intrepid 
behaviour  of  Lieutenant  Dugdale,  grappled  a  Turkish  man-of-war,  and 
the  wind  at  that  moment  being  very  high,  the  whole  Ottoman  fleet  was 
consumed,  except  one  man-of-war  and  a  few  galleys  which  were  towed 
off  by  the  Russians.  The  Russians  next  morning  entered  the  harbour 
and  bombarded  the  town  and  a  castle  that  protected  it;  and  a  shot  hap- 
pening to  blow  up  the  magazine,  both  were  reduced  to  a  heap  of  rubbish. 
Thus,  through  the  fatal  misconduct  of  a  commander,  there  was  scarce  a 
vestige  left,  in  a  few  hours,  of  a  town,  a  castle,  and  a  fine  fleet,  which 
had  all  been  in  existence  the  day  before.  It  was  somewhat  remarkable, 
that  this  place  was  rendered  famous  by  a  great  victory  which  the  Ro- 
mans gained  there  over  the  fleet  of  Antiochus,  in  the  year  before  Christ 
191. 

The  Turkish  fleet  consisted  of  fifteen  ships  of  the  line,  from  sixty  to 
ninety  guns,  besides  a  number  of  xebecs  and  galleys,  amounting  in  the 
whole  to  near  thirty  sail.     The  Russians  had  only  ten  ships  of  the  line. 


31G  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

and  five  frigates.  The  Turkish  fleet  being  annihilated,  it  might  iiave  been 
expected  lliat  the  liussian  admiral  vvouhl  have  shaken  the  Oltoaian  em- 
pire to  its  very  foundations  :  that  it  would  have  put  it  to  the  proof  how 
far  the  Dardanelles  were  effectual  for  the  defence  of  the  Hellespont.  Had 
he  proved  successful  against  those  celebrated  barriers,  Constantinople 
itself,  the  seat  of  the  empire,  must  have  fallen  into  his  hands.  It  seems  0l^- 
dent  the  views  of  Russia  did  not  extend  to  the  effecting  such  a  purpose ; 
her  fleet,  during  the  remainder  of  the  war,  was  oidy  employed  in  making 
descents  on  the  Turkish  islands,  and  with  little  or  no  success.  In  that 
space  of  time  the  great  Russian  army  having  passed  the  Danube,  found 
its  progress  in  Bulgaria  stopped  by  the  range  of  mountains  which  inter- 
sects that  country,  whilst  it  was  continually  harassed  by  detachments 
from  the  Turkish  camp.  The  expenses  of  the  war  were  severely  felt  by 
each  empire,  and  although  that  of  Russia  had  gained  the  ascendancy,  no 
beneficial  consequences  had  been  realized.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  the 
grand  seignor  Mustapha  III.,  emperor  of  the  Turks,  died  January  21, 
1774,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  seventeenth  of  his  reign ;  he 
appointed  his  brother  Abdulhamet  to  succeed  him  in  the  throne.  The 
war  was  continued  with  spirit;  but  a  large  Turkish  army,  commanded  by 
the  reis  effendi,  being  most  disgracefully  defeated  by  General  Kamenski, 
the  porte,  no  longer  able  to  maintain  the  war,  was  compelled  to  receive 
terms  from  the  conqueror.  A  peace  was  signed  on  the  21st  of  July,  1774, 
at  Kainardgiac,  to  ratify  which  the  mufti  issued  his  fetfa,  or  ordinance,  in 
which,  to  the  great  degradation  of  the  Ottoman  pride,  it  was  said,  that, 
"  seeing  our  troops  will  no  longer  fight  the  Russians,  it  is  necessary  to  con- 
clude a  peace." 

The  treaty  of  peace  consisted  of  twenty-eight  articles,  by  which, 
among  other  advantages,  the  Russians  obtained  a  free  navigation  in  all 
the  Turkish  seas,  together  with  the  passage  through  the  Dardanelles. 
Russian  consuls  were  likewise  to  reside  in  the  Turkish  sea-ports.  Al- 
though peace  was  upon  these  conditions  restored,  yet  it  soon  became 
apparent  that  the  latent  ambition  of  Catharine  caused  her  to  meditate  the 
utter  subversion  of  the  Turkish  empire,  and  to  indulge  in  the  hope  that 
she  herself  should  effect  it.  To  bring  forward  this  grand  de.'^igij  she 
made  a  progress  from  Moscow  to  the  Crimea,  with  all  the  pageantry  of 
imperial  state.  Whilst  on  this  journey  she  received  a  visit  from  the  em- 
peror of  Germany,  Joseph  II.,  and,  as  the  visits  of  potentates  are  gener- 
ally fatal  to  the  peace  of  the  world,  there  was  good  ground  to  suppose 
that  this  was  portentous  to  the  Ottoman  empire,  and  had  for  its  chief  ob- 
jects to  settle  the  mode  of  attacking  it,  and  how  it  should  be  divided  when 
conquered.  The  porte  took  the  alarm,  and,  determined  not  to  wait  the 
maturation  of  its  enemy's  councils  and  force,  published  a  manifesto, 
dated  the  7th  of  August,  1787,  and  commenced  hostilities  against  the  em- 
press of  Russia.  The  emperor  of  Germany,  soon  after,  led  a  formidable 
army  agamst  the  Turkish  fastnesses  on  the  frontiers  of  Hungary,  not 
doubting  but  that  everything  would  fall  before  him  with  the  rapidity 
which  Cajsar  exulted  in ;  but  his  progress  was  opposed,  and  his  measures 
frustrated  by  the  surprising  valour  and  conduct  of  the  Turks.  The  war 
with  Russia  was  chiefly  maritime,  and  the  seat  of  it  the  Black  sea;  but 
here  neither  success  nor  glory  accrued  to  the  Turkish  arms.  The  Rus- 
sians became  masters  of  Ocsakow,  and  in  every  conflict  at  sea  were  de- 
cisively superior. 

This  unequal  war  was  not  looked  upon  with  indifference  by  some  other  of 
the  great  powers  of  Europe.  The  subjugation  of  the  Turkish  empire,  and 
the  vast  increase  of  power  which  Russia  would  acquire  by  possessing  the 
most  valuable,  because  the  most  commercial  parts  of  it,  were  considered 
as  revolutions  in  which  the  other  powers  of  Europe  were  deeply  interested. 
In  consequence  of  which  a  close  alliance  was  formed  between  Great  Bri- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  317 

tain  and  Prussia,  having  for  its  chief  object,  the  rescuing  the  Turks  from 
that  destruction  which  hung  over  them,  by  restoring  peace  to  that  part  of 
Europe.  The  losses  and  disgraces  which  the  emperor  sustained,  and  the 
death  of  Laudohn,  the  only  general  who  had  effected  anything,  rendered 
that  prince  anxious  to  terminate  the  war;  and  tlie  empress  of  Russia, 
t^ugh  the  mediation  of  the  British  court,  at  length  acceded  to  terms  of 
^^ke,  by  the  conditions  of  which  very  important  towns  and  districts 
were  added  to  her  dominions  ;  which,  however,  her  arms  had  previously 
obtained. 

Bonaparte's  campaign  in  Egypt  finally  raised  the  indignation  of  the 
porta,  which,  on  the  1st  of  September,  1798,  declared  war  for  the  first 
time  against  France.  By  its  alliance  with  Russia,  in  December,  1798,  and 
with  England  and  Naples,  in  January,  1799,  it  now  fell  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  cabinets  of  St.  Petersburg  and  St.  James.  A  Russian  fleet 
sailed  through  the  Dardanelles,  and  a  Turkish  squadron,  in  co-operatiou 
with  it,  conquered  the  Ionian  islands.  Paul  I.  and  Selim  III.,  by  a  treaty 
at  Constantinope,  formed  the  republic  of  the  Seven  Islands,  whieh,  as 
well  as  Ragusa,  was  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the  porte.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  Britain  restored  Egypt  to  the  porte;  but  the  Mameluke 
beys  and  the  Arnaouts  filled  the  land  with  tumult  and  bloodshed,  until,  on 
the  1st  of  March,  IBll,  the  new  governor,  Mehemed  Ali  Pacha,  entirely 
exterminated  the  Mamelukes  by  treachery.  Since  then  he  has  ruled  over 
Egypt  almost  independently. 

The  union  with  the  European  powers  had,  however,  made  Selini  and 
some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  empire  sensible  that,  if  the  porte  would  main- 
tain its  power,  it  must  introduce  into  its  armies  the  modern  tactics,  and 
give  to  the  divan  a  form  more  suited  to  the  times.  The  Nizan  Dshedid 
laboured,  therefore,  to  form  a  Turkish  army  on  the  European  model, 
which  should  supersede  the  janizaries.  But  after  the  poace  with  France, 
in  1801,  there  was  in  the  divan  two  parties,  a  Russian  and  British,  and 
a  French.  The  superiority  of  Russia  pressed  upon  the  porte  in  the  Ionian 
islands  and  in  Servia;  it  was  accordingly  inclined  to  favour  France. 
When,  therefore,  Russia,  in  1806,  occupied  Moldavia  and  VVallachia,  the 
old  hostility  broke  out  anew,  and  (December  30th,  1806)  the  porte,  at  the 
instigation  of  France,  declared  war  against  Russia,  which  was  already 
engaged  with  Persia  and  France.  The  weakness  of  the  Ottoman  empire 
was  now  evident.  An  English  fleet  forced  the  passage  of  the  Dardan- 
elles, and,  on  the  20th  of  February,  1807,  appeared  before  Constantinople ; 
but  the  French  general  Sebastiani  directed,  with  success,  the  resistance 
of  the  divan  and  of  the  enraged  people.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Russians 
made  rapid  advances.  The  people  murmured  ;  and  Selim  III.,  on  the 
29th  of  May,  1807,  was  deposed  by  the  mufti,  and  Mustapha  IV.  was 
obliged  to  put  a  stop  to  the  hated  innovations.  But,  after  the  Turkish 
fleet  had  been  entirely  beaten  by  the  Russians  at  Lemnos,  Selim's  friend, 
Mustapha  Bairaktar,  the  brave  pacha  of  Ruschuk,  took  advantage  of  the 
terror  of  the  capital,  to  seize  it.  But  the  unhappy  Selim  lost  his  life  ;  and 
Bairaktar,  in  the  place  of  the  deposed  Mustapha  IV.,  raised  to  the  tluone 
the  sultan  Mahmoud  II.  As  grand  vizier  of  Mahmoud,  he  restored  the 
new  military  system,  and  concluded  a  truce  with  Russia;  but  the  fury  of 
the  janizaries  again  broke  out,  and  destroyed  him  in  the  latter  end  of 
1808. 

Mahmoud  now  alone  supported  the  throne  ;  for  he  was,  since  the  death 
of  Mustapha  IV.,  the  only  prince  of  the  family  of  Osman,  and  he  soon 
displayed  an  extraordinary  degree  of  courage  and  prudence.  One  of  his 
first  acts  was  to  conclude  peace  with  Great  Britain,  in  1809  ;  he  then  con- 
tinued, with  redoubled  vigour,  the  war  against  the  Russians,  who  already 
threatened  the  passage  of  the  Balkan.  Twice  the  Russians  were  obliged 
to  retreat  beyond  the  Danube  ;  nevertheless,  their  policy  conquered  the 


318  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

French  party  in  the  divan.  In  vain  did  the  French  emperor,  in  his  treaty 
with  Austria,  March  14,  1812,  declare  he  would  maintain  the  integrity  of 
the  Turliish  territory.  Notwithstanding  this,  before  the  French  army  had 
passed  the  Niemen,  the  sultan  bought  peace  with  Russia,  at  Bucharest, 
by  ceding  that  part  of  Moldavia  and  Bessarabia  which  lies  beyond  the 
Pruth,  with  the  northern  fortresses  on  the  Dniester  and  at  the  mouth^^ 
the  Danube,  and  the  southern  gates  of  the  Caucasus  on  the  Kur.        ^K 

The  Servians,  left  to  themselves,  again  became  subjected  to  TuiHey  * 
They  retained,  however,  by  their  treaty  with  the  porte,  in  November, 
1815,  the  administration  of  the  government.  In  1817,  Mahmoud  was 
obliged  to  give  up  tlie  principal  mouth  of  the  Danube  to  Russia.  But  the 
Greek  insurrection  again  disturbed  the  relations  of  the  two  powers,  and 
has  produced  important  changes  in  the  situation  of  the  porte.  The  porte 
believed  that  Russia  secretly  favoured  the  insurrection,  and  therefore 
seized  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  and  restricted  its  marine  commerce. 
Both  were  open  violations  of  the  peace  of  Bucharest.  After  an  inter- 
change of  notes,  the  Russian  ambassador  left  Constantinople.  The  me- 
diation of  the  English  and  Austrian  courts,  together  with  the  emperor 
Alexander's  desire  for  peace,  prevented  the  outbreak  of  a  war;  but  the 
divan,  under  various  pretexts,  refused  all  satisfaction  to  the  Russian  cab- 
inet, until,  at  last,  the  emperor  Nicholas  declared  the  Russian  ultimatum  ; 
upon  which  the  porte,  in  1826,  granted  all  the  demands  of  the  Russian 
court,  and  promised  that  in  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  (where,  in  three 
years,  it  had  raised  37,000,000  of  piastres,  which  were  employed  in  the 
war  against  the  Greeks)  everything  should  be  replaced  on  its  former  foot- 
ing, and  sent  commissioners  to  Ackerman.  Here  a  final  term  was  again 
fixed  for  the  decision  of  the  divan,  and  on  the  6th  of  October,  1826,  eighty- 
two  articles  of  the  Russian  ultimatum  were  accepted.  The  porte  swr- 
rendered  to  the  Russians  all  the  fortresses  in  Asia  which  it  had  hitherto 
held  back,  and  acknowledged  the  privileges  granted  by  Russia  to  Servia, 
Moldavia,  and  Wallachia.     The  treaty  was  executed  in  1827. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  porte  had  begun  its  internal  reform,  and  it  was 
resolved  utterly  to  exterminate  the  janizaries,  who  burnt  the  suburb  of 
Galata,  between  the  3rd  and  5th  of  January,  1826.  An  army  was  formed 
in  June,  1826,  and  the  janizaries  destroyed,  after  a  bloody  struggle.  The 
violence  employed  in  the  execution  of  this  and  other  measures,  caused 
an  insurrection,  in  which  six  thousand  houses  were  burnt  in  Constanti- 
nople. Instead  of  military  insubordination,  the  most  rigid  military  des- 
potism began,  which  did  not  spare  even  the  ulema.  At  the  same  time, 
the  porte,  in  Jime,  1827,  firmly  refused  the  mediation  of  Russia,  England, 
and  France,  in  its  war  with  the  Greeks;  and  the  grand  seignor  called  all 
his  subjects  (Christians  included)  to  arms,  to  fight,  if  necessary  against 
all  Europe.  Our  limits  compel  us  to  bring  this  sketch  somewhat  abruptly 
to  a  close.  But  for  the  more  recent  events  connected  with  the  Ottoman 
empire,  in  respect  to  its  foreign  relations,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  latter 
portions  of  our  histories  of  Greece,  Russia,  and  England. 


THE    RISK,  PROGRESS,  AND    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    MAHOMETANISM. 

A  subject  so  curious  and  important  as  the  religion  established  by  Ma- 
homet, which  has  been  professed  for  more  than  eleven  centures  by  many 
millions  of  the  human  race,  and  which  at  present  prevails  from  the  Gan- 
ges to  INlorocco,  inclusive  of  a  vast  number  of  very  populous  islands, 
and  every  country  where  the  tribes  of  Malays  settle,  in  one  direction,  and 
from  the  southern  extremity  of  Arabia  to  the  borders  of  Hungary,  in 
another,  deserves  to  be  particularly  noticed  in  this  place. 

Mahomet,  or  more  properly  Mohammed,  the  founder  of  this  singular 
and  spreading  faith,  was  born  in  the  year  569  of  the  Christian  era;  he 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  3 {9 

sprung  irom  the  tribe  of  Koraiish,  and  the  family  of  Hashen?  •,  his  grand- 
father, uncles,  and  lineal  ancestors  were  princes ;  his  family  possessed, 
by  hereditary  right,  the  custoay  of  the  Caaba  at  Mecca,  which  was  a  place 
of  worship  resorted  to  by  thB  Arabians  long-  before  the  time  of  Mahomet. 
Notwithstanding  the  respectability  of  his  descent,  being  left  an  orphan 
when  very  young,  and  being  in  low  circumstances,  he  was  recommended 
iJfchadijah,  a  noble  rich  widow,  for  her  factor,  he  having  been  bred  to 
nrerchandize ;  in  which  capacity  he  acquitted  himself  so  well  that  lie 
gained  the  affections  of  his  mistress,  and,  by  marrying  her,  became  as 
rich  a  merchant  as  any  in  Mecca;  his  kindness,  attachment,  and  strict 
fidelity  to  his  wife,  who  was  much  older  than  himself,  are  frequently  al- 
luded to  by  writers  as  proofs  of  a  susceptible  heart,  and  a  generous  and 
noble  nature.  His  natural  strength  of  mind,  and  intrepidity  of  spirit, 
prompted  him  to  form  great  designs  when  his  fortunes  improved,  altliough 
it  is  said  that  he  was  so  illiterate  as  not  to  be  capable  of  reading  or  wri- 
ting. The  want  of  learning  was  so  far  from  proving  an  impediment  to 
him  in  effecting  his  designs,  that  it  very  strongly  promoted  them  ;  for  the 
crafty  Arab,  who  must  unquestionably  have  merely  affected  this  gross 
ignorance,  insisted  that  the  writings  which  he  produced  as  revelations 
from  God,  were  cleared  of  all  imputation  of  being  forgeries,  for  such  ele- 
gance of  style  and  excellence  of  doctrine  could  not  originate  from  a  man 
incapable  alike  of  reading  or  writing :  for  this  reason  his  followers,  in- 
stead of  being  ashamed  of  their  master's  ignorance,  glory  in  it,  as  an 
evident  proof  of  his  divine  mission,  and  scruple  not  to  call  him,  as  he  is 
called  in  the  Koran  itself,  "  the  illiterate  prophet."  Sir  William  Jones 
relates  a  traditional  story  concerning  the  celebrated  poet  Lebid,  who 
was  cotemporary  with  Mahomet,  and  an  avowed  enemy  to  his  new  doc- 
trine at  its  first  promulgation;  who,  to  express  his  opposition  to  it,  hung 
a  poem  on  the  gate  of  the  temple,  as  was  then  customury  to  be  done, 
which  poem  contained  a  strong  implied  contempt  of  the  new  religion. 
This  piece  appeared  so  sublime  that  none  of  the  poets  chose  to  attempt 
an  answer  to  it,  till  Mahomet,  who  was  likewise  a  poet,  having  composed 
a  chapter  of  the  Koran,  placed  the  exordium  of  it  by  tiie  side  of  Lebid's 
poem  ;  who  no  sooner  read  it,  than  he  declared  it  to  be  something  divine, 
confessed  his  own  inferiority,  tore  his  verses  from  the  gate,  embraced  the 
religion  he  liad  stigmatized,  and  became  afterwards  essentially  service- 
able in  replying  to  the  satires  of  Amralkeis,  who  was  unwearied  in  his 
attacks  upon  the  doctrine  of  Mohammed. 

The  state  of  the  world  at  that  time  was  highly  favourable  to  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  religion  :  it  had  been  the  will  of  Heaven  to  permit  the 
purity  and  simplicity  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ  to  be  contaminated  and 
perverted  by  the  artful  wiles  of  priestcraft,  which  caused  the  grossest  im- 
positions to  be  practised  upon  an  ignorant  laity;  pomp,  splendour,  and 
unintelligible  worship,  were  substituted  for  the  devotion  of  the  heart, 
while  the  prayers  offered  up  to  imaginary  and  fictitious  saints  had  effaced 
all  just  notions  of  the  attributes  of  the  Deity.  Mohammed  had  made  two 
journeys  into  Syria,  where  he  had  informed  himself  of  the  principles  of 
.Tudaism,  and  the  jargon  which  bore  the  name  of  Christianity  :  it  is  pro- 
bable, indeed,  that  his  mind  was  naturally  prone  to  religious  enthusiasm, 
and  that  he  was  a  devotee  before  he  became  an  impostor.  His  first  design 
seems  to  have  extended  no  farther  than  to  bring  the  v.'ild,  intractable,  and 
ardent  Arabs  to  acknowledge  one  God  and  one  king;  and  it  is  probable 
that  for  a  considerable  time  his  ambition  extended  no  farther  than  to  be- 
come the  spiritual  and  temporal  sovereign  of  Arabia.  He  began  his 
eventful  project  by  accusing  both  Jews  and  Christians  of  corrupting'  the 
revelations  which  had  been  made  to  them  from  heaven,  and  maintained 
that  both  Moses  and  Jesus  Christ  had  prophetically  foretold  the  coming  of 
a  prophet  from  God,  which  was  accomplished  in  himself,  the  last  and 


320  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

greatest  of  the  prophets;  thus  initiated,  he  proceeded  to  deliver  detached 
sentences,  as  he  pretended  to  receive  them  from  the  Almighty,  by  the 
hand  of  the  ange.  Gabriel.  These  pretensions  to  a  divine  mission  drew 
on  him  a  requisition  from  the  inhabitants  of  Mecca  that  he  would  convince 
them  by  working  a  miracle;  but  he  replied,  "  God  refuses  those  signs  and 
wonders  that  would  depreciate  the  merit  of  faith,  and  aggravate  the  guilt 
of  infidelity."  The  unity  of  God  was  the  grand  and  leading  article  in 
the  creed  he  taught,  to  which  was  closely  joined  his  own  divine  mission  : 
Allah  il  Allah,  Muhamed  resoul  Allah,  is  their  preface  to  every  actof  devotion, 
and  the  sentence  continually  in  their  mouths  :  which  is,  "  there  is  but  one 
God,  and  Moliammed  is  his  prophet." 

The  Arabian  tribes,  who  occupied  the  country  from  Mecca  to  the  Eu- 
phrates, were  at  that  time  known  by  the  name  of  Saracens ;  their  reli- 
gion was  chiefly  gross  idolatry,  Sabianism  having  spread  almost  over 
the  whole  nation,  though  there  were  likewise  numbers  of  Christians, 
Jews,  and  Magians,  interspersed  in  those  parts.  The  essence  of  that 
worship  principally  consisted  in  adoring  the  planets  and  fixed  stars  ; 
angels  and  images  they  honoured  as  inferior  deities,  whose  intercessions 
with  the  Almigiity  in  their  favour  they  implored ;  they  believed  in  one 
God  ;  in  the  future  punishment  of  the  wicked,  for  a  long  series  of  years, 
though  not  forever ;  and  constantly  prayed  three  times  a  day ;  namely, 
at  sunrise,  at  its  declination,  and  at  sunset ;  they  fasted  three  times  a 
year;  during  thirty  days,  nine  days,  and  seven  days  ;  they  offered  many 
sacrifices,  but  ate  no  part  of  them,  the  whole  being  burnt ;  they  likewise 
turned  their  faces,  when  praying,  to  a  particular  part  of  the  horizon  ;  they 
performed  pilgrimages  to  the  city  of  Harran  in  Mesopotamia,  and  had  a 
great  respect  for  the  temple  of  Mecca  and  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  imag- 
ining the  latter  to  be  the  sepulchres  of  Seth,  also  of  Enos  and  Sabi,  his 
two  sons,  whom  they  considered  as  the  founders  of  their  religion.  Be 
sides  the  book  of  Psalms,  they  had  other  books  which  they  esteemed 
equally  sacred,  particularly  one,  in  the  Chaldee  tongue,  which  they  called 
"  the  book  of  Seth."  They  have  been  called  "  Christians  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,"  whose  disciples  they  also  pretend  to  be,  using  a  kind  of  bap- 
tism, which  is  the  greatest  mark  they  bear  of  Christianity  :  circumcision 
was  practised  by  the  Arabs,  although  Sale  is  silent  on  that  practice,  when 
describing  the  religion  of  the  Sabians ;  they  likewise  abstained  from 
swine's  flesh.  So  that  in  this  sect  we  may  trace  the  essential  articles  of 
the  creed  of  Mussulmans. 

Mahomet  was  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age  when  he  assumed  the  cha- 
racter of  a  prophet;  he  had  been  accustomed  for  several  years,  during  the 
month  of  Ramadan,  to  withdraw  from  the  world,  and  to  secrete  himself 
in  a  cave,  three  miles  distant  from  Mecca;  "  conversation,"  says  Mr.  Gib- 
bon, "  enriches  the  understanding,  but  solitude  is  the  school  of  genius." 
During  the  first  three  years,  he  made  only  fourteen  proselytes,  among 
which  were  his  wife  Khadijah,  his  servant,  or  rather  slave,  Zeid  Ali,  who 
afterward  married  the  prophet's  favourite  daughter,  Fatima,  and  was  sur- 
named  "the  Lion  of  God;"  Abubekar,  a  man  distinguished  for  his  merit 
and  his  wealth ;  the  rest  consisted  of  respectable  citizens  of  Mecca.  The 
Koreishites,  although  the  tribe  from  which  he  sprung,  were  the  most  vio- 
lent opposers  of  the  new  religion.  In  the  tenth  year  of  his  prophetic 
office  his  wife  died;  and  the  next  year,  his  enemies  having  formed  a  de- 
sign to  cut  him  off,  and  he  being  seasonably  apprized,  fled  by  night  to  Me- 
dina, on  the  16th  of  July,  622,  from  which  event  the  Hegira  commenced  ; 
lie  was  accompanied  only  by  two  or  three  followers,  but  he  made  a  public 
entry  into  that  city,  and  soon  gained  many  proselytes,  on  which  he  as- 
sumed the  regal  and  sacerdotal  characters.  As  he  increased  in  power, 
that  moderation  and  humanity,  wliichhad  before  distinguished  his  conduct, 
were  gradually  erased,  and  he  became  fierce  and  sanguinary ;  he  began  to 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  32. 

avow  a  design  of  propagating  his  religion  by  the  sword,  tc  destroy  the 
monuments  of  idolatry,  and,  without  regarding  the  sanctity  of  days  or 
months,  to  pursue  the  unbelieving  nations  of  the  earth.  The  Koran  incul- 
cates, in  the  most  absolute  sense,  the  tenets  of  faith  and  predestination. 
The  first  companions  of  Mahomet  advanced  to  battle  with  a  fearless  con- 
fidence, their  leader  having  fully  possessed  their  minds  with  the  assurance 
that  paradise  awaited  those  who  died  fighting  for  the  cause  of  their  prophet, 
the  gratifications  of  which  were  held  out  to  be  such  as  best  suited  the  am- 
orous complexions  of  the  Arabians.  Houries  of  black-eyed  girls,  resplen- 
dent in  beauty,  blooming  youth  and  virgin  purity ;  every  moment  of  plea- 
sure was  there  to  be  prolonged  to  a  thousand  years,  and  the  powers  of  the 
man  were  to  be  increased  an  hundred- fold  to  render  him  capable  of  su(;h 
felicity:  to  those  who  survived,  rich  spoils  and  the  possession  of  their 
female  captives  were  to  crown  their  conquests.  Mahomet  was  present  at 
nine  battles  or  sieges  ;  and  fifty  enterprises  of  war  were  achieved  in  ten 
years  by  himself  or  his  lieutenants.  Seven  years  after  his  flight  from 
Mecca  he  returned  to  that  city,  where  he  was  publicly  recognized  as  a 
prince  and  prophet;  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the  Caaba  was  immediately 
abolished,  and  succeeded  by  the  simplicity  of  the  Mahometan  establish- 
ment. This  Arab  lawgiver  retained  both  his  mental  and  bodily  powers 
unimpaired  till  he  reached  his  sixtieth  year,  when  his  health  began  to  de- 
cline, and  he  himself  suspected  that  a  slow  poison  had  been  administered 
to  him  by  a  Jewess,  under  the  effects  of  which  he  languished ;  but  his  death 
was  caused  by  a  fever,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  the  six  hundred 
and  thirty-second  of  the  Christian  era,  and  tenth  of  the  Hegira.  There 
are  some  particulars  told  respecting  Maiiomet,  which  have  gained  general 
belief,  although  void  of  all  foundation :  such  is  the  story  of  the  tame 
pigeon,  which  the  people  were  taught  to  believe  imparted  religious  truths 
to  the  ear  of  the  propliet ;  the  epileptic  fits,  which  have  been  said  to  cause 
him  to  fall  down  as  in  a  trance,  he  is  not  supposed  to  have  been  subject 
to;  and  the  suspension  of  his  iron  coffin  at  Mecca  is  a  most  absurd  false- 
hood, it  being  well  known  that  he  was  buried  at  Medina  in  a  stone  cofliii. 

Of  the  chapters  of  the  Koran,  which  are  one  hundred  and  fourteen  in 
number,  the  Sieur  du  Ryer  makes  ninety-four  to  have  been  received  at 
Mecca,  and  twenty  at  Medina  ;  but,  according  to  Mr.  Sale,  a  much  better 
authority,  the  commentators  on  the  Koran  have  not  fixed  the  place  where 
about  twenty  of  these  revelations  were  imparted  ;  so  that  no  inference 
can  be  drawn  how  far  the  prophet  had  proceeded  in  his  pretended  inspira- 
tions when  he  fled  from  Mecca;  neither  does  the  order  in  which  they 
were  written,  for  the  seventy-fourth  chapter  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
first  revealed,  and  the  sixty-eighth  to  have  immediately  followed  it. 

The  most  amiable  features  in  the  reHgion  which  Mahomet  established 
are,  profound  adoration  of  one  God,  whose  names,  or  rather  titles,  are 
amazingly  diversified  in  the  Koran  ;  (these  are  collected,  to  the  amount 
of  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  and  serve  as  a  manual  of  devotion ;)  the 
daily  ofl'ering  up  of  prayers  to  him,  which  consist  of  short  ejaculations  ; 
stated  fasts,  and  a  constant  distribution  af  a  large  poriion  of  personal  pro- 
perty to  the  relief  of  the  indigent  and  distressed  ;  nor  is  the  charity  which 
is  enjoined  confined  to  alms-giving,  but  comprehends,  in  its  fullest  extent, 
general  humanity  and  acts  of  beneficence  to  all  Mussulmans.  A  general 
resurrection  of  the  dead  is  another  article  of  belief  reiterated  in  the  Koran 
Whatever  superstitious  practices  adliere  to  it,  cannot  be  imputed  to  priest- 
craft, for  no  religion  that  ever  was  promulgated  to  the  world,  the  unadul- 
terated religion  of  Jesus  Christ  excepted,  so  entirely  excludes  the  influence 
of  the  priesthood;  it  may,  indeed,  be  called  emphatically  "the  laical  reli- 
gion," since  its  founder  had  the  address  to  obtain  the  most  enthusiastic 
regard  to  his  dogmas,  without  giving  wealth  or  consequence  to  those  who 
were  appointed  to  illustrate  and  enforce  them;  indeed,  the  Koran  re- 
21 


322  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

proaclies  the  Christians  for  taking  their  priests  and  monks  for  their  lords 
beside  God.  The  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  praying  toward  that  place,  and 
the  ablutions  which  are  enjoined  on  the  most  ordinary  acts  and  occasions, 
together  with  the  adoption  of  that  religious  sophism  predestination,  in  its 
most  extravagant  extent,  seem  to  comprehend  the  superstitious  parts  of 
this  religion ;  but  it  has  other  characteristics  which  betray  its  spurious 
origin,  and  prove  its  destructive  tendency. 

To  compensate  for  the  rigid  fastings  which  it  enjoins,  and  the  disuse  of 
wine  which  it  requires,  a  most  licentious  indulgence  is  allowed  in  the  use 
of  women  ;  and  though  they  may  not,  as  has  been  imputed  to  them,  deny 
to  that  sex  a  future  state  of  existence,  yet,  as  they  consider  women  merely 
as  instruments  of  gratification,  all  those  amiable  qualities  which  the  sex  is 
capable  of  displaying  when  the  faculties  are  properly  expanded  by  a  ju- 
dicious and  liberal  course  of  education,  are  suppressed  as  soon  as  formed. 
Another  foul  taint  in  this  religion  is,  the  abhorrence  which  it  creates 
against  all  those  who  do  not  embrace  the  same  doctrines  ;  and  also  the 
direct  tendency  of  that  faith  to  consign  the  human  mind  to  a  state  of  ar- 
rogant and  incurable  ignorance  by  considering  the  Koran  as  comprising 
everything  worthy  of  being  known.  The  Arabs,  from  the  genial  in- 
fluence of  their  climate,  as  well  as  from  habits  transmitted  through  so 
many  generations  as  to  be  formed  into  innate  principles,  were  libidinous 
beyond  most  of  their  species,  and  no  individual  among  them  felt  that  pro- 
pensity stronger  than  their  prophet;  neither  policy  nor  inclination  there- 
fore prompted  him  to  bring  his  disciples  under  severe  restraints  with  re- 
spect to  women ;  he  ought  not,  however,  to  be  denied  the  praise  which  is 
due  to  having  in  some  measure  tempered  the  lustful  fierceness  of  his 
countrymen  ;  and  he  may  be  said  to  have  eflfected  some  reformation, 
when  he  restrained  his  followers  even  to  four  wives,  when  he  forbad  in- 
cestuous alliances,  entitled  a  repudiated  wife  to  a  dower  from  her  hus- 
band, made  adultery  a  capital  offence,  and  rendered  fornication  punish- 
able by  law. 

Besides  the  Koran,  which  is  the  written  law  to  the  Mahometans,  alike 
as  to  the  belief  and  practice  of  religion  and  the  administration  of  public 
justice,  there  is  the  Sunnah,  or  oral  law,  which  was  selected,  two  hun- 
dred years  after  the  death  of  Mahomet,  from  a  vast  number  of  precepts 
and  injunctions  which  had  been  handed  down  from  age  to  age,  as  bearing 
the  stamp  of  his  authority.     In  this  work  the  right  of  circumcision  is  en- 
joined, concerning  which  the  Koran  was  silent ;  nor  was  it  necessary  to 
be  there  commanded,  as  the  Arabians  adhered  to  it  before  this  establish- 
ment.    By  the  express  command  of  their  founder,  the  Mahometans  set 
apart  Friday  in  each  week  for  the  especial  worship  of  God.     They  are 
ever  assiduous  to  make  converts  to  their  faith;  nor  can  they  reject  the 
most  abject  or  profligate  wretch  who  declares  his  desire  of  becoming  a 
true  believer,  even  although  they  know  him  to  be  ignorant  alike  of  their 
language  and  the  principles  of  their  religion.     Charily,  as  already  ob- 
served, is  enjoined  in  the   strongest  terms  in  the  Koran ;  and  the  Turks 
are  remarkable  for  acts  of  benevolence  to  the  poor  and  the  distressed, 
and  are  even  careful  to  prevent  the  unfortunate  being  reduced  to  neces- 
sity      They   repair  highways,   erect   cisterns  of  water  for  the  conve- 
nience of  travellers,  build  kahns  or  caravanseras  for  their  reception ;  and 
some  devout  people,  it  is  said,  erect  sheds  by  the  way  side,  tliat  the 
weary  traveller  may  sit  under  the  shade  and  take  his  refreshment.     In 
chap.  iv.  of  the  Koran  are  the  following  injunctions:     "  Sho^y  kindness 
to  thy  parents,  to  thy  relations,  to  orphans,  to  the  poor;  to  thy  neighbor 
who  is  related  to  thee,  and  to  thy  neighbor  who  is  a  stranger ;  to  thy  fa- 
miliar companion,  to  tlie  traveler,  and  to   t!ie  captive  whom  thy  right 
hand  has  taken;  for  God  loveth  not  the  proud,   the  vain-glorious,  the 
covetous,  or  those  who  bestow  their  wealth  in  o.-^der  to  be  seen  of  men.*' 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  323 

They  name  their  children  as  soon  as  they  are  born ;  when  the  father, 
putting  some  grains  of  salt  into  its  mouth,  and  lifting  it  on  high,  as  ded- 
icating it  to  God,  cries  out,  "  God  grant,  my  son  Solyman,  that  his  holy 
name  may  be  as  savoury  in  thy  mouth  as  this  salt,  and  that  he  may  pre- 
serve thee  from  being  too  much  in  love  with  the  world."  As  to  the  in- 
fants who  die  young,  before  they  are  circumcised,  they  believe  they  are 
saved  by  the  circumcision  of  their  father.  Their  children  are  not  cir- 
cumcised, like  those  of  the  Jews,  at  eight  days  old,  but  at  eleven  or 
twelve,  and  sometimes  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  they  are 
able  to  make  a  profession  of  their  faith.  When  any  renegade  Cliristian 
is  circumcised,  two  basins  are  usually  carried  after  him,  to  gather  the 
alms  which  the  spectators  freely  give.  Those  who  are  uncircumcised, 
whether  Turkish  children  or  Christians,  are  not  allowed  to  be  present  at 
their  public  prayers;  and  if  they  are  taken  in  their  mosques,  they  are 
liable  to  be  impaled  or  burnt. 

The  fast  of  Ramadan  is  observed  by  the  Turks  exactly  in  the  same 
manner  as  by  the  Persians.  The  feast  of  Bairam  begins  with  the  next 
new  moon  after  that  fast,  and  is  published  by  firing  of  guns,  bonfires,  and 
other  rejoicings.  At  this  feast  the  houses  and  shops  are  adorned  with 
their  finest  hangings,  tapestries,  and  sofas.  In  the  streets  are  swings 
ornamented  with  festoons,  in  which  the  people  sit,  and  are  tossed  in  the 
air,  while  they  are  at  the  same  time  entertained  with  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music  performed  by  persons  hired  by  the  masters  of  the  swings. 
They  have  also  fireworks;  and,  during  the  three  days  of  this  festival, 
many  women,  who  are  in  a  manner  confined  the  rest  of  the  year,  have 
liberty  to  walk  abroad.  At  this  time  they  forgive  their  enemies,  and  be- 
come reconciled  to  them  ;  for  they  think  they  have  made  a  bad  bairam, 
if  they  harbour  the  least  malice  in  their  hearts  against  any  person  what- 
soever. This  is  termed  the  Great  Bairam,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Lit- 
tle Bairam,  which  they  keep  seventy  days  after.  They  have  also  several 
other  festivals,  on  all  which  the  steeples  of  the  mosques  are  adorned 
with  lamps  placed  in  variour  figures.  They  regularly  pray  three  times  a 
day,  and  are  obliged  to  wash  before  their  prayers,  as  well  as  before  they 
presume  to  touch  the  Koran.  As  they  make  great  use  of  their  fingers  in 
eating,  they  are  required  to  wash  after  every  ineal,  and  the  more  cleanly 
among  them  do  it  before  meals.  After  every  kind  of  defilement,  in  fact, 
ablution  is  enjoined. 

By  the  Mahometan  law  a  man  may  divorce  his  wife  twice,  and  if  he 
afterwards  repents,  he  may  lawfully  take  her  again ;  but  Mahomet,  to 
prevent  his  followers  from  divorcing  their  wives  upon  every  slight  occa- 
sion, or  merely  from  an  inconstant  humour,  ordained,  that  if  any  man  di- 
vorces his  wife  a  third  time,  it  is  not  lawful  for  him  to  take  her  again,  till 
she  has  been  married  and  bedded  by  another,  and  divorced  from  that  hus- 
band. The  Koran  allows  no  man  to  have  more  than  four  wives  and  con- 
cubines, but  the  prophet  and  his  successors  are  laid  under  no  restriction. 
Church  government,  by  the  institutions  of  Mahomet,  appears  to  have 
centered  in  the  mufti,  and  the  order  of  the  moulalis,  from  which  the  mufti 
must  be  chosen.  The  moulahs  have  been  looked  upon  as  ecclesiastics, 
and  the  mufti  as  their  head  ;  but  the  Turks  consider  the  first  rather  as  ex- 
pounders of  the  law,  and  the  latter  as  the  great  law  officers.  Those  who 
really  act  as  divines  are  the  imaums,  or  parish  priests,  who  officiate  in, 
and  are  set  aside  for  the  service  of  the  mosques.  No  church  revenues 
are  appropriated  to  the  particular  use  of  the  moulahs;  the  imaums  are 
the  ecclesiastics  in  immediate  pay.  Their  scheiks  are  the  chiefs  of  their 
dervises  (dervishes),  or  monks,  and  form  religious  communities,  or  or- 
ders, established  on  solemn  vows ;  they  consecrate  themselves  merely  to 
religious  offices,  domestic  devotion,  and  public  prayer  and  preaching; 
there  are  four  of  these  orders,  the  Bektoshi,  Mevelevi,  Kadri,  and  Seyah, 


324  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

Avho  are  very  numerous  throughout  the  empire.  The  Mevelevi,  in  their 
acts  of  devotion,  turn  round  with  velocity  for  two  or  three  hours  inces- 
santly. They  are  passionately  fond  of  music,  particularly  a  flute  formed 
of  an  Indian  reed;  they  live  in  their  monastery;  profess  poverty  and  hu- 
mility; entertain  kindly  all  strangers,  of  whatever  religion,  who  visit 
them ;  and  receive  alms.  They  sometimes  even  offer  to  wash  the  feet  of 
a  Mussulman.  The  Kadri  express  their  devotion  by  lacerating  their 
bodies;  they  walk  the  streets  almost  naked,  with  distracted  and  wild 
looks  ;  they  hold  their  hands  joined  together,  as  if  in  the  act  of  prayer, 
except  when  they  perform  their  religious  dances,  which  they  continue 
many  hours,  and  sometimes  the  whole  day,  repeating  incessantly,  Hu ! 
hu!  hu!  hu !  one  of  their  names  of  the  deity,  until  at  last,  as  if  they 
Avere  in  a  violent  rage  or  phrensy,  they  fall  to  the  ground,  foaming  at  the 
mouth,  and  every  part  of  their  body  bathed  in  sweat.  The  Seyahs,  like 
the  Indian  fakiers,  are  little  better  than  mere  vagabonds. 

The  Turks  appropriate  to  themselves  the  name  of  Moslemim,  which 
has  been  corrupted  into  Mussulman,  signifying  persons  professing  the 
doctrine  of  Mahomet.  They  also  term  themselves  Sonnites,  or  observers 
of  the  oral  traditions  of  Mahomet  and  his  three  successors;  and  like- 
wise call  themselves  True  Believers,  in  opposition  to  the  Persians  and 
others,  the  adherents  of  Ali,  whom  they  call  a  wicked  and  abominable 
sect.  Their  rule  of  faith  and  practice  is  the  Koran.  Some  externals  of 
their  religion,  besides  the  prescribed  ablutions,  are  prayers,  which  are  to 
be  said  five  times  every  twenty-four  hours,  with  the  face  turned  towards 
Mecca,  and  alms,  which  are  both  enjoined  and  voluntary;  the  former 
consists  of  paying  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  to  charitable  uses  out  of  their 
whole  income.  Their  feasts  have  been  already  spoken  of;  and  every 
Mahometan  must,  at  least,  once  in  his  lifetime,  go  in  pilgrimage,  either 
personally  or  by  proxy,  to  the  Caaba,  or  house  of  God  at  Mecca. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  INDIA. 

AlS  the  Hindus  (or  Hindoos),  never  had  any  historical  writings,  all  tne 
information  to  be  obtained  respecting  the  original  inhabitants  of  India,  is 
gleaned  from  popular  poems  or  the  accounts  of  foreigners.  How  vague 
and  unsatisfactory  such  accounts  alwaj's  are,  and  how  mixed  with  fab 
ulous  invention,  the  result  of  all  researches  in  such  labyrinths  most 
abundantly  proves;  we  shall,  therefore,  make  but  a  brief  analysis  of  it 
Under  the  name  of  India  the  ancients  included  no  more  than  the  peniii 
sula  on  this  side  the  Ganges,  and  the  peninsula  beyond  it,  having  little  oi 
no  knowledge  of  the  countries  which  lie  farther  eastward.  By  whom 
these  countries  were  originally  peopled,  is  a  question  which  has  given 
rise  to  much  speculation,  but  which,  in  all  probability,  will  never  be 
solved.  Certain  it  is,  that  some  works  in  these  parts  discover  marks  of 
astonishing  skill  and  power  in  the  inhabitants ;  such  as  the  images  in  the 
island  of  Elephanta,  the  observatory  at  Benares,  and  many  others.  These 
stupendous  works  are,  by  Bryant,  attributed  to  the  Cushites  or  Babylo- 
nians ;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  subjects  of  Nimrod,  the  beginning  of 
whose  kingdom  was  in  Shinar,  might  extend  themselves  in  this  direction, 
and  thus  fill  the  fertile  regions  of  the  east  witli  inhabitants,  before  tliey 


THE  TREASUEY  OF  HISTORY.  3i25 

migrated  to  the  less  mild  and  rich  countries  to  the  westward.  Thus 
would  be  formed  for  a  time  that  great  division  betwixt  the  inhabitants  of 
India  and  other  countries  ;  so  that  the  western  nations  knew  not  even  of 
the  existence  of  India,  but  by  obscure  report ;  while  the  inhabitants  of 
the  latter,  ignorant  of  their  own  origin,  invented  a  thousand  idle  tales 
concerning  the  antiquity  of  their  tribes. 

Accordnig  to  Hindu  tradition,  then,  and  the  popular  legends  of  their 
bards,  their  country  was  at  first  divided  between  two  principal  families, 
called  in  oriental  phraseology,  "  the  families  of  the  sun  and  moon." 
These  were  both  said  to  be  descended  from  Brahma  originally,  through 
the  patriarchs  Daksha  and  Atri,  his  sons.  Vaiwaswat  (the  sun),  had  Dak- 
sha  for  his  father ;  and  Soma  (the  moon),  sprung  from  Atri.  The  first 
prince  of  the  family  of  the  sun  was  named  Ikshwaku,  who  was  succeed- 
ed by  his  grandson,  named  Kakutstha.  But  the  most  celebrated  prince 
was  Rama,  the  son  of  Dasaratha,  who  was  banished  to  the  forests  by  his 
father  for  fourteen  years,  and  was  accompanied  there  by  Sita,  his  wife. 

Sita  having  been  carried  off  by  Ravana  (or  the  giant  with  ten  heads), 
who  was  king  of  Lanka,  or  Ceylon,  Rama,  assisted  by  Sugriva  and  Ha- 
numan  (who  are  described  as  monkeys),  pursued  him  to  his  capital,  took 
it,  put  him  to  death,  and  placed  his  brother  Vibhishna  on  the  throne.  The 
traditions  of  the  south  of  India  add,  that  upon  Rama's  victory,  colonists 
came  from  Ayodhya,  or  Oude,  cleared  and  tilled  the  ground,  and  intro- 
duced the  arts  of  civilized  life.  Rama  returned  to  Ayodhya,  over  which 
he  ruled  for  many  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Kusa,  whose  pos- 
terity inherited  the  throne  after  him.  Pururaves,  the  son  of  Budha,  the 
son  of  the  moon,  was  the  first  prince  of  the  lunar  dynasty.  His  capital 
was  Pratishthana,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ganges  and  Jumna.  To  him 
is  attributed  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  kindling  fire.  His  eldest  son, 
Ayus,  succeeded  him.  Ayus  had  two  sons,  Nahusha,  who  succeeded 
him,  and  Kshetravtiddha,  who  established  a  separate  principality  at  Kasi, 
or  Benares.  Nahusha's  successor  was  Yayati,  who  had  five  sons,  the 
youngest  of  whom,  Puru,  he  named  as  his  successor.  To  the  other  four, 
whose  names  were  Yadu,  Turvasu,  Druhya,  and  Anu,  he  gave  the  vice- 
royship,  under  Puru,  of  certain  provinces  of  the  paternal  kingdom.  One 
of  the  descendants  of  Druhya  was  Gandhar,  from  whom  the  province 
now  called  Candahar,  received  its  name.  The  posterity  of  Anu  estab- 
lished themselves  from  the  south  of  the  province  of  Behar  to  the  upper 
part  of  the  Coromandel  coast.  In  fact,  it  appears  that  the  descendants 
of  Yayati  colonized  and  introduced  civilization  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  southern  and  western  India.  Among  the  descendants  of  Puru 
there  were  several  celebrated  princes,  one  of  whom,  named  Bharata,  the 
son  of  Dushyanta,  ruled  over  a  very  extensive  territory,  so  that  India  has 
been  sometimes  called  after  his  name,  Bharata  Versha,  the  country  of 
Bharata.  The  most  material  facts  that  we  notice  in  these  annals  are, 
that  some  centuries  after  this,  Hasti,  a  descendant  of  Puru,  removed  the 
capital  further  north,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  which  city  was  called 
after  him,  Hastinapur;  also  that,  four  descents  after  Hasti,  the  sovereign 
of  Hastinapur  was  Kuru,  from  whom  the  country  to  the  north-west  was 
called  Kurukshetra,  a  name  it  still  retains. 

"The  whole  course  of  the  political  history  of  ancient  India,"  as  Profes- 
sor Wilson  observes,  "shows  it  to  have  been  a  country  divided  among 
numerous  petty  rajahs,  constantly  at  variance  with  one  another,  and  in- 
sapable  of  securing  their  subjects  from  the  inroads  of  their  neighbours,  or 
the  invasions  of  foreign  enemies.  The  early  religion  of  the  Hindus,  as 
represented  in  the  Vedas,  seems  to  have  been  little  more  than  the  adora- 
tion of  fire  and  the  elements.  The  attributes  of  a  Supreme  Being,  as 
creator,  preserver,  and  destroyer,  were  afterwards  personified,  and  wor- 
shipped as  the  deities  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva.     Philosophical  notions 


325  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  matter  and  spirit  were  next  embodied  ;  and  celebrated  individuals,  like 
the  demigods  of  Greece,  added  to  the  Pantheon;  other  modifications, 
some  as  recent  as  four  or  five  centuries,  were  subsequently  introduced.'' 
The  division  of  the  Hindus  into  castes  is  a  peculiarity  in  their  social 
condition,  which  early  attracted  notice  ;  but  such  an  arrangement  was  not 
uncommon  in  antiquity,  and  it  prevailed  in  Persia  and  Egypt.  In  these 
counliies  it  gradually  ceased  ;  but  in  India  it  has  been  carried  far  beyond 
the  extent  contemplated  in  the  original  system. 

The  original  distinction  was  into  Brahman,  religious  teacher;  Kshe- 
truja,  warrior ;  Vaisya,  agriculturist  and  tradcir ;  and  .Sudra,  servile ;  but 
from  the  intermixture  of  these  and  their  descendants,  arose  numerous 
other  tribes  or  castes,  of  which  the  Hindus  now  chiefly  consist;  the  Brah- 
man being  the  only  one  of  the  four  original  divisions  remaining. 

The  first  among  the  western  nations  who  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  application  to  navigation  and  commerce,  and  who  were  of  conse- 
quence likely  to  discover  these  distant  nations,  were  the  Egyptians  and 
Phoenicians.  The  former,  however,  soon  lost  their  inclination  for  naval 
aflTairs,  and  held  all  sea-faring  people  in  detestation ;  though  to  the  exten- 
sive conquests  of  Sesostris,  if  we  can  believe  them,  must  this  feeling  in  a 
great  measure  be  attributed.  He  is  said  to  have  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  four 
hundred  sail  in  the  Arabian  Gulf  or  Red  Sea,  which  conquered  all  the 
countries  lying  along  the  Erythrean  Sea  to  India;  while  the  army,  led  by 
himself,  marched  throHgh  Asia,  and  subdued  all  the  countries  to  the 
Ganges;  after  which  he  crossed  that  river,  and  advanced  to  the  Eastern 
ocean.  Strabo  rejected  the  account  altogether,  and  ranks  the  exploits  of 
Sesostris  in  India  with  the  fabulous  ones  of  Bacchus  and  Hercules. 

Soon  after  the  destruction  of  the  Babylonian  monarchy  by  the  Persians, 
we  find  Darius  Hystaspes  undertaking  an  expedition  against  the  Indians. 
Herodotus  informs  us,  that  he  sent  Scylax  of  Gary  and  ra  to  explore  the 
river  Indus ;  who  sailed  from  Caspatyrus,  a  town  at  its  source,  and  near 
the  territories  of  Pactya,  eastward  to  the  sea ;  thence,  turning  westward, 
he  arrived  at  the  place  where  the  Phoenicians  had  formerly  sailed  round 
Africa,  after  which  Darius  subdued  the  Indians,  and  became  master  of  that 
coast.  His  conquests,  however,  were  not  extensive,  as  they  did  not  reach 
beyond  the  territory  watered  by  the  Indus ;  yet  the  acquisition  was  very 
important,  as  the  revenue  derived  from  the  conquered  territory,  according 
to  Herodotus,  was  near  a  third  of  that  of  the  whole  Persian  empire. 

According  to  Major  Rennel,  the  space  of  country  through  which  Alex- 
ander sailed  on  the  Indus  was  not  less  than  one  thousand  miles ;  and  as, 
during  the  whole  of  that  navigation,  he  obliged  the  nations  on  both  sides 
of  the  river  to  submit  to  him,  we  may  be  certain  that  the  country  on  each 
side  was  explored  to  some  distance.  An  exact  account,  not  only  of  his 
military  operations,  but  of  everything  worthy  of  notice  relating  to  the 
countries  through  which  he  passed,  was  preserved  in  the  journals  of  his 
three  officers,  Lagus,  Nearchus,  and  Aristobulus  ;  and  these  journals  Arrian 
followed  in  the  composition  of  his  history.  From  these  authors  we  learn 
that,  in  the  time  of  Alexander,  the  western  part  of  India  was  possessed  by- 
seven  very  powerful  monarchs.  The  territory  of  Porus,  which  Alexander 
first  conquered  and  then  restored  to  him,  is  said  to  have  contained  no 
fewer  than  two  thousand  towns  ;  and  the  king  of  the  Prasii  had  assembled 
an  army  of  twenty  thousand  cavalry,  two  thousand  armed  chariots,  and 
a  great  number  of  elephants,  to  oppose  the  Macedonian  monarch  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges. 

The  country  on  each  side  of  the  Indus  was  found,  in  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander, to  be  in  no  degree  inferior  in  population  to  the  kingdom  of  Porus. 
The  climate,  soil,  and  productions  of  India,  as  well  as  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  inhabiiants,  are  exactly  described,  and  the  descriptions 
faund  to  correspond  in  a  surprising  manner  with  modern  accounts.     The 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  327 

stated  change  of  seasons,  now  known  by  the  name  of  monsoons,  the  pe- 
riodical rains,  the  swellings  and  inundations  of  the  rivers,  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  country  during  the  time  they  continue,  are  particularly 
mentioned.  The  descriptions  of  the  inhabitants  are  equally  particular ; 
their  living  entirely  upon  vegetables  ;  their  division  into  tribes  or  castes, 
with  many  of  the  particularities  of  the  modern  Hindoos.  The  military 
operations,  however,  extended  but  a  little  way  into  India  properly  so 
called  ;  no  further,  indeed,  than  the  modern  province  of  Lahore,  and  the 
countries  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus,  from  Moultan  to  the  sea. 

On  the  death  of  Alexander,  the  eastern  part  of  his  dominions  devolved 
first  on  Pytho,  the  son  of  Agenor,  and  afterwards  on  Seleucus.  The  lat- 
ter was  sensible  of  the  advantages  of  keeping  India  in  subjection.  With 
ihis  view,  he  undertook  an  expedition  into  that  country,  partly  to  confirm 
his  authority,  and  partly  to  defend  the  Macedonian  territories  against 
Sandracottus,  king  of  the  Prasii.  The  particulars  of  his  expedition  are 
very  little  known ;  Justin  being  the  only  author  who  mentions  them. 
Plutarch  tells  us  that  Seleucus  carried  his  arms  farther  into  India  than 
Alexander;  and  Pliny,  whose  authority  is  of  considerably  greater  weight 
than  either,  in  this  instance,  corroborates  the  testimony  of  Plutarch. 

The  career  of  Seleucus  in  the  east  was  stopped  by  Antigonus,  who  pre 
pared  to  invade  the  western  part  of  his  dominions.  The  former  was, 
therefore,  obliged  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  Sandracottus ;  but  Dr.  Rob- 
ertson is  of  opinion,  that  during  the  lifetime  of  Seleucus,  which  continued 
forty-two  years  after  the  death  of  Alexander,  no  diminution  of  the  Ma- 
cedonian territories  took  place.  With  a  view  of  keeping  up  a  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  the  Indian  prince,  Seleucus  sent  Megasthenes,  one  of  Al- 
exander's officers,  to  Palibothra,  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Prasii,  on 
tha  banks  of  the  Ganges.  This  city  is  by  Dr.  Robertson  thought  to  be 
the  modern  Allahabad,  but  Major  Reiuiel  supposes  it  to  be  Patna.  As 
Megasthenes  resided  in  this  city  for  a  considerable  time,  he  made  many 
observations  relative  to  India  in  general,  which  he  afterwards  published. 
But  he  mingled  with  his  relations  the  most  extravagant  fables  ;  such  as 
accounts  of  men  with  ears  so  large  that  they  could  wrap  themselves  up 
in  them  ;  of  tribes  with  one  eye,  without  mouths  or  noses,  &c.,  if  the  ex- 
tracts from  this  book,  given  by  Arrian,  Diodorus,  and  other  ancient  writers, 
can  be  credited.  After  the  embassy  of  Megasthenes  to  Sandracottus,  and 
that  of  his  son  Damaichus  to  Allitrochidas,  the  successor  of  Sandracottus, 
we  hear  no  more  of  the  affairs  of  India  with  regard  to  the  Macedonians, 
until  the  time  of  Antiochus  the  Great,  who  made  a  short  incursion  into 
India,  about  197  years  after  the  death  of  Seleucus.  All  that  we  know  of 
this  expedition  is,  that  the  Syrian  monarch,  aftei  finishing  a  war  he  car- 
ried on  against  the  two  revolted  provinces  of  Parthia  and  Bactria,  obliged 
Sophagasenus,  king  of  the  country  which  he  invaded,  to  pay  a  sum  of 
money,  and  give  hiin  a  number  of  elephants.  It  is  probable  that  the  suc- 
oes-sors  of  Antiochus  were  obliged,  soon  after  his  death,  to  abandon  all 
their  Indian  territories. 

After  the  loss  of  India  by  the  Syrians,  an  intercourse  was  kept  up  for 
isome  time  betwixt  it  and  the  Greek  kingdom  of  Bactria.  This  last  be- 
came an  independent  state  about  sixty-nine  years  after  the  death  of  Alex- 
der;  and,  according  to  the  few  hints  we  have  concerning  it  in  ancient  au- 
thors, carried  on  a  great  traffic  with  India.  Nay,  tlie  Bactrian  monarchs 
are  said  to  have  conquered  more  extensive  tracts  in  that  region  than  Al- 
exander himself  had  ddne.  Six  princes  reigned  over  this  new  kingdom 
in  succession ;  some  of  whom,  elated  with  the  conquests  they  had  made, 
assumed  the  title  of  the  great  king,  by  which  the  Persian  monarchs  were 
distinguished  in  their  highest  splendour.  Strabo  informs  us,  that  the 
Bactrian  princes  were  deprived  of  their  territories  by  the  Scythian  no- 
fliades,  known  by  the  name  of  Asii,  Pasiani,  Tachari,  and  Scaurauli. 


328  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

This  is  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  the  Chinese  historians,  quoted  by 
M.  de  Guignes.  According  to  them,  about  13G  years  before  the  Ciiristian 
era,  a  powerful  horde  of  'I'artars,  pushed  from  their  native  seats  on  the 
confines  of  China,  and  obliged  to  move  farther  to  the  west,  poured  in  upon 
Uactria  like  an  irresistible  torrent,  overwhelmed  that  kingdom,  and  put  an 
end  to  the  dominion  of  the  Greeks,  after  it  had  lasted  nearly  130  years. 

From  this  time  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  all  thoughts  of 
establishing  any  dominion  in  India  were  totally  abandoned  by  the  Euro- 
peans. The  only  object  was  to  promote  a  commercial  intercourse  with 
that  country:  and  Egypt  was  the  medium  by  which  that  intercourse  was 
to  be  promoted.  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  first  raised  the  power  and 
splendour  of  Alexandria,  by  carrying  on  a  trade  with  India.  His  son 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  prosecuted  the  same  plan  very  vigorously.  In  his 
time  the  Indian  commerce  once  more  began  to  centre  in  Tyre  ;  but,  to  re- 
move it  elfectually  thence,  he  attempted  to  form  a  canal  between  Arsinoe 
on  the  Red  Sea,  near  the  place  where  Suez  now  stands,  and  the  Pelusiac, 
or  eastern  branch  of  the  Nile.  This  canal  was  about  one  hundred  cubits 
broad,  and  thirty  deep ;  so  that  by  means  of  it  the  productions  of  India 
might  liave  been  conveyed  to  Alexandria  entirely  by  water. 

On  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Romans,  the  Indian  commodities  con- 
tinued as  usual,  to  be  imported  to  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  and  from  thence 
to  Rome ;  but  the  most  ancient  communication  betwixt  the  east  and  west 
parts  of  Asia  seems  never  to  have  been  entirely  given  up.  Syria  and 
Palestine  are  separated  from  Mesopotamia  by  a  desert ;  but  the  passage 
through  it  was  much  faciliated  by  its  aflTording  a  station  which  abounded 
in  water.  Hence  the  possession  of  this  station  became  an  object  of  such 
consequence,  that  Solomon  built  upon  it  the  city  called  in  Syrian  Tadmor, 
and  in  Greek  Palmyra.  Both  these  names  are  expressive  of  its  situation 
in  a  spot  adorned  with  palm  trees.  Though  its  situation  for  trade  may  to 
us  seem  very  unfavourable,  being  sixty  iniles  from  the  Euphrates,  by 
which  alone  it  could  receive  the  Indian  commodities,  and  two  hundred 
miles  from  the  nearest  coast  of  the  Mediterranean;  yet  the  value  and 
small  bulk  of  the  goods  in  question,  rendered  the  conveyance  of  them  by 
a  long  carriage  overland  not  only  practicable,  but  lucrative  and  advanta- 
geous. Hence  the  inhabitants  became  opulent  and  powerful,  and  this 
place  long  maintained  its  independence  after  the  Syrian  empire  became 
subject  to  Rome.  The  eagerness  of  the  Romans  for  Asiatic  luxuries 
kept  up  an  intercourse  with  India  during  the  time  that  the  empire  con- 
tinued in  its  power  ;  and,  even  after  the  destruction  of  the  western  part,  it 
was  kept  up  between  Constantinople  and  those  parts  of  India  which  had 
been  visited  formerly  by  merchants  from  the  west.  Long  before  this 
period,  however,  a  much  better  method  of  sailing  to  India  had  been  dis- 
covered by  one  Hippalus,  the  commander  of  an  Indian  ship,  who  lived 
about  eighty  years  after  Egypt  had  been  annexed  to  the  Roman  empire. 
This  man  having  observed  the  periodical  shifting  of  the  monsoons,  and 
how  steadily  they  blew  from  the  east  and  west  during  some  months,  ven- 
tured to  leave  the  coast,  and  sail  boldly  across  the  Indian  Ocean,  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  Musiris,  a  port  on  the  Malabar  coast ;  which 
discovery  was  reckoned  a  matter  of  such  importance,  that  the  name  ol 
Hippalus  was  given  to  the  wind  by  which  he  performed  the  voyage. 
Pliny  gives  a  very  particular  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Indian 
traffic  was  now  carried  on,  mentioning  the  particular  stages  and  the  dis- 
tances between  them. 

While  the  Seleucidse  continued  to  enjoy  the  empire  of  Syria,  the  trade 
with  India  continued  to  be  carried  on  by  land.  The  Romans,  having  ex- 
tended their  dominions  as  far  as  the  Euphrates,  found  this  method  of 
conveyance  still  established,  and  the  trade  was  by  them  encouraged  and 
protected.     But  the  progress  of  the  caravans  being  frequently  interrupted 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  329 

by  the  Parthians,  particularly  when  they  travelled  towards  th'^se  countires 
where  silk  and  other  of  the  most  valuable  manufactures  were  procured,  it 
became  an  object  to  the  Romans  to  conciliate  the  friendship  of  the  sove- 
reigns of  those  distant  countries.  Dr.  Robertson  takes  notice,  from  the 
evidence  of  an  Arabian  merchant  who  wrote  in  852,  it  appears,  that  not 
only  the  Saracens  but  the  Chinese  also,  were  destitute  of  the  mariner's 
compass;  contrary  to  a  common  opinion,  that  this  instrument  was  known 
in  the  east  long  before  its  discovery  in  Europe.  Notwithstanding  this  dis- 
advantage, they  penetrated  far  beyond  Siam,  which  had  set  bounds  to  the 
uaviga-tion  of  Europeans.  They  became  acquainted  with  Sumatra  and 
other  Indian  islands;  extending  their  navigation  as  far  as  Canton  in 
China.  A  regular  commerce  was  now  carried  on  from  the  Persian  Gulf 
to  all  the  countries  lying  betwixt  it  and  China,  and  even  with  China  itself. 
Many  Saracens  settled  in  India,  properly  so  called,  as  well  as  the  coun- 
tries beyond  it.  In  the  city  of  Canton  they  were  so  numerous  that  the 
emperor  permitted  them  to  have  a  cadi  or  judge  of  their  own  religion  ;  the 
Arabian  language  was  understood  and  spoken  in  every  place  of  conse- 
quence ;  and  ships  from  China  even  are  said  to  have  visited  the  Persian 
Gulf. 

According  to  the  Arabian  accounts  of  those  days,  the  peninsula  of  India 
was  at  that  time  divided  into  four  kingdoms.  The  first  was  composed  of 
the  provinces  situated  on  the  Indus  and  its  branches,  the  capital  of  which 
was  Moultan.  The  second  had  the  city  of  Canoge,  which,  from  its  re- 
maining ruins,  appears  to  have  been  a  very  large  place.  The  Indian  his- 
torians relate,  that  it  contained  thirty  thousand  shops  in  which  betel-nut 
was  sold,  and  sixty  thousand  sets  of  musicians  and  singers  who  paid  a  tax 
to  government.  The  third  city  was  tiiat  of  Cachemire,  first  mentioned  by 
Massoudi,  who  gives  a  short  description  of  it.  The  fourth  kingdom, 
Guzerat,  is  represented  by  the  same  author  as  the  most  powerful  of  the 
whole.  Another  Arab  writer,  who  nourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  divides  India  into  three  parts;  the  northern  compre- 
hending all  the  provinces  of  the  Indus  ;  the  middle  extending  from  Guzerat 
to  the  Ganges ;  and  the  southern,  which  he  denominates  Comar,  from 
cape  Comorin.  From  the  relation  of  the  Arabian  merchant  above  men- 
tioned, explained  by  the  commentary  of  another  Arabian  who  had  like- 
wise visited  the  eastern  part  of  Asia,  we  learn  many  particulars  concern- 
ing the  inhabitants  of  these  distant  regions  at  that  time,  which  correspond 
with  what  is  observed  among  them  at  this  day.  They  take  notice  of  the 
general  use  of  silk  among  the  Chinese,  and  the  manufacture  of  porcelain, 
which  they  compare  to  glass.  They  also  describe  the  tea-plant,  with  the 
manner  of  using  its  leaves  ;  whence  it  appears,  that  in  the  ninth  century 
the  use  of  this  plant  in  China  was  as  common  as  it  is  at  present.  They 
mention  likewise  the  great  progress  which  the  Indians  had  made  in  as- 
tronomy ;  a  circumstance  which  seems  to  have  been  unknown  to  the 
Greeks  and  Romans;  they  assert,  that  in  this  branch  of  science  they 
were  far  superior  to  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  the  west,  on  which 
account  their  sovereign  was  called  the  king  of  wisdom. 

The  superstitions,  extravagant  penances,  &c.,  known  to  exist  at  this 
day  among  the  Indians,  are  also  mentioned  by  those  writers  ;  all  which 
particulars  manifest  that  the  Arabians  had  a  knowledge  of  India  far  supe- 
rior to  that  of  the  Greeks  or  Ronnns.  The  industry  of  the  Moham- 
medans, in  exploring  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  east,  was  rivalled, 
however,  by  the  Christians  of  Persia,  who  sent  missionaries  all  over 
India,  and  the  countries  adjoining,  as  far  as  China  itself.  But,  while  the 
western  Asiatics  thus  kept  up  a  constant  intercourse  with  these  parts,  the 
Europeans  had  in  a  manner  lost  all  knowledge  of  them.  Tlie  port  of 
Alexandria,  from  which  they  had  formerly  been  supplied  with  the  Indian 
goods,  was  now  shut  against  them  :  and  the  Arabs,  satisfied  with  supply. 


330  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ing  the  demands  of  their  own  subjects,  neglected  to  send  any  by  the  usual 
channels  to  the  towns  on  the  Mediterranean.  The  inhabitants  of  Con- 
stantinople and  some  other  great  towns  were  supplied  with  Chinese  com- 
modities by  the  most  tedious  and  difficult  passage  imaginable.  In  spite 
of  every  difficulty,  however,  this  commerce  flourished,  and  Constantinople 
became  a  considerable  mart  for  East  Indian  commodities  ;  and  from  it  all 
the  rest  of  Europe  was  chiefly  supplied  with  them  for  more  than  two 
centuries.  The  perpetual  hostilities  in  which  the  Christians  and  Moham- 
medans were  during  this  period  engaged,  contributed  still  to  increase  the 
difllculty ;  but,  the  more  it  increased,  the  more  desirous  Europeans 
seemed  to  be  of  possessing  the  luxuries  of  Asia.  About  this  lime  the 
cities  of  Amalfi  and  Venice,  with  some  other  in  Italy,  having  acquired  a 
great  degree  of  independence,  began  to  exert  themselves  in  promotmg 
domestic  manufactures,  and  importing  the  productions  of  India. 

At  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  a  considerable  revolution  took  place  in 
India,  by  the  conquests  of  Mahmud  Gazni,  who  erected  the  empire  of 
Gazna.  And  it  is  at  this  period  that  the  authentic  history  is  generally 
reckoned  to  commence.  Mahmud's  kingdom  had  arisen  out  of  that  of 
the  Saracens,  who  had  extended  their  conquests  immensely,  under  the 
caliph  Al-Walid,  both  to  the  east  and  west.  He  possessed  great  part  of 
the  ancient  Bactria.  Gazna,  near  the  source  of  the  Indus,  and  Balkh, 
were  his  chief  cities.  After  conquering  the  rest  of  Bactria,  he  invaded 
Hindostan  a.  d.  1000,  and  reduced  the  province  of  Moultan,  which  was  in- 
habited by  the  Kuttry  and  Rajpoot  tribes  (the  Catheri  and  Malli  of  Alex- 
ander), who  still  retained  their  ancient  bravery,  and  made  a  very  for- 
midable resistance.  Mahmud  being  equally  influenced  by  a  love  of  con- 
quest, and  a  superstitious  zeal  to  exterminate  the  Hindoo  religion,  a 
league  was  at  last  formed  against  him  among  all  the  Indian  princes,  from 
the  Ganges  to  the  Nerbudda.  Their  allied  troops  were,  however,  de- 
feated;  and  in  1008  the  famous  temple  of  Nagracut  in  the  Punjab  was 
destroyed.  In  1011  Mahmud  destroyed  the  city  and  temple  of  Tanafar, 
and  reduced  Delhi.  In  1018  he  took  Canoge,  and  demolished  the  temples 
of  that  and  several  other  cities  ;  but  failed  in  his  attemps  on  Ajimere.  In 
his  twelfth  expedition,  in  1024,  he  reduced  the  whole  peninsula  of  Guzer- 
at,  and  destroyed  the  famous  temple  of  Sumnaut,  as  well  as  those  of  all 
the  other  cities  he  conquered.  At  his  death,  in  1028,  he  possessed  the 
east,  and  largest  part  of  Persia,  with  the  Indian  provinces  from  the  west 
part  of  the  Ganges  to  Guzerat,  and  those  between  the  Indus  and  the 
mountains  of  Ajimere.  But  in  1158  this  extensive  empire  began  to  fail 
to  pieces.  The  west  and  largest  part  was  seized  by  the  Gauri,  while  the 
east,  contiguous  to  the  Indus,  remained  in  possession  of  Chosroe,  whose 
capital  was  Lahore.  In  1184  his  sons  were  expelled  by  the  Gauri,  and 
hi  1194  Mohammed  Gori  penetrated  into  Hindostan  as  far  as  Benares, 
committing  as  great  devastation  as  Mahmud  Gazni  had  done.  He  also 
reduced  the  south  part  of  Ajimere,  and  the  territory  south  of  the  Jumna, 
the  fort  of  Gualior,  &c.  On  his  death,  (1205,)  the  empire  of  Gazna  was 
again  divided,  and  the  Patau  or  Alghan  empire  was  founded  by  Caltub, 
who  had  the  Indian  part,  the  Persian  remaining  to  Eldoze.  Cattub  made 
Delhi  his  capital;  and  in  1210  his  successor,  Altumish,  reduced  the  great- 
est part  of  Hindostan  Proper.  One  of  his  sons  obtained  the  government 
of  Bengal,  and,  from  this  period,  one  of  the  emperor's  sons  had  always 
that  government.  During  his  reign,  the  bloody  Genghis  Khan  put  an 
end  to  the  other  branch  of  the  Gaznian  empire,  but  Hindostan  was  left 
undisturbed. 

From  this  period  the  most  dreadful  confusion  and  massacres  followed 
almost  to  the  time  that  the  British  government  commenced.  The  empire 
being  subdivided  among  a  set  of  rapacious  governors,  the  people  were 
reduced  to  the  greatest  degree  of  misery.    To  add  to  their  distress,  the 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORiY.  33I 

Moguls  made  such  frequent  and  formidable  invasions,  that  at  last  the  em- 
peror Ferose  II.  allowed  them  to  settle  in  the  country  in  1292.  The  em- 
peror was  incited  by  Alia,  governor  of  Gurrah,  to  attempt  the  conquest  of 
the  Deccan ;  and  Alia  being  employed  in  that  business,  wherein  he 
amassed  an  immense  quantity  of  treasure,  no  sooner  accomplished  it,  than 
he  deposed  and  murdered  Ferose,  and  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  Hin- 
dostan.  In  1306  the  conquest  of  the  Deccan  was  undertaken ;  and  in 
1310  Alia  carried  his  army  into  Dowlatabad  and  the  Carnatic.  But  all 
this  usurper's  expeditions  and  those  of  his  general,  Cafoor,  seem  to  have 
been  made  more  with  a  view  of  plunder  than  of  permanent  conquest. 
Under  Mohammed  III.  the  inhabitants  of  the  Deccan  revolted,  aud  drove 
the  Mohammedans  completely  out  of  all  their  territories,  except  the  city 
of  Dowlatabad. 

Ferose  III.,  who  succeeded  Mohammed  in  1351,  was  a  wise  prince, 
who  preferred  the  improvement  of  his  empire  by  the  arts  of  peace  to  the 
extension  of  it  by  war  and  conquest.  In  his  reign,  which  lasted  thirty- 
seven  years,  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures,  were  encouraged. 
But  upon  his  death  in  1388,  a  civil  war  broke  out,  wliich  continued  five 
years,  till  Mahmud  III.  succeeded,  in  1393.  During  this  period  Hindostan 
exhibited  the  uncommon  phenomenon  of  two  emperors  residing  in  the 
same  capital,  yet  at  war  with  each  other.  In  this  unfortunate  situaiion  of 
affairs,  Tamerlane,  after  subduing  all  the  west  of  Tartary  and  Asia,  turned 
his  arms  against  Hindostan,  and  made  an  easy  conquest  of  it.  But  the 
cruel  monster,  not  contented  with  his  victory,  ordered  a  general  massa- 
cre of  the  inhabitants,  in  consequence  of  which,  it  is  said,  that  one  hun- 
dred thousand  of  them  were  murdered  in  one  hour.  In  January,  1399,  he 
defeated  the  Indian  army  with  great  slaughter,  and  soon  after  took  Delhi, 
which  then  consisted  of  three  cities  surrounded  by  walls.  Though  no 
resistance  was  made,  and  of  course  there  was  no  pretence  for  bloodshed, 
yet  a  quarrel  was  fomented  within  a  few  days  by  his  Tartar  soldiers,  who 
pillaged  the  city,  massacred  most  of  the  people,  and  sold  the  rest  for 
slaves.  The  spoils,  in  plate  and  jev/els,  were  immense.  After  this 
dreadful  carnage,  Tamerlane  marched  through  the  other  provinces  of  Hin- 
dostan, defeating  the  Indians  everywhere,  and  slaughteriug  the  wor- 
shippers of  fire.  On  the  25th  of  March,  this  insatiable  conqueror 
retired,  leaving  Mahmud  in  possession  of  the  throne,  and  reserving  only 
Punjab  to  himself. 

The  death  of  Mahmud  III.,  in  1413,  put  an  end  to  the  Patau  dynasty. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Chizer,  a  descendant  of  Mahomet,  and  his  posterity 
continued  to  reign  until  1450,  when  Alia  II.  abdicated  the  throne,  and  Bel- 
loli,  an  Affghan,  took  possession  of  it.  Under  him  a  prince  who  resided 
at  Jionpour,  became  so  formidable,  that  he  left  him  only  the  shadow  of 
authority.  Belloli's  son,  however,  recovered  a  great  part  of  the  empire, 
about  1501,  when  he  made  Agra  his  residence.  In  the  reign  of  Ibraham 
II.,  sultan  Baber,  a  descendant  of  Tamerlane,  conquered  a  considerable 
part  of  the  empire.  His  first  expedition  was  in  1518;  and  in  1525  he 
took  Delhi.  On  the  death  of  Baber,  who  reigned  only  five  years,  his  son 
Humaioon  was  driven  from  the  throne,  and  obliged  to  take  shelter  among 
the  Rajpoot  princes  of  Ajimere.  The  sovereignty  was  usurped  by  Sheer 
Khan,  who  in  1545  was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Cheitou.  His  territories 
extended  from  the  Indus  to  Bengal ;  but  the  government  was  so  unsettled 
that  no  fewer  than  five  sovereigns  succeeded  within  nine  years  after  his 
death.  This  induced  a  strong  party  to  join  in  recalling  Humaioon,  who 
is  said  to  have  been  a  prince  of  great  virtue  and  abilities  ;  but  he  lived 
only  one  year  after  his  return.  Upon  his  death,  in  1555,  his  son  Ackbar, 
one  of  the  greatest  princes  that  ever  reigned  in  Hindostan,  succeeded. 
He  was  then  only  fourteen  years  of  age  ;  but,  during  the  long  reign  of 


332  THE   TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

fifty-one  years,  he  established  the  empire  on  a  more  sure  foundation  than 
it  had  probably  ever  been  before. 

We  are  now  come  to  a  period  when  the  European  powers  began  to  be 
interested  in  the  affairs  of  Hindostan.  The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  had  been 
doubled  in  tlie  reign  of  John  II.,  king  of  Portugal :  Emanuel,  his  suc- 
cessor, equipped  four  ships,  for  the  discovery  of  the  Indian  coast,  and 
g-ave  the  command  to  Vaseo  de  Gama,  who,  having  weathered  several 
storms  in  his  cruise  along  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  landed  in  Hindos- 
tan. after  a  voyage  of  thirteen  months.  This  country,  which  has  since 
been  almost  entirely  reduced  by  war  under  a  foreign  yoke,  was,  at  the 
time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Portuguese,  divided  between  the  kings  of  Cara- 
baya,  Delhi,  Bisnagur,  Narzingua,  and  Calicut,  each  of  which  reckoned 
several  sovereigns  among  their  tributaries.  The  last  of  these  monarchs, 
who  is  better  known  by  the  name  of  zamorin,  which  signifies  emperor, 
possessed  the  most  maritime  states,  and  his  empire  extended  over  all  Mal- 
abar. Vasco  de  Gama  having  informed  himself  of  these  particulars  when 
he  touched  at  Melinda,  hired  an  able  pilot  to  conduct  him  to  that  port  in 
which  trade  was  the  most  flourishing.  Here  he  fortunately  met  with  » 
Moor  of  Tunis,  who  understood  the  Portuguese  language,  and  he  pu 
himself  under  his  direction.  He  procured  Gama  an  audience  of  the  za 
morin,  who  proposed  an  alliance  and  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  the  king 
his  master.  This  was  upon  the  point  of  being  concluded,  when  the  Mus 
sulmen  interfered,  who  so  far  swayed  the  monarch  from  his  purpose,  that 
he  resolved  to  destroy  the  adventurers,  to  whom  he  had  just  before  given 
so  favourable  a  reception.  The  zamorin,  who  wanted  neither  power  nor 
inclination,  wanted  courage  to  put  his  design  into  execution ;  and  Gama 
was  permitted  to  return  to  his  fleet :  he  sailed  for  Lisbon,  which  he  reached 
in  safety,  and  was  received  with  rapturous  joy  by  the  people.  The  pope 
gave  to  Portugal  all  the  coasts  they  should  discover  in  the  east ;  and  a 
second  expedition  soon  after  took  place,  under  the  command  of  Alvarez 
Cabral,  consisting  of  thirteen  vessels.  They  first  visited  Calicut,  where 
fifty  Portuguese  were  massacred  by  the  inhabitants,  through  the  intrigues 
of  the  Moors.  Cabral,  in  revenge,  burnt  all  the  Arabian  vessels  in  the 
harbour,  cannonaded  the  town,  and  then  sailed  to  Cochin,  and  from  thence 
to  Cananor.  The  kings  of  both  these  towns  gave  him  spices,  gold,  and 
silver,  and  proposed  an  alliance  with  him  against  the  zamorin,  to  whom 
tix'iy  were  tributaries.  Other  kings  followed  their  example ;  and  this  in- 
fatuation became  so  general,  that  the  Portuguese  gave  the  law  to  almost 
the  whole  country  of  Malabar.  The  port  of  Lisbon  now  become  the 
grand  mart  of  Indian  commodities.  To  secure  and  extend  these  advan- 
tages, it  was  necessary  to  establish  a  system  of  power  and  commerce. 
With  a  view  to  these  objects,  the  court  of  Portugal  wisely  reposed  its  con- 
fidence in  Alphonso  Albuquerque,  the  most  discerning  of  all  the  Portu- 
guese that  had  been  in  India.  The  new  viceroy  acquitted  himself  beyond 
expectation.  He  fixed  upon  Goa,  where  there  was  a  good  harbour  and 
wholesome  air,  as  an  establishment,  being  situated  in  the  middle  of  Mal- 
abar, belonging  to  the  king  of  the  Deccan ;  and  this  soon  after  became 
the  metropolis  of  all  the  Portuguese  settlements  in  India.  As  the  govern- 
ment soon  changed  its  schemes  of  trade  into  projects  of  conquest,  the 
nation,  which  had  never  been  guided  by  the  true  commercial  spirit,  soon 
assumed  that  of  rapine  and  plunder.  In  reference  to  this  we  may  observe, 
that  of  all  the  conquests  made  by  the  Portuguese  in  India,  they  possess 
at  present  only  Macao,  Diu,  and  Goa  :  and  the  united  importance  of  these 
three  settlements  in  their  intercourse  with  India  and  Portugal  is  very  in- 
considerable. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Drake,  Stephens,  Caven- 
dish, and  some  other  Englisli  navigators,  by  doubling  Cape  Horn,  and  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  reached  India.    The  success  attending  these  first 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  333 

vo5'ages,  was  sufficient  to  determine  some  of  the  principal  merchants  in 
London  to  establish  a  company  in  1600,  which  obtained  an  exclusive  pri- 
vilege of  trading  to  the  East  Indies  for  fifteen  years.  The  funds  of  this 
company  were,  in  the  beginning,  inconsiderable.  They  fitted  out  four 
ships,  which  sailed  in  1601,  under  Lancaster,  an  able  man,  who  arrived 
with  them,  in  1602,  at  the  port  of  Achen,  at  that  time  a  celebrated  mart. 
He  was  received  by  the  king  with  the  highest  marks  of  respect,  and  had 
every  favour  shown  him  that  could  be  wished  for,  to  facilitate  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  advantageous  commerce.  The  English  admiral  was  re- 
ceived at  Bantam  in  the  same  manner  as  at  Achen;  and  a  ship,  which  he 
had  despatched  to  the  Molucca  islands,  brought  him  a  considerable  cargo 
of  cloves  and  nutmegs ;  with  these  valuables  and  pepper,  which  he  took 
in  at  Java  and  Sumatra,  he  returned  safe  to  England.  The  company 
now  determined  to  form  settlements,  but  not  without  the  consent  of  the 
natives.  They  applied  to  James  I.,  for  assistance,  but  obtained  none. 
They,  however,  out  of  their  small  funds,  erected  forts  and  founded  colonies, 
in  the  islands  of  Java,  Poleron,  Amboyna,  and  Banda.  They  likewise 
shared  the  spice  trade  with  the  Dutch,  who  soon  became  jealous  of  their 
rising  prosperity.  They  at  first  proceeded  by  accusations,  equally  void 
of  truth  and  decency,  to  make  the  English  odious  to  the  natives  of  the 
country;  but  these  expedients  not  meeting  with  success,  they  resolved  to 
proceed  to  acts  of  violence  ;  and  the  Indian  ocean  became  t!ie  scene  of 
the  most  bloody  engagements  between  the  maritime  forces  of  the  two  na- 
tions. In  1619,  the  two  companies  signed  a  treaty,  signifying,  that  the  Mo- 
lucca islands,  Amboyna,  and  Banda,  should  belong  in  common  to  both 
nations.  The  Dutch,  however,  not  only  soon  found  means  to  render  the 
treaty  ineffectual,  but  to  drive  the  EngUsh  from  Amboyna.  This  latter 
transaction  was  replete  with  so  much  cruelty,  that  it  will  remain  a  lasting 
stigma  on  the  Dutch  nation.  The  English,  harassed  in  every  mart  by  the 
Dutch,  who  were  bent  on  their  destruction,  were  obliged  to  give  way  to 
their  power.  India  was  totally  forgotten  ;  and  the  company  was  greatly 
reduced  at  the  death  of  Charles  I.  Cromwell,  proud  of  his  success,  and 
sensible  of  his  own  strength,  was  piqued  that  the  republic  of  the  United 
Provinces  should  pretend  to  the  dominion  of  the  sea,  and  declared  war 
against  the  Dutch.  Of  all  the  maritime  wars  which  have  been  recorded 
in  history,  none  were  conducted  with  more  knowledge  and  bravery  ;  none 
have  abounded  with  more  obstinate  and  bloody  engagements.  The  En- 
glish gained  the  superiority,  and  peace  ensued.     But  to  return  : 

Under  Ackbar's  successor,  Jehan  Guire,  the  war  was  faintly  carried  on, 
the  empire  being  disturbed  by  his  rebellious  son  Shah  Jehan,  and  his  coun- 
cils distracted  by  the  influence  of  his  mistress,  Noor  Jehan.  In  this  mon- 
arch's reign,  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  the  first  British  ambassador  at  the  court 
of  Hindostan,  arrived.  Jehan  Guire  died  in  1627,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Shah  Jehan  who  pushed  the  conquest  of  the  Deccan  with  vigour, 
but  in  so  destructive  a  manner,  that  most  of  the  princes  submitted.  A 
war  next  broke  out  with  the  Portuguese,  which  ended  in  their  expulsion 
from  Hoogly.  Shah  Jehan  was  a  debauched  prince ;  and  his  rebellion 
against  his  father  was  retaliated  by  that  of  his  son  Aurungzebe,  who 
dethroned  him,  disguising  his  ambition  under  the  mask  of  religion,  and 
committing  the  greatest  crimes  under  that  pretence.  He  engaged  in  a 
war  with  his  brothers,  Morad  and  Dara,  whom  he  defeated  and  put  to 
death,  and  then  pretended  to  lament  their  misfortune.  He,  however, 
treated  his  father  with  tenderness  till  his  death  in  1666.  From  1660,  when 
Aurungzebe  attained  full  possession  of  the  throne,  till  1678,  a  profound 
tranquillity  prevailed  throughout  the  empire  ;  but  from  a  jealousy 
of  Sevagee,  the  founder  of  the  Mahratta  states,  he  undertook  the  conquest 
of  the  Deccan  ;  and,  having  quelled  a  rebellion  of  the  Patans  beyond  the 
Indus,  he  persecuted  the  Hindoos  so  severely,  that  the  Rajpoot  tribes  in 


334  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

Ajimere  commenced  a  war  against  him.  At  his  death  in  1707,  his  em- 
pire extended  from  10°  to  35°  latitude,  and  nearly  as  many  degrees  in  lon- 
gitude. "  His  revenue,"  says  INIajor  Rennel,  "  exceeded  ^£35,000,000 
sterling,  in  a  country  where  provisions  are  about  four  times  as  cheap  as 
in  England.  But  so  weighty  a  sceptre  could  be  wielded  only  by  a  hand 
like  Aurungzebe's  ;  and,  accordingly,  in  fifty  years  after  his  death,  a  suc- 
cession of  weak  princes  and  wicked  ministers  reduced  this  astonishing 
empire  to  nothing."  He  left  four  sons,  Mausum,  Azcm,  Kaum-Bush.  and 
Ackbar.  This  last  had  rebelled  against  his  father,  and  been  obliged  to  fly 
to  Persia  thirty  years  before.  A  civil  war  commenced  between  Mausum 
and  Azem ;  and  a  decisive  battle  was  fought,  wherein  three  hundred 
thousand  men  were  engaged  on  each  side,  and  Azem  was  defeated  and 
killed.  Mausum  then  assumed  the  title  of  Bahader  Shah,  and,  during 
his  short  reign  of  five  years,  gave  proofs  of  considerable  abilities.  He 
defeated  and  killed  his  brother  Kaum-Bush ;  after  which  he  reduced  the 
seiks,  a  new  set  of  religionists,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Shah  Jehan,  had 
silently  established  themselves  along  the  eastern  mountains,  and  had 
now  taken  up  arms  in  Lahore,  ravaging  the  country  to  the  banks  of  the 
Jumna. 

About  this  time  the  English  East  India  Company  obtained  the  famous 
firman,  or  grant,  by  which  their  goods  of  export  and  import  were  ex- 
empted from  duties.  Furroksere  was  deposed  and  murdered  by  the  bro- 
thers Houssein  and  Abdoolah,  who  set  up  another  emperor  whom  they  also 
deposed  and  murdered  in  the  same  year;  and  thus,  in  eleven  years  after 
Aurungzebe's  death,  eleven  of  his  posterity,  who  had  either  possessed  or 
been  competitors  for  the  throne,  were  exterminated  ;  and  the  government 
declined  so  rapidly,  that  the  empire  seemed  ready  to  fall  to  pieces.  In 
1718,  the  two  brothers  raised  to  the  throne  Mohammed  Shah,  the  grand- 
son of  Bahader:  who,  warned  by  the  fate  of  his  predecessors,  soon  rid 
himself  of  these  two  powerful  subjects,  though  at  the  expense  of  a  civil 
war.  But  new  enemies  started  up.  Nizam  Al  Mulck,  viceroy  of  the 
Deccan,  in  1722,  had  been  offered  the  place  of  vizier,  or  prime  minister, 
but  did  not  accept  it.  Independence  was  his  aim,  and  the  mcreasing 
power  of  the  Mahratlas,  furnished  him  with  a  pretence  for  augmenting 
his  army.  Persuaded  that  he  had  a  party  at  court,  he,  in  1738,  came 
thither,  with  a  great  body  of  armed  followers;  but,  finding  that  the  inter- 
est of  the  emperor  was  still  too  powerful  for  him,  he  invited  the  famous 
Persian  usurper,  Nadir  Shah,  or  Kouli  Khan,  to  invade  Hindostan.  This 
invitation  was  readily  accepted,  and  Nadir  entered  the  country  without 
opposition;  yet,  when  far  advanced  into  Hindostan,  he  considered  the 
issue  of  matters  to  be  so  uncertain,  that  he  off"ered  to  evacuate  the  coun- 
try and  retire  for  fifty  lacks  of  rupees,  about  c£500,000  sterling.  The  in- 
trigues of  the  Nizam  and  his  party  hindered  the  emperor  from  complying 
with  this  demand ;  instead  of  which  he  threw  himself  upon  the  usurper's 
mercy,  who  then  took  possesion  of  Delhi,  and  demanded  a  ransom  of 
jC30,000,000  sterling.  After  a  conference  with  the  emperor.  Nadir  seized 
upon  two  hundred  cannon,  with  some  treasure  and  jewels,  which  he  sent 
off  to  Candahar.  He  then  marched  back  to  Delhi,  where  a  commotion 
arose  about  the  price  of  corn.  While  Nadir  endeavoured  to  quell  it,  a 
shot  was  fired  at  him,  and  narrowly  missed  him ;  upon  which  the  barba- 
rian ordered  a  general  massacre  of  the  inhabitants,  and  slaughtered  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand,  or,  according  to  some,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  persons.  This  was  followed  by  a  seizure  of  all  the  jewels, 
plate,  &c.,  which  could  be  found ;  besides,  exacting  the  .€30,000,000, 
which  was  done  with  the  utmost  rigour. 

In  the  midst  of  these  scenes  Nadir  caused  the  marriage  of  his  son  to 
be  celebrated  with  a  grand-daughter  cf  Aurungzebe,  and  then  took  leave 
of  the  emperor,  with  professions  of  friendship,  on  the  6th  of  May,  1739 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  335 

He  is  said  to  have  carried  off  goods  and  treasure  to  the  value  of 
,£135,000,000  sterling.  Mohammed  had  also  ceded  to  him  all  the  pro- 
vinces of  Hindostan  west  of  the  Indus.  About  the  same  time  the  Rohil- 
las,  a  tribe  from  the  mountams  between  India  and  Persia,  erected  an  inde- 
pendent state  on  the  east  of  the  Ganges,  eighty  miles  from  Delhi.  The 
empire  seemed  now  to  be  running  fast  to  its  dissolution.  Nadir  Shah 
being  murdered,  Abdallah,  one  of  his  generals,  seized  on  the  east  of  Per- 
sia, and  the  acijacent  Indian  provinces  which  Mohammed  Shah  had  ceded 
to  Nadir,  and  formed  them  into  the  kingdom  of  Kandahar.  In  1739.  Mo- 
hammed Shah  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ahmed  ;  during  whose 
reign,  which  lasted  only  six  years,  the  division  of  the  remainder  of  the 
empire  took  place  :  and  nothing  remained  to  the  family  of  Tamerlane  but 
a  small  tract  of  territory  round  Delhi.  In  1748  the  Nizam  Al  Mulck  died, 
at  the  age  of  104,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Nazir  Jung,  to  the  prej- 
udice of  his  elder  brother  Gazi,  vizier  to  the  nominal  emperor.  The  con- 
test that  followed  on  this  occasion,  for  the  throne  of  the  Deccan  and  the 
nabobship  of  Arcot,  first  engaged  the  British  and  French  to  act  as  auxili- 
aries on  opposite  sides.  Immediately  after  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
the  French  commandant,  M.  Dupleix,  began  to  sow  dissension  among 
the  nabobs,  who  had  by  this  time  usurped  the  sovereignty  of  the 
country. 

On  tliis  occasion  Mr.  (afterwards  lord)  Clive  first  appeared  in  a  military 
capacity.  He  had  been  employed  before  as  a  writer,  but  seemed  very 
little  qualified  for  that  department  of  civil  life.  He  now  marched  toward 
Arcot  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  and  ten  Europeans  and  five  hundred 
sepoys  ;  and  in  his  first  expedition  displayed  the  qualities  of  a  great  com- 
mander. His  movements  were  conducted  with  such  secresy  and  dis- 
patch, that  he  made  himself  master  of  the  enemy's  capital  before  they 
knew  of  his  march ;  and  gained  the  affections  of  the  people  by  his  gener- 
osity, in  affording  protection  without  ransom.  In  a  short  time,  however, 
he  found  himself  invested  in  fort  St.  David's  by  rajah  Saib,  son  to  Chunda 
Saib,  an  Indian  chief,  pretender  to  the  nabobship  of  Arcot,  at  the  head  of 
a  numerous  army;  the  operations  of  the  siege  being  conducted  by  Euro- 
pean engineers.  But  Mr.  Clive,  having  intelligence  of  the  intended  attack, 
defended  himself  with  such  vigour,  that  the  assailants  were  everywhere 
repulsed  with  loss,  and  obliged  precipitately  to  raise  the  siege.  He  then 
marched  in  quest  of  the  enemy;  and,  having  overtaken  them  in  the  plains 
of  A  rani,  attacked  and  entirely  defeated  them.  This  victory  was  followed 
by  the  surrender  of  the  forts  of  Timery,  Coiijaveram,  and  Arani ;  after 
which,  he  returned  in  triumph  to  fort  St.  David's.  In  the  beginning  of 
1752,  he  marched  toward  Madras,  where  he  was  reinforced  by  a  small 
body  of  troops  from  Bengal.  Though  the  whole  did  not  exceed  three 
hundred  Europeans,  with  as  many  natives  as  were  sufficient  to  give  the 
appearance  of  an  army,  he  boldly  proceeded  to  a  place  called  Koveripank, 
about  fifteen  miles  from  Arcot,  where  the  enemy  lay  to  the  number  of 
one  thousand  five  hundred  sepoys,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  horse, 
with  one  hundred  and  fifty  Europeans,  and  eight  pieces  of  cannon.  Vic- 
tory was  long  doubtful,  until  Mr.  Clive  having  sent  round  a  detachment 
to  fall  upon  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  while  the  English  attacked  the  en- 
trenchments in  front  with  their  bayonets,  a  general  confusion  ensued, 
the  enemy  was  routed  with  considerable  slaughter,  and  only  saved  from 
total  destruction  by  the  darkness  of  the  night.  The  French  to  a  man  threw 
down  their  arms  on  this  occasion,  and  surrendered  themselves  prisoners 
of  war;  all  the  baggage  and  cannon  falling  at  the  same  time  into  the 
hands  of  the  victors. 

M.  Dupleix,  mortified  at  this  bad  success,  proclaimed  rajah  Saib,  son  of 
Chunda  Saib,  nabob  of  Arcot ;  and  afterwards  produced  forged  commis- 
sions from  the  great  Mogul,  appointing  him  governor  of  ail  the  Carnatic 


336 


THE  TEEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


from  the  Kristnah  to  the  sea.  To  carry  on  this  deception,  a  messenger 
pretended  to  come  from  Delhi,  and  was  received  with  all  the  pomp  of  an 
ambassador  from  the  great  IMogul.  Diipleix,  mounted  on  an  elephant  and 
preceded  by  music  and  dancing  women,  after  the  oriental  fashion,  re- 
ceived his  commission  from  the  hands  of  this  imposler;  after  which  he 
affected  the  state  of  an  eastern  prince;  kept  his  durbas  at  court,  appeared 
sitting  cross-legged  on  a  sofa,  and  received  presents  as  sovereign  of  the 
country,  from  his  own  council  as  well  from  the  natives.  'JWius  the  forces 
of  the  English  and  French  Kast  India  companies  were  engaged  in  a  course 
of  hostilities,  under  the  title  of  auxiliaries  to  the  contending  parties  at  a 
lime  when  no  war  existed  between  the  two  nations.  Next  year  both  par- 
ties received  considerable  reinforcements ;  the  English  by  the  arrival  of 
Admiral  Watson  with  a  squadron  of  ships  of  war,  having  on  board  a  regi- 
ment commanded  by  Colonel  Aldercroon  ;  and  the  FVench  by  M.  Gadeheu, 
commissary  and  governor-general  of  all  their  settlements,  on  whose  arri- 
val M.  Dupleix  departed  for  Europe ;  and  a  provisional  treaty  and  truce 
were  concluded,  on  condition  that  neither  of  the  two  companies  should 
for  the  future  interfere  in  any  of  the  difTercnces  that  might  take  place  in 
the  country.  Matters,  however,  did  not  long  continue  in  a  state  of  tran- 
quillity. Early  in  1755,  it  appeared  that  the  French  were  endeavouring 
to  get  possession  of  all  the  Deccan.  M.  Hussy,  the  successor  of  Dupleix, 
demanded  the  fortress  of  (iolconda,  from  Salabat  Zing  ;  and  M.  Leyrit 
encouraged  the  governor  who  rented  Velu  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
nabob.  He  even  sent  three  hundred  French  and  as  many  sepoys  from 
Pondicherry  to  support  this  rebel,  and  oppose  the  English  employed 
by  the  nabob  to  collect  his  revenues  from  the  tributary  princes. 

Aliverdi  Khan,  an  able  and  prudent  subahdar,  who  had  for  fifteen  years 
been  nabob  of  Bengal,  Bahar,  and  Orissa,  having  d^ed  in  1756,  Surajah 
Dowla  succeeded  to   the   nabobship.     He   was  congratulated    upon  his 
accession  by  Mr.  Drake,  the  English  president  at  Calcutta,  and  readily 
promised  protection  to  his  countrymen  ;  but  he  soon  after  took  offence  at 
the  imprisoment  of  Omichund,  an  eminent  Gentoo  merchant,  who  had 
lived  several  years  under  the  protection  of  the  English  government.     Of 
this  circumstance,  however,  Surajah  did  not  directly  complain  ;  but  found- 
ed his  pretence  of  war  upon  the  conduct  of  the  English  in  repairing  the 
fortifications   of  Calcutta ;  which  indeed  was   absolutely  necessary,  on 
account  of  the  great  probability  of  a  war  with  the  French.     The  nabob, 
however,  threatened  an  attack  if  the  works  were  not  instantly  abolished. 
With  this  requisition  the  president  and  council  pretended  to  comply  :  but 
they  nevertheless  went  on  with  them.     Surajah  Dowla  took  the  field  on 
the  30th  of  ]\Iay,  1756,  with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  foot,  thirty  thous- 
and horse,  and  four  hundred  elephants  ;  and  on  the  2d  of  June,  detatched 
twenty  thousand  men  to  invest  the  fort  of  Cassumbazar,  a  large  town  on 
an  island  formed  by  the  west  branch  of  the  Ganges.     This  fort  was  regu- 
larly built,  with  sixty  cannon,  and  defended  by  three  hundred  men,  princi- 
pally sepoys.     The  nabob  pretending  a  desire  to  treat,  Mr.  Watts,  the 
chief  of  the  factory,  was  persuaded  to  put  himself  in  his  power ;  which 
he  had  no  sooner  done,  than  he  was  made  a  close  prisoner,  along  with 
Mr.  Batson,  a  surgeoii,  who  accompanied  him.     The  two  prisoners  were 
treated  with  great  indignity,  and  threatened  with  death  ;  but  two  of  the 
council  who  had  been  sent  for  by  the  tyrant's  command  were  sent  back 
again,  with  orders  to  persuade  the  people  of  the  factory  to  surrender  at 
discretion.     This  proposal  met  with  great  opposition ;  but   was   at  last 
complied  with,  though  very  little  to  the  advantage  of  the  prisoners  ;  for 
they  were  not  only  deprived  of  every  thing  they  possessed,  hut  stripped 
almost  naked,  and  sent  to  Hoogl}%  where  they  were  closely  confined. 
The  nabob,  encouraged  by  this  success,  marched  directly  to  Calcutta, 
which  he  invested  on  the  15th 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  337 

Tt  was  impossible  that  the  garrison  could  long  defend  themselves  against 
tlie  great  force  brought  against  it ;  little  or  no  attempt  was  therefore  made 
at  resistance  :  the  fort  was  consequently  soon  taken,  and  the  effects  of 
the  factory  destroyed.  Many  of  the  English  escaped  in  boats  and  ships 
down  the  river,  but  many  were  taken ;  of  these,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six  were  confined  for  the  night  in  a  room  twenty  feet  square,  named  the 
Blackhole,  and  which  the  English  had  made  for  a  place  of  confinement. 
The  dreadful  heat  and  want  of  air  quickly  deprived  some  of  existence ; 
others  lost  their  reason,  and  expired  raving  mad ;  their  entreaties  and 
offers  of  money  to  their  guards  to  give  them  water,  or  to  remove  them, 
were  mocked  at  or  disregarded ;  and  when  the  door  of  the  dungeon  was 
opened  next  morning,  only  twenty-three  were  taken  out  alive.  Having 
plundered  the  town,  Surajah  Dowla  departed,  leaving  in  it  a  garrison  of 
three  thousand  men.  The  news  of  this  disaster  put  an  end  to  the  expe- 
dition projected  against  M.  Bussy ;  and  Colonel  Clive  was  iiistantly  de- 
spatched to  Bengal  with  four  hundred  Europeans  and  one  thousand  sepoys, 
on  board  of  the  fleet  commanded  by  Admiral  Watson.  They  did  not  ar- 
rive till  the  15th  of  December,  at  a  village  called  Fulta,  situated  on  a 
branch  of  the  Ganges,  where  the  inhabitants  of  Calcutta  had  taken  refuge 
after  their  misfortune.  Their  first  operations  were  against  the  forts  of 
Busbudgia,  Tanna,  Fort  William,  and  Calcutta,  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  All  these  were  reduced  almost  as  soon  as  they  approached  them. 
Hoogly,  the  place  of  rendezvous  for  all  nations  who  traded  to  Bengal,  (its 
warehouses  and  shops  being  always  filled  with  the  richest  merchandize 
of  the  country),  was  likewise  reduced  and  destroyed,  with  its  granaries 
and  store-houses  of  salt  on  each  side  of  the  river;  which  proved  very 
detrimental  to  the  nabob,  by  depriving  him  of  the  means  of  subsistence 
for  his  army. 

Surajah  Dowla,  enraged  at  the  success  of  the  English,  now  seemed  de- 
termined to  crush  them  at  once  by  a  general  engagement.  '  From  this, 
however,  he  was  intimidated  by  a  successful  attack  on  his  camp,  which 
induced  him  to  conclude  a  treaty,  on  the  9th  of  February,  1757,  on  the 
following  conditions: — 1.  That  the  privileges  granted  to  the  English  by 
the  Mogul  should  not  be  disputed: — 2.  That  all  goods  with  English  orders 
should  pass  by  land  or  water,  free  of  any  tax: — 3.  All  the  company's  fac- 
tories which  had  been  seized  by  the  nabob  should  bo  restored ;  and  the 
goods,  money,  and  effects  accounted  for: — 4.  That  the  English  should 
have  liberty  to  fortify  Calcutta  ;  and  5.  To  coin  their  own  gold  and  silver. 
As  intelligence  was  now  received  of  a  war  between  France  and  England, 
an  attack  was  meditated  on  Chandernagore.  It  remained,  therefore,  only 
to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  nabob;  but,  in  ten  days  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  treaty,  he  sent  a  letter  to  Admiral  Watson,  complaining  of  his  in- 
tention, and  surmising  that  the  English  designed  to  turn  their  arms  against 
him  as  soon  as  they  made  themselves  masters  of  Chandernagore.  This 
was  strenuously  denied  by  the  admiral ;  and  a  number  of  letters  passed, 
m  which  the  latter  made  use  of  expressions  which  were  supposed  to  im- 
ply a  tacit  consent  that  Chandernagore  should  be  attacked.  An  attack  was 
therefore  made,  and  it  soon  capitulated.  This  intelligence,  however, 
seemed  to  be  by  no  means  agreeable  to  Surajah  Dowla.  He  pretended 
displeasure  on  account  of  the  English  infringing  the  treaties,  and  com- 
plained that  they  had  ravaged  some  parts  of  his  dominions.  This  was 
denied  by  the  admiral ;  but  from  this  time  both  parties  made  preparation? 
for  war.  The  nabob  returned  no  answer  till  the  ]3th  of  June,  when  he 
sent  a  declaration  of  war.  The  English  council  at  Calcutta  now  resolved 
on  the  deposition  of  the  nabob;  which  at  this  time  appeared  practicable, 
by  supporting  the  pretensions  of  Meer  JafRer  Ali  Cawn,  who  had  entered 
into  a  conspiracy  against  him.  Meer  Jaflier  had  married  the  sister  of 
Cilverdi  Cawn,  the  predecessor  of  Surajah ;  and  was  now  supported  in 
22 


338  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

his  pretensions  by  the  general  of  the  horse,  and  by  Jugget  Sect,  the  na- 
bob's banker,  the  richest  merchant  in  all  India- 
Colonel  Clive  began  his  march  against  Surajah  Dowla  on  the  13th  of 
tune.  The  decisive  action  at  Plassey  followed  (June  23),  in  which  the 
treachery  of  Meer  Jaffier,  who  comanded  part  of  the  nabob's  troops, 
stood  neuter  during  the  engagement,  and  rendered  the  victory  easy.  At 
daybreak  the  nabob's  army  of  fifteen  thousand  horse  and  fifteen  thousand 
foot,  advanced  to  attack  the  Knglish.  Clive's  troops  were  posted  in  a 
grove  defended  by  mud-banks.  After  cannonading  them  till  noon,  the 
enemy  retired  to  their  fortified  camp  ;  and  shortly  after,  Clive  stormed  an 
angle  of  it,  put  them  to  the  rout,  and  pursued  them  for  a  space  of  six 
miles.  The  unfortuuate  nabob  (led  to  his  capital,  but  left  it  the  following 
evening  disguised  like  a  faquir,  with  only  two  attendants.  By  these  he 
appears  to  have  been  abandoned  and  even  robbed  ;  for  on  the  3rd  of  July 
he  was  found  wandering  forsaken  and  almost  naked  on  the  road  to  Patna. 
Next  day  he  was  brought  back  to  Muxadabad,  and  a  few  hours  after  pri- 
vately beheaded  by  Meer  JafiTier's  eldest  son.  Meer  Jaffier  and  his  En- 
glish allies  now  took  possession  of  the  capital  in  triumph.  On  the  29lh 
of  June,  Colonel  Clive  went  to  the  palace,  and,  in  presence  of  the  rajahs 
and  grandees  of  the  court,  solemnly  handed  him  to  the  musnud  (or  car- 
pet) and  throne  of  state,  where  he  was  unanimously  saluted  subahdar, 
or  nabob,  and  received  the  submission  of  all  present.  While  these  trans- 
actions were  going  forward,  the  utmost  efforts  were  used  to  expel  the 
French  entirely  from  Bengal.  It  had  all  along,  indeed,  been  the  opinion 
of  Clive  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  French  and  English  to  co-exist  in 
India. 

Both  parties  now  received  considerable  reinforcements  from  Europe  ; 
Admiral  Pocock  was  joined  by  Commodore  Stevens  with  five  men-of-war 
and  two  frigates ;  while  a  squadron  was  sent  from  France  having  on 
board  General  Lally  with  a  large  body  of  troops.  The  British  admiral 
went  in  quest  of  the  French  fleet,  and  an  engagement  took  place,  in 
which  the  French  were  defeated  with  the  loss  of  six  hundred  killed  and  a 
great  number  wounded.  In  the  treaty  concluded  by  Clive  with  the  new 
subahdar,  it  was  stipulated  thai  one  hundred  lacs  of  rupees  should  be  paid 
to  the  East  India  Company  for  their  losses  and  the  expenses  of  the  cam- 
paign, with  compensation  to  all  the  sufferers  at  the  taking  of  Calcutta: 
the  company  was  also  to  have  the  zemindary,  (or  right  of  farming  the 
produce  of  the  soil  claimed  by  the  crown)  of  a  tract  of  country  to  the 
south  of  that  city.  The  subahdar  was  also  profuse  in  his  donations  to 
those  to  whom  he  was  indebted  for  his  throne.  His  gifts  to  Clive  amounted 
tOi£l80,000;  and  however  much  the  latter  may  have  been  censured  at 
the  time  for  receiving  a  reward  from  the  subahdar,  he  was  justified  by  the 
usages  of  Asia,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  he  should  refuse  a 
gift  from  the  prince  whom  he  had  so  greatly  benefitted. 

The  remainder  of  the  year  1759  proved  entirely  favourable  to  the  Bri- 
tish arms.  D'Ache,  the  French  admiral,  who  had  been  very  roughly 
handled  by  Admiral  Pocock  on  the  3rd  of  August,  1758,  having  refitted  his 
fleet,  and  being  reinforced  by  three  men-of-war  at  the  islands  of  Mauri- 
tius and  Bourbon,  now  ventured  once  more  to  face  his  antagonist.  A 
third  battle  ensued  on  the  10th  of  September,  1759,  when  the  French,  not- 
withstanding their  superiority  both  in  number  of  ships  and  weight  of 
metal,  were  obliged  to  retreat  with  considerable  loss,  having  fifteen  hun- 
dred men  killed  and  v.-ounded,  while  those  on  board  the  English  fleet  did 
not  exceed  five  hundred  and  seventy.  By  the  17th  of  October  the  British 
fleet  was  completely  refitted  ;  and  Admiral  Pocock,  having  been  joined  by 
a  reinforcement  of  four  men-of-war,  soon  after  returned  to  England.  All 
this  time  the  unfortunate  General  Lally  had  been  employed  in  unsuccess- 
ful endeavours  to  retrieve  the  affairs  of  his  countrymen  :  but  his  fate  was 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  339 

At  last  decided  by  laying  siege  to  Wandewash,  which  had  lately  been 
taken  by  Colonel  Coote.  The  advantage  in  number  was  entirely  in  favour 
of  the  French  general ;  the  British  army  consisting  only  of  seventeen 
hundred  Europeans,  including  artillery  and  cavalry,  while  the  French 
amounted  to  two  thousand  two  hundred  Europeans.  The  auxiliaries  on 
the  English  side  were  three  thousand  black  troops,  while  those  of  the 
French  amounted  to  ten  thousand  black  troops  and  three  hundred  Catfres  ; 
nor  was  the  difference  less  in  proportion  in  the  artillery,  the  English  bring- 
ing into  the  field  only  fourteen  pieces  of  cannon  and  one  howitzer,  wiiile  the 
French  had  twenty-five  pieces  in  the  field  and  five  on  their  batteries  against 
the  fort.  The  battle  began  at  noon  (January  22,  1760),  and  in  three  hours 
the  whole  French  army  fled  toward  their  camp  ;  but  quitted  it  on  finding 
themselves  pursued  by  the  English,  who  took  all  their  cannon  except 
three  small  pieces.  They  collected  themselves  under  the  walls  of  Chel- 
taput,  about  eighteen  miles  from  the  field  of  battle,  and  soon  after  retired 
to  Pondicherry. 

Colonel  Coote  novv  caused  the  country  to  be  wasted  to  the  very  gates 
of  this  fortress,  by  way  of  retaliation  for  what  the  French  had  done  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Madras.  He  then  set  about  the  siege  of  Cheltaput, 
which  surrendered  in  one  day ;  a  considerable  detachment  of  the  enemy 
was  intercepted  by  Captain  JSmith ;  the  fort  of  Timcry  was  reduced  by 
Major  Monson,  and  the  city  of  Arcot  by  Captain  Wood.  This  last  con- 
quest enabled  the  Brilisli  to  restore  the  nabob  to  his  dominions,  of  whii-Ii 
he  had  been  deprived  by  the  French,  and  it  weakened  both  the  French  force 
and  interest  in  India.  M.  Lally,  in  the  meantime,  had  called  his  forces 
from  Syringham,  by  which  means  he  augmented  his  army  with  five  hun- 
dred Europeans.  These  were  now  shut  up  in  Pondicherry,  which  was 
the  last  hope  of  the  French  in  India.  To  complete  their  misfortunes, 
Admiral  Cornish  arrived  at  Madras  with  six  men-of-war;  and,  as  the 
P'rench  had  now  no  fleet  in  these  parts,  the  admiral  readily  engaged  to  co- 
operate with  the  land  forces.  The  consequence  was  the  reduction  of  Car- 
ical,  Chellambrum,  and  Verdachellum,  by  a  strong  detachment  under  Ma- 
jor Monson ;  while  Colonel  Coote  reduced  Permacoil,  Almamverpa,  and 
Waldour.  He  was  thus  at  last  enabled  to  lay  siege  to  Pondicherry  itself; 
and  the  place  capitulated  on  the  15th  of  January,  1701,  by  which  an  end 
was  put  to  the  power  of  the  French  in  this  part  of  the  world. 

While  the  British  were  thus  emyloyed,  Meer  Jaflier,  the  nabob  of  Ben- 
gal, who  had  been  raised  to  that  dignity  by  the  ruin  of  Surajah  Dowla, 
found  himself  in  a  very  disagreeable  situation.  The  treasure  of  the  late 
nabob  had  been  valued  at  sixty-four  crore  of  rupees  (about  c£80,000,000 
sterling),  and  in  expectation  of  this  sum,  Meer  Jaffier  had  submitted  to 
the  exactions  of  the  English.  On  his  accession  to  the  government,  how- 
ever, the  treasure  of  which  he  became  master  fell  so  much  short  of  ex- 
pectation, that  he  could  not  fulfil  his  engagements  to  them,  and  was  re- 
duced to  the  extremity  of  mortgaging  his  revenues.  In  this  dilemma 
his  grandees  became  factious  and  discontented,  his  army  mutinous  for  ^vant 
of  pay,  and  himself  odious  to  his  subjects.  To  tliis  it  may  be  added,  that 
Mr.  Vansittart,  the  successor  of  Clive,  who  knew  but  little  of  the  merits 
of  the  respective  parties,  was  willing  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  Cossiin 
Ali,  the  nabob's  son-in-law,  for  his  dethronement;  by  wliich  the  provin- 
ces of  Burdwan,  INIidnapore,  and  Chittagong,  were  to  be  made  over  to 
the  company,  and  large  rewards  given  to  the  members  of  council.  Meer 
Cossim  was  accordingly  raised  to  the  musnud  ;  and  the  old  nabob  hurried 
into  a  boat  with  a  few  of  his  domestics  and  necessaries,  and  sent  away 
to  Calcutta  in  a  manner  wholly  unworthy  of  the  high  rank  he  so  lately 
held.  So  unblushingly,  indeed,  was  the  whole  of  this  affair  conducted, 
that  the  servants  of  the  company,  who  were  the  projectors  of  the  revolu- 
tion, made  no  secret  that  there  was  a  present  promised  them  of  twenty 


340  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

lacs  of  rupees  from  Cossiin,  who  was  desirous  of  making  the  firsJ  act 
of  his  power  the  assassination  of  Jaffior;  and  was  very  much  dis- 
pleased wlien  he  found  that  the  English  intended  giving  him  protectinn  at 
Calcutta. 

It  could  scarcely  be  supposed  that  Meer  Cossim,  raised  to  the  nabobship 
in  this  manner,  would  be  more  faithful  to  the  ICnglish  than  Meer  Jaflier 
had  been.  Notiiing  advantageous  to  the  interests  of  the  company  could 
indeed  be  reasonably  expected  from  such  a  revolution.  No  successor  of 
Meer  Jaffier  could  be  more  entirely  in  sutijection  than  tlie  late  nabob,  from 
his  natural  imbecility,  had  been-  This  last  consideration  had  induced 
many  of  the  council  at  first  to  oppose  the  revolution  ;  and  ir.-leed  the 
jnly  plausible  pretence  for  it  was,  tiiat  the  administration  of  Meer  Jaffier 
was  so  very  weak,  that,  unless  he  was  aided  and  even  controlled  by  some 
persons  of  ability,  he  himself  must  soon  be  ruined,  and  very  probably  the 
interests  of  the  company  along  with  him.  Meer  Cossim,  however,  was  a 
man  of  very  different  disposition  from  his  father-in-law.  As  he  knew  he 
had  not  been  served  by  tlie  Knglish  out  of  friendship,  so  he  did  not  think 
of  making  any  return  out  of  gratitude  ;  but,  instead  of  this,  considered 
only  how  he  could  most  easily  break  with  such  troublesome  allies.  For 
a  while,  however,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  take  all  the  advantage  he 
could  of  his  alliance  with  them.  By  their  assistance  he  cleared  his  do- 
minions of  invaders,  and  strengthened  his  frontiers,  and  he  reduced  the 
rajahs  who  had  rebelled  against  his  predecessor,  obliging  them  to  pay  the 
usual  tribute ;  by  which  means  he  repaired  his  finances,  and  thereby  se- 
cured the  fidelity  of  his  troops. 

Having  thus,  by  the  assistance  of  the  English,  brought  his  government 
into  subjection,  he  took  the  most  efl'^ectual  means  of  securing  himself 
against  their  power.  As  the  vicinity  of  his  capital,  Muxadabad,  to  Cal- 
cutta, gave  the  Englisli  factory  there  an  opportunity  of  inspecting  his 
actions,  and  interrupting  his  designs  when  they  thought  proper,  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Mongheer,  a  place  two  hundred  miles  farther  up  the 
Ganges,  which  he  fortified  in  the  best  and  most  expeditious  manner. 
Sensible  of  the  advantages  of  the  European  discipline,  he  now  resolved 
to  new-model  his  army.  For  this  purpose  he  collected  all  the  Armenian, 
Persian,  Tartar,  and  other  soldiers  of  foriune,  whose  military  characters 
might  serve  to  raise  the  spirits  of  his  Indian  forces,  and  abate  their  natural 
timidity.  He  also  collected  all  the  wandering  Europeans  who  had  borne 
arms,  and  the  sepoys  who  had  been  dismissed  from  the  English  service, 
and  distributed  them  among  his  troops.  He  changed  the  fashion  of  the 
Indian  matchlocks  to  muskets,  and  made  many  excellent  improvements 
in  the  discipline  of  his  army.  But  it  was  soon  discovered  that  all  the 
pains  taken  by  Meer  Cossim  to  discipline  his  troops  had  not  rendered 
them  able  to  cope  with  the  Europeans.  Several  acts  of  treacherous  hos- 
tility on  his  part  was  followed  by  a  formal  declaration  of  war  ;  and  several 
engagements  took  place,  in  all  of  which  the  British  arm)'  proved  victori 
ous,  and  Cossim's  army  retreated.  His  active  enemy  accordingly  pene- 
trated into  the  heart  of  his  territories,  crossed  the  numerous  branches  of 
the  Ganges,  and  traversed  morasses  and  forests  in  search  of  the  native 
foe.  At  length  the  two  armies  met  on  the  banks  of  a  river  called  Nunas 
Nullas,  August  2,  1763.  Cossim  had  chosen  his  post  with  great  judgment, 
and  his  forces  had  much  of  the  appearance  of  an  European  arm)%  not 
onlj''  in  their  arms  and  accoutrements,  but  in  their  division  into  brigades, 
and  even  in  their  clothing.  The  battle  was  more  obstinate  than  usual, 
being  continued  for  four  hours  :  but  though  the  Indian  armj'  consisted  oJ 
no  fewer  than  twenty  thousand  horse  and  eight  thousand  foot,  the  English 
proved  in  the  end  victorious,  and  the  enemy  was  obliged  to  quit  the  field 
with  the  loss  of  all  their  cannon.  Meer  Cossim  was  subdued  and  deposed, 
and  Meer  Jaffier  once  more  seated  on  the  rousnnd.     His  reign  was,  how- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  34I 

ever,  very  short ;  and  on  his  death  the  council  of  Calcutta  raised  to  it  his 
oon,  Nujum-ud-Dowla,  making  him  pay,  as  usual,  a  large  sum  for  his  ele- 
vation. 

The  hig;h  character  which  Lord  Clive  had  already  gained  in  the  East 
justly  marked  him  out  for  the  government  of  India  ;  and  on  the  3d  of  May, 
1765,  he  landed,  with  full  powers  as  commander-in-chief,  president,  and 
governor  of  Bengal.  He  remained  in  India  about  two  years,  during  which 
period  he  effected  the  most  desirable  reformations  in  both  the  civil  and 
military  departments.  Sujah-ad-Dowla,  subahdarof  Oude,  and  the  nom- 
inal emperor  of  Delhi,  Shah  Alem  II.,  having  assisted  Meer  Cossim,  the 
English  marched  against  them.  Allahabad  and  Lucknow  were  taken. 
The  nabob  was  glad  to  purchase  peace  by  paying  the  expenses  of  the  war, 
and  the  emperor  conferred  upon  the  iMiglish  the  revenue  of  Bengal,  Ba- 
har,  and  Orissa,  and  his  imperial  confirmation  of  all  the  territories  con- 
quered by  them  within  the  nominal  extent  of  the  Mogul  empire.  The 
East  India  Company  had  now  acquired  territory  equal  in  extent  to  the 
most  flourishing  kingdom  of  Europe  ;  and  from  this  date.  a.  d.  1765,  com- 
mences the  recognized  sovereignty  of  the  English  in  Hindostan.  It  is 
wortliy  of  notice  that,  although  actually  independent,  the  great  subahdars 
continued  to  the  last  moment  of  the  empire  to  solicit  imperial  firmans  or 
patents  from  the  court  of  Delhi,  confirming  them  in  the  power  they  already 
possessed.  In  the  south  of  India,  besides  the  real  authority  in  the  Car- 
natic,  the  English  had  received  the  northern  circars  in  grant  from  the 
Nizam,  on  condition  of  furnishing  a  body  of  troops  in  time  of  war.  This 
alliance  involved  them  in  a  series  of  contests  with  Ilyder  Ali,  who  had 
made  himself  sultan  of  the  Hindu  state  of  Mysore.  Tlie  political  impor- 
tance acquired  by  the  East  India  Company  induced  the  government  of 
Great  Britain,  to  claim  a  share  in  the  administration  of  the  Indian  territo- 
ries ;  and  in  1773  it  was  determined  in  parliament,  that  all  civil  and  mili- 
tary correspondence  should  be  submitted  to  the  king's  ministers  ;  that  a 
supreme  court  of  judicature  should  be  sent  out  from  England;  and  that 
the  three  presidencies  should  be  subject  to  a  governor-general  and  council, 
the  former  to  be  approved  of  by  the  king. 

Warren  Hastings,  the  first  governor-general,  found  the  company's  finan- 
ces in  India  much  embarrassed,  and  a  general  confederation  against  the 
English  in  progress  amongst  the  native  powers.  Notwithstanding  violent 
opposition  in  his  council,  he  conducted  the  government  through  its  diffi 
culties,  repulsed  Hyder,  humbled  the  Mahrattas,  and  obtained  from  Asef- 
ad-Dowla,  the  subahdar  of  Oude,  the  zemindary  of  Benares.  On  his 
return  to  England,  Warren  Hastings  was  impeached  by  the  house  of  com- 
mons for  corruption  and  oppression,  and  tried  before  the  house  of  lords. 
The  trial,  owing  to  frequent  interruptions,  was  protracted  for  seven  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  he  was  honourably  acquitted.  The  proceedings, 
however,  are  not  necessary  to  be  here  dwelt  upon,  as  they  belong  more 
especially  to  the  parliamentary  history  of  England.  During  his  twelve 
years'  government  in  India,  Warren  Hastings  had  raised  the  revenue  to 
double  its  previous  amount;  but  he  had  added  twelve  millions  and  a  half 
to  the  debt  of  the  Company. 

Lord  Cornwallis  succeeded  as  governor-general  in  1786,  The  relations 
between  the  British  government  and  those  of  Lucknow  and  Hyderabad, 
were  revised  and  strengthened  ;  and  in  a  war  with  Tippoo  Saib,  who  had 
succeeded  Hyder  in  the  principality  of  Mysore,  Lord  Cornwallis  defeated 
his  armies,  and  besieged  his  capital,  Seringapatam.  The  sultan,  to  ob- 
tain peace,  gave  up  considerable  territory  to  the  British.  It  was  under 
the  administration  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  who  was  possessed  of  first  rate 
qualities  for  this  office,  that  the  principal  judicial  and  revenue  regulations, 
still  in  force,  were  enacted,  particularly  the  perpetual  settlement  of  the 
revenue  of  Bengal  with  the  zemindars.     In  1793  Lord  Cornwallis  returned 


342  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

to  England,  and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  John  Shore;  but  the  pacific  sy» 
tern  of  policy  followed  by  liim  forfeited  that  conisideiation  which  lh(; 
British  government  held  in  his  predecessor's  lin.e  amongst  the  native 
states.  In  1798  he  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Monnngton,  afterwards  mar- 
quis of  Wellesley.  Tippoo  had  greatly  augmented  his  army,  and  many 
severe  battles  had  l)een  fought  between  bin'  and  the  British,  but  wiihoux 
humbling  iiis  tone,  or  much  disminishing  his  power.  For  several  years 
in  fact,  the  affairs  of  India  had  continued  ir.  a  state  of  doubtful  tranquillity 
The  jealousy  of  the  British  was  at  length  justly  aroused  by  a  proclama 
tion  of  the  French  governor  of  the  isle  of  France,  in  1798,  which  openly 
mentioned  an  alliance  formed  between  Tippoo  and  tl>e  French  republic 
for  the  destruction  of  tlie  British  power  in  India.  The  governor-general 
on  this,  demanded  an  explanation  of  him,  which  being  evasive  and  evi- 
dently intended  to  procrastinate  our  ifiilitary  operations,  the  reduction  of 
the  fort  of  Seringapatam  was  immediately  resolved  on.  After  having 
been  repulsed,  with  considerable  loss,  in  an  attack  of  the  Bombay  array 
under  General  Stuart,  Tippoo  Saib  retreated  to  Seringapatam.  The  main 
army,  under  General  Harris,  consisted  of  thirty-one  thousand  men,  be- 
side the  Nizam's  cavalry,  all  completely  eqnijjpcd  :  that  under  General 
Stuart  was  equally  efficient.  On  the  3rd  of  April  the  army  came  within 
sight  of  Seringapatam,  took  its  position  on  the  5th,  and  on  the  6th  the 
principal  outposts  were  in  possession  of  the  British.  Several  letters  pass- 
ed, and  on  the  20th  General  Harris  received  an  overture  of  peace  from 
Tippoo,  which  he  answered,  on  the  22d,  with  a  draft  of  preliminaries;  but 
the  terms  were  too  severe  for  the  enemy  to  accept.  (3n  the  2d  of  May, 
therefore,  the  British  batteries  began  to  open,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day 
a  breach  was  made  in  the  faussebray  wall ;  the  main  rampart  was  shat- 
tered ;  and,  to  complete  the  misfortune  of  the  besieged,  a  shot  having 
struck  their  magazine,  it  blew  up  with  a  dreadful  explosion.  The  breach 
being  thought  practicable,  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  !\Iay,  four  thousand 
men  were  stationed  in  the  trenches  before  day-break.  The  assault  was  led 
on  by  General  Baird,  and  began  at  one  o'clock.  In  six  minutes  the  for- 
lorn hope  had  reached  the  summit  of  the  breach,  where  the  British  col- 
ours were  instantly  planted.  In  a  few  minutes,  the  breach,  which  was 
one  hundred  feet  wide,  was  crowded  with  men.  After  a  short  conflict  the 
panic  became  general  in  the  fort ;  thousands  quitted  it,  and  others  laid 
down  their  arms.  A  flag  of  truce  was  soon  after  sent  to  the  palace  of 
the  sultan,  offering  protection  to  him  and  his  friends  upon  surrendering 
unconditionally.  The  young  prince  surrendered  to  General  Baird,  and 
the  body  of  Tippoo  was  afterward  found  in  the  gateway  of  the  fort,  lying 
among  heaps  of  slain,  covered  with  wounds.  His  dominions  were  now 
partitioned  among  his  conquerors,  and  the  Mahrattas  were  admitted  to  a 
share,  from  motives  of  policy,  though  they  had  taken  no  part  in  the  war. 
A  descendant  of  the  ancient  rajahs  of  Mysore,  about  five  years  old,  was 
sought  out  and  placed  on  the  throne  with  great  ceremony,  under  certain 
conditions :  and  the  sons  and  relations  of  Tippoo  were  removed  to  the 
Carnatic.  Thus  terminated  one  of  the  most  important  wars  in  which  the 
Anglo-Indians  had  been  ever  engaged ;  and  for  some  time,  at  least, 
it  secured  them  from  the  re-apf{iearance  of  a  formidable  enemy.  A.  D. 
1799. 

As  the  conquests  of  Tippoo  and  Hyder  were  retained  by  the  British, 
and  a  subsidiary  treaty  had  been  formed  with  the  Nizam,  by  which  the  de- 
fence of  his  dominions  was  undertaken  by  them  upon  providing  for  the 
expense,  the  greater  part  of  the  Deccan  was  now  directly  or  indirectly 
subject  to  their  authority.  Arrangements  were  next  concluded  with  the 
nabob  of  Oude,  by  which  the  lower  part  of  the  Douab  and  other  countries 
were  ceded  to  the  British  for  the  support  of  a  subsidiary  force.  Upon 
these  transactions  followed  a  war  with  the  IMahratta  chiefs,  Scindia,  and 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  343 

liagoji  Bhosla,  rajah  of  Berar,  whose  armies  were  defeated  in  tlie 
south  by  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  brother  of  the  governor-general,  and  in 
:lie  north  by  Lord  Lake  ;  and  the  upper  part  of  the  Douab,  with  Delhi  and 
Agra,  were  taken  possession  of  in  the  north ;  whilst  in  the  south,  Cut 
tack  on  the  eastern,  and  part  of  the  Guzerat  on  the  western  coast,  were 
annexed  to  the  British  dominions.  A  war  with  Holkar,  another  Mahratta 
prince,  followed.  He  made  a  rapid  incursion  into  the  Douab,  and  com- 
mitted some  ravages  ;  but  was  pursued  by  Lord  Lake  to  the  Sikh  coun- 
try, and  all  his  territories  occupied  by  a  British  force.  The  whole,  how- 
ever, was  restored  to  him  at  the  peace. 

In  1805  Lord  Wellesley  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Cornwallis,  again  ap- 
pointed governor-general.  His  policy  was  of  a  pacific  character;  and 
upon  his  death,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  India,  it  was  adopted  by  his  tem- 
porary successor,  Sir  George  Barlow.  Lord  Minto  arrived  in  India  in 
1807.  His  attention  was  chiefly  directed  to  the  subjugation  of  the  re- 
maining possessions  of  the  Frencli  in  the  Kast ;  and  the  Isle  of  France 
and  Mauritius,  and  the  large  island  of  .lava,  were  subdued  by  armaments 
fitted  out  in  India.  At  the  end  of  1813  the  marquis  of  Hastings  arrived 
as  governor-general.  The  determination  of  his  predecessors  to  abstain 
from  interference  with  the  native  slates  had  been  attended  with  deplora- 
ble dissensions  among  themselves,  and  had  encouraged  them  to  commit 
outrages  on  the  British  dominions,  the  repressal  of  which  soon  led  to 
active  warfare.  On  the  northern  frontier  the  conduct  of  the  Ghorka 
government  of  Nepaul  having  provoked  hostilities,  the  Himalaya  was 
traversed  by  the  British  armies,  and  an  extensive  tract  of  mountain  coun- 
tly  permanently  annexed  to  the  slate.  The  aggressions  of  the  Pindarees, 
a  set  of  freebooters,  secretly  supported  by  the  Mahratla  princes,  were 
next  punished  by  the  annihilation  of  their  hordes.  In  1314  these  bands 
comprised  about  forty  thousand  horse,  and  they  subsisted  wholly  on 
plunder.  In  the  course  of  operations  against  them,  the  peishwa  and  the 
rajah  of  Nagpore  altcmpted,  by  treachery  and  murder,  to  rid  themselves 
of  British  control;  and  hostilities  ensued,  which  placed  the  territories 
and  persons  of  ooth  princes  in  the  hands  of  their  enemies,  a.  d.  1818 
The  Pindarees  were  at  first  bodies  of  mercenary  horse,  serving  difl"erent 
princes  for  hire  during  war,  and  in  time  of  peace  subsisting  upon  plunder. 
Lands  along  the  Nerbuddah  had  been  assigned  to  some  of  their  leaders 
by  the  princes  of  Malwa;  and  from  hence  they  occasionally  made  incur- 
sions into  the  British  provinces,  devastating  the  country  in  the  most  fero- 
cious manner,  and  disappearing  before  a  force  could  be  assembled  against 
them.  It  was  resolved,  however,  in  the  year  1817,  to  hunt  them  to  their 
native  holds,  and  either  exterminate  or  drive  them  from  the  position 
A'hich  they  occupied,  in  the  centre  of  India.  By  the  end  of  the  rainy 
ieason  of  that  year,  a  numerous  army  took  the  field  for  this  purpose. 
The  plan  was,  that  the  armies  of  the  different  presidencies  should  ad- 
/ance  southward,  and  gradually  converging  to  a  common  centre,  hem  in, 
3n  every  side,  the  territory  of  the  robbers.  This  was  at  length  effected; 
ihe  greater  part  of  them  being  destroyed,  and  the  rest  humbled  to  sub- 
mission. 

Upon  the  re-establishment  of  peace.  Puna,  and  part  of  the  Mahratta 
territories,  were  retained,  and  the  rest  restored  to  the  rajah  of  Satara. 
Appa  Saib,  the  rajah  of  Nagpore,  who  had  escaped  from  confinement, 
was  deposed,  and  a  grandson  of  the  former  rajah  elevated  to  the  throne. 
Holkar,  a  youth,  was  taken  under  the  British  protection,  which  was  also 
extended  to  the  llajput  princes.  By  these  arrangements  the  whole  of 
Hindostan  was  brought  under  the  power  or  control  of  the  Britisli  govern- 
ment. In  1823  the  marquis  of  Hastings  quitted  his  government,  leaving 
British  India  in  a  proud  and  prosperous  condition.  At  the  end  of  the 
fiame  year  Lord  Amherst  arrived  from  England.     In  1824  war  broke  out 


344 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


with  the  Burmese,  who  had  for  many  years  given  much  trouble  on  tht 
eastern  frontier.  An  expedition  was  sent  to  Rangoon,  which,  in  thf 
second  year  of  hostilities,  advanced  nearly  to  Ava,  the  capital ;  and  the 
Burman  government  was  glad  to  purchase  peace  in  182G  by  the  cession 
of  Assam,  Aracan,  and  the  Tenasserim  provinces.  The  beginning  of  the 
same  year  was  signalized  by  the  capture  of  Hliurtpore,  a  strong  fortress 
in  Upper  India.  The  more  recent  events  in  British  India  will  be  found 
given  as  fully  as  limits  would  permit,  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  history 
of  England. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PERSIA 

TnK  limits  of  this  most  ancient  and  celebrated  empire  have  been  yari 
ously  stated;  but  its  original  name  was  Klam,  so  called  from  the  son  ol 
Shem,  whose  descendants  were  its  first  inhabitants.  In  the  books  ol 
Daniel,  Esdras,  &c.,  it  is  called  by  the  names  of  Pars  or  Pharas,  whence 
the  modern  name  of  Persia;  but  from  what  those  names  were  derived  is 
now  uncertain.  From  the  accounts  of  those  who  have  most  studied  the 
subject  it  would  appear  that  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Persia  was  situated 
more  to  the  east  and  north-east  than  the  present ;  whence,  until  its  authori- 
ty extended  over  Media  and  Assyria,  it  was  but  little  known  to  the  nations 
of  Europe.  It  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  kingdom  of  Bactria,  from 
Bahlica,  or  Balkh,  its  capital;  but  is  termed  by  oriental  writers,  Iran.  The 
country  beyond  it  constituting  modern  Tartary,  the  Scythiaofthe  ancients, 
is  called  by  the  orientals,  Turan ;  and  between  these  two,  Iran  andTuran, 
collisions  were  frequent  in  early  times. 

The  history  of  Persia  first  emerges  from  the  obscurity  of  antiquity 
with  Cyrus.  Hystaspcs,  the  Median  Cyaxares,  or  his  contemporary,  un- 
der whom  Zoroaster  lived,  belongs  to  the  uncertain  time  before  Cyrus. 
With  Cyrus  (559 — 529  b.  c.)  began  the  period  of  Persian  power  in  the 
west.  By  uniting  the  Persians  and  Medes  under  the  sceptre,  he  made 
them  the  ruling  nation  in  western  Asia;  he  conquered  Croesus,  took  Baby 
Ion,  and  reduced  Asia  Minor.  Although  the  history  of  Cyrus  is  very  ob- 
scure, it  is  certain  that  he  not  only  founded  a  vast  empire,  but  established 
it  by  his  genius  and  valour.  He  defeated  the  Babylonians,  together  with 
all  their  numerous  allies,  at  the  famous  battle  of  Thymbra  ;  overturned 
the  monarchy,  and  made  himself  master  of  Babylon.  He  afterward  con- 
siderably extended  his  conquests  ;  and  the  boundary  of  his  vast  empire 
was  the  river  Indus  on  the  east,  the  Caspian  and  Euxine  seas  on  the 
north,  the  jEgean  Sea  on  the  west,  and  the  ^Etolia,  with  the  Arabian  or 
Persian  Gulf,  on  the  south.  Although  his  character  has  been  given  to  us 
very  diflferently  by  Xenophon  and  Herodotus,  k  must  be  allov/ed,  upon 
the  whole,  that  he  was  both  a  powerful  and  a  worthy  prince.  He  intro- 
duced a  new  discipline  into  his  army  ;  and  furnished  them  with  weapons 
for  close  combat  instead  of  bows  and  arrows,  which  contributed  in  a  great 
measure  toward  his  extraordinary  success.  Having  settled  the  civil  go- 
vernment of  the  conquered  kingdoms,  and  restored  the  Jews  to  their  own 
land,  Cyrus  took  a  review  of  his  forces,  which  he  found  to  consist  of  six 
hundred  thousand  foot,  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  horse,  and  twr 
thousand  chariots  armed  with  scythes.     With  these  he  extended  his  do 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  345 

minion  over  all  the  nations  to  the  confines  of  Ethiopia  and  to  the  Red  Sea  , 
after  which  he  continued  to  reign  peaceably  over  his  vast  empire  till  his 
death,  which  happened  about  529  b.  c. 

Cyrus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambyses  (529—522),  who  conquered 
Tyre,  Cyprus,  and  Egypt.  After  him  a  Magian  ruled  for  a  short  time, 
who  gave  himself  out  as  Smerdis,  brother  of  Cambyses.  He  was  de- 
throned, and  Danus  Hystaspes  obtained  the  crown  by  lot,  or  the  choice 
of  his  colleagues  (521 — 487  b.  c.)  He  reduced  the  revolted  kingdom  of 
Babylon,  and  subdued  Thrace,  Macedonia,  and  a  small  part  of  India;  but 
his  attempt  to  conquer  the  Scythians  beyond  the  Danube  was  unsuccess- 
ful. He  reduced  the  Greek  colonies  in  Asia  Minor,  which  had  attempted 
to  shake  off  the  Persian  yoke  (501  b.  c.)  ;  but  he  was  unfortunate  in  his 
war  against  the  European  Greeks,  and  Egypt  revolted  from  him.  His 
son  Xerxes  (487 — 467  b.  c.)  effected  the  submission  of  Egypt,  but  was 
defeated  by  the  Greeks  on  the  field  of  Marathon  and  at  Salamis,  and  was 
obliged  to  defend  himself  against  their  attacks  in  a  disastrous  war. 

Under  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  (the  Ahasuerus  of  Scripture),  the  first 
symptoms  of  decline  became  visible.  Egypt  again  revolted,  and  was 
again  conquered,  after  a  bloody  struggle.  The  Greek  war  terminated 
disadvantageously,  in  449  b.  c.  ;  and  Megabyzus  excited  a  dangerous  in- 
surrection. The  next  changes  of  government  were  rapid  and  violent. 
Xerxes  H.,  his  only  legitimate  son,  was  murdered,  after  a  reign  of  forty- 
five  days,  by  his  natural  brother,  Sogdianus,  who  suffered  the  same  fate  six 
months  afterward,  by  the  hands  of  another  illegitimate  son  of  Artaxerxes — 
Ochus,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Darius  II.,  and  reigned  until  404  b.c, 
under  the  influence  of  his  wife  Parysatis.  The  revolts  of  his  satraps 
hastened  the  decline  of  the  empire,  and  the  Persians  were  obliged  to  ac- 
knowledge independent  kings  in  Egypt.  But  the  internal  troubles  in 
Greece,  of  which  the  Persians  artfully  took  advantage,  saved  them,  for  a 
time,  from  a  united  attack  by  the  Greeks.  Artaxerxes  (or  Mnemon)  was 
entirely  subservient  to  the  wdl  of  his  mother,  Parysatis.  His  brother 
Cyrus,  who  had  been  made  govervor  of  Asia  Minor,  supported  by  ten 
thousand  Greeks,  under  Xenophon,  attempted  to  dethrone  him,  (400  b.  c), 
but  he  was  defeated  and  killed.  Domestic  dissensions  obliged  the  Lace- 
daemonians to  abandon  their  advantages  in  Asia  Minor,  and  to  conclude 
the  disadvantageous  peace  of  Antalcidas  (387  b.  c.)  The  army  of  Cyrus 
comprised  a  body  of  Greek  mercenaries,  who,  after  the  death  of  the  prince, 
effected  their  retreat  through  the  heart  of  Persia,  in  defiance  of  all  at- 
tempts to  cut  them  off.  A  particular  account  of  this  has  been  given  by 
their  commander,  Xenophon,  and  is  known  as  "the  retreat  of  the  ten 
thousand." 

Artaxerxes  III.  secured  his  throne  by  putting  to  death  his  numerous 
brothers.  He  re-established  the  Persian  supremacy  over  Phoenicia  and 
Egypt,  but  was  a  luxurious  and  cruel  prince.  After  a  reign  of  twenty- 
three  years,  he  was  poisoned  by  his  minister,  Bagoas,  an  Egyptian,  in  re- 
venge for  the  indignities  he  had  heaped  on  the  religion  of  his  country. 
Bagoas  then  gave  the  crown  to  Darius  Codomanus,  a  prince  of  the  blood, 
who  was  conquered  by  Alexander  in  three  decisive  actions,  on  the  Grani- 
cus,  at  Issus,  and  at  Arbela,  and  lost  his  life  (330  b.  c.)  ;  after  which  Alex- 
ander made  himself  master  of  the  whole  empire.  After  the  battle  of 
Arbela,  Alexander  took  and  plundered  Persepolis,  whence  he  marched  into 
Media,  in  pursuit  of  Darius,  who  had  fled  to  Ecbatana,  the  capital.  This 
prince  had  still  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  foot,  among  which  were  four 
thousand  Greeks,  who  continued  faithful  to  the  last.  Besides  these  he 
had  four  thousand  slingers  and  three  thousand  horse,  most  of  them  Bac- 
trians,  commanded  by  Bessus.  When  Darius  heard  that  Alexander  had 
marched  to  Ecbatana,  he  retired  into  Bactria,  with  a  design  to  raise  another 
army ;  but  soon  after  he  determined  to  venture  a  battle  with  the  forces  he 


34r)  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

slill  had  left.  On  Ihis,  Bessus,  governor  of  Bactria,  and  Nabarzanes,  a 
Persian  lord,  formed  a  conspiracy  to  seize  hi-s  person,  and,  if  Alexander 
pui>sued  them,  to  gain  his  friendship  by  betraying  their  master  into  his 
hands;  but  if  they  escaped  their  design  was  to  murder  him,  and  usurp 
the  crown.  The  troops  were  easily  gained  over ;  but  Darius  himself, 
when  inftjrmed  of  their  proceedings,  and  solicited  to  trust  his  person 
among  the  Greeks,  could  not  give  credit  to  the  report.  The  consequence 
was,  that  he  was  in  a  few  days  seized  by  traitors ;  who  bound  him  with 
golden  chains,  and  shutting  him  up  in  a  covered  cart,  fled  with  him  to 
Bactria.  .After  a  most  extraordinary  march  in  pursuit  of  Darius,  Alex- 
ander was  informed  that  the  Persian  monarch  was  in  the  custody  of  Bes- 
sus and  Nabarzanes,  and  that  he  himself  was  within  one  day's  march  of 
the  conspirators,  whom,  indeed,  he  soon  afterward  overtook,  marching  in 
great  confusion.  His  unexpected  appearance  struck  them,  though  far 
superior  in  number,  with  such  terror,  that  they  immediately  fled ;  and, 
because  Darius  refused  to  follow  them,  Bessus,  and  those  who  were  about 
him,  discharged  their  darts  at  the  unfortunate  prince,  leaving  him  wallow- 
ing in  his  blood.  After  this  they  all  fleddiflferent  ways,  and  were  pursued 
by  the  Macedonians  with  great  slaughter. 

In  the  meantliie,  the  horses  that  drew  the  cart  in  which  Darius  was 
shut  up,  stopped  ;  for  the  drivers  had  been  previously  killed  by  Bessus  ; 
and  Polystratus,  a  Macedonian,  being  distressed  with  thirst,  was  directed 
by  the  inhabitants  to  a  fountain  near  the  place.  As  he  was  filling  his  hel- 
met with  water,  he  heard  the  groans  of  a  dying  man  ;  and,  looking  round 
him,  discovered  a  cart  with  a  team  of  wounded  horses,  unable  to  move. 
Approaching  it,  he  perceived  Darius  lying  in  the  cart,  and  having  several 
darts  in  his  body.  He  had  enough  of  strength,  however,  left  to  call  for 
water,  which  Polystratus  brought  him ;  and,  after  drinking,  he  turned 
to  the  Macedonian,  and  with  a  faint  voice  told  him,  that,  in  the  deplorable 
state  to  which  he  was  reduced,  it  was  no  small  comfort  to  him  that  his 
last  words  would  not  be  lost :  he  then  charged  him  to  return  his  hearty 
thanks  to  Alexander  for  the  kindness  he  had  shown  to  his  wife  and  family, 
and  to  acquaint  him,  that,  with  his  last  breath,  he  besought  the  gods  to 
prosper  him,  and  make  him  sole  monarch  of  the  world.  He  added,  that 
it  did  not  so  much  concern  him  as  Alexander  to  pursue  and  bring  to  con 
dign  punishment  those  traitors  who  had  treated  their  lawful  sovereign 
with  such  cruelty.  Then  taking  Polystratus  by  the  hand,  "  Give  Alex- 
ander your  hand,"  said  he,  "  as  I  give  you  mine,  and  carrj'  him,  in  my 
name,  the  only  pledge  I  am  able  to  give,  in  this  condition,  of  my  gratitude 
and  affection."  Having  uttered  these  words,  he  expired  in  the  arms  of 
Polystratus.  Alexander  coming  up  a  few  minutes  after,  bewailed  his 
death,  and  caused  his  body  to  be  interred  with  the  highest  honours.  The 
traitor  Bessus  being  at  last  reduced  to  extreme  difficulties,  was  delivered 
up  by  his  own  men,  naked  and  bound,  into  the  hands  of  the  Macedonians  ; 
on  which  Alexander  gave  him  to  Oxyalhres,  the  brother  of  Darius,  to 
suffer  what  punishment  he  should  think  proper.  The  manner  of  it  is 
thus  described  by  Plutarch: — Several  trees  being  by  main  force  bent  down 
to  the  ground,  and  one  of  the  traitor's  limbs  being  tied  to  each  of  them, 
the  trees,  as  they  were  suflered  to  return  to  their  natural  position,  flew 
back  with  such  violence  that  each  carried  with  it  a  limb.  Thus  ended 
the  ancient  empire  of  Persia,  two  hundred  and  nine  years  after  it  had 
been  founded  by  Cyrus,   and   leaving  Alexander  its   sovereign,  b.c.  329. 

On  the  dissolution  of  the  Macedonian  empire,  after  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander (323),  the  Seleucides  ruled  over  Persia  until  246  b.  c.  They  were 
succeeded  by  the  Arsacides,  who  founded  the  empire  of  the  Parthians, 
which  existed  until  229  a.  d.  Ardeshir  Babegan  (Artaxerxes)  then  ob- 
tained the  sovereignty  of  Central  Asia,  and  left  it  to  his  descendants,  the 
Sassanides,  who  ruled  four  hundred  and  seven  years.     With  them  begms, 


THE  TREASUKY  OF  HISTORY.  347 

iccording  to  Hammer,  the  romantic  character  of  Persian  chivalry ;  and 
ihe  six  most  renowned  rulers  of  this  dynasty,  among  whom  are  Behram- 
gur,  Chosroes,  Parwis,  and  Nushirvan,  are  the  subjects  of  Persian  ro- 
mances. Ardeshir,  son  of  Sassan,  ruled  from  218  to  241.  The  wars  which 
he  carried  on  with  the  Romans  were  continued  under  his  successor,  Sa- 
por I.,  against  Gordian  and  Valerian  (the  latter  of  whom  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Sapor,  and  was  treated  in  a  most  revolting-  manner),  and  were  not  ter- 
minated until  the  peace  of  Narses  with  Diocletian  (303).  When  Sapor 
the  Great  had  become  of  full  age,  the  empire  again  recovered  strength. 
He  punished  the  Arabs  for  their  incursions,  and  took  the  king  of  Yemen 
prisoner;  and  demanded  from  the  emperor  of  Constantinople  the  cession 
of  all  the  country  to  the  Strymon,  as  Ardeshir  had  once  done.  Constantine 
the  Great,  Constantine  II.,  and  Julian  resisted  his  demands ;  but  Jovian 
purchased  peace  by  a  cession  of  the  five  provinces  in  question  and  the 
fortress  of  Nisibis.  Sapor  also  extended  his  conquests  into  Tartary  and 
India.  War  and  peace  successively  followed,  without  any  important 
events,  after  the  death  of  Sapor. 

Under  Artaxerxes  H.,  Sapor  HI.,  and  Vararanes  IV.  (until  399),  the  em- 
pire flourished.  Arabs,  Huns  and  Turks  successively  appeared  on  the  field, 
as  the  allies  or  enemies  of  Persia.  Yezdegerd  I.,  a  friend  of  the  Chris- 
tians, conquered  Armenia  in  412.  In  the  year  420,  Vararanes  V.  ascended 
the  throne  by  the  aid  of  the  Arabs.  He  was  victorious  against  Theo- 
dosius  II.,  defeated  the  Huns  who  had  invaded  his  empire,  and  conquered 
the  kingdom  of  Yemen.  He  was  succeeded  by  Vararanes  VI.,  and  Hor- 
misdas  III.  In  the  year  457,  Firoz  (Pheroses)  ascended  the  throne  by 
the  assistance  of  the  Huns;  bnt  afterward  made  war  against  them,  and 
lost  his  life  in  battle,  in  483.  Valens,  or  Balash,  was  stripped  of  a  part 
of  his  territories  by  the  Huns,  and  obliged  to  pay  them  a  tribute  for  two 
years.  The  Sassanides,  however,  soon  regained  their  greatness  and  power. 
Kobad  subdued  the  Huns  ;  and  though  he  had  recovered  his  throne,  in 
198,  by  their  assistance,  yet,  at  a  later  period,  he  waged  a  successful  war 
against  them,  against  Athanasius,  the  Indians,  and  Justinian  I. 

His  youngesCson  and  successor,  Chosrou  Nushirvan,  was  distinguished 
for  his  uncommon  wisdom  and  valour.  Under  him  the  Persian  empire 
extended  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Indus,  from  the  laxartes  to  Arabia 
and  the  confines  of  Egypt.  He  waged  successful  wars  with  Indians  and 
Turks,  with  Justinian  and  Tiberius,  and  with  the  Arabs,  whom  he  deliver- 
ed from  the  oppression  of  petty  tyrants  :  he  also  suppressed  the  rebellions 
of  his  brother  and  son.  The  Lazians  in  Colchis,  wearied  with  Greek 
oppression,  submitted  themselves  to  him ;  but,  when  he  attempted  to  trans- 
fer them  into  the  interior  of  Persia,  they  again  placed  themselves  under 
the  dominion  of  Justinian,  whose  arms  were  now  victorious.  Nushirvan 
died  of  grief  during  the  negotiations  for  peace.  War  continued  under 
Hormuz  (Hormisdas  IV.),  until  the  reign  of  Chosrou  II.,  under  whom  the 
Persian  power  reached  its  highest  pitch.  By  successful  wars  he  ex- 
tended his  conquests,  on  the  one  side  to  Chalcedon  (C16),  on  the  other 
over  Egypt  to  Lydia  and  ^Ethiopia,  and  finally  to  Yemen.  But  the  for- 
tune of  war  was  suddenly  changed  by  the  victorious  arms  of  the  emperor 
Heraclius.  Chosrou  lost  all  his  conquests,  and  his  own  son  Sirhes  made 
)iim  prisoner,  and  put  him  to  death  (628).  The  decline  of  Persia  was 
hastened  by  continued  domestic  feuds.  Sirhes,  or  Kabad  Shirujeh,  was 
murdered  in  the  same  year.  His  son  Ardesiiir  (Artaxerxes  III),  but  seven 
years  old,  succeeded  him,  and  was  murdered,  in  G29,  by  his  general  Ser- 
bas  (Sheheriar).  The  chief  Persians  prevented  Serbas  from  ascending 
the  throne :  and  after  numerous  revolutions  succeediiig  each  other  so  ra- 
pidly that  historians  have  confounded  the  names,  Yezdegerd  III.,  a  ne- 
phew of  Chosrou,  ascended  the  throne  in  632,  at  the  age  of  sixteen.    He 


348  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

was  attacked  by  the  caliph  Omar,  in  G36,  and  Persia  became  a  prey  to  the 
Arabs  and  Turks.     Yezdegerd  lost  his  life  in  651. 

With  the  conquest  of  Persia  by  the  caliphs  begins  the  history  of  the 
modern  Persian  empire.  The  dominion  of  the  Arabs  lasted  five  hundred 
and  eighty-five  years,  from  636  to  1220.  As  some  of  the  Arab  governors 
made  themselves  independent,  and  Persian  and  Turkish  princes  possessed 
themselves  of  single  provinces,  Persia  continued  to  be  divided  into  nu- 
merous petty  states.  Among  the  principal  dynasties  were,  in  the  north 
and  north-east,  1.  The  Turkish  house  of  the  Thaheridis  in  Khorasan, 
from  820  to  872 ; — 2.  The  Persian  dynasty  of  the  Soffarides,  which  de- 
throned the  one  last  named,  and  ruled  over  Khorasan  and  Farsistan  until 
902  ; — 3.  The  Samanide  dynasty,  which  established  its  independence  on 
Khorasan  in  874,  under  Ahmed,  in  the  province  Mavaralnar,  and  lasted  to 
999.  Ishmael,  Ahmed's  son,  dethroned  the  Soffarides,  and  became  pow- 
erful: and  under  his  descendants  originated, — 4.  The  Gaznavides,  in  977, 
when  Sebektechin,  a  Turkish  slave  and  governor  of  the  Samanides  at 
Gazna  and  Khorasan,  made  himself  independent  at  Gazna.  His  son 
Mahmoud  subdued,  in  999,  Khorasan,  and  in  1012,  Farsistan,  and  thus 
put  an  end  to  the  dominion  of  the  Samanides.  He  subsequently  con- 
quered Irak  Agemi  (1017)  from  the  Bouides,  and  even  extended  his  con- 
quests into  India.  But  his  son  Masud  was  stripped  of  Irak  Agemi  and 
Khorasan  by  the  Seljooks  (from  1037  to  1044)  ;  and  the  Gaznavides, 
weakened  by  domestic  divisions,  became,  under  Malek  Shah  (1182),  a 
prey  to  the  Gourides; — 1.  The  sultans  of  Gour  (Gourides)  became  pow- 
erful in  1150,  by  means  of  Aladdin  Hosain,  but  lost  their  ascendency,  after 
several  important  reigns,  partly  by  the  encroachments  of  the  princes  of 
Khowaresm,  and  partly  by  domestic  dissensions ; — 6.  The  dynasty  of 
the  Khowaresmian  Shahs  (1097  to  1230)  was  founded  by  Aziz,  governor 
of  the  Seljooks  in  Khowasresm,  or  Karasm,  where  he  rendered  himself 
independent.  Tagash  (1192)  destroyed  the  empire  of  the  Seljooks,  and 
took  Khorasan  from  the  Gourides.  His  son  Mohammed  conquered  Ma- 
varalnar, subdued  the  Gourides  and  Gazna,  and  occupied  the  greater  part 
of  Persia.  But,  in  1220,  the  great  khan  of  the  Monguls,  Genghis  Khan 
and  his  heroic  son  Gelaleddin  Mankbern,  deprived  him  of  his  dominions; 
and  he  died  in  1230,  after  a  struggle  of  ten  years,  in  a  lonely  hut  in  the 
mountains  of  Kurdistan.  In  western  and  north-eastern  Persia  reigned — 
7.  Mardawig,  a  Persian  warrior,  who  founded  a  kingdom  at  Dilem,  in 
928,  which  soon  extended  over  Ispahan,  but  was  soon  destroyed  by  the  Bou- 
ides ; — 8.  The  Bouides  (sons  of  Bouia,  a  poor  fisherman,  who  derived  his 
origin  from  the  Sassanides),  by  their  valour  and  prudence,  extended  their 
sway  over  the  greater  part  of  Persia,  and  in  945,  even  over  Bagdad.  They 
were  chiefly  distinguished  for  their  virtues  and  love  of  science,  and  main- 
tained themselves  until  1056,  when  Malek  Rahjm  was  obliged  to  yield  to 
the  Seljooks  ; — 9.  The  Seljooks,  a  Turkish  dynasty,  as  is  supposed,  dri- 
ven by  the  Chinese  from  Turkestan,  first  became  powerful  in  Khorasan, 
with  the  Gaznavides.  Togrulbeg  Mahmoud,  a  brave  and  prudent  warrior, 
drove  out  the  son  of  Mahmoud,  the  Gaznavide  sultan,  in  1037;  extended 
his  dominion  over  Mavaralnar,  Aderbijan,  Armenia,  Farsistan,  Irak 
Agemi,  and  Irak  Arabi,  where  he  put  an  end  to  the  rule  of  the  Bouides  at 
Bagdad,  in  1055,  and  was  invested  with  their  dignity,  as  Emir  el  Omrah, 
by  the  caliphs.  Some  of  his  descendants  were  distinguished  for  great 
activity  and  humanity.  The  most  powerful  of  them,  Melak  Shah,  con- 
quered also  Georgia,  Syria,  and  Natolia.  But  the  empire  gradually  de- 
clined,  and  was  divided  into  four  kingdoms,  which  was  destroyed  by  the 
shahs  of  Khowaresm,  the  atabeks  of  Aleppo,  and  the  Monguls. 

Ghengis  Khan  established  the  power  of  the  Tartars  and  Monguls  in 
Persia  (1120 — 1405.)  Those  Persian  provinces  which  had  been  acquired 
by  Genghis  Khan  fell  to  his  younger  son,  Tauli,  in  1229  and  then  to  the 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  349 

son  of  the  latter,  Hulaku,  at  first  as  governors  of  the  Mongohan  khans, 
Kajuk  and  Mangu.  Hulaku  extended  his  dominion  over  Syria,  Natolia, 
and  Irak  Arabi.  He  or  his  successor  became  independent  of  the  great 
khan,  and  formed  a  separate  Mongolian  dynasty  in  those  countries,  and 
sat  on  the  throne  till  the  death  of  Abusaid,  without  heirs,  in  1335.  His 
successors,  also  descendants  of  Genghis  Khan,  had  merely  the  title  of 
khans  of  Persia.  The  empire  was  weak  and  divided.  Then  appeared 
(1387),  Timurlenk  (Tamerlane),  at  the  head  of  a  new  horde  of  Monguls, 
who  conquered  Persia,  and  filled  the  world,  from  Hindostan  to  Smyrna, 
with  terror.  But  the  death  of  this  famous  conqueror  was  followed  by 
the  downfall  of  the  Mongul  dominion  in  Persia,  of  which  the  Turkomans 
then  remained  masters  for  a  hundred  years.  These  nomadic  tribes,  who 
had  plundered  Persia  for  two  centuries,  wrested,  under  the  reign  of  Kara 
Jussuf  and  his  successors,  the  greatest  part  of  Persia  from  the  Timurides, 
were  subdued  by  other  Turkoman  tribes  under  Usong  Hassan  (1468),  and 
incorporated  with  them.  They  sunk  before  Ismail  Sophi  (1505),  who  art- 
fully made  use  of  fanaticism  for  his  political  purposes,  and  whose  dy 
nasty  lasted  from  1505  to  1722. 

Ismail  Sophi,  whose  ancestor,  Sheikh  Sophi,  pretended  to  be  descended 
from  Ali,  took  from  the  Turkomans  of  the  white  ram,  Aderbijan  and  part 
of  Armenia,  slew  their  princes,  and  founded  upon  the  ruins  of  their  empire, 
after  having  conquered  Shirvan,  Diarbeker,  Georgia,  Turkestan,  and  Ma- 
varalnar,  another,  which  comprised  Aderbijan,  Diarbeker,  Georgia,  Tur- 
kestan, and  Mavaralnar,  an  empire  which  comprised  Aderbijan,  Diarbeker, 
Irak,  Farsistan,  and  Kerraan.  He  assumed  the  name  of  a  shah,  and  in- 
troduced the  sect  of  Ali  into  the  conquered  countries.  His  successors, 
Thamas,  Ishmael  II.,  Mahommed,  Hamzeh,  and  Ishmael  III.  (from  1523 
to  1587),  carried  on  unsuccessful  wars  against  the  Turks  and  the  Usbecks. 
But  Shah  Abbas  the  Great  (1587  to  1629,  re-established  the  empire  by  his 
conquests.  He  took  from  the  Turks  Armenia,  Irak  Arabi,  Mesopotamia, 
the  cities  of  Tauris,  Bagdad  and  Bassora;  Khorasan  from  the  Usbecks; 
Ormuz  from  the  Portuguese,  and  Kandahar  from  the  Monguls ;  and  hum- 
bled Georgia,  which  had  refused  to  pay  tribute.  He  introduced  absolute 
power  into  Persia,  transferred  his  residence  to  Ispahan,  and  instituted 
the  pilgrimage  to  Meshid,  in  order  to  abolish  that  to  Mecca  among  the 
Persians. 

The  following  rulers.  Shah  Saffi  and  Abbas  II.  (from  1629  to  1666),  had 
new  wars  with  the  Turks  and  Indians ;  with  the  former  on  account  of 
Bagdad,  which  was  lost;  and  with  the  latter  on  account  of  Kandahar, 
which  was  reconquered  in  1660,  Under  Shah  Solyman,  however,  (1666 
to  1694),  the  empire  declined,  and  entirely  sunk  under  his  son  Hussein. 
The  Affghans  in  Kandahar  revolted,  in  1709,  under  Mirweis;  and  his  son 
Mir  Mahmud  conquered  the  whole  empire,  in  1722.  A  state  of  anarchy 
followed.  Mahmud  having  become  insane,  was  dethroned  by  Asharf  in 
1725 ;  the  latter  was  subdued  by  Thamas  Kuli  Khan,  who  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Russians  and  Turks,  placed  Thamas,  son  of  Hussein,  on  the 
throne  in  1729.  But  when  the  latter  ceded  Georgia  and  Armenia  to  the 
Turks,  Kuli  Khan  dethroned  him,  and  placed  his  minor  son,  Abbas  III., 
on  the  throne.  He  recovered,  by  conquest  or  treaties,  the  provinces 
ceded  to  the  Russians  and  Turks,  and  ascended  the  throne  under  the  title 
of  Nadir  Shah,  Abbas  III.  having  died  in  1736.  He  restored  Persia  to  her 
former  importance  by  successful  wars  and  a  strong  government.  The 
booty  carried  off  by  Nadir  has  been  estimated  at  seventy  millions  ster- 
ling. The  emperor  and  all  the  principal  noblemen  were  obliged  to  make 
up  the  sum  demanded,  with  their  jewels  and  richest  furniture.  Among 
the  most  remarkable  of  the  latter  articles  was  the  throne  of  the  emperora 
of  Delhi,  made  in  the  shape  of  a  peacock,  and  richly  ornamented  with 
precious  stones.     After  his  return  from  India.  Nadir  subdued  the  northern 


350  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

kingdoms  of  Khwarasm  and  Bokhara,  and  settled  at  Meshed,  which  he 
made  his  capital ;  entertaining  suspicions  of  his  eldest  son,  he  had  his 
eyes  put  out,  and  remorse  for  the  cnme  made  him  franticly  ferocious. 
Vast  numbers  of  people,  of  every  rank,  fell  victims  to  his  rage,  until  some 
of  his  officers  conspired  against,  and  assassinated  him,  a.  d.  1747. 

The  death  of  Nadir  Shah  was  followed  by  a  period  of  confusion. 
Ahmed  Shah,  one  of  his  officers,  seized  upon  Khorasan  and  Cabul,  and 
established  the  kingdom  of  the  Affghans.  Mohammed  Husein  Khan,  a 
Persian  chief,  occupied  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Caspian;  and  Ali,  the 
nephew  of  Nadir,  was  for  a  short  time  king  of  Persia.  Four  kingdoms 
were  now  formed :  1,  Khorasan  and  Segistan ;  2,  Kandahar,  or  the  east- 
ern provinces ;  3,  Farsistan,  or  the  western  provinces ;  and,  4,  Georgia. 
The  latter,  for  the  most  part,  retained  its  own  princes,  who  at  length 
submitted  to  Russia.  In  Kandahar  and  the  East,  Ahmed  Abdallah  founded 
the  empire  of  Affghanistan.  He  was  victorious  at  Panniput,  and  ruled 
Avith  absolute  sway  in  India.  His  residence  was  Cabul.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  1753  by  Timur;  the  latter  by  Zeman.  In  the  two  other  king- 
doms the  Curd  Kerim  Khan,  who  had  served  under  Nadir,  and  was  of 
low  extraction,  succeeded  in  establishing  tranquillity,  after  long  and 
bloody  wars,  by  subduing  Mohammed  Khan,  who  fled,  and  perished  at 
.Mazanderan.  His  wisdom,  justice,  and  warlike  skill  gained  him  the  love 
of  his  subjects  and  the  esteem  of  his  neighbours.  He  did  not  call  him- 
self khan  but  vekil  (regent.)  He  fixed  his  residence  at  Shiraz  in  1765, 
and  died  in  1779.  New  disturbances  arose  after  his  death.  His  brothers 
attempted  to  get  possession  of  the  throne,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  sons. 
A  prince  of  the  blood,  Ali  Murat,  occupied  it  in  1784 ;  but  a  eunuch,  Aga 
Mohammed,  a  man  of  ancient  family  and  uncommon  abilities,  had  made 
himself  independent  in  Mazanderan.  Ali  Murat,  who  marched  against 
him,  died  in  consequence  of  a  fall  from  his  horse,  and  left  the  sceptre  to 
his  son  Yafar,  who  was  defeated  by  Aga  Mohammed  at  Jezd  Kast,  and 
fled  to  Shiraz,  where  he  perished  in  an  insurrection.  His  son  Luthf  Ali 
made  several  desperate  efforts  to  recover  his  throne ;  but  Aga  Moham- 
med was  victorious,  and  appointed  his  nephew  Baba  Khan  his  successor, 
who  reigned  under  the  name  of  Feth  Ali  Shah.  He  fixed  his  residence 
at  Teheran,  in  order  to  be  nearer  the  Russians,  who  threatened  him  in 
Georgia  and  the  neighbouring  provinces. 

By  the  peace  of  1812,  the  Persians  were  obliged  to  cede  to  Russia  the 
whole  of  Daghestan,  the  Khanats  of  Kuba,  Shirvan,  Baku,  Salian,  Tali- 
shah,  Karaachb,  and  Gandsha,  resigning  all  claims  to  Shularegi,  Kharthli, 
Kachethi,  Imeritia,  Guria,  Mingrelia  and  Abchasia,  and  were  obliged  to 
admit  the  Russian  flag  on  the  Caspian  Sea.  Feth  Ali  (born  in  1768),  a 
Turkoman  of  the  tribe  of  Kadshar  Shah,  was  induced  by  the  heir-appa- 
rent, Abbas  Mirza,  and  his  favourite,  Hussein  Kuli  Khan,  who  believed 
Russia  to  be  involved  in  domestic  troubles,  to  attack  that  power  in  1826. 
The  Persians  invaded  the  Russian  territories,  without  a  declaration  of 
war,  instigated  part  of  the  Mohammedan  population  to  insurrection,  and 
advanced  as  far  as  Elizabethpol ;  but  they  were  defeated  in  several  bat- 
tles, and  the  Russians  under  Paskewitch  conquered  the  country  to  the 
Araxes,  which,  by  the  treaty  of  Tourkmantchai,  in  1829,  was  ceded  to 
Russia. 

On  the  death  of  Futteh  Ali  Shah,  in  1835,  his  grandson,  the  present 
sovereign,  son  of  the  prince-royal.  Abbas  Mirza,  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
and,  profiting  by  the  dear-bought  experience  of  his  predecessor,  is  under- 
stood to  be  favourable  to  the  interests  of  Russia,  or,  what  is  more  likely 
considers  it  prudent  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  a  neighbour  who  has  it 
so  much  in  his  power  to  injure  him.  The  late  Abbas  Mirza  had,  with 
the  consent  of  the  East  India  Company,  raised  and  disciplined  a  body  of 
troops  in  Azerbijan,  with  a  view  of  opposing  the  Russians ;  but  on  the 


THE  TREASUHY  OF  HISTOEY.  351 

commencement  of  the  war  with  Turkey  in  1822,  as  British  officers  could 
not  serve  against  a  power  on  friendly  terms  with  Great  Britain,  ihey  were 
dismissed ;  but  the  regular  Persian  army  marched  against  the  Russians, 
and  were  successful  until  they  were  disabled  by  the  cholera.  Yet  it  is 
clear  that  their  army  is  still  very  inefficient,  compared  with  what  it  for- 
merly was ;  for  when,  in  1837,  Mohammed  Mirza,  the  present  shah,  made 
every  eftbrt  to  bring  a  large  force  against  Herat,  the  besieging  army  did 
not  exceed  thirty-five  thousand  men  of  every  description,  which  was 
considerably  less  than  half  the  number  of  efficient  troops  engaged  with 
the  Russians  in  the  previous  war. 

The  Greeks  greatly  interested  themselves  to  learn  the  manners,  the 
laws,  and  the  form  of  government  of  the  Persians,  and  found  that  they 
adored  the  sun  and  moon ;  they  erected  neither  temple  nor  altar,  nor 
statue,  to  their  gods.  Their  Magi  were  their  sages  and  their  priests. 
They  held  at  Babylon  a  solemn  feast  to  Venus.  The  kings  and  lords  of 
Persia  kept  a  great  number  of  concubines;  and  such  was  their  jealousy, 
that  not  only  the  sight  of  them  was  forbidden  to  all  persons  without  the 
seraglio,  but  every  one  of  them  was  separated  and  confined  under  a 
strong  guard.  The  king  of  Persia  assumed  the  title  of  the  Great  King. 
His  authority,  however,  was  not  without  bounds ;  the  important  business 
of  the  nation  was  debated  in  a  sovereign  council,  composed  of  seven 
principal  lords,  who  always  accompanied  the  prince.  The  Greeks  ob- 
served among  the  Persians  a  great  attention  to  justice,  the  king  frequent- 
ly rendering  it  himself  to  his  subjects,  and  not  confiding  in  any  instance 
this  material  duty  of  the  prince  but  to  such  persons  as  were  profoundly 
learned  in  the  law,  and  who  could  not  attain  the  eminence  of  the  judg- 
ment-seat under  the  age  of  fifty  years.  The  lives  of  slaves  did  not  alto- 
gether depend  on  the  will  of  their  masters  ;  and  the  pain  of  death  could 
not  be  pronounced  against  them  for  their  first  fault.  This  empire,  ac- 
cording to  the  best  information,  was  divided  into  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  governments.  The  lords  who  presided  over  them  were  called  sa- 
traps (similar  to  viceroys  of  our  day),  to  whom  the  king  assigned  a  con- 
siderable revenue.  Agriculture  was  particularly  honoured  by  the  Per- 
sians; there  was  in  every  district  officers  appointed  by  the  state  to  over- 
look the  cultivation  of  the  earth.  The  conquered  nations  supported  the 
expenses  of  the  state,  the  Persians  themselves  being  exempt  from  every 
tax  and  impost. 

The  present  government  of  Persia  is  an  absolute  monarchy :  but  the 
right  of  succession,  as  in  ancient  times,  and  as  in  all  Asiatic  monarchies, 
is  undefined,  and  generally  rests  with  the  strongest,  whence  a  perpetual  re- 
currence of  bloodshed  and  anarchy  arises.  The  religion  is  Mahommedan, 
and  the  Persians  are  zealous  followers  of  the  Sheah  persuasion,  or  those 
who  look  upon  Ali,  the  son-in-law  of  the  prophet,  as  his  legitimate  suc- 
cessor. The  people  consist  of  four  classes  ;  the  first  are  the  native  tribes, 
who  live  in  tents,  and  are  migratory  with  the  seasons — as  the  Zend,  Affshar, 
and  others  ;  the  second  are  similar  tribes,  of  Mongol  or  Turkoman  origin, 
settled  in  the  country,  of  which  the  Kajar,  or  royal  tribe,  is  one  ;  the  third 
are  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns,  and  those  of  the  country  who  follow 
agriculture  ;  and  the  fourth  are  Arab  tribes,  who  occupy  the  country  to- 
ward the  Persian  Gulf. 

When  the  Arabs  overran  Persia,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, three  languages  were  spoken  in  the  country,  Parsee,  Peh  vi,  and 
Deri,  exclusive  of  the  Zend,  or  language  dedicated  to  religion.  The 
Persians  make  high  claims  to  ancient  literature  ;  but  the  greater  part  of 
that  which  escaped  destruction  in  the  time  of  Alexander,  was  destroyed 
under  the  caliphs.  Persian  civilization  declined  during  the  first  period  of 
«he  Arabian  dominion.  But  learning  revived  in  Persia  in  the  time  of  the 
Ibassides,  and  learned  men  and  poets  were  encouraged  by  personal  fa 


352 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


vours  and  distinctions,  till  the  time  of  Genghis  Khan,  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  Under  Timur,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  the  Turks  in  the 
fifteenth,  it  continually  declined,  and  in  the  sixteenth  was  almost  entirely 
extinct.  The  oppressions  and  disturbances  to  which  Persia  has  since 
been  continually  subject,  have  prevented  the  revival  of  learning.  No  ori- 
ental nation  possesses  richer  literary  treasures  of  the  earlier  periods,  parti- 
cularly in  poetry  and  history ;  but  their  acquaintance  with  useful  science 
or  the  fine  arts,  is  most  crude  and  limited  indeed. 


ARABIA 


The  histor}'  of  the  Arabians,  called  by  some  "  the  children  of  the  east," 
is  one  of  an  unstable,  but  interesting  people.  Connected  with  the  early 
portions  of  the  Sacred  History,  and  reflecting  strong  evidences  ofthetrutn 
of  that  history,  we  find  in  its  annals  the  descendants  of  the  patriarchs. 
Ishmael  and  Esau,  in  particular,  throw  an  interest  over  the  map  of  this 
country,  and  carry  us  back  to  that  era  when  the  hope  of  the  promised 
seed  was  the  star  of  guidance  to  the  chosen  family.  Various  are  the 
tribes  that  peopled  this  country;  from  three  of  these  the  present  Arabi- 
ans are  supposed  to  be  descended — two  of  them  from  the  race  of  Ish- 
mael, and  the  third  from  Cush,  the  son  of  Ham.  Of  the  early  history  of 
these  wandering  people,  it  may  be  truly  said,  in  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, respecting  Ishmael,  "he  has  been  a  wild  man;  his  hand  has  been 
against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  has  been  against  him."  In  vain 
have  the  respective  powers  of  the  successive  empires  of  the  world  at- 
tacked this  wonderful  people.  The  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  the  Persians, 
the  Romans,  especially  the  conqueror  of  Jerusalem,  have  in  turn  failed 
in  their  gigantic  eflforts  to  subdue  them.  Their  subjugation  has  never 
been  eff'ected;  they  occupy  the  same  seats,  cultivate  the  same  soil, 
and  retain  very  much  the  old  habits  and  customs  of  their  patriarchal  foun- 
ders. 

The  religion  of  the  early  Arabs  partook  to  a  considerable  extent,  ol 
that  of  the  Hebrews,  but  so  far  from  being  strict  observers  of  the  laws  of 
Moses,  they  came  under  the  denomination  of  idolaters,  for,  although  they 
acknowledged  one  supreme  God,  they  worshipped  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  as  subordinate  deities.  This  religion  has  been  called  Sabianism, 
from  Sabi,  a  supposed  son  of  Seth.  The  Arabs  also  worshipped  images, 
and  had  their  tutelary  guardians  for  appointed  times  and  seasons  of  the 
year.  After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  by  Titus,  many  of  the  Jews 
took  refuge  in  Arabia,  where  they  made  no  inconsiderable  number  of  pro- 
selytes ;  so  that,  in  a  century  or  two,  the  Jewish  Arabs  became  a  very 
powerful  section  of  the  whole  people.  In  a  similar  way,  converts  to 
Christianity  were  made ;  for  in  the  persecution  which  the  followers  of 
Christ  suffered  in  the  third  century,  many  fled  to  Arabia,  where  they 
preached  their  doctrines  with  such  zeal  and  success,  that  in  a  short  time 
they  had  made  great  progress  there.  The  faith  of  the  Persian  Magi,  of 
wiiich  Zoroaster  was  the  founder,  had  long  before  been  embraced  by 
numerous  Arab  tribes;  so  that,  in  the  sixth  century,  the  population  of 
Arabia  was  divided  into  Sabians,  Magians,  Jews,  and  Christians.  As  the 
propagator  of  a  new  code   of  religion,  falsely  ascribed  to  divine  revela- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


3b3 


tion,  tTie  celebrated  iMahomet  stands  conspicuous  in  tlieir  annals  Amongst 
them  he  made  many  converts,  and  his  successors  have  for  centures  main- 
tained the  ascendancy  he  founded.  Of  this  extraordinary  man,  however, 
and  the  successful  mission  he  undertook,  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter 
into  the  details  ;  having  specially  devoted  a  considerable  space  to  an  ac- 
count of  the  rise  and  progress  of  Mahometanism,  at  the  conclusion  of 
our  historic  sketch  of  the  Ottoman  empire — to  which  the  reader  can  turn 
for  further  information. 

In  many  respects  this  new  religion  was  but  little  more  than  an  adapta- 
tion of  various  parts  of  the  religions  previously  existing  in  Arabia  (if  we 
except  llie  idolatrous  worship  of  the  Sabian) ;  the  people  in  general,  there- 
fore, were  in  some  measure  fitted  to  receive  it ;  and,  when  the  sensual 
character  of  the  Moliammedan  paradise  is  considered,  its  rapid  promulga- 
tion is  less  surprising  than  would  otherwise  at  first  sight  appear.  B^ut, 
besides  the  delights  which  were  to  attend  upon  all  who  perished  in  battle 
in  the  cause  of  the  "true  faith,"  he  made  it  incumbent  upon  all  his  fol- 
lowers to  spread  his  doctrine  by  the  sword,  or  to  pay  tribute  for  their  un- 
belief. The  attractions  of  plunder  had  charms  which  the  Arabs  could  not 
withstand,  consequently  great  numbers  flocked  to  his  standard.  No  car- 
avan dared  approach  the  place  of  his  resort,  without  the  danger  of  beino- 
pillaged;  and  by  making  a  trade  of  robbing,  he  learned  insensibly  how  to 
conquer.  Of  his  soldiers,  and  even  his  vanquished  enemies,  he  made  dis- 
ciples, giving  to  them  the  name  of  Mussulmen;  that  is  to  say,  faithful. 
Having  now  become  a  great  general,  and  an  eloquent  preacher,  he  took 
Mecca;  and  the  greater  part  of  tlie  strong  places  and  castles  of  Arabia 
fell  under  the  power  of  his  arms. 

Mahomet  was  assisted  in  his  wars  by  Abubeker,  his  father-in-law;  by 
All,  his  cousin  and  son-in-law  ;  and  by  Omar,  and  Oihman;  and  in  twenty- 
three  years  from  the  commencement  of  his  career,  he  found  all  Arabia 
had  embraced  his  doctrine,  and  submitted  to  his  government.  He  in- 
tended Ali,  who  had  married  his  daughter  Fatima,  as  his  successor;  but 
Abubeker,  on  account  of  his  age,  and  by  the  interest  of  Omar  and  Oth- 
man,  was  chosen.  This  election  of  Abubeker  gave  birth  to  the  schisms 
and  civil  wars  which  followed.  The  successors  of  Mahomet  took  the 
title  of  caliphs,  or  vicars  of  the  prophet.  Full  of  that  fire  or  zeal  which 
generally  accompanies  and  inspires  a  new  religion,  tiiey  spread  into  dif- 
ferent countries  their  doctrine  and  their  power.  Persia'and  Greece  were 
among  the  first  to  suffer;  Damascus,  Antioch,  and  Syria  followed.  They 
then  penetrated  into  Palestine,  and  took  Jerusalem.  They  destroyed  eu 
tirelythe  monarchies  of  Persia  and  the  Medes  of  Korasan,  of  Diarbeck, 
of  Bactriana,  and  Mesopotamia  :  nor  was  their  progress  less  successful  in 
Africa;  tliey  subdued  all  the  coast  to  the  west  of  Egypt;  and  Egypt  itself 
submitted  to  their  government,  together  with  the  islands  of  Cyprus, 
Rhodes,  Candia,  Sicily,  Malta,  and  many  others. 

It  appears  tliat  in  Asia  and  Africa,  at  different  times,  there  were  upwards 
of  fifty  caliphs,  successors  of  Mahomet,  every  one  of  whom  pretended  to 
be  his  descendant,  and  the  true  interpreter  of  the  law.  The  greater 
part  of  tliese  caliphs  sunk  into  luxury  and  effeminacy,  confided  tlie  man- 
agement of  the  government  to  their  emirs,  and  the  principal  officers  of 
the  palace.  The  caliph  had  at  last  little  more  to  do  than  to  take  cogni- 
zance of  matters  of  religion,  and  in  all  public  prayers  his  name  was  first 
used.  Thus  had  the  enormous  power  of  these  rulers  become  weak  by 
their  indolence,  so  that  it  generated  into  a  mere  title,  and  ended  in  annihi- 
lation. By  imposture  and  fanaticism  the  Arabian  dominion  rose  into  im- 
portance, and,  like  other  gigantic  empires,  it  fell  by  its  own  unwieldiness. 
Spain,  Egypt,  and  Africa  were  soon  engaged  in  elTectino  their  indepen- 
dence. l''.rc  long  the  caliphs  found  it  necessary  to  call  to  their  aid  those 
wild  hordes  of  Tartars  and  Turks  who  had  partially  received  the  doctrines 
23 


354  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

of  the  prophet,  and  from  them  ihey  chose  a  body  of  mercenary  troops  lo 
guard  their  frontiers  and  protect  their  persons.  For  a  few  generaiiona 
they  by  this  means  held  together  their  tottering  power;  but  their  aiixih- 
aries  coveted  the  possessions  of  those  whom  they  assisted,  and  the  over 
grown  empire  gradually  crumbled  away,  till  a  Tartar  army,  in  1258,  cap 
tured  Bagdad,  and  put  an  end  lo  the  nominal  existence  of  the  caliphate 
The  religion  of  Mahomet  was  untouched  ;  but  the  power  of  the  "  comman 
der  of  the  faithful,"  was  transferred  from  the  caliphs  of  Bagdad  to  the 
Turkish  sultans;  while  the  heads  of  the  different  tribes  continued  to 
govern  their  subjects  as  they  had  governed  them  before. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  a  reformation  was  commenced  by  a  sheik, 
called  Mahomet  Ibu  Abdoulwahab,  who  converted  to  his  views  the  sheik 
of  the  Arabians,  Ebn  Saaoud.  The  reformation  was  extended,  and  its 
progress  was  marked  by  the  demolition  of  several  towns,  and  the  massa- 
cre of  thousands  of  people.  The  son  of  the  Saaoud,  Abdelaagis,  sent 
an  expedition  against  Mecca,  which  he  completely  destroyed,  excepting 
the  sacred  temple.  He  captured  also  Medina,  where  he  was  assassina- 
ted— a  deed  which  his  son,  Saaoud,  avenged  by  seizing  the  accumulated 
treasures  of  ages  stored  n  that  .city,  by  means  of  which  he  made  him- 
-TJlf  master  of  all  Arabia. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CHINA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

There  is  probably  no  existing  nation  whose  history  is  less  accurately 
known  or  more  inquisitively  sought  after,  than  that  of  China.  The  most 
startling  statements  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the  nation,  and  the  number  of 
its  population,  have  been  gravely  put  into  circulation  by  grave  writers,  as 
though  the  "omne  ignotum  pro  magnifico"  were  not  a  satirical  remark, 
but  a  philosophical  command.  More,  probably,  of  authentic  information 
upon  the  subject  of  this  singular  people  has  been  acquired  during  the  last 
half  century,  than  during  the  whole  lapse  of  the  preceding  ages.  Marco 
Polo  and  Du  Halde,  subjected  as  they  now  are  to  the  correction  of  Dr. 
Morrison,  Gutzlaff,  Latrobe,  and  other  able  European  residents  in  China, 
may  safely  be  taken  as  our  guide,  though  were  they  not  thus  corrected, 
they  would  lead  into  frequent  and  very  gross  error.  The  Chinese  writers 
pretend  to  trace  back  their  government  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  Flood ; 
a  ridiculous  absurdity  which  we  should  not  feel  called  upon  to  notice,  but 
that  European  writers  have,  without  going  to  the  full  extent  of  Chinese 
extravagance,  admitted  their  existence  as  a  nation  considerably  more 
than  two  thousand  years  before  Christ.  Its  early  history,  indeed,  like 
that  of  most  other  nations  of  any  considerable  antiquity,  seems  to  be  an 
imaginative  distortion  of  a  few  truths,  mixed  up  with  a  vast  number  of 
bare  and  mere  fictions.  Their  founder  and  first  monarch  they  affirm  to 
have  been  Fohi,  who  is  presumed  by  many  writers  to  have  been  the  same 
with  Noah.  The  eastern  mountains  of  Asia  they  take  to  be  the  Ararat 
of  Scripture  ;  and  they  assert  that,  as  the  waters  subsided,  Noah  lullowed 
tlie  course  of  the  rivers  to  the  south  until  he  arrived  at  China,  where, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  355 

beinj  much  struck  with  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  land,  he  eventually 
Bettled. 

As  the  Chinese,  contrary  to  the  practice  of  almost  all  nations,  have 
rarely,  if  ever,  soug^ht  to  conquer  other  countries,  their  annals  for  many 
ages  furnish  nothing-  remarkable ;  and  although  they  date  the  origin  of 
their  imperial  dynasties  (excluding  those  of  the  fabulous  times)  two 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era,  we  find  that  the  country  was 
long  divided  into  several  states  or  independent  sovereignties.  Twenty- 
two  dynasties  of  princes  are  enumerated  as  having  governed  China  from 
2207  B.  c  ,  to  the  present  day.  the  reigning  emperor  being  the  fifth  mon- 
arch of  the  twenty-second  or  Tai-Tsin  dynasty.  What  may  be  termed 
the  authentic  history  of  China  does  not  begin  till  the  time  of  Confucius, 
who  flourished  about  five  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  and  who  must 
be  regarded  as  the  great  reformer  of  China.  He  endeavoured  to  unite  in 
one  great  confederation  the  numerous  states  which  harassed  each  other 
by  mutual  wars,  and  constructed  a  moral  code  for  the  government  of  the 
people.  He  forbore  to  dive  into  the  impenetrable  arcana  of  nature ; 
neither  did  he  bewilder  himself  in  abstruse  researches  on  the  essence  and 
attributes  of  a  Deity,  but  confined  himself  to  speaking  with  the  most  pro- 
found reverence  of  the  First  Principle  of  all  beings,  whom  he  represented 
as  the  most  pure  and  perfect  Essence,  the  Author  of  all  things,  who  is 
acquainted  with  our  most  secret  thoughts,  and  who  will  never  permit 
virtue  to  go  unrecompensed,  nor  vice  unpunished.  It  is  not  until  b.  c.  248 
that  Chinese  history  begins  to  be  at  all  developed.  Che-Hwang-te,  the 
founder  of  the  Tsin  dynasty,  in  that  year  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and  the 
petty  princes  of  China,  as  well  as  the  Huns  who  inhabited  the  immense 
plains  beyond  the  Oxus,  speedily  found  that  they  had  a  warrior  to  deal 
with.  Whenever  these  princes  ventured  to  meet  him  they  were  infallibly 
defeated,  until  he  completely  subdued  all  the  states,  and  consolidated  the 
empire.  Having  provided  for  his  power  within  the  empire,  he  next  turned 
his  attention  to  its  regular  and  efficient  defence  against  foreign  invaders. 
Theverydesultorinessof  the  attacks  of  the  Huns  made  it  difficult  to  sub- 
due them.  When  he  could  meet  and  force  them  into  a  pitched  battle,  he 
never  failed  to  give  an  excellent  account  of  them  ;  but  they  were  no  sooner 
dispersed  than  they  rallied;  no  sooner  chastised  in  one  part  of  the  empire 
than  they  poured  furiously  down  to  repeat  their  offences  in  some  other. 

Whether  the  monarch  himself,  or  his  able  general,  Mung-Teen,  con- 
ceived the  grand  idea  of  surrounding  China — as  it  was  then  limited — with 
a  wall,  it  would  now  be  no  easy  matter  to  ascertain  ;  certain  it  is  that  the 
wall  was  erected  under  the  superintendence  of  the  general. 

This  perfectly  stupenduous  monument  of  human  skill  and  industry 
(which  is  one  thousand  five  hunded  miles  in  length,  thirty  feet  high,  and 
fifteen  feet  thick  on  the  top),  could  only  have  been  completed  by  an  ab- 
solute monarch.  The  emperor  of  China  had  only  to  will  and  be  obeyed. 
He  ordered  that  every  third  man  throughout  the  empire  should  aid  in  the 
vast  work.  Like  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  and  like  the  native  builders  of 
the  vast  pyramids,  the  builders  of  the  great  wall  of  China  were  but  slaves, 
whose  slavery  only  differed  from  that  of  purchased  slaves,  in  that  it  was 
but  for  a  time  they  were  purchased,  and  that  the  price  paid  for  them  was 
not  in  cash  or  merchandise,  but  the  sic  volo,  the  absolute  will  of  the  em- 
peror. A  curious  calculation  has  been  made,  showing  that  if  this  wall 
were  pulled  down,  and  a  new  one  made  of  the  materials,  twelve  feet  high 
and  four  feet  thick,  it  would  be  of  sufficient  length  to  encircle  the  globe. 

By  the  stern  exercise  of  his  power,  the  emperor  had  this  mighty  wall, 
with  embattled  towers  at  convenient  distances  on  the  top,  completed,  and 
the  towers  garrisoned,  so  as  to  serve  at  once  for  watch  towers  and  for- 
tresses !  But  though  he  was  a  spirit  ?d  prince,  and  had  a  chivalrous  desire 
to  protect  his  empire  from  the  rapiiu  of  its  barbarous  enemies,  his  reign 


556  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

was  by  no  means  free  from  cause  of  censure :  for  we  find  he  ordered 
the  destruction  of  the  whole  body  of  Chinese  literature,  in  the  disgraceful 
hope  of  destroying  all  traces  of  Chinese  history  previous  to  the  com- 
mencement of  his  dynasty !  The  works  of  Confucius  were  alone  secreted, 
by  some  man  of  well-directed  mind,  and  were  found,  years  after  the  em- 
peror's death,  by  some  workmen  employed  in  repairing  a  house. 

On  the  death  of  Che-Whang-te,  his  son  Urh-siic,  less  politic  or  less 
powerful  than  his  father,  found  it  impossible  to  prevent  new  outbreaks 
among  the  princes  who  had  been  reduced  to  the  position  of  mere  nobles 
and  lieutenants  of  the  emperor.  Whether  leaguing  against  the  commands 
of  the  emperor,  or  assailing  each  other,  they  filled  the  land  with  strife; 
entire  cities  were  in  some  cases  destroyed,  and  the  annihilation  of  the 
empire  seemed  at  hand  ;  when  there  arose  in  the  land  one  of  those  mi'.n 
of  iron  nerve  and  hand  who  never  fail  to  appear  during  great  revolutions, 
and  always  precisely  when  the  myriad-evils  of  anarchy  can  only  be  put 
an  end  to  by  a  man  who  possesses  the  talents  of  the  soldier  joined  to  the 
will  of  the  despot.  Lien  Pang,  the  man  in  question,  was  originally  the 
captain  of  a  band  of  robbers,  and  notorious  in  that  character  alike  for  his 
boldness  and  success.  The  distracted  state  of  the  country  opened  trto 
way  to  his  joining  the  profession  of  a  leader  of  free  lances  to  that  of  a. 
robber,  and,  at  first  in  alliance  witli  some  of  the  princes,  and  subsequent- 
ly in  opposition  to  all  of  them  in  succession,  he  fought  so  ably  that  he 
subdued  the  whole  empire,  changed  his  name  to  that  of  Kaon-te,  and  as- 
cended the  tlirone,  thus  founding  the  Hang  dynasty.  Though  thus  suc- 
cessful within,  he  was  greatly  annoyed  by  the  Huns  ;  and  so  far  was  his 
usual  success  from  attending  him  in  his  endeavours  to  free  the  empire 
from  them,  that  he  bought  their  quietness  with  many  and  costly  presents, 
which  on  his  death  and  the  succession  of  his  son  was  changed  to  a  stip- 
ulated annual  tribute. 

During  several  years  there  were  no  events  worth  recording  in  the  his- 
tory of  China ;  but,  in  the  reign  of  Woo-te,  the  empire  was  assailed  by  a 
succession  of  misfortunes  and  calamities.  Owing  to  a  long  continuance 
of  heavy  rains  the  Hoang-ho  river  burst  its  banks,  sweeping  away  every 
thing  in  its  path,  and  causing  a  destruction,  not  only  of  property  but  also 
of  human  life,  that  was  truly  terrible.  During  the  same  reign  the  culti- 
vated lands  were  left  completely  bare  by  the  invasion  of  a  vast  army  of 
those  destructive  creatures,  locusts;  and  a  fire  occurred  in  the  capital 
which  burned  property  to  a  frightful  extent,  and  was  only  extinguished 
after  it  had  consumed  a  great  portion  of  the  city,  including  almost  the 
whole  of  the  imperial  palace.  To  counterbalance  these  great  national 
calamities,  this  reign  had  one  piece  of  good  fortune  of  the  highest  con- 
sequence. The  Huns  had  made  their  appearance  again  in  vast  numbers; 
they  were  completely  routed  in  a  great  battle,  by  the  Chinese  under  their 
general,  Wei-sing,  who  took  many  thousands  of  prisoners,  together  with 
the  whole  of  the  tents,  stores,  and  baggage  of  these  nomadic  plunderers. 
So  thoroughly  humbled  were  the  Huns  on  this  occasion,  that  for  very 
many  years  they  did  not  again  make  their  appearance ;  they  even  paid 
homage  to  the  emperor,  Senen-Te,  against  whom,  however,  they  broke 
out  as  fiercely  as  ever  towards  the  close  of  his  reign. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  Christian  era  Piiig-te  ascended  the  imperial 
throne.  He  only  reigned  about  five  years,  and  being  a  weak  prince,  was 
even  during  that  period  rather  the  nominal  than  the  real  emperor,  for  both 
he  and  the  empire  were  completely  ruled  by  Wang-mang,  a  prince  of 
great  energy,  who,  on  the  death  of  Ping-le,  took  actual  possession  of  tho 
throne,  of  which  he  had  long  been  the  virtual  owner.  Many  princes  es- 
poused the  cause  of  the  displaced  dynasty  ;  but  though  they  perpetually 
made  war  upon  the  able  usurper,  he  kept  possession  of  the  throne  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.    Wang-mang  died  a.  d.  23,  and  was  succeeded 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  357 

by  Hwac-yang-wang;  he  died  in  a.  d.  58,  and  was  succeeded  by  Kvvang- 
Woo.  This  reign  is  chiefly  remarkable  on  account  of  the  introduction 
into  China,  from  the  neighbouring  country  of  Eastern  India,  of  the  Bud- 
dhist religion.  In  the  year  89,  and  the  reign  of  Ho-te,  the  Tartars,  who 
as  well  as  the  Huns  and  the  Cochins,  were  the  perpetual  pest  of  China, 
again  made  their  appearance.  They  were  worsted  in  several  encounters, 
and  many  thousands  of  them  perished.  They  were  driven,  broken  and 
dispirited,  to  the  Caspian,  and  only  then  escaped  owing  to  the  fear  with 
which  the  mere  prospect  of  a  long  voyage  inspired  the  Chinese.  For 
several  years  after  this  event  the  affairs  of  China  were  in  a  very  pitiable 
state ;  the  Tartars,  returning  again  and  again,  added  by  their  ravages  to 
the  distress  caused  by  bad  seasons;  and  just  under  those  very  circum- 
Btances  which  made  the  rule  of  a  vigorous  and  able  man  more  than  ever 
desirable,  it,  singularly  enough,  chanced  that  reign  after  reign  fell  to  the 
lot  of  mere  children,  in  whose  names  the  kingdom  was  of  course  gov 
erned  by  the  court  favourites  of  the  existing  empress  ;  the  high  trust  o. 
the  favourite  arising  naturally  more  from  the  empress'  favour  than  foi 
his  fitness  or  integrity.  Drought,  famine,  plague,  and  the  frequent  curse 
of  foreign  invasion,  made  this  part  of  Chinese  history  truly  lamentable. 

In  the  year  220,  the  empire  was  divided  into  three,  and  with  the  usual 
effect  of  divided  rule  in  neighbours  between  whom  nature  has  placed  no 
boundary  of  sea,  or  rock,  or  impracticable  desert.  In  the  year  288,  the 
emperor  Woo-te  succeeded  in  again  uniting  the  states  into  one  empire. 
He  died  about  two  years  later,  and  was  succeeded  by  Hwuy-te,  who 
reigned  seventeen  years,  but  was  guilty  of  many  cruelties,  and  conse- 
quently much  disliked.  The  history  of  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  years,  terminating  a.  d.  420,  may  be  summed  up  in  three  words — 
confusion,  pillage,  and  slaughter.  Either  native  generals  and  native  ar- 
mies fought,  or  the  fierce  Hun  and  still  fiercer  Tartar  carried  death  and 
dismay  throughout  the  empire.  Years  of  bloodshed  and  confusion  at 
length  inclined  the  more  important  among  the  native  competitors  to  peace, 
and  two  empires  were  formed — the  northern  and  southern — the  Nan  and 
the  Yuh-chow. 

Lew-yn,  or  Woo-te,  emperor  of  the  southern  empire,  though  he  was 
far  superior  in  the  wealthiness  of  his  share  to  the  prince  of  the  north, 
was  originally  the  orphan  of  parents  of  low  rank,  who  left  him  in  circum- 
stances of  such  destitution,  that  his  youth  was  supported  by  the  actual 
charity  of  an  old  woman,  who  reared  him  as  her  own  son.  As  soon  as 
he  was  old  enough  he  enlisted  for  a  soldier,  and  subsequently  made  his 
way  to  the  empire  by  a  succession  of  murders  upon  members  of  the 
royal  family,  including  the  emperor  Kung  te,  who  was  the  last  of  the 
Tsin  dynasty.  Lew-yn,  or  Woo-te,  compelled  that  unfortunate  monarch 
publicly  to  abdicate  in  his  favour.  The  prison  of  deposed  kings  is  pro- 
verbially synonymous  with  their  grave.  The  case  of  Kung-te  was  no 
exception  to  the  general  rule ;  he  was  put  to  death  by  poison.  Woo-te 
died  in  422  ;  his  son,  Ying- Yang-Wang  succeeded  him,  but  was  speedily 
deposed  in  favour  of  Wan-te.  This  prince  issued  an  edict  against  the 
Buddhist  doctrines,  which  in  the  northern  dominions,  where  the  prince 
just  at  that  time  was  possessed  of  far  more  power  than  his  southern 
brother,  proceeded  still  more  harshly.  All  Buddhists  were  banished ; 
the  Buddhist  temples  burned,  and  many  priests  put  to  death  or  cruelly 
tortured  and  mutilated. 

Wan-te,  learned  himself,  was  a  great  friend  and  promoter  of  learning. 
•Several  colleges  were  founded  by  him,  and  his  exertions  in  this  respect 
were  the  more  valuable,  as  they  were  imitated  by  the  prince  of  the  north. 
Wan-te  having  sharply  reproved  his  son  Lew  Chaou,  for  some  miscon- 
duct, and  threatened  to  disinherit  him,  the  son  bfuially  murdered  him  at 
the  instigation  of  a  bonze  or  priest,  who  represoi;lv^d  that  act  as  the  only 


J558  THE  TREASURY  Or  HISTORY. 

means  of  [)ieventing  the  father's  threat  from  being  carried  into  effect. 

The  guill  of  both  tlie  prince  and  his  priestly  instigator  met  with  its  fitting 
reward.  Lew-senen,  half-brotiier  to  the  prince,  raised  a  powerful  army, 
and  attacked  Lew  Chaou,  who  with  his  wliole  family  were  beheaded,  and 
all  his  pala(H;s  razed  to  the  ground.  Fci-le  King-Ho  has  been  aptly 
enough  compared  to  the  Caius  ('aligula  of  Kome ;  bloodshed  appeared  to 
be  his  greatest  delight ;  to  bo  privileged  to  approach  him  was  at  the  same 
time  to  be  in  constant  peril  of  being  butchered  ;  and  he  was  no  less  ob- 
scene than  cruel,  an  mimcnse  and  gorgeously  decorated  hall  being  bml> 
by  him,  and  exclusively  devoted  to  the  most  disgusting  and  frantic  orgies, 
The  reign  of  so  foul  a  monster  could  not  be  otherwise  than  short.  The 
very  officers  of  his  palace  could  not  tolerate  his  conduct,  and  in  the  yeai 
following  his  accession  to  the  throne  he  was  dispatched  by  one  of  the 
eunuchs  of  his  palace. 

Miiig-te  Tae-che  succeeded  to  the  throne,  a.  d.  466,  What  he  might 
have  proved  if  his  accession  had  been  unopposed  we  can  but  guess ;  but, 
being  opposed,  he  was  aroused  to  a  rage  perfectly  ungovernable.  Those 
of  his  relatives  who  actually  took  up  arms  against  him  were  not  more 
hateful  than  those  of  them  who  did  not,  and  many  of  the  latter  were  put 
to  death  by  him.  Mis  whole  reign  was  passed  in  warfare  with  one  or 
more  of  the  princes  of  his  family.  This  state  of  things  lasted  for  nearly 
six  years,  and  caused  so  much  misery  to  the  people,  that  there  would 
have  been  a  general  rising  for  the  purpose  of  dethroning  him,  but  for  his 
opportune  death.  Anarchy  and  war  marked  the  two  following  reigns,  of 
Chwang-yu-wang,  and  Shun-te  ;  the  former  was  dispatched  by  a  eunuch 
employed  by  an  aspiring  general,  who  also  compelled  Shun  te  to  abdicate 
in  his  favour,  and  soon  afterwards  assassinated  him.  In  479  the  aspiring 
and  reckless  general,  Seawu-Taduching,  ascended  the  throne,  under  the 
title  of  Fvaou-te-now ;  he  reigned  but  two  years,  and  the  succeeding 
princes  of  this  dynasty,  Tsi,  which  terminated  in  502,  were  engaged  in 
continual  war  with  the  prince  of  the  north,  but  performed  neither  war- 
like nor  peaceful  services  to  merit  notice. 

A  new  dynasty,  the  Leang,  was  now  commenced  by  Woo-te,  who  as- 
cended the  throne  in  502.  Under  him  the  old  wars  between  the  northern 
and  southern  empires  were  continued.  Nevertheless,  though  warlike  and 
active  at  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  he  showed  himself  a  great  ad- 
mirer and  patron  of  learning.  He  revived  some  learned  establishments 
that  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  founded  some  new  ones;  but  probably  the 
most  important  service  that  he  did  it  was  that  of  publicly  teaching  in 
person.  We  may  fairly  doubt  whether  such  a  prince  was  not  better  skill- 
ed in  the  arts  of  war,  as  then  practised,  than  in  studious  lore ;  but  his  ex- 
ample tended  to  make  learning  fashionable,  and  he  may  therefore  be  said 
to  have  afforded  it  the  greatest  encouragement.  Whatever  his  actual  at- 
tainments, his  love  of  study  seems  to  have  been  both  deep  and  sincere  ; 
for  while  yet  in  the  prime  of  mental  and  bodily  vigour,  he  abandoned  the 
pomp  and  power  of  the  throne,  and  retired  to  a  monastery  with  the  avow- 
ed intention  of  devoting  the  remaind(  r  of  his  life  to  study.  This,  how- 
ever,  had  such  mischievous  effect  upon  public  affairs,  that  the  principal 
mandarins  compelled  him  to  quit  his  peaceful  retirement  and  re-ascend 
the  throne;  but  the  rest  of  his  life  was  passed  in  strife  and  tumult,  which 
eventually  broke  his  heart.  His  son  and  successor  had  scarcely  com- 
menced his  reign,  when  he  was  put  to  death,  and  succeeded  by  Yuen-te. 
This  emperor  also  was  fond  of  retirement  and  study,  and  greatly  neglect- 
ed the  affairs  of  his  empire,  which,  distracted  as  it  constantly  was  by  the 
violence  and  intrigues  of  the  princes  of  the  empire,  required  a  stern  and 
vigorous  attention. 

Shin-pan-seen,  who  was  not  only  a  prince  of  the  empire,  but  also  prime 
minister  to  the  emperor,  raised  a  rebellion  against  his  confiding  imd  peace- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  359 

fal  master,  whose  first  intimation  of  his  danger  was  given  to  him  by  ,he 
fierce  shouts  of  the  rebel  force  at  the  very  gates  of  his  palace.  On  hear- 
ing those  boding  sounds,  the  emperor,  awakened  from  his  delicious  rev- 
eries, calmly  closed  the  book  he  had  been  so  intent  upon,  put  on  his  ar- 
mour, and  ascended  the  ramparts.  A  single  glance  showed  him  that  it 
was  too  late  for  resistance ;  he  returned  to  his  library,  and,  setting  fire  to 
it,  abandoned  his  sword,  and  resigned  himself  to  his  fate.  The  library  of 
this  unfortunate  monarch,  who  would  probably  have  been  both  powerful 
and  glorious  had  he  ruled  over  a  less  divided  and  turbulent  people,  is  said 
to  have  contained  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  volumes;  an  immense 
number  to  have  been  collected  even  by  royalty  at  such  a  time  and  among 
such  a  people.  The  next  emperor  worthy  of  any  mention,  however 
slight,  is  Wan-te,  whose  short  reign  was  so  vigorous,  prudent,  and  suc- 
cessful, that  he  must  be  considered  to  have  been  the  chief  cause  of  the 
re-union  which  occurred  soon  after  his  death  between  the  northern 
and  southern  empires.  He  died  in  566,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sou, 
Pe-tsung,  who  was  speedily  dethroned  by  his  uncle  and  the  empress 
dowager. 

The  throne  was  then  filled  by  Suen-te.  During  his  short  reigii,  of  less 
than  three  years,  he  fought  boldly  and  constantly  against  his  opponents, 
and  did  much  towards  promoting  the  fast  approaching  union  of  the  two 
empires.  On  the  death  of  Suen-te,  in  the  year  569,  he  was  succeeded  by 
How  Chow,  a  mere  sensualist  and  idler,  whose  debauchery  and  indolence 
disgusted  and  angered  his  people  more,  probably,  than  hardier  and  more 
active  vices  would,  even  though  they  had  been  productive  of  a  fiercer  and 
more  obvious  kind  of  tyranny.  A  powerful  and  warlike  noble,  Yang- 
keen,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  disaffected  nobles  and  their  followers 
and  laid  siege  to  the  imperial  city.  The  inhabitants,  who,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, were  even  more  disgusted  witli  the  effeminacy  and  profligacy  they 
had  witnessed,  than  the  beseigers,  threw  open  the  gates  almost  without  3 
struggle.  The  immediate  advisers  of  the  emperor  and  the  notorious  com- 
panions of  his  profligate  revels  were  sternly  put  to  death,  and  search  was 
then  made  for  the  emperor.  That  cowardly  sensualist  had  taken  refuge 
with  all  his  family  in  a  dry  well,  whence  he  was  dragged  out  half  dead 
with  terror,  and  expecting  no  less  than  instant  death  at  the  hands  of  the 
victorious  rebel  leader.  But  Yang-keen,  either  in  mercy,  or  with  the 
politic  view  of  placing  an  additional  obstacle  in  the  way  of  all  other  pre- 
tenders that  might  arise,  spared  both  him  and  his  family. 

On  usurping  the  throne,  a.  d.  572,  Yang-keen's  very  first  act  was  to 
consolidate  the  northern  empire  with  the  southern.  In  this  he  found  lit- 
tle difficulty.  AVei,  the  last  really  great  prince  of  the  northern  empire, 
was  both  so  well  able  to  war,  and  so  little  inclined  to  do  so  without  oc- 
casion, that  he  made  his  state  at  once  feared  without,  and  peaceful  and 
prosperous  within.  He  was  poisoned  by  his  own  mother,  a  woman  of 
high  but  cruel  spirit,  and  of  great  talents  but  most  restless  disposition. 
Both  she,  while  she  acted  as  regent  to  her  grandson,  and  the  latter  when 
ne  had  taken  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own  hands,  plunged  the 
state  into  all  the  venomous  and  mischevious  wars  of  the  imperial  prin- 
ces ;  and  this  fatal  departure  from  the  peaceful  polity  of  the  former  ruler, 
and  the  absence  of  any  improvement  in  his  militar}'^  power,  struck  a  blow 
at  the  safety  and  integrity  of  the  northern  empire,  which,  after  a  separate 
existence  of  upwards  of  a  century  and  a  half,  was  re-annexed  to  the  south- 
ern empire,  almost  without  an  effort. 


CHAPTER  H. 
Yang-keen  having  been  so  successful  in  obtaining  the  throne  and  con- 
Bolidating  the  empire,  turned  his  attention  to  restraining  the  violence  and 


360  THE  TREASUllY  OF  HISTORY. 

rapine  of  the  Tartar  chiefs.  Tlis  reputation  for  skill,  valour,  and  firmness, 
here  did  him  good  sorvice.  IJold  and  rapacious  as  the  Tartars  were,  they 
were  too  well  aware  of  the  character  of  the  monarch  whom  they  now  had 
10  deal  with,  to  hope  that  he  would  overlook  any  of  the  advantages  he 
possessed.  They  professed  ihemselves  desirous  rather  of  his  friendship 
than  his  enmity  ;  and  to  sliow  the  sincerity  of  what  they  called  their 
amity,  but  what  would  have  been  far  more  correctly  termed  their  terror, 
they  went  so  far  as  to  pay  him  homage.  With  his  usual  shrewd  policy, 
Yang-keen  gave  one  of  the  imperial  princesses  in  marriage  to  the  princi- 
pal i'artar  chief.  Nor  was  he  ill-rewarded  for  the  facility  with  which  he 
permitted  himself  to  substitute  alliance  for  strife.  During  his  reign,  his 
people  remained  free  froni  the  incursions  of  the  Tartars,  which  had  pre- 
viously been  as  frequent  as  the  natural  tempests,  and  far  more  destructive. 

On  the  death  of  Yang-keen,  in  fiul,  the  heir  to  the  throne  was  strangled 
by  a  younger  brother,  Yang-te,  who,  having  committed  the  fratricide  and 
removed  all  other  obstacles  from  his  path,  ascended  the  throne  in  605. 
The  means  by  which  this  prince  obtained  the  throne,  common  as  such 
means  are  in  despotic  and  but  partially  civilized  nations,  deserve  all  the 
detestation  that  we  can  bestow  upon  them  ;  but  if  he  obtained  the  throne 
shamefully,  he  filled  it  well,  'i'hough  eminently  a  man  of  taste  and  plea- 
sure, he  was  no  less  a  man  of  judgment,  enterprise,  and  energy.  In  the 
early  part  of  his  reign  he  formed  extensive  gardens,  which  for  magnitude 
and  tastefulness  were  never  before  witnessed  in  China  ;  and  in  these  gar- 
dens it  was  his  chief  delight  to  ride,  attended  by  a  retinue  of  a  thousand 
ladies,  splendidly  attired,  who  amused  him  with  vocal  and  instruiTiental 
music,  and  with  dancing  and  feats  of  grace  and  agility  on  horseback. 
This  luxurious  habit  did  not,  however,  prevent  him  from  paying  great  at- 
tention to  the  solid  improvements  of  which  China  at  that  time  stood  so 
much  in  need.  It  would  be  idle  to  remark  upon  the  importance  (to  both 
the  prosperity  and  the  civilization  of  a  people)  of  good  and  numerous 
means  of  communication  between  all  the  extremities  of  their  land.  Many 
of  his  canals  and  bridges  still  exist,  as  proofs  both  of  his  zeal  and  judg- 
ment in  this  most  important  department  of  the  duty  of  a  ruler.  But  his 
talents,  energy,  and  accomplishments,  could  not  save  him  ;  he  had  been 
on  a  tour,  not  improbably  with  a  view  to  some  new  improvement  in  the 
face  of  the  country,  when  he  was  assassinated.  This  melancholy  event, 
it  seems  probable,  arose  from  the  successful  artifices  of  Le-yuen  :  he  was 
both  powerful  and  disaflfected;  had  previously  signalized  himself  by  the 
most  factious  conduct,  and  immediately  after  the  assassination,  put  him- 
self forward  to  place  King-te  upon  the  vacant  throne.  What  motive  Le- 
yuen  had  in  making  this  man  the  mere  puppet  of  sovereignly  for  a  brief 
time  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  King-te  had  scarce- 
ly ascended  the  throne,  before  Le-yuen  caused  him  to  be  strangled  and 
assumed  the  sovereign  power  himself. 

It  is  strange  that  ill-acquired  power  is  sometimes  used  with  wisdom 
and  moderation,  as  though  in  the  struggle  to  obtain  it  the  evil  portion  oi 
the  posessor's  nature  had  been  exhausted.  Le-yuen,  or  rather  Kaou-tsoo, 
which  name  he  took  on  ascending  the  throne,  was  a  remarkable  instance 
of  this.  Nothing  could  be  more  sanguinary  or  unscrupulous  than  the 
course  by  which  he  became  master  of  the  empire;  nothing  could  be  bra- 
ver, more  poliiic,  or,  as  regarded  his  internal  administration,  milder,  than 
his  conduct  ai'ier  he  had  obtained  it.  For  some  years  previous  to  his 
usurpation,  the  Tartars  had  returned  to  their  old  practice  of  making  in- 
cursions into  the  northern  parts  of  China,  on  some  portion  of  which  they 
had  actually  proceeded  to  settle  themselves.  Kaou-tsoo  attacked  them 
with  great  spirit.,  and  in  many  severe  engagements  made  such  slaughter 
among  them  as  to  impress  them  with  a  salutary  fear  of  pushing  their  en- 
croachments farther.      Looking  with  a  politic  and  prescient  eye  at  the 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  361 

stnte  of  other  nations,  Kjiou-tsoo  was  extremely  anxious  about  that  sin 
gular  and  (Vrocions  people,  the  Turks,  who  about  the  commencement  o'' 
his  rei^n  began  to  be  very  troublesome  in  Asia.  Dwelling  between  the 
Caspian  sea  and  the  river  Hypanis,  the  Turks  were  a  sylvan  people,  har- 
dy, and  living  chiefly  upon  the  spoils  of  the  chase.  Thus  prepared  by 
their  way  of  life  to  tlie  hardships  of  war,  and  having  their  cupidity  exci- 
ted by  the  rich  booty  of  the  caravans,  which  they  occasionally  rushed 
upon  from  their  peninsular  lair  to  plunder,  tliis  people  could  not  fail  U)  be 
otherwise  than  terrible,  when,  under  a  brave  and  politic  leader,  they 
went  fcjrlh  to  the  conquest  of  nations  instead  of  ihe  pillage  of  a  caravan, 
and  appeared  as  a  great  multitude  instead  of  a  mere  isolated  handful  of 
robbers.  To  China  ihe^'  were  especially  hateful  and  mischievous  :  for 
they  were  perpetually  at  war  with  the  Persians,  with  whom  just  at  that 
time,  far  the  most  valuable  part  of  Chinese  commerce  was  carried  on. 
The  Persians  fell  before  the  Turkish  power,  and  that  restless  power  en- 
deavoured to  pusli  their  conquests  intu  China.  It  might  probably  have 
effected  this  had  a  different  man  ruled  the  empire;  but  the  emperor  not 
merely  repulsed  them  from  his  own  territory,  but  chastised  the  disartected 
Tiiibetians  who  had  aided  them  and  j)usiied  forward  into  China,  whence  he 
expelled  the  Turks.  After  a  victorious  and  active  reign  of  twenty-two 
years  and  a  few  months,  this  brave  and  politic  emperor  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Chun-lsung,  whose  effeminacy  was  the  more  glaringly 
disgraceful  from  contrast  with  the  brave  and  active  character  of  his  pre- 
decessor. The  single  act  for  which  his  historian  gave  him  any  credit,  is 
that  of  having  made  it  necessary  for  the  literati,  who  by  this  time  exer- 
cised pretty  nearly  as  much  influence  in  both  private  and  public  affairs  in 
China  as  the  clergy  did  in  Europe  during  the  middle  ages,  to  sustain  a 
rather  severe  public  examination. 

Of  the  next  seventeen  uKHiarchs  of  China  there  is  literally  nothing  re- 
corded that  is  worthy  of  transcript  ;  nor  during  their  reigns  did  anything 
of  moment  occur  to  China  beyond  the  civil  dissensions,  which  were  fre- 
quent, and  indeed  inevitable,  in  a  country  where  cfleminate  princes  com- 
mitted their  power  to  intriguing  eunuchs,  who  scarcely  ever  failed  to 
prevent  a  resumption  of  it,  by  the  dagger  or  the  poisoned  cup.  Chwang- 
tsung,  son  of  a  brave  and  skilful  general,  founded  the  IIow-Tang  dynasty, 
and,  at  least  at  the  outset  of  his  reign,  was  a  bright  contrast  to  his 
predecessors.  He  had  from  mere  boyhood  shared  ihe  perils  and  hard 
ships  of  his  father,  whom  he  had  accompanied  in  many  of  his  expeditions 
At  the  commencement  of  his  reign  he  gave  every  promise  of  being  the 
greatest  monarch  China  ever  saw.  In  his  apparel  and  diet  he  emulated 
the  frugality  of  the  meanest  peasant  and  the  plainest  of  his  troops.  Lest 
he  siiould  indulge  in  more  sleep  than  nature  actually  required,  he  was 
accustomed  to  have  no  other  bed  than  the  bare  ground,  and,  as  if  this 
luxurious  way  of  lying  might  lead  him  to  waste  in  sleep  any  of  that  pre- 
cious time  of  which  he  was  a  most  rigid  economist,  he  had  a  bell  so 
fastened  to  his  person,  that  it  rang  on  his  aiterripting  to  turn  round,  so 
loudly  as  to  awaken  him,  and  after  it  did  so  he  immediately  rose,  to  re- 
pose no  more  until  his  usual  hour  on  the  ensuing  night.  Extremes  are 
proverbially  said  to  meet ;  but  certainly  one  would  never  have  suspected 
that  so  .Spartan  a  youth  would  have  heralded  a  manhood  of  exceeding 
luxury  and  even  licentiousness.  But  so  it  was ;  his  companions  were 
among  the  most  profane  wassailers  in  his  empire,  and  he  emulated 
their  conduct.  Yet  though  he  departed  from  the,  perhaps,  too  rigid  se- 
verity of  his  manners,  he  was  to  the  last  a  brave  and  active  man,  and 
was  slain  at  the  head  of  his  troops  in  a  battle  fought  in  926.  having 
in  spite  of  some  personal  defects  of  character  already  noted,  been  on 
the  whc^e  one  of  tho  most  respectable  of  all  the  native  Chinese  empe- 
rors 


8(53  THE  TEEASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

Tlic  next  was  Ming-tsung,  who  reigned  for  only  seven  years.  Bu( 
if  his  reign  was  short  it  was  active  and  beneficent  ;  and  if  there  are  many 
greater  names  in  the  imperial  annals,  there  is  not  one  more  beloved.  His 
people  looked  upon  him  as  a  parent,  and  his  whole  reign  seems,  in  fact, 
to  have  been  the  expression  and  achievement  of  a  truly  kind  and  paternal 
feeling.  He  died  in  933,  with  a  character  greater  monarchs  might  envy. 
Min-te  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  933.  He  only  reigned  one  year;  but 
in  that  very  brief  space  of  time  he  contrived  to  deserve,  if  not  to  obtain, 
the  execration  of  the  Chinese  women,  not  only  of  his  own  time,  but  up  to 
the  present  hour.  He  it  was  who  established  the  truly  barbarous  prac- 
tice of  confining  the  feet  of  female  children  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
toes  are  bent  completely  under  the  soles  of  the  f(;et,  which  are,  it  is  true, 
rendered  very  diminutive  in  appearance  by  this  abominable  method,  but 
are  at  the  same  time  rendered  almost  useless.  The  loitering  and  awk- 
ward gait  of  the  women  would  be  sufiicient  to  make  this  practice  deser- 
ving of  all  abhorrence  as  a  mailer  of  taste  merely,  but  when  we  consider 
the  exquisite  torture  which  the  unhappy  creatures  must  have  suffered  in 
girlhood,  it  is  really  wonderful  that  such  a  practice  should  so  long  have 
existed  in  any  nation  possessing  even  the  first  rudiments  of  civilization. 

Min-te  died  in  934,  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Fei  Tei,  who  paid  the  fearful  price  of  fratricide  for  the  throne.  He  pos- 
sessed, it  would  seem,  a  great  share  of  merely  animal  courage,  and  like 
the  generality  of  persons  who  do  so,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  exceed- 
ing barbarity.  Even  the  Chinese,  accustomed  as  they  were  to  despotism 
in  all  its  varieties  of  misrule,  could  not  endure  the  excess  and  wanton- 
neiss  of  his  cruelly.  A  formidable  revolt  broke  out;  and  findmg  himself 
hard  pressed  by  his  enemies,  and  abandoned  every  moment  by  his  troops, 
he  collected  the  whole  of  his  family  together,  and,  like  another  Sardanap- 
alus,  set  fire  to  his  palace — his  wealth,  his  family,  and  himself  being  con 
sunicd  in  the  flames.  Kaou-tse  now  ascended  the  throne,  being  the  first 
of  the  How-tsin  dynasty.  He  was  more  the  nominal  than  the  real  mon- 
arch, his  minister,  Uung-taieu,  usurping  a  more  than  imperial  power. 
The  minister,  in  fact,  is  in  every  way  more  worthy  of  mention  than  the 
monarch,  for  according  to  the  most  credible  accounts  the  invention  of 
printing  from  blocks  was  a  boon  conferred  by  him  upon  China  in  the  year 
937.  Both  this  reign  and  that  of  Chuh-te,  which  closed  this  short-lived 
dynasty,  were  occupied  in  perpetual  battling  with  the  restless  Tartars, 
who  for  ages  seem  to  have  had  an  instinctive  certainly  of  having,  sooner 
or  later,  the  rule  of  China,  as  the  reward  of  their  determined  and  pertina- 
cious inroads. 

In  960,  Kung-te,  a  child  of  only  six  years  of  age,  being  upon  the  throne, 
the  people  arose  and  demanded  his  abdication.  Of  maternal  and  eunuch 
misgovernment  they  certainly  had  for  centuries  past  had  abundant  expe- 
rience. How  far  the  successful  aspirant  to  the  throne  was  concerned  in 
rousing  their  fears  into  activity  and  fervour  does  not  appear ;  but  it  is 
certain  that  the  revolt  against  the  infant  emperor,  and  the  election  of 
Chaou-quang-yin  as  his  Buccessor,  were  events  in  which  the  people  show- 
ed great  unanimity  of  feeling.  This  founder  of  the  Sung  dynasty  did 
not  commence  his  reign  under  the  most  promising  circumstances  ;  for  on 
the  ceremonial  of  his  acceptance  of  the  throne,  he  actually  ascended  in  a 
state  of  intoxication.  Nevertheless,  this  prince,  who  on  his  elevation  to 
the  throne  took  the  name  of  Taou-tsoo,  was  in  reality  one  of  the  best  of 
the  Chinese  monarchs,  both  as  a  warrior  and  a  domestic  ruler.  The  im- 
beci'ity  or  infancy  of  some  of  his  predecessors,  and  the  pernicious  habit 
into  which  others  fell  of  leaving  the  actual  administration  of  afi'airs  in 
the  hands  of  eunuchs,  and  other  corrupt  favorites,  had  caused  the  court 
expenses  as  M'cll  as  the  court  retinue  to  be  swelled  to  a  shameful  extent. 
Thf  <»e'y  emperor,   immediately  after  his   accession,  caused  the  most 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  363 

rtgid  enquiry  to  be  made  into  the  expenses  of  the  state  ;  and  every  use- 
less office  was  abolished,  and  every  unfair  charge  sternly  and  promptly 
disallowed.  In  effecting  this  great  and  important  reform,  the  emperor 
derived  no  small  benefit  from  having  formerly  been  a  private  person, 
as  in  that  capacity  he  no  doubt  would  have  the  opportunity  to  note  any 
abuses  which  could  never  be  discovered  by  the  emperor  or  any  of  the 
imperial  princes.  His  frugality  seems  to  have  been  as  impartial  as  it 
was  wise;  for  though  he  raised  his  family,  for  four  generations,  to  the 
rank  of  imperial  princes,  he  at  the  same  time  insisted  upon  their  being 
content  with  the  most  moderate  revenue  that  was  at  all  consistent  with 
iheir  rank. 

When  we  bear  in  mind  the  long  and  indefatigable  endeavours  of  the 
Tartars  to  obtain  a  footing  in  the  interior  of  the  Chinese  empire,  and 
couple  that  fact  with  their  now  leaguing  with  the  Chinese  revolters 
against  the  new  emperor,  we  shall  not  be  presumptuous  if  we  affirm  that 
the  opposition  to  hi  in  was  in  fact  more  foreign  than  native.  The  empe- 
ror made  immense  levies  of  men  throughout  the  provinces  that  were 
faithful  to  him,  and  marched  against  his  enemies.  The  subsequent  con- 
flicts were  dreadful;  the  troops  of  the  prince  of  Han  well  knowing  that 
they  had  little  mercy  to  hope  for  if  taken  prisoners,  fought  with  the  fury 
and  obstinacy  of  despair,  and  they  were  well  seconded  by  the  Tartars. 
Thousands  fell  in  each  engagement ;  and  though  the  emperor  was  a 
warrior  and  a  brave  one,  he  is  said  to  have  often  subsequently  slied  tears 
at  the  mere  remembrance  of  the  bloodshed  he  witnessed  during  this  war. 
The  overwhelming  levies  of  the  emperor,  and  perhaps,  that  ''  tower  of 
strength,"  the  royal  name,  which  the  adverse  faction  wanted,  made  him 
completely  successful.  Having  put  down  this  opposition,  he  next  pro- 
ceeded against  the  prince  of  Choo,  whom  he  captured  and  deprived  of 
his  dominions.  Among  the  millions  of  souls  whom  he  thus  added  to  his 
subjects  was  an  extremely  numerous  and  well-appointed  army.  This  he 
forthwith  incorporated  with  his  own,  and  thus  strengthened  in  force, 
marched  against  Kyang-Nan  and  southern  Han.  Here  again  he  was 
completely  successful,  and  he  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  chastise- 
ment of  the  iMongols  of  Leaon-lung,  who  had  joined  the  prmce  of  Han  in 
the  former  war;  but  the  issue  of  this  expedition  was  still  uncertain  when 
the  emperor  died.  Though  engaged  in  war  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  his  reign,  this  emperor  was  attentive  to  the  internal  state  of  his  em- 
pire. When  not  actually  in  the  field  he  was  at  all  times  accessible ;  to 
the  humblest  as  to  the  highest  the  gates  of  the  imperial  palace  were  open, 
and  in  giving  his  decision  he  knew  no  distinction  between  the  mandarin 
and  the  poor  labourer.  This  conduct  in  his  military  and  civic  affairs, 
produced  him  the  enviable  character  of  being  the  "  terror  of  his  enemies 
and  ♦he  delight  of  his  subjects." 

Tae-tsung,  son  of  the  last-mentioned  monarch,  ascended  the  throne  at 
the  death  of  his  father,  whose  warlike  measures  he  proceeded  to  carry 
out,  and  whose  warlike  character  and  abilities  he  to  a  great  extent  inher- 
ited. During  his  entire  reign  he  was  engaged  in  war  ;  now  with  the 
Mongols,  at  that  time  the  most  threatening  of  all  the  enemies  of 
the  empire,  and  now  with  this  or  that  refractory  native  prince.  It  is 
strange  that  the  emperors  never  thought,  so  far  as  we  can  perceive,  of 
the  policy  of  concentrating  their  forces  upon  ihe  positions  of  individual 
princes,  and  on  every  decisive  advantage  demanding  such  a  contribution 
in  money  as  would  effectually  impoverish  him  ;  at  the  same  time  demand- 
ing as  hostages  not  only  some  of  the  more  important  of  his  own  family, 
but  of  all  the  other  great  families  connected  with  him.  These  measures, 
though  severe  upon  individuals,  would  have  been  merciful  as  regards  the 
great  mass  of  both  contending  parties.  After  twenty-one  years  of  al- 
most perpetual  warfare,  with  many  successes  and  comparatively  few  de- 


3fi4  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

feats,  Tae-tsung  died,  in  997,  leaving  behind  him  a  character  only  less 
hononiblt!  than  that  of  his  predecessor,  inasmuch  as  he  paid  less  constant 
and  miiuitfi  attention  to  the  internal  order  of  the  empire  and  the  indi- 
vidual welfare  of  his  subjects. 

('Iiin-tsuii<r  now  succeeded  to  the  empire,  a  prince  whose  character 
and  conduct  strangely  contrasted  with  those  of  his  two  immediate  pre- 
decessors. The  bonzes  or  priests,  were  tlie  only  persons  who  had 
reason  to  like  him  ;  and  even  their  liking,  excited  though  it  was  by  per- 
sonal advantage,  must  have  been  mixed  with  no  slight  feeling  of  contempt. 
There  was  no  tale  that  they  could  tell  him  which  was  too  extravagant 
for  his  implicit  belief;  no  command  loo  absurd  for  his  unqualified  obedi- 
ence. Every  morning  the  imperial  zany  was  busied  in  relating  his  over- 
night drean)s,  and  it  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  bonzes  took  especial 
care  to  interpret  those  dreams  so  as  to  tend  to  confirm  the  weak-minded 
and  hypochondriac  monarch  in  his  fatuous  course,  and  to  make  that 
course  as  profitable  as  possible  to  themselves  individually,  and  as  favourable 
as  possible  to  their  order  at  large.  The  warlike  and  shrewd  Tartars  speed- 
ily perceived  the  difference  betwixt  an  emperor  who  divided  his  time  be- 
tween dreaming  and  listening  to  the  interpretations  of  his  dreams — leaving 
the  empire  and  its  vast  complicated  interests  to  the  care,  or  carelessness  of 
eunuchs  and  time-servers — and  the  warlike  and  clear-headed  emperors 
with  whom  they  had  to  deal  during  the  two  preceding  reigns.  They 
poured  in  upon  the  empire  with  a  fury  proportioned  to  the  ineffective  re- 
sistance they  anticipated,  and  their  shrewd  conjectures  were  amply 
justified  by  the  event.  Resistance,  indeed,  was  made  to  them  on  the  fron- 
tiers ;  but  instead  of  their  being  driven  beyond  the  frontiers  with  a 
message  of  mourning  to  thousands  of  Tartar  families,  »heir  absence  was 
purchased.  Great  stores  of  both  money  and  silk  were  paid  to  them  by 
order  of  the  Chinese  court,  which,  like  the  Roman,  when  Rome  had  be- 
come utterly  degenerate,  was  fain  to  purchase  the  peace  it  dared  or 
could  not  battle  for.  Ying-tsung,  Shin-tsung,  and  Hwny-tsung,  the  three 
immediate  successors  of  the  weak  prince  of  whose  reign  we  have  just 
spoken,  followed  his  impolitic  policy  of  purchasing  peace.  We  emphati- 
cally say  impolitic,  because  common  sense  tells  us  to  yield  tribute  once, 
is  to  encourage  the  demand  of  it  in  future.  The  tribute  once  secured, 
the  hardy  and  unprincipled  Tartars  again  returned  to  the  charge,  to  be 
again  bought  ofT,  and  to  derive,  of  course,  renewed  assurance  of  booty 
whensoever  they  should  again  think  proper  to  apply  for  it.  Hwuy-tsung, 
the  third  of  the  emperors  named  above,  having  a  dire  perception  of  the 
error  committed  by  himself  and  his  three  immediate  predecessors,  deter- 
mined to  adopt  a  new  course,  and  instead  of  bribing  the  "barbarians" 
who  so  cruelly  annoyed  him,  to  hire  other  barbarians  to  expel  them,  thus 
addmg  to  the  folly  of  buying  peace  the  still  farther  folly  of  giving  the 
clearest  insight  into  the  weakness  of  his  condition,  to  those  who,  being 
his  allies  as  long  as  they  received  his  wages,  would  infallibly  become  his 
enemies  the  instant  he  ceased  to  hire  them. 

This  prince  engaged  the  warlike  tribe  of  Neu-che  Tartars  in  the  defence 
of  his  territory.  They  ably  and  faithfully  performed  what  they  had  en- 
gaged ;  but  when  they  had  driven  out  the  Nien-eheng  Tartars  they  flatly 
refused  to  quit  the  territory,  and  made  a  hostile  descent  upon  the  provin- 
ces of  Pecheli  and  Shansi,  which  they  took  possession  of.  At  the  same 
time  the  Mongols  were  pouring  furiously  down  upon  the  provinces  of 
Shau-tong  and  Honan  ;  and  the  terrified  and  unwarlike  emperor  saw  no 
other  means  of  saving  his  dominions,  than  by  coming  to  immediate  terms 
with  his  late  allies  and  present  foes,  the  victorious  and  imperious  Neu-che 
Tartars.  He  accordingly  went  to  their  camp,  attended  by  a  splendid  ret- 
inue of  his  chief  officers,  to  negotiate  not  only  for  a  peace,  but  alsa  for 
their  active  and  prompt  aid  against  the  Mongols.    But  the  emperor  had 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  365 

go  long  left  the  affdirs  of  the  empire  in  the  hands  of  intriguers  and  venal 
sycophants,  that  he  was  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  his  actual  posi- 
tion to  take  even  ordinary  precautions  ;  he  was  literally  sold  by  his  min- 
isters into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  ;  and  on  reaching  the  Tartar  camp,  he 
found  that  he  was  no  longer  a  powerful  prince  treaimg  for  peace  and  alli- 
ance with  an  inferior  people,  but  a  powerless  prisoner  of  war,  in  the  hands 
of  his  enemies,  and  abandoned  by  his  friends.  Abandoned  he  indeed  was, 
6y  all  save  his  son.  That  spirited  prince,  faithful  to  his  fallen  father,  and 
indignant  at  the  treachery  practised  against  him,  put  the  ministers  to  death, 
and  gathered  an  immense  force  against  the  Mongols,  who,  in  the  mean- 
time, had  been  making  the  most  rapid  and'terrible  advances,  liaiiine  and 
fire  marked  their  path  whithersoever  they  went.  The  emperor's  gallant 
son  made  admirable  but  useless  efforts  to  approach  them.  Leaving  de- 
vastation and  misery  in  their  rear,  they  rapidly  approached  the  camtal, 
laid  siege  to  the  imperial  palace  itself,  butchered  thousands  of  the  in- 
kabitanis,  including  some  of  the  imperial  family,  and  sent  the  rest  into 
fcaptivity. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Kaou-tsung  II.  at  this  period  reigned  over  the  southern  provinces.  When 
the  barbarians  overran  the  northern  parts  of  the  empire,  he  made  noble 
and  able  attempts  at  beating  them  off  from  his  dominions;  but  they  were 
far  too  warlike  and  numerous  for  his  limited  resources.  To  the  northern 
provinces  and  to  the  captive  emperor  he  was  unable  to  allbrd  any  assis- 
tance by  force  of  arms,  nor  could  his  humblest  and  most  tempting  offers 
to  the  savage  foes  induce  them  to  liberate  a  prisoner  or  evacuate  a  rood  of 
land.  All  that  he  was  able  to  gain  from  them  was  permission  to  retain 
his  own  rule  in  peace,  on  paying  an  annual  tribute  and  acknowledging  his 
subjection. 

In  1194  the  celebrated  ficnghis  Khan  was  at  the  head  of  the  Mongol 
Tartars.  At  the  outset  of  this  warrior's  career  his  people  revolted  from 
him,  excepting  only  a  very  few  families,  on  the  ground  of  his  being,  at  the 
death  of  his  father,  too  yoinig  to  rule  a  numerous  and  extremely  warlike 
people.  But  the  youth  displayed  so  much  lulent  and  courage,  atid  hia 
earliest  essays  as  a  warrior  were  so  entirely  and  strikingly  successful,  thai 
the  tide  of  opinion  speedily  turned  in  his  favour;  and  an  old  and  vener- 
ated Mongol  chief  having,  m  a  public  assembly  of  the  people,  propliesiei^ 
that  the  youth,  then  known  by  his  family  name  of  Temnjin,  would,  i' 
supported  as  he  deserved  to  be,  prove  to  be  'he  greatest  of  iheir  khans- 
Genghis  Khan  (the  Mongols  words  for  the  greatest  king)  was  immediately 
made  the  youth's  name  by  acclamation,  and  the  bold  but  barbarous  and 
vacillating  people  as  unanimously  submitted  to  him  now,  as  formerly  they 
had  seceded  from  him.  It  was  to  this  chief,  who  had  already  made  hi?  '• 
name  a  name  of  terror  far  beyond  the  banks  of  the  iSeliiiga,  the  native 
abode  of  his  fierce  race,  that  Nmg-tsung,  the  then  emperor  of  China,  ap 
plied  for  aid  to  diive  out  other  Tartars,  by  whom,  as  well  as  by  native 
malcontents,  the  nation  was  very  sorely  oppressed  at  that  period. 

Genghis  Kh;in,  already  inured  to  conquest  and  thirsting  for  extended 
dominion,  eagerly  complied  with  the  impolitic  request  of  Ning-tsung. 
During  the  reign  of  that  monarch,  and  Le-tsung,  by  whom  he  was,  at  his 
death  m  12-25,  succeeded,  the  Mongols  passed  from  triumph  to  triumph, 
the  unhappy  natives  suffering  no  less  from  the  barbarians  who  were  hired 
to  defend  them  than  from  the  other  barbarians  who  avowedly  entered  the 
empire  for  purposes  of  rapine  and  bloodshed.  Le-tsung,  a  prince  whose 
natural  i  duience  was  increased  by  his  superstitious  attachment  to  the 


S66 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 


most  superstitious  priests  in  his  empire,  was  a  voluntary  prisoner  in  his 
palace.     The  atrocities  conitiiitted  in  what  the  Mongols  seemed  bent  upon 
making  a  war  of  extermination,  were  dreadful ;  the  most  authentic  ac- 
counts speaking  of  the  slaughter  among  the  people  as  amounting  to  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.     Genghis  Khan  dying,  was  succeeded  by  a  grandson 
named  Kublai  ;  and  Le-tsung  also  dying,  was  succeeded  by  Too-tsung. 
This  last  named  prince  was  as  debauched  as  his  predecessor  had  been  su- 
perstitious ;  and  wholly  taken  up  with  the  gratification  of  his  shameful 
sensuality,  he  saw,  almost  without  a  care  or  struggle,  the  Mongols  under 
Kublai  proceeding  with  their  ravages,  and  Kublai  at  length  become  mas- 
ter of  the  northern  provinces.     Thus  far  successful,^!  was  not  likely  the 
conquering  chief  would  forbear  turning  his  attention  fb  the  southern  pro- 
vinces; which,  as  we  learn  from  Marco  Polo,  was  considered  by  far  the 
most   wealthy  and   splendid  of  the   kingdoms   of  the   cast.      The   very 
wealth  of  liie  southern  empire,  and   its  comparatively  long  exemption 
from  war,  rendered  pretty  certain  that  it  would  easily  be  overrun  by  him 
who  had  conquered  the  hardier  and  more  experienced  warriors  of  the 
north.     Province   after  province  and  city  after  city  was  taken,  without 
the  experience  on  the  part  of  the  Mongols  of  anything  approaching  to  a 
severe  check.     With  rapid  and  sure  steps  they  approached  the  city  of 
Kinsai,the  capital  and  royal  residence,  and  wealthy  to  an  extent  not  easily 
to  be  described.     The  then  emperor,  Kung-tsung,  seems  to  have  despaired 
of  successful  defence  against  a  foe  so  long  victorious,  and  to  have  sup- 
posed his  empress  could  more   successfully  appeal  to  a  victor's  mercy 
than  he  could  to  the  fortunes  of  war.     He  accordingly  got  together  all 
the  treasure  that  could  be  at  all  conveniently  embarked  on  board  his  fleet, 
gave  the  command  of  it  to  his  most  experienced  naval  commander  and 
put  out  to  sea.     The  fact  of  the  defence  of  Kinsai  being  committed  to  a 
beautiful  woman,  did  not  prevent  Kublai  from  ordering  his  generals  to 
use  their  utmost  exertions  in  bringing  the  siege  to  a  speedy  conclusion. 
Such  orders  ensured  an  activity  which  reduced  the  garrison  to  most  alarm- 
ing distresses  ;  but  the  empress  consoled  herself  under  every  new  dis- 
aster by  a  prophecy  which  had  been  made  by  a  court  astrologer — a  kind 
of  cheat  very  popular  with  most  of  the  Chinese  raonarchs — that  Kinsai 
could  only  be  taken  by  a  general  having  a  hundred  eyes.     As  such  a  speci- 
men of  natural  history  was  by  no  means  likely  to  appear,  the  empress 
allowed  nothing  to  daunt  her,  until,  on  enquiring  the  name  of  a  general 
whom  Kublai  had  entrusted  to  iriake  a  new  and  vigorous  assault  on  the 
city,  she  was  told  that  it  was  Chin-san  ba-yan.     These  words — which 
mean  the  hundred-eyed — seemed  in  such  ominous  agreement  with  the 
requirement    of   the   prophecy,  that  the  empress  allowed  her  hitherto 
high  courage  to  give  place  to  a  superstitious  horror,  and  she  immediately 
'    surrendered  the  city,  on  receiving  from  Kublai  assurance,  which  he  very 
honourably  fulfilled,  of  treatment  and  an  allowance  in  conformity  with  her 
rank. 

Sa-yan-fu,  which  M-as  a  far  stronger  city  than  the  capital,  and  against 
which  no  superstitious  influence  was  brought,  held  bravely  out  against  the 
efforts  of  the  Mongols  for  upwards  of  three  years.  Marco  Polo  and  his  bro- 
ther Nicolo,  the  Italian  travellers  and  traders,  anxious  to  iutiratiate  them- 
selves with  the  formidable  and  prosperous  Kublai,  supplied  him  with  be- 
sieging engines  which  threw  stone  balls  of  the  tremendous  weight  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  Such  missiles  soon  made  practicable  breaches 
in  the  hitherto  impregnable  walls.  The  town  was  stormed,  and  Kublai, 
enraged  at  its  long  and  obstinate  resistance,  gave  it  to  the  mercy  of  his 
troops. 

The  fugitive  emperor  found  in  some  distant  and  strongly  fortified  islets, 
a  shelter  for  his  treasure,  but  not  that  safety  for  himself  which  he  had 
sought  with  so  much  sacrifice  of  dignity  and  character.     He  had  not  long 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  357 

been  at  his  post  of  security,  when  he  was  seized  with  an  ilJness  which 
speedily  terminated  his  hfe.  The  empress,  who  seems  to  have  been  al- 
together as  brave  and  adventurous  as  her  husband  was  timid,  strengthened 
the  fleet  at  Yae  islands,  under  the  command  of  the  emperor's  favourUe 
admiral,  Low-sewfoo,  proclaimed  Te-ping,  her  son,  emperor,  and  repaired 
with  him  on  board  the  fleet.  The  Mongol  fleet,  after  attacking  Canton, 
hove  in  sight  of  the  imperial  fleet,  when  a  tremendous  action  commenced 
and  continued  for  an  entire  day.  The  Mongols,  though  even  their  loss 
was  dreadful,  were  victorious,  and  the  Chinese  or  imperial  fleet  was  so 
much  shattered  that  Low-sewfoo  found  it  impossible  to  get  his  crippled 
Yessels  through  the  straits.  Dreading  the  very  worst  from  the  resent- 
ment which  Kublai  was  likely  to  feel  at  this  new  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  empress,  that  brave  but  unfortunate  woman  committed  suicide  by 
jumping  overboard.  Her  terrible  example  was  followed  by  several  of  her 
principal  attendants,  including  the  admiral,  who  leaped  overboard  with 
the  young  emperor  in  his  arms.  So  disastrous  a  day  as  this  could  not 
fail  to  be  decisive  ;  all  the  comparatively  small  part  of  the  south  that  had 
hitherto  held  out  was  quickly  overrun,  and  the  whole  empire  was  now 
under  a  Mongol  emperor  concentrated  into  one.  Under  the  title  of  Shi-tsu, 
Kublai  ascended  the  imperial  throne  in  1279,  and  in  so  doing  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  Yuen  dynasty. 

Shi-tsu  having  obtained  the  mighty  and  vast  empire  of  China,  now  de- 
termined to  use  its  resources  in  adding  Japan  t©  his  already  unwieldy  pos- 
session. But  this  time  he  was  fated  to  a  fortune  very  different  from  tiiat 
which  usually  attended  him.  The  Japanese,  instead  of  shrinking  at  the 
approach  of  a  force  that  from  its  previous  successes  might  well  have  made 
them  pause  as  to  the  prudence  of  resistance,  fortified  their  forts  in  the 
strongest  manner  time  would  admit.  One  being  at  length  taken,  the  re- 
sistance of  the  garrison  was  punished  by  the  butchery  of  every  man, 
without  exception,  eight  of  the  number  being  beat  to  death  with  clubs. 
The  real  reason  of  this  cruel  distinction  being  awarded  to  the  eight  un- 
happy persons  was,  most  likely,  that  they  were  distinguished  in  their 
rank  or  the  zeal  and  determination  of  their  resistance.  But  the  fondness 
that  exists  for  the  marvellous  has  caused  this  occurrence  to  be  attributed 
to  the  somewhat  inexplicable  mechanical  impossibility  of  putting  them  to 
death  by  decapitation,  on  account  of  iron  chains  which  they  wore  round 
their  necks.  Before  the  terror  such  barbarity  might  possibly  have  carried 
into  the  hearts  of  the  other  garrisons,  liad  time  to  produce  weakness  or 
treachery,  a  tremendous  storm  arose  by  which  a  great  portion  of  the  Tar- 
tar, or  rather  Tartar-Chinese,  fleet  was  wrecked.  The  extent  of  the  in- 
jury so  alarmed  the  commanders,  that  they  hastened  home  with  the  re- 
mainder of  their  ships,  abandoning  many  thousands  of  their  followers  to 
the  vengeance  of  the  Japanese.  Shi-tsu  died  in  1295;  and  it  was  not  un- 
til his  grandson,  Tching-sung,  ascended  the  throne,  and  began  to  imitate 
the  ambitious  and  warlike  conduct  of  his  great  predecessor,  that  any- 
thing worthy  of  even  casual  mention  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  sub- 
jugated people  of  China. 

Tching-smig  is  belter  known  in  Europe  as  Timour  the  Tartar,  or  Tam- 
erlane, whose  treatment  of  his  opponent  Bajazet  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  so  many  dramas  and  tales.  His  name  of  Timour  (the  iron)  seems 
to  have  been  exactly  suited  to  his  energetic,  untiring,  and  unsparing  na- 
ture. Fi.Ning  the  imperial  residence  at  Samarcand,  he  appears  to  have 
formed  the  project  of  carrying  on  the  work  of  subjugation  to  the  utmost 
possible  extent  in  all  directions.  Persia,  Georgia,  and  Delhi,  speedily 
felt  and  succumbed  to  his  power;  he  drove  the  Indians  quite  to  the  Gan- 
ges, and  utterly  destroyed  Astracan  and  other  places  in  that  direction, 
Bajazet,  the  Oltoman  monarch,  seems  to  us  to  have  had  the  most  just 
cause  imaginable  to  arrest  the  course  of  a  man  who  was  evidently  deter- 


368  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

mined  upon  makinpr  himself,  if  possible,  the  sole  monarch  of  the  east 
But  the  Ottoman  was  far  inferior  to  llu;  Tartar  in  that  strength  which  is 
as  important  to  success  as  even  a  good  cause  itself.  We  are  assured 
that  while  Hajazct  had  only  120,000  men,  his  opponent  brought  700,000 
into  the  field.  Probaljly  the  force  of  Tamerlane  lias  been  much  exagge- 
rated, though  there  can  be  no  doubt  the  army  of  Bajazet  very  greatly  ex 
ceeded  that  of  his  op[)onent.  The  day  on  u  hich  this  tremendous  battle 
was  fought  was  sultry  in  the  extreme,  yet  so  obstinate  were  both  parties, 
that  the  contest  contiiuied  from  the  morning  until  a  late  hour  at  night. 
The  comparatively  small  army  of  Bajazet  was  in  the  end  completely  rout- 
ed, and  the  uuforliniatc  monarch  himself  taken  prisoner.  The  conduct 
of  Tamerlane  on  this  occasion  was  such  as  would  cast  disgrace  on  the 
most  signal  courage  and  talents.  Instead  of  allowing  the  sympathies  of 
a  brave  man  to  soften  him  towards  his  singularly  brave  though  unfortu- 
nate opponent,  he  had  him  put  into  an  iron  cage  and  carried  from  place 
to  place  with  him  in  all  his  excursions,  exhibiting  him  as  one  would  a 
wild  beast,  and  at  the  same  time  displaying  on  his  own  part  a  temper  far 
more  like  tliat  of  a  wild  beast  than  a  brave  and  successful  warrior.  The 
unfortunate  Bajazet  lived  in  this  most  pitiable  condition  until  the  year 
1303,  when  he  died,  as  tradition  says,  and  as  was  most  likely,  of  a  broken 
heart. 

Tamerlane  during  his  various  and  extensive  expeditions  had  committed 
the  internal  government  of  his  empire  to  certain  princes  of  his  house — 
nis  grandsons  and  nephews.  Their  authority  and  character  being  far 
less  respected  and  feared  than  his  own,  several  insurrections  took  place, 
and  Tamerlane,  or  Tchin-suiig,  now  marched  towards  China  with  the 
avowed  determination  of  inflicting  severe  chastisement;  but  as  ho  was 
idvancing  with  forced  marches  for  that  purpose,  he  was  seized  with  an 
illness  which  terminated  both  his  prospects  and  his  life  in  130-3.  His 
descendants  kept  up  a  perpetual  scramble  for  the  empire,  in  which  they 
contrived  the  utlcr  ruin  of  the  high  character  they  owed  to  him.  A  se 
ries  of  revolts  and  intrigues  followed  each  other  during  the  strifes  of  suc- 
ceeding emperors  and  pretenders  :  and  the  next  event  necessar)'  to  give 
any  account  of,  is  an  embassy  sent  from  Persia  to  China  in  the  reign  of 
Yung-lo,  also  called  Ching-tsoo.  The  account  of  this  cmpassy  is  the 
more  interesting,  because  it  gives  us  considerable  insight  into  tiie  manners 
and  state  of  society  in  China  at  that  time,  and  mentions  what  Marco  Folo 
does  not — tea,  to  which,  more  than  aught  else,  China  owes  its  importance 
in  the  eyes  of  the  modern  inhabitants  of  Europe.  Even  at  this  early  pe- 
riod the  Chinese  seem  to  have  had  all  the  modern  jealousy  of  the  entrance 
of  strangers  into  the  so-called  "  Celestial  Empire."  Before  the  embassy 
in  question  was  allowed  to  set  toot  upon  the  boundaries  of  the  empire,  an 
exact  list  of  all  persons  belonging  to  the  embassage  was  required,  inclu- 
ding the  humblest  attendants,  and  the  ambassadors-in-chief  were  called 
upon  to  swear  to  the  truth  and  exactness  of  the  list.  Ciiinese  jealousy 
being  satisfied  thus  far,  the  embassage  commenced  its  toilsome  journey 
of  one  hundred  days  tov.'ards  the  capital.  It  is  only  fair  to  add,  however, 
that  after  their  first  suspicion  was  formally  and  officially  silenced,  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  most  liberal  hospitality  shown  in  the  way  of  .sub- 
stantial good  fare,  accompanied  by  an  unstinted  supply  of  excellent 
wines. 

The  capital  of  China,  Cambulu,  now  known'  far  better  by  the  name  of 
Pekin,  is  spoken  of  as  being  even  at  that  time  a  city  of  great  magnitude 
and  opulence.  It  would  seem  not  unlikely  that  the  silly  absurdity  ol"  ihe 
Chinese,  in  speaking  of  such  people  as  the  English,  Dutch,  and  other 
highly  civilized  Europeans,  under  the  opprobrious  name  of  outside  bar- 
barians, is  an  absurdity  which  others  besides  the  Chinese  are  unfortu- 
nately guilty  of.     The  way  in  which  modern  writers  alluw  themselves  to 


apiakbrthe  Qhineise  is  in  many  things  to  be  equHlly  reprobated.  The 
tet^  intercoiliF^e  with  JesuilSv  missionaries,  aod  others  specially  sent 
t&erevvvith  a  tfifererlce'to  their  seiencej  judg*infentv  and  i  aptitude  for  Ihfr. 
difficult  business  of  conununicatiiig,  not  merely  knowledge  itself  but  also; 
the  desire  101* 'it,  :eould:  scarcely  have i left  the.  Chinese  so  much  behhwi: 
lihe^rest  of  th.^' world,  iinnnvention  and, practice  in  the  higher  prodiuetibhs, 
$4en  bad  no  progress  ibeeHprevioUsly.niHide  bytheEa.  '  But  when  so  earlyi 
isithe  15th  fi^rrtufyr  we  hear  of  isuch^  an  achie.vemfeijit^  ^s  the  Turning:- 
Txtiver^  of  \\ihich  we  ai'e  about  to  give  a  <ileseriptioniAvho\vill  consent  tqt 
believe  that  above  four  centuries  later  they  are  thei  backward  and  ignd- 
t^rti  people  they  are !  oalled  1  That  really  wonderful  stnocSture.,  is  stated; 
b(y  shrewd  aiid  intelligent  observers  toi  be  Avorthy  of  the  visit  and  careful' 
exiamination  of!  ^very  smith  and  carpenter  upon  the  face  of  the  <?arthq 
Wteat,  in  fact,  are  we  acquainted  wkh  of  merely  human  construction^  that 
can  for  an  instant  bear  comparison  with  a  tower  fifteen  stories  highs; 
each  story  twelve  cubits  highland  the  whole edifii2Q>tweniy  cubits  ihbiiiJ 
CHmference,i  having  a  total  height  of  180  eubits,  which  turns  romnd  npon^d 
meted  dxis ;  and  that  with  little  more  difficulty  than  if  it  were  merely  a 
child's  toy  ],  ;  Assuredly,  the  people  who  even  in  whim  could  erect  suoh' 
a  Structure  a$  this  at  a  period  of  more  than,  four' centuries  ago;  cannot' 
ikmv  be  theiritmpable  and  unprovided  race  ;wlrich  niatiy  late  accounts' 
would  represent- thBrnj  \u  .;,:;!  i---  ^.U  ot  Lvviiin..-;  c-nli  wv-,,!.!!;^  Movi.i; 
'=rThe  emperor's  paJace  jati  Pekin  iskiescrihedas  beilrgrefslriBHaelyirichi  spri- 
cious  and  gi^and-  !  Wliiie  (he  ;ambassadors  ajid  their  suite  were  th^re,- 
ife  was  <-onstantlyi  iSurroiindedlby.  about  two  thousand  musicians,  play i" 
ing  and  singing  aathems.  to  the  praise  of  the  emperor,  wbosethrontJ' 
ifcas  of  solid  gOkU  ascended  by  a  flightof  nine  silver  steps.:  On  theiempei-: 
rorascendiiig  this  rare  and  gorgeous  throne,  the  chiefH  of  the  embjissy 
were  introduced ;  and  after. a  brief  and  very  formal  audience,  at  which 
tliey  did  not  prostrate  themselves  in  the  Ch)hose  fashion,  but  bowc?d  in 
that  of  the  Persians,  they  werei  reconducted  to  the  apartments  provided 
for  them,  v/here  a  sheep,  a  goosfe,  and  two  fowls,  with  fruitj  vegetabl«iK< 
and  tea,  were  daily;  served  out  tb  every  ^ix  persons!,   i,  )  'io  i;;;rj)  ;.■ 

An  evil  deed,  whether  of  man  or  nation,  rarely  proves  other  than  an; ©vili 
seed.  The  unprovoked  ^ggr^Jsio^i  of  the  Chinese-Tartars  nnder  Kublai, 
was  not  only  productive  of  great  injury  to  the  Chinese  fleptat  thc-iinhet 
bat:  led  to  veryt  many'Mibsiiquent  losses  and  calamities,  iPavourhbiy-' 
sutnated  as  Jap^ii  wa's  forthe  maintena.nee  of  a  fleet,  itwas  a  power  uponi 
wilich  such  a  pitlatical  attack  as  that  of;  Jiuhlai  couM  not  be  made  with- 
out incurriDgisbribuSidangpr  of  heavy  reprisals.  Tin-tsang,  an  extremelj^ 
well-inclined  priiicievfouiad  the  'attacks  v©f  the  Japanese  so  fi^equent  and 
so:  fearfully  injuriiousnoi  his  people,  and  toithe  imperial  fleet,  that  his  ear- 
liest care  was  directed  lio  that  subject.;  The  Japanese,  amessentially 
Sfea-faring  people,  had,'  according  to  the;  least  exaggerated  accounts,  /rom 
siix  to  seven :  thousand  ves^efo  of  various^  sizes,  maimed  with  their  most 
dating  and  unprincipled  people,  not  a  few  of  them  ready  for  piracy  and 
nuifder  as  a:  part  of  their  proper  trade.  Hunning  suddenly  into  the'  Chi- 
nese ports,  the  darin*  adventurers  comraiited  acts  not  merely  of  robbery, 
but  Of  the  most  wanton. destruction  of  property  and  life,  firing  whole  townk 
and  village'?, vand  retiring.Avitli  immense;  booty.  .  During  the  eleven  yea rs 
ctf'his  reign  the:  emperor  TinitsMngiwa.s  feol  spirited  aind  incessant  in  bis 
opposition  to  these  daring 'Tovers.jtjhatihe  'would  probably  have  perma- 
nently rid  his  country  ;of  them,  had  hig  life  hot  been  so  early  terminated 

Suen-tsung,  who  succeeded  the  la^t  named  emperOr,  was  but  barely  al 
lowed  to  ascend  the  throne  when  he  was  ^bout  to  be  dethroned  by  some 
of  the  grandees  of  the  empire,  among  whom  was  his  own  uncle.  Fortu 
nately  for  the  emperor,  his' army  was  more  faithful  to  him  than  ithd^ 
grandees ;  and  after  a  most  olistinate  engagem'^nt  between  it  and  thefbftjo 
24 


370  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY- 

of  the  iiisiirgciits,  the  latter  were  completely  overthrown.  With  a  far 
greater  lei;ity  llian  would  have  been  shown  by  some  monarchs  after  being 
so  early  ;md  deeply  olTcnded,  the  emperor  spared  the  lives  of  the  ringlead- 
ers, though,  as  a  sheer  matter  of  self-defence,  he  reduced  some  of  them 
to  the  rank  of  commoners,  and  confiscated  the  estates  of  others. 

Though  the  commencement  of  his  reign  was  thus  stormy,  he  was  very 
little  disturbed  by  revolts  afterwards,  to  the  lime  of  his  death  in  143G.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Chin-tung,  a  minor;  the  empress-dowager  being  his 
guardian,  and  the  real  state  authority  being  divided  between  her  and  her 
chief  adviser,  the  eunuch  Wan-chin.  This  latter  personage  seems  to  have 
had  nobler  and  more  spirited  notions  of  government  than  were  commonly 
displayed  by  the  effeminate  and  venal  court  favourites.  He  not  only  took 
prompt  and  active  measures  for  repressing  the  Tartars,  who  annoyed  the 
Tartar-Chinese  with  as  much  impartiality  as  though  they  had  been  still  ? 
purely  Chinese  people  and  government,  but  also  took  the  field  in  person 
Both  he  and  the  youthful  emperor  were  taken  prisoners,  and  matters  began 
to  look  very  prosperously  for  the  Tartars,  who  were  not  only  more  ex- 
pert in  tlie  use  of  the  newly  introduced  fire-arms,  but  also  invariably  used 
them,  which  upon  certain  solemn  days  the  Chinese,  from  superstitious  no- 
tions, refused  to  do.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  Tartars  always  soughf 
every  chance  of  taking  them  at  so  great  a  disadvantage,  and  made  fearful 
havoc  whenever  they  contrived  to  do  so.  But  the  bold  spirit  which  Wan- 
chin  had  infused  into  the  councils  of  the  imperial  court,  soon  turned  the 
scale.  The  imperial  authority  was  assumed  by  King-tae,  who,  however, 
subsequently  showed  that  he  had  assumed  such  authority  in  the  truest 
spirit  of  a  loyal  f  ubject  and  most  honourable  man.  He  advanced  against 
the  Tartars,  and  opposed  them  with  such  skill,  courage,  and  tenacity,  that 
he  completely  defeated  them,  compelled  them  to  restore  the  young  Chin- 
tung  to  liberty,  unransomed,  and  then  immediately  descended  from  a  dig- 
nity that  has  so  often  been  obtained  by  the  commission  of  the  most  detes- 
table crimes,  and  placed  upon  the  throne  the  young  sovereign  whom  his 
valour  and  conduct  had  already  restored  to  liberty.  The  remainder  of 
the  reign  of  Chin-tung,  about  ten  years,  was  comparatively  peaceful  and 
prosperous. 

The  early  part  of  the  16th  century  produced  an  event  of  which  even 
yet  the  consequences  are  but  partially  and  dimly  seen — the  appearance  oi 
the  Portuguese  at  China.  They  went  there  merely  as  adventurous  mar- 
iners and  keen  traders;  but  it  is  quite  within  the  pale  of  probability  that 
before  such  another  space  as  three  hundred  years,  the  whole  vast  popula- 
tion may  as  a  consequencee  mbrace  Christianity.  To  India  the  Portu- 
guese had  already  made  their  way  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  had  an 
extremely  flourishing  settlement.  The  governor  of  the  Portuguese  in  In- 
dia determined  to  send  a  somewhat  imposing  embassy  to  China  ;  accord- 
ingly, Andrada  and  Perez,  two  ambassadors,  sailed  to  Canton,  their  own 
vessels  being  under  a  convoy  of  eight  large  ships,  well  manned  and  armed. 
Perez  and  Andrada,  with  two  vessels,  were  allowed  to  proceed  up  the 
river  on  their  embassy.  While  they  did  so,  the  crew  and  merchants  who 
were  left  with  the  other  vessels  in  the  Canton  river,  busied  themselves  in 
endeavouring  to  trade  with  the  natives.  As  usual,  wherever  a  turbulent 
body  of  seamen  is  concerned,  the  laws  of  mevm  and  tuum  were  frequently 
set  at  nought,  and  this  one-sided  system  of  free-trading  so  greatly  enraged 
the  Chinese,  tliat  the  little  fleet  was  surrounded  by  the  Chinese  war  junks, 
and  only  escaped  capture  by  the  opportune  occurrence  of  a  severe  i?torra. 
Perez,  though  far  up  the  country,  and  personally  innocent,  was  seized  by 
the  Chinese  as  the  scape-goat  of  his  fellow  countrymen's  offences.  He 
was  hurried  back  to  Canton  with  the  utmost  ignominy,  loaded  with  irons, 
and  put  into  a  prison,  from  which  he  never  again  emerged  until  death  set 
him  free. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  37] 

On  the  accession,  in  1627,  of  Hwae-tsung,  the  Tartars,  who,  during  the 
comparatively  quiet  seven  years'  reign  of  this  emperors  immediate  prede- 
cessor, had  been  preparing  themselves  for  war,  broke  out  fiercely  and  sud- 
denly. The  time  was  peculiarly  favourable  to  their  anticipated  overthrow 
of  the  empire,  which  was  overrun  by  two  robbers,  whose  armies  were  not 
only  more  numerous  than  that  of  the  emperor,  but  had  already  so  far 
beaten  it  as  to  have  obtauied  possession  of  some  important  provinces. 
City  after  city  had  fallen  before  these  fierce  rebels,  and  the  imperial  troops 
w^ere  in  some  places  reduced  to  such  an  extremity  of  famine,  that  the 
bodies  of  executed  criminals  formed  a  portion  of  their  disgusting  food,  and 
human  flesh  was,  without  shame  or  remark,  exposed  for  sale  in  the  open 
market.  The  imperial  general  was  at  length  so  pressed  by  the  rebel  troops, 
that  being  at  once  in  despair  of  successful  resistance,  and  determined  not 
to  surrender,  he  caused  the  dykes  to  be  cut  through  which  retained  the 
river  Hoang-ho  from  inundating  the  country  in  which  he  was  encamped, 
and  at  one  feel  swoop  he  and  the  whole  of  the  troops  and  inhabitants,  in 
all  above  two  hundred  thousand,  were  drowned.  If  the  affairs  of  the  em- 
pire were  desperate  before,  the  loss  of  this  force  could  not  fail  to  com- 
plete the  ruin.  The  rebels  and  robbers  who  had  alone  been  so  formidable, 
now  united  with  the  wily  Mantchoo  Tartars,  who  had  so  well  known  how 
to  "bide  their  time."  The  unfortunate  emperor  finding  that  there  was  no 
longer  any  hope  or  safety  for  him  even  in  his  own  palace,  strangled  him- 
self. The  last  city  that  endeavoured  to  make  head  against  the  victorious 
and  formidable  Tartars  and  robbers  was  Tae-yuen.  The  inhabitants,  and 
a  comparative  handful  of  imperial  troops,  defended  this  with  a  stern  ob- 
stinacy, which,  under  a  different  state  of  things  in  the  empire  at  large, 
would  have  been  very  likely  to  save  it ;  the  Tartars  were  repulsed  again 
and  again,  until  the  very  numbers  of  tlieir  slain  enabled  them  to  fill  up  the 
ditches  and  mount.  Instead  of  admiring  the  gallantry  of  their  conquered 
opponents,  and  treating  them  with  mercy,  the  Tartars  savagely  put  the  in- 
habitants to  the  sword,  and  then  gave  the  devoted  city  to  the  flames. 

Woo  San-quei,  an  able  politician  as  well  as  a  brave  general,  did  not, 
even  now  that  the  emperor  was  slain,  and  the  most  precious  parts  of  the 
empire  in  the  hands  of  the  Tartars  or  rebels,  despair  of  retrieving  affairs. 
By  a  lavish  distribution  of  rich  presents  he  engaged  the  Mantchoo  leaders 
to  abandon  the  cause  of  the  rebels,  and  to  join  with  him  against  their 
chief.  Woo  San-quei's  policy  succeeded  in  procuring  him  the  alliance  of 
the  Mantchoo  Tartars ;  and,  aided  by  them,  he  vanquished  their  former 
allies,  the  rebels,  after  a  series  of  achievements  on  both  sides,  that  equal 
anything  recounted  in  the  w^ars  of  the  most  distinguished  generals  of  an- 
cient times.  But  a  new  proof  was  now  cxliibited  of  the  danger  of  pur- 
chased allies,  who,  like  the  elephants  used  in  Indian  warfare,  are  liable  to 
become  as  formidable  to  their  friends  as  to  their  foes.  The  Tartars  having 
put  down  the  rebels,  took  possession  of  Pekin  (or  Cambulu),  which  they 
expressed  their  determination  to  "protect,"  a  word  to  which  armed  pro- 
tectors attach  a  meaning  very  different  from  that  assigned  to  it  by  the  pro- 
tected. They  proclaimed  Shun-che,  a  son  of  their  own  monarch,  emperor 
of  the  northern  provinces  of  China,  the  seat  of  his  government  being  Pekin, 
while  the  princes  and  mandarins  of  the  southern  provinces  proclaime*' 
Choo-yew,  the  seat  of  whose  government  was  at  Nankin. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

There  being  a  northern  and  southern  empire,  and  the  thrones  I  eiiig 
respectively  filled  by  a  Tartar  and  a  Chinese,  it  might  easily  have  been 
forseen  that  war  and  bloodshed  would  once  more  vex  the  unhappy  people 


372  THE  TilEASUIlY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  both  empires ;  and  the  opposite  natures  of  the  two  emperors,  far  irora 
decreasing,  increased  this  probability.  The  emperor  of  the  south  was  un 
worthy  of  his  high  station,  and  ill-calculated  for  its  peculiar  exigencies 
His  indolence  and  gross  sensuality,  added,  no  doubt,  to  the  tyrannies  of  the 
subordinates  to  whom  he  committed  the  cares  of  slate,  while  he  abandoned 
himself  to  his  indulgences,  caused  a  spirit  of  revolt  to  show  itself,  which 
the  northern  en)peror  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself  of.  Marching  rapid- 
ly upon  the  southern  provinces,  he  possessed  himself  of  the  capital,  Nan- 
kin, and  after  a  long  series  of  successes,  became  master  of  the  whole  em- 
pire, with  the  exception  of  some  few  comparatively  unimportant  portions; 
and  the  princes  of  even  these  may  be  said  to  have  been  his  tributaries 
rather  than  independent  rulers. 

Shun-che  was  the  first  emperor  of  China  who  came  into  direct  hostile 
collision  with  the  Russians,  who,  in  his  reign  made  their  way  to  the  great 
river  Amur  on  the  borders  of  Tartary.  The  Russians  seized  upon  Dauri, 
a  fortified  Tartar  town  of  some  strength,  and  in  several  battles  obtained 
signal  advantages.  But  subsequently  the  Chinese  recovered  their  ground, 
and  a  treaty  was  entered  into  by  which  all  the  northern  bank  of  the  Amur, 
together  with  the  sole  navigation  of  that  river,  was  assigned  to  the  Chi- 
nese, and  Tobolsk  was  fixed  as  the  neutral  trading  ground  of  the  two  na- 
tions. Busily  and  successfully  as  Shun-che  was  engaged  in  war,  he  seems 
to  have  been  by  no  means  insensible  to  the  importance  of  the  arts  of 
peace.  The  Portuguese  and  other  missionaries  and  scholars  who,  in  de- 
spite of  almost  innumerable  obstacles,  had  by  this  time  settled  themselves 
in  China,  in  considerable  numbers,  found  at  the  hands  of  this  warlike 
monarch  a  degree  of  friendship  and  patronage  highly  creditable  to  him. 
He  not  only  prevented  them  from  being  subjected  to  any  annoyance,  but 
even  appointed  one  of  them,  Adam  Scluial,  to  the  post  of  superintendant 
of  mathematics,  a  post  at  that  time,  of  some  importance  in  Germany,  and 
one  that  gave  opportunity,  of  which  Sehaal  in  the  next  reign  very  skilfully 
availed  himself,  of  obtaining  the  highest  influence  in  the  state. 

Shun-che,  though  an  energetic  man,  as  is  evident  by  his  warlike  achieve- 
ments, and  a  sensible  man,  as  we  may  judge  both  from  the  favour  he 
showed  to  learned  foreigners,  and  the  readiness  with  which  he  accepted 
of  their  instruction  in  many  branches  of  learning,  was,  at  the  same  time 
somewhat  of  a  sensualist.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life  he  devoted  an 
undue  por'ion  of  his  time  to  pleasure,  and  his  death,  which  took  place  in 
1661,  is  said  to  have  occurred  througli  excess  of  grief,  occasioned  by  the 
death  of  a  favourite  concubine;  of  which,  had  we  not  so  many  instances 
on  record  of  human  inconsistency,  one  would  have  supposed  it  impossible 
for  a  man  of  his  stern  and  martial  nature  to  be  guilty. 

Kang-he,  who  now  ascended  the  throne,  was  a  minor ;  four  principal 
personages  of  the  empire  forming  the  regency.  The  German,  Sehaal, 
was  appointed  to  the  important  post  of  principal  tutor,  isuch  was  the 
influence  Sehaal  acquired  in  this  position,  that  he  was  virtually  for  some 
time  prime  minister  of  China.  But  the  abilities  of  Sehaal  and  the  other 
missionaries,  though  they  could  raise  them  to  power  and  influence,  could 
not  guard  them  from  envy.  The  Chinese  literati,  and  even  the  regents 
themselves,  at  length  became  excited  to  anger  by  the  very  learning  they 
had  availed  themselves  of,  and  by  the  influence  it  procured  for  the  foreign- 
ers, through  Sehaal;  for  among  the  many  services  he  had  rendered  to  the 
state,  it  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  he  actually  preserved  Macao  from 
destruction.  But  envy  was  afoot,  the  most  absurd  charges  were  made 
against  the  missionaries,  and  they  were  at  length  deprived  of  all  employ- 
ment, while  many  of  them  were  loaded  with  chains  and  thrown  into  pri- 
son. Sehaal,  who  was  now  far  advanced  in  years  and  very  infirm,  sank 
beneath  his  afflictions  soon  after  their  commencement,  and  died  at  the  age 
of  seventy-nine.     It  is  much  to  the  credit  of  the  young  emperor  that  he 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  373 

had  so  well  profited  by  the  instructions  of  his  foreign  friends,  that  as  soon 
as  he  attained  his  majority  he  restored  them  to  their  influence  and  appoint- 
ments, the  place  of  the  deceased  Schaal  being  bestowed  upon  the  mis- 
sionary Verbeist.  We  must,  perhaps,  blame  rather  the  barbarous  cruelty 
of  his  time  and  country,  when  we  add,  that  on  discovering-  that  his  four 
guardians  and  regents  of  the  empire  were  the  chief  instigators  of  thedis 
grace  and  suffering  that  had  been  inflicted  on  the  missionaries,  he  con- 
firmed the  horrid  decree  of  the  tribunal,  which  sentenced  not  only 
the  offenders,  but  also  their  unfortunate  families,  to  be  cut  into  a  thousand 
pieces. 

We  have  previously  alluded  to  the  skill  and  courage  evinced  by  the 
general  Woo  San-quei  when  the  Mantchoo  Tartars  and  the  rebels  caused 
so  much  misery  to  the  empire  ;  when  the  Mantchoo  Tartars,  after  aiding 
him  in  putting  down  the  rebels,  had  fairly  established  the  Mantchoo  dy- 
nasty upon  the  throne,  the  general  was  appointed  governor  of  Kweichow 
and  Yun-nan.  His  position  in  the  north-west  of  the  empire,  discontent 
with  his  command,  distinguished  as  it  was,  added,  perhaps,  to  a  natural 
restlessness  and  love  of  warfare,  caused  him  now  to  levy  war  upon  the 
neighbouring  places.  His  military  skill  and  his  great  resources  speedily 
enabled  him  to  make  himself  master  of  the  southern  and  western  pro- 
vinces. His  success  was  at  once  so  great  and  so  rapid,  that  the  emperor 
and  his  court  were  thrown  into  consternation,  and  Verbeist,  who  among 
his  numerous  abilities  included  that  of  a  founder  of  great  guns,  was  ap- 
plied to  to  superintend  the  casting  of  some.  From  some  inexplicable 
motives  he  declined.  To  suppose  a  religious  scruple,  in  the  case  of  men 
so  ambitious  as  the  missionaries  had  shown  themselves,  and  so  pliable  as 
they  had  been  in  far  less  justifiable  courses  on  the  part  of  the  court,  is 
difficult;  and  yet  on  no  other  ground  can  we  reconcile  Verbiest's  refusal 
on  this  occasion  with  his  sanity.  Certain  it  is  that  he  not  only  refused, 
but  persisted  in  so  doing,  until  significant  hints  showed  him  that  his  life 
would  not  be  safe  did  he  not  comply  with  the  emperor^s  wishes.  Can- 
non were  then  cast,  and  the  speedy  consequence  was,  that  Woo  San-quei, 
who,  probably,  would  in  a  brief  space  have  been  master  of  the  capitaland 
the  throne,  was  beaten  back  within  safe  limits.  Woo  San-quei,  after  an- 
other unsuccessful  endeavour  at  usurping  the  empire,  died  in  1679,  and 
vvas  succeeded  in  what  remained  of  his  power,  by  his  son,  who  shortly 
after  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 

In  1680  the  Mongol  Tartars  assailed  the  emperor,  but  the  cannon  with 
which  European  skill  in  the  great  game  of  manslaughter  had  furnished  him, 
enabled  him  to  beat  off  these  enemies  with  greater  ease.  He  had  the 
same  success  over  the  Elenths  on  the  north-western  frontier  of  the  empire. 
Successful  in  war  by  the  aid  of  the  missionaries,  he  was  no  less  so  in 
commerce :  the  czar,  Peter  the  Great,  would  in  all  probability,  but  for 
their  mediation,  have  been  prevented  from  concluding  a  peace  with  China; 
and  though  the  commercial  advantages  which  resulted  from  that  peace 
were  not  immediate,  they  were  vast  and  certain.  As  a  whole,  the  reign 
of  this  emperor  may  be  considered  by  far  the  noblest  of  all  spoken  of  in 
his  country's  annals.  As  a  military  sovereign  he  will  bear  comparison 
even  with  the  daring  and  hardy  Kublai;  while,  like  England's  Elizabeth, 
he  had  the  rare  merit — scarcely  inferior  to  genius  itself — of  skill  in  dis- 
covering genius,  and  of  steady  support  to  ministers  possessing  it,  regard- 
less of  court  intrigue  and  court  jealousies.  Canton,  in  his  reign,  even 
more  than  it  has  ever  been  in  our  time,  was  a  port  open  to  all  nations, 
and  by  commerce  with  all  nations  was  China  enriched ;  and  his  people 
had  real  cause  for  grief  when  he  died,  in  the  year  1722. 

Yung-ching,  who  now  ascended  the  throne,  began  his  reign  by  an  act 
which  held  ou'  but  little  hopes  that  he  would  distinguish  himself  by  wis- 
dom like  that  of  his  predecessor.     It  has  been  seen  that  in  the  preceding 


374  THE  TliEASUKY  Ol'^  HISTORY. 

reign  the  missionaries  had  performed  the  most  important  services.  In 
doing  so,  and  in  enjoying  the  high  imperial  favour  wljich  those  services  se- 
cured to  them,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  they  should  incur  many  enmi- 
ties; and  had  the  new  emperor  been  as  wise  as  his  predecessor,  to  such 
enmities  would  he  have  attributed  the  host  of  complaints  which  now  as- 
sailed his  ears.  But  the  emperor  was  at  least  equal  to  any  man  in  his 
vast  dominions  in  fierce  and  bigoted  hatred  of  Christianity  ;  and  he  gladly 
received  and  im|)licitly  listened  to  all  complaints  against  the  missionaries 
and  their  native  converts,  who  at  tiiis  time  probably  numbered  a  quarter 
of  a  million.  Orders  were  issued  for  the  expulsion  oftlie  whole  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, with  the  exception  of  a  few  whose  mathematical  attainments  ren- 
dered their  services  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  the  court;  and  there 
were  a  few  siieltered  at  the  imminent  risk  of  both  parties  by  the  more 
zealous  of  their  pupils,  and  thus  enabled  to  evade  the  edict  and  in  some 
measure  to  preserve  the  leading  truths  of  their  teaching  among  the  na- 
tive converts.  IJut  it  was  a  very  insignificant  number  of  these  mission- 
aries that  remained  in  China  owing  to  both  these  causes,  and  the  whole 
of  their  chapels  and  stations  were  either  sacked  and  destroyed  by  fero- 
cious mobs,  converted  into  public  offices,  or  perverted  to  idolatrous  wor- 
ship. The  excessive  violence  which  this  emperor  displayed  toward  the 
catholic  missionaries  caused  the  king  of  Portugal  in  1726  to  dispatch  an 
embassy  to  the  emperor  on  their  behalf.  The  ambassadors  were  received 
with  distinction ;  but,  though  general  promises  were  given  even  with 
profusion,  the  converts  to  Christianity  derived  not  the  slighesl  practical 
benefit  from  their  interference  on  their  behalf.  The  persecution  of  Chris- 
tianity in  China  was,  indeed,  no  exception  to  the  general  rule — for  the 
more  the  persecution  raged,  the  more  numerous  did  the  proselytes  be- 
come. It  would  seem  that  the  errors  of  their  heathenism  were  in  too 
many  cases  blended  by  the  converts  with  the  truths  they  were  taught  by 
the  missionaries  ;  and  even  the  most  intelligent  of  the  higher  classes  were 
seen  to  worship  the  images  of  sanits,  as  formerly  they  had  had  wor- 
shipped the  idols  of  their  native  superstition.  Christian  charity  demands 
that  we  should  attribute  this  unfortunate  confusion  of  ideas  to  the  obsti- 
nate and  ineradicable  superstition  of  the  converts,  rather  than  to  neglect 
or  design  on  the  part  of  the  teachers. 

Unhappily,  in  the  year  172G  a  new  and  more  terrible  persecution  took 
place.  Both  torture  and  imprisonment,  the  former  in  most  cases  ter- 
minating, after  the  most  frightful  agonies,  in  the  death  of  the  sufferers, 
were  now  resorted  to  in  every  corner  of  the  land  where  a  Christian  could 
be  discovered.  Deep  policy,  however,  was  mixed  up  with  the  vengeful 
spirit;  and  to  avoid  the  persecution  it  was  only  necessary  to  declare  re- 
conversion to  Confucius  or  Buddha.  It  may  easily  be  supposed  that,  un- 
der such  circumstances,  the  number  of  Christians  was,  nominally,  at 
least,  soon  reduced  to  a  mere  handful.  One  of  the  causes  of  this  terrible 
persecution  was  a  dreadful  famine  which  occurred  in  the  previous  year, 
and  which  was  still  attributed  to  the  sin  of  conversion  to  Christianity. 
With  the  usual  inconsistency  of  fanaticism,  it  was  quite  overlooked,  that 
of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  perished,  not  one  in  a  thousand  had 
ever  even  heard  of  Christianity. 

The  year  1730  was  marked  by  an  event  which  Yung-ching's  worst 
flatterers  could  not,  after  his  two  terrible  persecutions  of  the  Christians, 
venture  to  attribute  to  any  undue  encouragement  of  the  new  faith.  The 
whole  province  of  Pecheli — in  which  Pekin  is  situated — was  shaken  by 
an  earthquake.  The  imperial  city  was  for  the  most  part  laid  in  ruins ; 
and  the  emperor,  who  was  at  the  tin)e  walking  in  the  garden,  was  vio- 
lently thrown  to  the  ground.  In  Pekin  alone  upwards  of  ten  thousand 
souls  perished  by  this  lamentable  occurrence,  and  at  least  thrice  that 
number  in  other  parts  of  the  province.     The  emperor  distributed  upwards 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  375 

of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  money  for  the  relief  of  the  survivors.  The 
bigotry  and  cruelly  of  this  prince  can  scarcely  be  excused  on  the  plea  of 
being  ill-advised,  for  it  is  certain  that  he  was  personally  aware  of  the  great 
Denefits  that  tlie  calumniated  and  persecuted  missionaries  had  conferred 
upon  his  people.  The  best  that  can  be  said  of  this  reign  is,  that  it  was  a 
peaceful  one ;  and  tlie  interval  of  peace  would  have  been  infinitely  more 
valuable  than  it  was,  had  tlic  Christians  and  their  foreign  and  highly  in- 
lellig  nt  instructors  been  allowed  to  improve  it  to  the  best  advantage. 
He  died  in  the  year  173.5. 

The  throne  was  now  filled  by  Keen-lung;  whose  first  act  was  to  recall 
the  princes  and  courtiers  wlio  had  been  banished  by  his  father.  This 
done,  he  put  down  some  revolts  among  the  Elenths  and  other  tribes  on 
the  north-western  frontiers.  Probably  it  was  the  vigour  with  which  he 
executed  this  latter  measure,  that  caused  a  deputation  to  be  sent  from 
Russia  to  settle  the  disputes  which  were  perpetually  breaking  out  as  to 
the  trade  between  the  two  countries.  Ragusinki,  who  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Russian  embassy,  acquitted  himself  with  so  much  address,  that  he 
obtained  a  treaty  by  which  a  Russian  caravan,  not  to  exceed  two  hundred 
in  number,  was  to  visit  China  for  the  purposes  of  trade  once  in  every 
three  years ;  a  church  was  to  be  erected ;  and  a  hmited  number  of  Rus- 
sians were  to  take  up  their  permanent  abode  in  the  Chinese  capital  for 
the  purpose  of  acquiring  the  language.  In  this  treaty,  which  is  called 
"the  treaty  of  Kiachta,"  the  Chinese  authorities,  urged  no  doubt  by  sound 
considerations  of  mercantile  profit,  conceded  much,  yet  they  could  not 
forbear  from  giving  one  characteristic  specimen  of  their  extreme  jealousy 
of  their  national  polity.  Thus,  though  a  caravan  was  permitted  to  visit 
the  capital,  it  was  to  halt  upon  the  frontiers  until  the  arrival  of  the  proper 
officer  to  conduct  it  through  the  emperor's  people. 

The  next  important  event  of  this  reign  was  the  expedition  sent  by  the 
emperor  in  1767  against  the  Burmese.  This  expedition  seems  to  have 
originated  wholly  in  the  most  wanton  lust  of  war  on  the  part  of  the  Chi- 
nese, who,  in  the  sequel,  were  very  deservedly  punished.  An  army  of 
above  100,000  men  marched  into  Burmah;  but  no  regular  army  appeared 
to  oppose  its  progress.  As  it  penetrated  farther,  however,  every  foot  oi 
country,  and  especially  wdiere  swamp  or  jungle  rendered  the  route  natu- 
rally more  difficult,  had  to  be  traversed  with  active  and  daring  hordes  of 
guerillas  hovering  upon  its  rear  and  flanks,  cutting  off  stragglers,  pour- 
ing down  suddenly  upon  weak  detachments  or  divisions — such  as  the 
very  nature  of  the  country  made  inevitable  ;  and,  in  short,  acting  witli  such 
efficient  destructiveness,  that  the  Chinese  lost  upwards  of  .50,000  men 
without  coming  to  a  general  engagement !  Incredible  as  it  would  see;:) 
m  European  warfare,  of  the  immense  army  of  100,000  men,  only  2,000 
returned  to  China — the  rest  were  all  killed  or  taken  prisoners  ;  and  all  in 
the  latter  category  were  naturalized  and  settled  in  Burmah.  Even  this 
horrible  loss  of  life  did  not  prevent  the  emperor  from  persisting  in  his  un- 
just scheme.  He  sent  a  still  greater  force  under  his  favourite  general 
A-quei,  who  was  as  fond  of  war  and  as  ferocious  as  himself.  Choosing 
what  he  thought  a  less  dilKicult  line  of  march,  A-quei  had  scarcely  entered 
the  Burmese  territory  when  he  found  that  if  he  had  fewer  human  enemies 
to  contend  against  than  his  predecessor,  he  had  a  still  more  deadly  anfl 
irresistible  enemy,  the  jungle  fever.  He  saw  his  men  perish  around  him 
by  thousands,  and  he  was  glad  to  hasten  from  the  deadly  place  with  even 
a  diminished  army,  rather  than  remain  to  see  it  wholly  annihilated. 
And  the  result  of  all  this  loss  was,  that  China  was  obliged  to  agree  to  a 
treaty  which  confined  her  dominion  within  her  natural  frontier,  thereby 
giving  to  Burmah  rich  gold  and  silver  mines  which  otherwise  would  have 
remained  undisputed  in  the  possession  of  China. 

Keen-Lung   was  engaged  in  several   minor   warfares  originating  in  en- 


gy^  Tfiilf.  TBJEAe^Up^y  OF  IfI8TO|lY. 

d^T^vouf?  pf ,  the  iiiort;  tlistaiit  northern  aud  western  tribes  to  throw  of! 
their  yoke.  The  ]\Iuhoinetau  Tartars,  a  brave  and  bigoted  race,  made  an 
inroad  into  the  pnjvinco  of  Shen-si  ;  A-quej,  who  was  sent  against  them, 
callqU  upon  them  to  surrertder  the  city  in  which  they  had  entrenched 
iheiuselvt's,  and,  on  being  jrofused,  took  it  by  storm,  and  put  every  human 
being  he  found  witliia  the  W4LIS  tp  the  sword,  save  a  few  of  the  chiefs 
whom  he  sent  to  cvurt.  Thq;  emperor,  whose  blood-thirsty  nature  was 
such  tliat  he  was  accustomed  to  have  criminals  tortured  in  his  presence, 
ordered  these  unhappy  cliicfs  to  be  tortured  before  his  assembled  court, 
and  tJien  cut  to  peices  and  thrown  to  the  dogs  !  Not  content  with  this 
sanguinary  act,  the  monster  gave  orders  to  A-quci  to  march  upon  the 
l^Iahometan  Tarlilrs,  and  put  all  to  the  sword  who  were  above  fifteen 
years  of  age.  Mauy,  very  many,  rebellions  took  place  during  this  reign; 
among  them  was  that  of  the  jXiople  of  the  island  of  Formosa.  The  man- 
darins wi»o  acted  as  viceroys  in  this  island  were  guilty  of  the  most 
Bhameful  exactions  and  cruelties.  On  one  occasion  they  put  to  death  a 
mandarin  who  had  j|l-lreated  them.  The  viceroy  of  Fuh-keen,  being 
commissioued  to  avenge  the  death  of  the  mandarin,  sailed  to  the  island 
and  sacrificed  victims  to  his  manes,  witliout  regard  to  the  guilt  or  inno- 
(?once  of  those  ho  immolated.  The  Formosans  soon  became  so  enraged 
that  they  rose  en  masse,  butchered  every  Chinese  and  Tartar  in  the  island, 
and  were  only  at  length  induced  to  return  to  their  yoke — after  having 
bravely  beaten  off  the  miperial  fleet — on  being  indemnilied  for  their  losses, 
and  assuredwigaiiist  a  recurrence  of  the  tyranny  of  which  they  complain- 
edt  ,;A6  thpug^i  fairly  wearied  out  willi  the  strife  of  sixty  years  of  perpet- 
ual /VyarfareSi  Keen-lung  abdicated  the  throne  in  favour  of  his  son  Kea- 
king.,  Tijojugh  he  never  personally  commanded  his  armies,  he  caused 
more  bloodshed  than  probably  any  modern  commander,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Napoleon. 

Kear'king's  first  use  of  his  power  was  to  renew  those  persecutions  of 
the  catholics,  which,  in  the  last  reign,  had  seemed  to  be  falling  into 
disuetude.  Torture  and  death  were  the  fate  of  many ;  still  more  were 
sentenced  to  wear  the  cangou  or  wooden  collar  during  their  lives,  or  were 
banished  to  Tarlary,  which  last  was  a  singularly  impolitic  punishment,  as 
the  Tartars  needed  no  discontented  men  to  incite  them  to  revolt.  A  rebel- 
lion of  a  very  threatening  nature,  inasmuch  as  some  members  of  the 
imperial  family,  and  other  principal  persons  were  concerned  in  it,  was 
planned  in  1803.  By  some  fortunate  accident,  or,  still  more  probably 
through  the  treachery  of  some  of  the  confederates,  the  plot  was  discover- 
ed ere  it  was  ripe  for  execution.  Many  of  the  principal  conspirators  were 
put  to  death,  and  others  only  escaped  to  suffer  the  confiscation  of  their 
property,  which  was  peculiarly  acceptable  to  the  almost  empty  treasury 
of  the  emperor.  In  1793  Lord  Macartney  was  sent  by  George  III.  as  ara- 
bassdor  to  China,  to  endeavour  to  establish  trade  with  that  country  upon 
a  better  and  surer  footing,  and  more  especially  to  obtain  for  the  British 
factory  a  cessation  of  the  insolence  and  extortion  of  the  viceroy  of  Canton. 
The  embassy  was  productive  of  but  little  good  effect.  The  insolent  and 
extortionate  viceroy  was  recalled,  it  is  true,  but  his  predecessor  w  as  not 
long  in  office  ere  he  went  far  beyond  him  in  both  of  those  bad  qualities. 
The  ambassador  was  blamed  at  home  for  having  been  too  high  and  un- 
bending in  his  demeanour ;  but  the  truth  is,  that  the  time  had  not  come 
for  a  proper  understanding  to  exist  between  the  Chinese  and  any  Euro- 
pean nation. 

When  in  1808  it  was  feared  that  Bonaparte  would  aim  at  the  eastern 
trade  of  Great  Britain,  Admiral  Drury  was  ordered  to  Macao  :  but  aftei 
much  wordy  disputation  between  the  Chinese  authorities  there  and  the 
admiral,  the  latter  retired  after  a  slight  collision.  The  Chinese  pretend- 
ed to  have  gained  a  great  victory,  a  magniloquent  account  of  the  same 


THE  TREASUPcY  OF  lilSTOFtY.  377 

was  sent  to  Pekin,  and  a  pagoda  actually  erected  to  comniemcrate  it. 
In  1816  another  ambassador,  Lord  Amherst,  was  sent  to  China,  but  his 
mission  was  to  the  full  as  unsatisfactory  as  that  of  Lord  Macartney.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  the  opium  speculation  began  to  grow  to  some- 
thing ]il<e  a  noticeable  extent — but  on  that  head  we  shall  have  to  speak  at 
length  in  the  next  chapter.  After  twenty  five  years'  reign,  marked  far 
more  by  despotic  temper  than  by  the  talent  necessary  to  render  it  effect- 
ive, Kea-kuig  died,  in  the  year  1820,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
monarch. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  reigning  emperor  of  China,  Taoeu-kwang,  is  the  second  son  of  the 
preceding  monarch,  and  owes  his  rise  to  the  throne,  in  preference  to  his 
elder  brother,  to  the  great  resolution  and  attachment  to  his  father  dis- 
played by  him  on  an  occasion  of  a  revolt.  The  parties  concerned  in  it 
had  proceeded  to  such  an  extent,  that  some  of  them  actually  forced  their 
way  into  the  palace  with  the  avowed  intention  of  putting  Kea-king  to 
death.  Taceu-kwang,  with  a  mere  handful  of  the  imperial  guards,  repul- 
sed the  conspirators,  two  of  whom  he  shot  with  his  own  hand.  Since 
his  advancement  to  the  throne,  however,  he  has  by  no  means  displayed 
the  vigour  that  might  have  been  anticipated.  He  has  for  tlio  most  part 
co.iiniitted  the  management  of  affairs  to  his  ministers  and  favourites,  and 
given  himself  up  to  effeminate  pleasure  in  the  seclusion  of  his  palace. 

The  Mahometan  inhabitants  of  eastern  Turkestan  and  the  Formosan 
islanders  have  revolted,  but  have  hitherto  been  subdued.  Their  discon- 
tents, however,  will  probably  at  no  distant  time  have  great  effect  upon  the 
destinies  of  the  empire.  The  Chinese,  to  a  man,  are  said  to  detest  the 
Tartar  race;  and  though  the  vast  population  of  the  empire  would  at  first 
sight  appear  to  render  its  subjugation  now  by  any  people  an  event  of  great 
improbability,  the  clashing  opinions  and  interests  of  the  constituent  por- 
tions of  the  population  may,  at  some  future  time,  possibly  render  the 
vastness  of  the  empire  a  principal  cause  of  an  entire  alteration  in  both  its 
political  and  religious  condition.  A  strong  proof  that  strength  is  not  ne- 
cessarily the  consequence  of  the  numerical  superiority  of  China,  was  fur- 
nished a  few  years  since.  A  serious  revolt  occurred  in  the  province  of 
Canton,  where,  from  its  facility  of  communication  with  "the  outside 
barbarians,"  revolt  was  especially  to  be  feared,  and  to  be  put  down,  when- 
soever occurring,  with  the  sternest  promptitude.  But  though  the  Celestial 
Empire  boasts  its  standing  army  of  a  million  of  fighting  men,  the  general 
Le,  who  was  ordered  to  quell  this  revolt,  could  barely  muster  a  few  hun- 
dreds of  ill-armed  and  ill-disciplined  troops,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resort 
to  the  Chinese  panacea  of  paying  a  pecuniary  bribe  to  the  rebels. 

The  trade  of  England  as  well  as  of  all  other  nations,  with  China,  has 
ever  been  subject  to  such  restrictions,  and  been  liable  to  so  many  inter- 
ruptions, from  the  caprice  of  the  Chinese  and  from  the  insolence  with 
which  these  caprices  have  been  acted  upon,  that  it  has  of  necessity 
from  lime  to  time  very  much  partaken  of  the  character  of  smuggling — 
even  as  regards  articles  to  v/hich  no  moral  exception  could  by  possibilil)'' 
betaken.  During  the  memorable  "opium"  dispute,  this  fact  seems  to 
have  been  much  neglected  by  many  of  the  leading  political  writers  cf 
England.  They  have  looked  at  the  question  rather  as  a  moral  than  a 
Dolitical  one,  and  have  blamed  political  resistance  to  national  insult,  be- 
cause that  resistance  happened  to  be  made  upon  a  point  in  which  a  moral 
question  was  artfully  mixed  up  with  it  by  the  Chinese. 

No  sane  man  will  pretend  to  vindicate  the  trading  in  opium  otherwise 


379  THE  TIlEASUllY  OF  HISTOilY. 

than  as  a  very  important  article  of  materia  medica  ;  no  one  will  say  that 
it  is  otherwise  than  higlily  desirable  tlial  the  use  of  this  "insane"  drug  as 
a  means  of  intoxiralion  sliould  be  prohibited.  But,  we  repeat,  though 
collision  with  the  Chinese  has  chanced  to  arise  upon  the  question  of  the 
importation  of  opium,  the  moral  consideration  as  to  the  sale  and  use  of 
that  drug  arc  really  quite  beside  the  question  :  had  the  article  of  trade 
been  Yorksliire  cloth  or  Birmingham  hardware,  the  same  collision  might 
have  taken  place. 

("Jpiimi  was  imported  into  China  as  early  as  the  17th  century,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  close  of  the  18th  century  that  Kea-king  prohibited  it. 
We  applaud  him  for  doing  this.  It  was  higjj  time  to  put  some  check  on 
tlie  use  of  it;  fur  though  it  was  professedly  imported  only  as  a  medici- 
nal drug,  it  was  imported  to  the  extent  of  1000  ciiesls  per  annum  as  early 
as  17G7,  and  the  importation  had  been  perpetually  increased  in  amount 
up  to  1796.  Up  to  this  time,  be  it  remembered,  the  traffic  was  strictly 
legal ;  it  paid  a  duly  of  five  mace  per  catty,  and  was  for  the  most  part 
delivered  to  and  bonded  by  the  government. 

It  is  clear  that  from  1796  the  trade  in  this  drug  was  mere  smuggling; 
equally  clear,  that  whether  John  Tomkins  or  "The  Company"  was  the 
trader,  that  trader  was  a  smuggler.  We  will  go  farther.  When  the  Kast 
India  Company,  having  the  monopoly  of  the  eastern  trade,  compelled  the 
ryots  of  Pekin  to  grow  opium  instead  of  rice,  and  compelled  the  ryots  of 
divers  other  parts  of  the  Anglo-Indian  territory  to  do  the  same,  the  act 
was  one  which  the  English  press  ought  loudly  to  have  denounced,  and 
which  the  English  senate  ought  to  have  put  a  stop  to,  on  pain  of  the  loss 
of  the  Company's  charter.  All  this  is  clear  as  noonday ;  but  there  is 
another  consideration.  The  government  of  China  is  essentially  paternal : 
from  the  emperor  to  the  lowest  office  of  his  state  link  connects  link,  as 
from  the  father  of  a  family  to  his  youngest  child  or  his  nearest  servant. 
The  trade  in  opium  was  forbidden  from  time  to  time  by  edicts  :  true  ;  but 
the  very  officers  who  were  charged  with  the  duty  of  enforcing  these 
edicts  were  themselves  the  virtual  importers  of  opium  !  Had  the  Chinese 
authorities  of  Canton  and  along  the  coast  not  connived  at  the  trade  for 
enormous  bribes,  or,  as  was  more  frequently  the  case,  been  themselves 
actual  traders  in  the  article,  the  trade  would  have  been  at  an  end  years 
ago,  and  when  only  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  British  capital 
was  involved  in  it. 

It  appears  to  us  that  the  public  prohibition  of  a  drug  of  which  the  con- 
sumption was  hourly  increasing,  and  the  aid  given  to  its  importation  by 
the  very  persons  appointed  to  carry  that  prohibition  into  effect,  are  merely 
"part  and  parcel"  of  the  settled  Chinese  policy  of  fleecing  barbarians  to 
the  utmost  possible  extent,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  always  having  a  con- 
venient pretext  for  such  a  stoppage  in  trade  as  circumstances  might  make 
convenient  in  the  way  of  temporarily  making  the  fleece  longer  and  finer 
It  would  be  an  instructive  lesson  for  politicians  to  con — the  difference  of 
profit  to  China,  between  the  one  hundred  chests  imported  in  1776  at  a 
fixed  duty  of  five  mace  the  catty,  and  that  upon  the  forty  thousand  chests 
smuggled  in  1840 — at  whatever  profit  the  unscrupulous  authorities  could 
extort ! 

It  was  not  until  1839  that  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  real  determination 
to  put  down  the  trade  was  exhibited  by  the  Chinese;  for  the  occasional 
stoppages  of  trade  and  blustering  manifestos,  as  already  said,  we  look  at 
as  mere  measures  for  fleecing.  Lin  appeared  at  Canton,  in  that  year,  a 
"high  commissioner" — an  officer  possessing  almost  dictatorial  powers, 
and  one  who  had  not  been  more  than  thrice  previously  appointed  during 
the  present  dynasty.  In  an  edict  he  said,  "I,  the  commissioner,  am 
sworn  to  remove  utterly  this  root  of  misery ;  nor  will  I  let  the  foreign 
vessels  have  any  offshoot  left  for  the  evil  to  bud  forth  again."    The  Brit- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  379 

Ish  commissioner  and  between  two  and  three  hundred  British  subjects 
were  then  thrown  into  a  state  of  close  confinement ;  the  guards  placed 
over  them  heaped  every  insult  upon  them,  and  threatened  them  with  being 
deprived  of  provisions  and  water.  Captain  Elliot,  the  British  superin- 
tendant,  under  such  circumstances,  saw  no  means  of  evading  the  demands 
of  the  Chinese  ;  and  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  chests  of  opium,  valued 
at  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  were  delivered  to  commissioner  Lin  for  de- 
struction. 

In  1840  war  was  declared  by  England  against  the  Chinese.  The  lead- 
ing events,  however,  which  followed,  being  related  in  the  history  of  that 
country,  it  would  be  superfluous  to  repeat  them  here.  We  will  merely 
add  what  has  transpired  since  that  was  written.  All  differences  being 
tinally  adjusted,  and  his  celestial  majesty  being  on  terms  of  the  strictest 
amity  with  her  Britannic  majesty,  a  ratification  of  the  treaty  between  the 
two  countries  was  announced  on  the  27th  of  July,  1843.  From  that  day 
the  Hong  merchants'  monopoly  and  Consoo  charges  were  to  cease  ;  and 
the  conditions  upon  which  trade  was  in  future  to  be  carried  on,  appeared 
in  a  notice  issued  by  Sir  Henry  Potiinger,  the  British  plenipotentiary  in 
China ;  who  published  an  export  and  import  tariff,  and  also  a  proclamation 
in  which  he  trusts  that  the  commercial  treaty  will  be  found,  in  practice, 
mutually  advantageous,  beneficial  and  just,  as  regards  the  interests,  hon- 
our, and  the  future  augmented  prosperity  of  the  governments  of  the  two 
mighty  contracting  empires  and  their  subjects ;  and  he  "  most  solemnly 
and  urgently  calls  upon  all  subjects  of  the  British  crown,  not  only  to 
strictly  conform  and  act  up  to  the  said  provisions  of  the  commercial  treaty, 
but  to  spurn,  decry,  and  make  known  to  the  world  any  base,  unprincipled 
and  traitorous  overtures  that  may  be  made  to  them,  towards  entering  into 
any  collusion  or  scheme  for  the  purpose  of  evading,  or  acting  in  contra- 
vention of,  the  said  provisions  of  the  commercial  treaty." 

In  the  proclamation  issued  by  the  imperial  commission,  after  referring 
to  the  tariff,  &c.,  it  says,  "  Henceforth,  then,  the  weapons  of  war  shall 
ever  be  laid  aside,  and  joy  and  profit  shall  be  the  perpetual  lot  of  all ; 
neither  slight  nor  few  will  be  the  advantages  reaped  by  the  merchants 
alike  of  China  and  of  foreign  countries.  From  this  time  forward  all  must 
free  themselves  from  prejudice  and  suspicions,  pursuing  each  his  proper 
avocation,  and  careful  always  to  retain  no  inimical  feelings  from  the  re- 
collection of  the  hostilities  that  have  before  taken  place  ;  for  such  feelings 
and  recollections  can  have  no  other  effect  than  to  hinder  the  growth  of  a 
good  understanding  between  the  two  people."  It  also  contains  a  perfect 
amnesty,  and  the  remission  of  punishment  for  all  who  have  served  the 
English  soldiers  with  supplies,  &c.,  in  days  past,  and  concludes  by  stating 
that,  "From  henceforward  amity  and  good  will  shall  ever  continue,  and 
those  from  afar,  and  those  who  are  near,  shall  perpetually  rejoice  together." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JAPAN. 

Japan  is  a  general  name  given,  by  Europeans,  to  a  great  number  of 
islands,  lying  between  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia  and  the  western  coast  of 
America,  and  which  together  compose  a  large  empire,  extending- from  the 
30th  to  the  41st  degree  of  latitude,  and  from  the  130th  to  the  147th  degree 


380  THE  TIIEA8URY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  east  longitude.  The  inhabitants  call  this  empire  Niphon,  which  is  the 
name  of  the  largest  island  belon<i:ing  to  it.  It  was  discovered  by  the  Por- 
tuguese nboiit  the  year  1452.  The  religion  of  the  Japanese  is  pagaiiisra, 
divided  into  several  sects,  who  live  togetiier  in  harmony.  Every  sect  has 
its  own  temples  and  priests.  'I'he  spiritual  emperor,  or  dairi-sama,  is  the 
chief  of  their  religion.  They  aciuiowledge  and  honour  a  Supreme  Being ; 
and  the  temples  are  open  to  every  individual,  whatever  his  creed  or  coun- 
try. Christianity  had  once  made  a  considerable  progress  in  Japan,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish  Jesuits,  among  whom  was  the 
famous  St.  Prancis  Xavier;  but  it  ended  tragically,  owing  to  an  ill-con- 
ducted conspiracy  of  the  fathers  against  the  state.  This  proceeding  pro- 
duced a  persecution  of  forty  years'  duration,  and  terminated  by  a  mo*t 
horrible  massacre,  scarcely  to  be  paralleled  in  history.  After  this,  not 
only  the  Portuguese,  but  Christians  of  every  nation,  were  totally  expelled 
the  country,  and  the  most  effectual  means  taken  for  preventing  their 
return. 

In  Kill,  the  Dutch  had  the  liberty  of  a  free  commerce  granted  them  by 
the  imperial  letters  patent,  and  established  a  factory  at  Firando.  They 
were  then  at  war  with  Spain,  and  Portugal  was  at  that  time  under  the 
Spanish  government.  The  former,  by  taking  an  homeward-bound  Portu- 
guese ship,  found  a  traitorous  letter  to  the  king  by  a  captain  Moro,  chief 
of  the  Portuguese  in  Japan.  The  Dutch  immediately  forwarded  this  let- 
ter to  their  protector,  the  prince  of  Firando.  This  letter  laid  open  the 
whole  plot  which  the  Japanese  Christians,  in  conjunction  with  the  Por- 
tuguese, had  laid  against  the  emperor's  life  and  throne.  In  consequence 
of  this  discovery,  in  the  year  1637,  an  imperial  order  was  sent  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Nagasaki,  to  admit  no  more  Portuguese  into  the  empire. 

Notwithstanding  this  proclamation,  the  Portuguese  found  means  to  carry 
on  their  trade  two  years  longer,  hoping  to  obtain  leave  to  stay  in  the  island 
of  Desima,  and  there  continue  to  trade ;  but  they  found  themselves  dis- 
appointed ;  for  the  emperor,  on  the  assurance  given  him  by  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  that  they  would  supply  him  in  future  with  all  the 
articles  heretofore  supplied  by  the  Portuguese,  declared  them,  and  the 
Castilians,  enemies  of  the  empire;  and  they  were  totally  expelled  the 
country  in  1640.  Their  extirpation,  and  with  them  the  Christian  religion, 
was  so  complete,  that  not  a  vestage  can  now  be  discerned  of  its  having 
ever  existed  there. 

The  government  of  the  Japan  empire  is  an  hereditary,  absolute  mon- 
archy. The  imperial  dignity  had  been  enjoyed,  for  a  considerable  time 
before  the  year  1500,  by  a  regular  succession  of  princes,  under  the  title  of 
dairos.  Soon  after  that  epoch,  a  civil  war  broke  out,  which  lasted  many 
years.  During  the  destruction  it  occasioned,  a  common  soldier,  named 
Tayckoy,  found  means  to  raise  himself  to  the  imperial  dignity,  and  the 
dairo  was  obliged  to  submit  to  terms.  This  revolution  took  place  in  1517. 
Tayckoy  reigned  several  years,  during  which  he  made  excellent  laws, 
which  still  subsist.  At  his  death  he  left  the  crown  to  his  son,  Tayckos- 
sama,  then  a  minor;  but  the  treacherous  prince  under  whose  guardianship 
he  was  left,  deprived  him  of  his  life  before  he  becf>me  of  age.  By  this 
murder  the  crown  passed  to  the  family  of  Jejassama,  in  which  it  still 
continues. 

The  Japanese  must  be  placed  rather  among  the  polished  nations  than 
otherwise.  Their  mode  of  government,  their  skill  in  agriculture,  in  man- 
ufactures, arts,  and  sciences — their  politeness,  good-natire,  prudence, 
frankness,  and  courage — entitle  them  to  this  distinction.  'J'hey  seem  to 
possess  nothing  of  the  vanity  of  Asiatics  and  Africans;  but  9re  careful 
only  to  provide  themselves,  from  the  productions  of  their  own  country, 
with  those  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  so  desirable  to  enlightened 
liuman  beings.     The  language  of  the  Japanese  has  some  a\\'rvity  io  th«» 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  381 

Chinese  ;  though  it  appears,  from  its  various  dialects,  to  have  been  a  kind 
of  compound  of  that  and  other  languages,  derived  from  the  various  nations 
that  first  peopled  these  islands.  Their  manner  of  writing,  and  their  ar- 
chitecture, are  similar  to  those  of  China. 

The  internal  trade  of  Japan  is  very  extensive,  and  their  industry  will 
bear  comparison  v/ith  that  of  the  Hindoos,  or  even  Chinese.  Foreign 
commerce,  however,  is  vigorously  opposed  by  the  government,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  supposed  Portuguese  treachery  before  mentioned,  and  the 
attempts  of  the  Jesuit  misionaries  to  Christianize  the  people.  The  num- 
ber of  Dutch  vessels  allowed  to  come  each  year,  and  the  quantity  of  each 
descrip-tion  of  wares  to  be  sold,  are  strictly  defined.  The  ships,  immedi- 
ately on  their  arrival,  are  strictly  searched,  and  the  crews  are  kept,  during 
their  stay  in  port,  completely  secluded  from  the  natives ;  while  all  the 
business  transactions  are  conducted  by  the  Japanese,  who  also  unload  and 
re-load  the  vessels.  Nay,  so  rigid  are  they  in  preventing  their  subjects 
from  having  intercouse  with  other  nations,  that  it  is  a  capital  offence  for 
the  natives  of  Japan  to  travel  into  other  countries ;  and  their  seamen 
even,  when  accidentally  cast  on  foreign  shores,  are,  on  their  return,  sub- 
jected to  vigorous  examination,  and  sometimes  tedious  imprisonment,  to 
purify  them  from  the  supposed  pollution  contracted  abroad. 

The  cautious  and  ceremonious  way  in  which  the  Japanese  transact  their 
business  with  the  Dutch  merchants  is  thus  described  : — About  the  time 
when  the  Dutch  ships  are  expected,  several  outposts  are  stationed  on  the 
highest  hills  by  the  government ;  and  they  are  provided  with  telescopes, 
and  when  seen  at  a  distance,  notice  is  given  to  the  governor  of  Nagasaki. 
As  soon  as  they  anchor  in  the  harbour,  officers  go  on  board  with  interpre- 
ters, to  whom  is  delivered  a  chest,  in  which  all  the  sailors'  books,  the 
muster-roll  of  the  whole  crew,  six  small  barrels  of  powder,  six  barrels  of 
balls,  six  muskets,  six  bayonets,  six  pistols,  and  six  swords,  are  deposited. 
This  is  supposed  to  be  the  whole  remaining  ammunition,  after  the  imperial 
garrison  has  been  saluted.  These  things  are  conveyed  on  shore,  and 
housed;  but  returned  again  on  the  day  the  ship  quits  the  harbour. 

The  beginning  of  the  year  is  the  time  observed  for  holidays,  or  days  of 
leisure  and  enjoyment;  and  at  this  time  the  ceremony  of  trampling  on 
images,  representing  the  cross,  and  the  virgin  and  child,  is  performed. 
The  images  are  of  copper,  about  a  foot  long.  This  ceremony  is  intended 
to  impress  every  individual  with  hatred  of  the  Christian  doctrine,  and  the 
Portuguese,  who  attempted  to  introduce  it ;  and  also  to  discover  whether 
any  remnant  of  it  is  left  among  the  Japanese.  It  is  performed  in  the 
places  where  the  Christians  chiefly  resided.  In  Nagasaki  it  lasts  four 
days ;  then  the  images  are  carried  to  circumjacent  places,  and  afterward 
are  laid  aside  till  the  next  year.  Every  person,  except  the  Japanese  go- 
vernor and  his  attendants,  even  the  smallest  child,  must  be  present. 

The  population  of  Japan  is  supposed  to  exceed  fifty  millions.  The 
army  in  time  of  peace  consists  of  one  hundred  thousand  infantry,  and 
twenty  thousand  cavalry :  the  force  during  the  war  being  increased  by 
levies  from  the  different  provinces  to  four  hundred  thousand  infantry,  and 
forty  thousand  cavalry.  The  arms  used  by  the  former  are  the  musket, 
pike,  bow,  sabre,  and  dagger ;  those  of  the  mounted  troops,  being  the  lance, 
sabre,  and  pistol.     Their  artillery  is  very  inconsiderable. 


THE  EAST  INDIA  ISLANDS. 


CEYLON. 

Ceylon  is  a  large  island  of  the  East  Indies,  separated  from  the  conti- 
leni  by  the  Gulf  of  Manaar  and  Talk's  Straits,  near  the  southern  extrem- 
ity of  Hindostan.  It  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length  from  north 
to  south,  and  averages  about  one  hundred  in  breadth.  The  conquest  of 
this  island  was  the  first  attempt  of  Albuquerque,  the  celebrated  Portu- 
guese admiral.  He  found  it  well  peopled,  and  inhabited  by  two  different 
nations  ;  the  Bedas  in  the  north,  and  the  Cinglasses,  or  Singalese,  in  the 
south.  The  former  were  very  barbarous;  but  the  latter  in  some  state  of 
civilization.  These,  however,  derived  great  advantage  from  the  mines 
of  precious  stones,  and  also  from  their  pearl  fishery,  the  greatest  in  the 
East. 

It  is  said  that  the  proper  name  of  the  island  is  Singhala,  and  that  part 
of  the  population  called  Singalese  have  a  tradition  that  their  ancestors 
came  thither  from  the  eastward  nearly  two  thousand  four  hundred  years 
ago;  but  many  authors  suppose  them  to  be  a  colony  of  Singhs  or  Raj- 
poots, who  arrived  five  hundred  years  b.  c.  From  the  ruins  of  cities, 
tanks,  aqueducts,  canals,  bridges,  temples,  &c.,  at  Trincomalee  and  other 
places,  Ceylon  has  evidently  been  at  some  remote  period  a  rich,  populous, 
and  comparatively  civilized  country.  The  Portuguese  not  only  conquered, 
but  tyrannized  over  them  to  such  a  degree,  that  tfiey  assisted  the  Dutch 
in  expelling  them  from  the  island  in  1658,  after  a  bloody  and  obstinate  war, 
by  which  all  the  Portuguese  settlements  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company. 

The  wars  with  the  king  of  Candy,  the  most  potent,  if  not  the  sole  sov- 
ereign of  the  island,  were  very  detrimental  to  Holland.  In  a  sanguinary 
war,  which  ended  in  1766,  the  Ceylonese  monarch  was  driven  from  his 
capital,  and  the  Dutch  made  a  very  advantageous  treaty.  Their  sovereignty 
was  acknowledged  all  over  those  parts  of  the  country  they  possessed  be- 
fore the  war,  and  that  part  of  the  coasts  held  by  the  natives  was  ceded 
to  them.  They  were  allowed  to  gather  cinnamon  in  all  the  plains;  and 
the  court  stipulated  to  sell  them  the  best  sort,  which  is  produced  in  the 
mountains,  at  a  very  moderate  price.  The  government  also  engaged  to 
have  no  connection  with  any  foreign  power,  and  even  to  deliver  up  any 
Europeans  who  might  happen  to  come  into  the  island.  In  return  for  so 
many  concessions  the  king  was  to  receive  annually  the  value  of  the  pro- 
duce of  the  ceded  coasts ;  and  from  thence  his  subjects  were  to  be  fur- 
nished, gratis,  with  as  much  salt  as  they  had  occasion  for.  Matters  w  ere 
in  this  situation  wdien  the  English  attacked  the  Dutch  in  1794,  and  con- 
quered Trincomalee,  and  all  their  settlements  in  the  island  ;  and  it  after- 
ward became  a  part  of  the  price  of  the  peace  of  Amiens  in  favour  of 
England. 

The  English  had  no  sooner  taken  possession,  than  they  unhappily  were 
involved  in  a  war  with  the  king  of  Candy,  owing  to  some  misunderstanding 
relative  to  certain  articles  of  commerce  ;  and  the  lives  of  many  brave  men 
were  sacrificed  to  it ;  rather,  however,  by  the  treachery  and  bad  faith  o( 
the  Ceylonese  king  and  his  minister,  than  by  fair  and  h'.)nnurable  warfare. 
The  population  of  Ceylon,  independently  of  the  col.,  .iist?  wlio  have  ai 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  383 

rarious  times  possessed  themselves  of  the  coasts,  consist  of — 1st,  the  na- 
tive Singalese  or  Ceylonese,  one  branch  occupying  the  Candyan  territo- 
ries, and  the  other  the  coasts;  2nd,  the  Veddahs,  or  aborigines,  who,  in 
an  ahn(^st  savage  state,  inhabited  the  mountainous  regions  and  unexplored 
fastnesses ;  3rd,  the  Moors,  who  are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  island  ;  and 
4th,  the  Malabar  and  other  Hindoos,  who  dwell  chiefly  on  the  northern 
and  eastern  coasts.  Of  all  these  races  the  Candyan  Ceylonese  differ 
least  from  Europeans  in  form,  feature,  and  physical  power.  The  Singa- 
lese are  more  timid  and  effeminate;  but  it  may  be  observed  that  although 
some  assume  a  haughty  and  independent  bearing,  yet  indolence,  deceit, 
and  revenge  are  the  generally  prevailing  qualities  of  these  islanders. 
There  are  also  some  Caffres  and  Javanese,  a  few  Chinese  and  Parsee  tra- 
ders, and  a  considerable  number  of  English,  Dutch,  and  Portuguese; 
besides  a  hybrid  population  from  the  intermixiure  of  all  these  and  the 
native  races. 

I'iie  upper  classes  among  the  Singalese  profess  Christianity,  and  many 
are  converts  to  Mohammedanism  ;  but  the  general  religion  is  Buddhism. 
The  government  is  vested  in  the  hands  of  a  British  governor,  assisted  by 
a  council  of  European  civil  servants  ;  but  all  laws,  before  being  acted 
upon,  are  published  in  the  official  gazette,  for  their  general  diffusion  and 
translation  into  the  native  languages. 


SUMATRA. 

Sumatra  is  a  large  island  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  being,  next  to  Borneo, 
the  largest  in  the  eastern  seas.  It  is  about  one  thousand  miles  in  length, 
from  north-west  to  south-east;  but  in  general,  not  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  in  breadth.  This  is  the  first  of  the  islands  which  form  the  great 
East  India  Archipelago;  and  it  is  separated  from  the  peninsula  beyond 
the  Ganges  by  the  straits  of  Malacca ;  which  is  the  usual  passage  from 
the  bay  of  Bengal  and  the  Coromandcl  coast  to  Borneo  or  China,  and, 
consequently  to  the  Gulf  of  Siam,  Cambodia,  Cochin  China  and  the  Gulf 
of  Tonquin. 

Gold  dust  is  an  article  of  considerable  trafl[ic,  and  is  brought  by  mer- 
chants from  the  interior  to  the  sea-coast,  where  it  is  bartered  for  iron 
tools,  and  various  kinds  of  East  Indian  and  European  manufactures  of  silk, 
cotton,  broad-cloths,  &,c.  But  the  most  valuable  and  important  produc- 
tion of  the  island  is  pepper,  the  average  produce  of  which  at  this  time  is 
supposed  to  amount  t  >  thirty  millions  of  pounds  a  year.  Tumeric,  cas- 
sia, ginger,  coffee,  aiTd  many  kinds  of  scented  woods  are  also  produced 
here.  After  the  capture  of  the  Moluccas  by  the  British,  in  1796,  the  nut- 
meg and  clove  were  introduced  at  Bencoolen,  but  though  large  quantities 
were  raised,  the  quality  was  inferior  to  similar  products  obtained  from 
Amboyna  and  the  Banda  isles.  The  Sumatran  camphor  is  in  high  esti- 
mation. Cocoa-nut,  betel,  bamboo,  sugar-cane,  various  palms,  and  an 
abundance  of  tropical  fruits,  are  indigenous. 

At  Bencoolen,  on  the  west  side  of  Simiatra,  is  the  English  factory,  be- 
longing to  the  East  India  Company.  The  factory  was  once  entirely  de- 
serted, through  the  frequent  quarrels  and  bickerings  of  the  natives  and 
the  English ;  and  had  not  the  former  found  that  trade  decreased  in  conse- 
quence of  the  absence  of  the  latter,  they  never  would  have  been  invited  tc 
settle  there  again. 


381  THE  TREASURY  OF  IlIBTORY. 


PRINCE  OF  WALES'  ISLAND. 

Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  or  Pulo  Penany,  is  situated  ia  the  straits  of 
Malacca,  about  two  miles  from  Hk;  west  coast  of  the  Malay  peninsula. 
The  India  Company  in  17B1,  came  to  the  resolution  of  establishing  a  set- 
tlement there.  The  island  is  about  seventeen  miles  lonj(,  by  ten  broad  : 
its  northern  extremity  runs  nearly  parallel  with  tlie  mam  land,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  about  two  miles,  by  whicii  a  fine  channel  is  formed,  where  the 
largest  fleet  may  ride  in  perfect  safety;  the  height  of  the  surrounding 
mountains  acting  as  a  barrier  against  the  force  of  the  prevailing  winds. 
In  fact,  the  advantages  attending  this  island,  both  in  a  political  and  com- 
mercial view,  arc  obvious. 


JAVA. 

Java  is  a  large  island,  extending  in  length  nearly  seven  hundred  mlle^, 
and  averaging  in  breadth  ninety ;  and  it  is  separated  from  Sumatra  by  the 
strait  of  Sunda.  Toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Cornelius 
Houtman,  a  Dutchman,  conducted  four  vessels  to  Java  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope ;  and  his  prudence  procured  him  an  interview  with  the  princi 
pal  king  of  the  island  ;  but  the  Portuguese  created  him  some  enemies. 
Having  got  the  better  in  several  skirmishes  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he 
returned  with  his  small  squadron  to  Holland,  where,  though  he  brought 
but  little  wealth,  he  raised  much  expectation.  He  brought  away  some 
Negroes,  Chinese,  and  inhabitants  of  Malabar;  a  native  of  Malacca,  a  Ja- 
panese, and  Abdul,  a  pilot  of  the  Guzerat,  a  man  of  great  abilities,  and 
perfectly  acquainted  with  the  coasts  of  India. 

The  account  given  by  Houtman  encouraged  the  merchants  of  Amster-! 
dam  to  form  the  plan  of  a  settlement  at  Java,  which,  at  the  same  time  thai 
it  would  throw  the  pepper  trade  into  their  hands,  Vvfould  place  them  also 
near  the  islands  that  produce  the  more  valuable  spices,  and  facilitate  theii 
communication  with  China  and  Japan.  Admiral  Van  Neck  was  therefore 
sent  on  this  important  expedition  with  eight  vessels,  and  arrived  safe  at 
Java,  where  he  found  the  inhabitants  prejudiced  against  his  natioii.  They 
fought  and  negotiated  by  turns.  At  length  they  were  permitted  to  trade, 
and,  in  a  short  time,  loaded  four  vessels  with  spices  and  linens,  i  The  ad- 
miral, with  his  fleet,  sailed  to  the  Moluccas,  where  he  learned  that  the 
natives  of  the  country  had  forced  the  Portuguese  to  abandon  some  of  ithe 
places  in  which  they  had  settled,  and  that  they  only  waited  fora  fiivour- 
able  opportunity  of  expelling  them  from  the  rest.  He  establisheti  facto- 
ries in  several  of  these  islands,  entered  into  a  treaty:with  sokHeiof  j^fe* 
kings,  and  returned  to  Europe  laden  with  riches.    ■   ^   ''[•     ;;■  i  ^^::  -t  'i'^'- 

In  1602,  the  states-general  formed  the  Dutch  India  Cotripany-'-'tt  was 
invested  with  authority  to  make  peace  or  war  with  the  eastern  princes^to 
erect  forts,  maintain  garrisons,  and  to  nominate  officers  for 'the  condiiGtof 
the  police  and  the  administration  of  justice.  The  company,  which  had 
no  parallel  in  antiquity,  and  was  the  pattern  of  all  succeeding  societies 
of  the  kind,  set  out  with  great  advantages;  and,  soon  after  itsi^tatelish- 
ment,  they  fitted  out  for  India  fourteen  ships  and  some  y^chte,  tindei''  thb' 
command  of  Admiral  Warwick,  whom  the  Hdlland-ers  Wf)ktip6n  ttg! the 
founder  of  their  commerce,  and  of  their  colonies,  in  the  East.  He  bufll 
a  factory  in  this  island,  and  secured  it  by  fortifications.  He  had  frequent 
engagements  with  the  Portuguese,  in  which  he  generally  came  oft'  victo- 
rious. A  sanguinary  war  was  the  consequence  of  these  hostilities  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  in  which  the  Dutch  were  successful. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY,  385 

Batavia,  which,  from  a  small  beginning,  has  become  the  capital  of  ali 
the  Dutch  possessions  in  India,  has  one  of  the  best  and  safest  harbours 
in  the  world.  The  city  is  surrounded  by  a  rampart  twenty-one  feet  in 
thickness,  covered  on  the  outside  with  stone,  and  fortified  with  twenty-two 
bastions.  This  rampart  is  environed  by  a  ditch,  fort)'-lhree  yards  over, 
and  full  of  water.  The  river  Jucutra  runs  through  the  midst  of  tlie  city, 
and  forms  fifteen  canals  of  running  water,  adorned  with  evergreens.  The 
inhabitants  consist  of  Dutch,  French,  Portuguese,  Javanese,  Chinese, 
Malays,  Negroes,  and  many  others.  Coffee,  sugar  and  spices  are  produced 
here  in  great  abundance  :  and,  together,  it  may  be  said  to  be  one  of  the 
most  valuable  colonies  belonging  to  any  European  nation.  The  island 
was  taken  by  a  British  force  from  India  in  1811,  and  held  till  1616,  when 
it  was  restored  to  the  Dutch. 


BORNEO. 

Borneo  is  one  of  the  largest  islands  in  the  world,  being  fifteen  hundred 
miles  in  circumference.  It  is  seated  under  the  equator,  and  occupies  near- 
ly the  centre  of  the  eastern  archipelago.  The  west  and  north-east  sides 
of  it  are  a  desert,  and  the  east  is  comparatively  little  known-  The  inland 
parts  are  mountainous ;  and  the  south-east,  for  many  leagues  together,  is 
an  unwholesome  morass. 

The  Portuguese,  who  first  discovered  Borneo,  had  been  in  the  Indies 
thirty  years  before  they  knew  anything  of  it  more  than  the  name  and  its 
situation,  by  reason  of  their  frequently  passing  by  its  coast.  At  length 
Captain  Edward  Corral  had  orders  to  examine  it  witli  attention.  From 
thence  becoming  acquainted  with  its  worth,  they  made  frequent  voyages 
thither.  They  found  the  coast  inhabited  by  Malayan  Moors,  wiio  had  cer- 
tainly established  themselves  there  by  conquest ;  but  the  interior  and  part 
of  the  north-west  coast  are  peopled  by  a  savage  race,  believed  to  be  the 
aborigines,  and  called  Dyaks.  They  use  long  shallow  canoes  hollowed 
out  of  a  single  tree  ;  and  kill  wild  animals  for  their  food,  by  shooting  them 
with  arrows  blown  through  a  tube.  They  wear  very  little  clothinp,,  and 
have  all  the  habits  and  superstitions  of  the  most  savage  tribes.  Borneo 
is  rich  in  valuable  minerals,  and  it  is  the  only  island  of  the  eastern  archi- 
pelago where  diamonds  are  found.  The  climate  is  similar  to  that  of 
Ceylon,  and  those  parts  of  the  island  which  are  under  cultivation  are  de- 
cidedly fertile. 


CELEBES. 

This  is  a  large  island,  under  the  equator ;  the  length  and  breath  have 
not  been  accurately  computed  ;  but  the  circumference,  taken  at  a  medium, 
is  about  eight  hundred  miles.  The  principal  Dutch  settlement  is  Macas- 
sar, which  contains  Fort  Rotterdam,  the  residence  of  the  governor:  they 
have  also  a  fort  at  a  place  called  Jampandam. 

There  are  several  independent  tribes  or  nations  of  Celebes,  each  hav- 
ing their  peculiar  form  of  government.  Among  them  the  Tuwadju  tribe, 
inhabiting  the  body  of  the  island,  are  distinguished  as  an  enterprising  and 
ingenious  people.  Thefts,  robberies,  and  murder  are  common  witliail  the 
tribes.  The  island  was  taken  by  the  British  in  1814,  but  restored  to  Hol- 
land in  1816. 
25 


38fi  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

THE  MOLUCCAS,  OR  SPICE  ISLANDS. 

These  consist  of  Amboyna,  Ternate,  Fedor,  Motyr,  Cilolo,  and  several 
other  small  islands.  The  Portuguese  were  the  first  Europeans  who  pos- 
sessed them,  but  were  obliged  to  share  their  advantages  with  the  Spaniards, 
and  at  length  to  give  up  the  trade  almost  entirely  to  them.  These  two  na- 
tions  joined  to  oppose  the  Dutch  in  their  first  attempts  to  gain  a  settlement; 
but  the  Dutch,  assisted  by  the  natives  of  the  country,  by  degrees  gained 
the  superiority.  The  ancient  conquerors  were  driven  out  about  the  year 
1615,  and  their  place  supplied  by  others  equally  avaricious,  though  less 
turbulent. 

As  soon  as  the  Dutch  had  established  themselves  in  the  Moluccas,  they 
endeavoured  to  get  the  exclusive  trade  of  spices  into  their  own  hands  ;  an 
advantage  which  the  nations  they  had  just  expelled  were  never  able  to  pro- 
cure. They  skilfully  availed  themselves  of  the  forts  they  had  taken,  and 
those  they  had  erected,  to  draw  the  kings  of  Ternate  and  Tydor,  who 
were  masters  of  this  archipelago,  into  their  schemes.  These  princes,  for 
■A  small  sum  of  money,  (little  more  than  c£3000)  agreed  to  root  out  all 
the  clovu  and  nutmeg  trees  in  the  islands  under  their  dominions  ;  and  a 
garrison  of  seven  hundred  men  was  appointed  to  secure  the  performance 
•f  the  treaty. 

At  Amboyna  they  engrossed  the  whole  cultivation  of  cloves.  They 
allotted  to  the  inhabitants  four  thousand  parcels  of  land,  on  each  of  which 
they  were  compelled  to  plant  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  trees,  amount- 
ing, in  the  whole,  to  five  hundred  thousand  :  and  the  collective  produce 
averages  about  one  million  of  pounds.  Amboyna  is  about  thirty-two 
miles  long  and  ten  broad,  and  is  divided  into  two  parts,  a  greater  and  a 
lesser  peninsula  :  the  former  is  called  Hiton,  and  the  latter,  Letymor. 

The  massacre  of  the  English  at  Amboyna,  by  the  Dutch,  in  1621,  was 
attended  with  much  cruelty.  We  have  before  observed,  that  the  Dutch 
dispossessed  the  Portuguese  of  Amboyna  in  1615.  They  did  not,  how 
ever,  become  masters  of  the  island  at  once.  The  English  had  here  five 
factories,  and  lived  under  the  protection  of  the  Dutch  castle;  holding 
themselves  safe,  in  respect  of  the  friendship  existing  between  the  two 
nations.  But  great  differences  arose  between  the  English  and  Dutch 
colonists;  at  length  a  treaty  was  concluded,  in  1619,  by  which  the  con- 
cerns of  both  were  regulated,  and  certain  measures  agreed  upon  for  pre- 
venting future  disputes.  Some  short  time  after,  the  Dutch  pretended  that 
the  English  and  Amboynese  had  formed  a  conspiracy  to  dispossess  them 
of  one  of  their  forts.  The  plot,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  discovered  by  a 
Japanese  and  Portuguese  in  the  English  service,  who  were  most  inhu- 
manly tortured  into  such  confessions  as  their  cruel  inquisitors  thought 
proper.  Upon  this  evidence,  they  immediately  accused  the  English  fac- 
tors of  the  pretended  conspiracy.  Some  of  them  they  imprisoned  ;  and 
others  they  loaded  with  irons,  and  sent  on  board  their  ships ;  seizing  at 
the  same  time  all  the  English  merchandise,  with  their  writings  and  books. 
These  acts  of  violence  were  followed  by  a  scene  of  horror  unexampled  in 
the  punishment  of  offenders.  The  torments  to  which  they  put  the  inno- 
cent factors,  are  too  shocking  to  relate ;  and  those  who  did  not  die  under 
the  agonies  of  pain,  were  consigned  to  the  executioner.  The  whole  of 
the  transaction  affords  testimony  that  the  Hollanders  did  it  with  no 
other  view,  than  of  monopolizing  the  trade  of  the  Spice  Islands. 
They  acted  a  similar  tragedy  at  Poleron,  about  the  same  time,  where 
they  put  to  the  torture  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  of  the  natives,  whom 
they  likewise  charged  v/iih  a  pretended  conspiracy.  Until  the  French 
revolutionary  war,  then,  the  Dutch  enjoyed  in  peace  these  invaluable 
islands,  v^hea  Amboyna,  and  the  other  Moluccas,  submitted  to  the  English 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  387 


THE  BANDA,  OR  NUTMEG  ISLES. 

The  Banda  Isles  is  the  general  name  of  twelve  small  islands  in  the 
East  Indian  Archipelago.  Two  of  them  are  uncultivated,  and  almost 
uninhabited  ;  the  other  three  claim  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  islands 
in  the  world  that  prodcce  the  nutmeg.  If  we  except  this  valuable  spice, 
the  islands  of  Banda  are  barren  to  a  dreadful  degree.  The  land  will  not 
produce  any  kind  of  corn,  and  the  pith  of  the  sago  serves  the  natives  of 
ihe  country  instead  of  bread. 

This  is  the  only  settlement  in  the  East  Indian  isles,  that  can  he  con- 
sidered as  a  European  colony  :  because  it  is  the  only  one  where  the  Eu- 
ropeans are  proprietors  of  lands.  The  Dutch  company  finding  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Banda  were  savage,  cruel,  and  treacherous,  because  they 
were  impatient  under  their  yoke,  resolved  to  exterminate  them  :  and  their 
possessions  were  divided  among  the  people,  who  procured  slaves  from 
some  of  the  neighbouring  islands  to  cultivate  the  lands.  The  climate  of 
Banda  is  particularly  unhealthy  ;  on  which  account  the  company  attempted 
to  transfer  the  culture  of  the  nutmeg  to  Amboyna  :  but  all  the  experiments 
that  have  been  made  have  proved  unsuccessful.  The  Banda  Islands  were 
discovered  by  the  Portuguese  in  1512,  and  colonized  in  1524;  but  were 
taken  by  the  Dutch  in  1599.  The  English  possessed  themselves  of  them 
in  1810,  but  restored  them  to  the  Dutch  in  1814. 


THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS. 

The  Philippine  Islands  are  a  large  group  belonging  to  the  eastern  archi- 
pelago, the  principal  of  which  is  Luzon,  a  long,  irregular,  and  narrov/ 
island.  They  were  discovered  by  Magellan,  in  1521,  who  called  them  the 
archipelago  of  St.  Lazarus,  as  the  discovery  was  made  on  that  saint's 
day.  But  they  were  subjected,  or  rather  part  of  them,  to  the  Spaniards, 
by  Don  Louis  de  Velasco,  in  1564,  in  the  reign  of  Philip  IK,  and  derive 
their  present  name  from  him.  The  natives  are  supposed  to  be  of  Chinese 
extraction. 

Manilla,  the  capital  of  the  island  of  Luzon,  and  all  the  Philippines, 
is  situated  on  the  south-east  part  of  the  island,  where  a  large  river  falls 
into  the  sea,  and  forms  a  noble  bay,  thirty  leagues  in  compass.  On  the 
6th  of  October,  1762,  the  English  under  General  Draper  and  Admiral 
Cornish,  took  Manilla  by  storm,  after  a  siege  of  twelve  days;  but, to 
save  so  fine  a  city  from  destruction,  they  agreed  to  accept  a  ransom, 
amounting  to  a  million  of  pounds  sterling,  part  of  which,  it  is  said,  was 
never  paid. 


THE  HISTORY   OF  PALESTINE, 

AND,  MORE     PARTICULARLY     OF 

THE    JEWS. 

By  the  various  names  of  Hebrews,  Israelites,  or  Jews,  were  this  most 
illustrious  people  of  ancient  limes  known,  who  dwelt  in  the  land  thee 


388  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

called  Canaan.  Contrary  to  the  obscurity  in  which  the  origin  of  other 
nations  is  veiled,  we  have  the  evidence  of  Holy  Writ  for  the  rise,  progress, 
decline  and  fall  of  the  Jews.  They  deduced  their  descent  from  Arphax 
ad  the  son  of  Shem ;  and  we  have  it  on  record  that  Abraham,  the  sixth  in 
descent  from  lOber,  the  grandson  of  Arphaxad,  dwelt  in  Assyria,  but  re- 
moved into  Canaan  or  Palestine,  with  liis  family,  to  the  intent  that  the 
true  religion  of  Cod  should  be  preserved  by  them,  his  "chosen  people" 
amid  the  corruptions  of  the  idolaters  by  whom  they  were  surrounded. 

The  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking  was  about  two  thousand 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  At  that  time  the  inhabitants  of  Meso- 
potamia and  Syria  appear  to  have  been  partly  nomadic,  or  wandering, 
like  the  Tartars  or  Scythians  ;  for  we  find  that  Abraham  and  his  descend- 
ants sojourned  in  diflerent  parts  of  Canaan  and  I'^gypt,  until  the  time  of 
their  protracted  residence  in  the  latter  country.  Abraham  at  his  death 
transmitted  the  inheritance  of  the  "  promised  land"  to  his  son  Isaac  ;  and 
Isaac  was  succeeded  in  the  patriarchate  by  his  younger  son  Jacob,  also 
called  Israel.  .lacob  had  twelve  sons;  the  descendants  of  whom  remain- 
ing distinct,  constituted  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  Israelites  in  after-time. 
Joseph,  the  youngest  but  one  of  these  sons,  having  unconsciously  excited 
tlie  jealousy  of  the  rest,  was  sold  by  them  as  a  slave,  to  some  Arabian 
merchants,  and  carried  into  Egypt ;  there,  as  we  read,  he  became  known 
to  the  king,  and  was  made  his  chief  minister;  and  in  a  time  of  famine, 
for  which  his  foresight  had  provided,  l:e  was  the  happy  means  of  provid- 
ing his  aged  father  and  the  whole  of  his  family  an  asylum  in  the  fertile 
district  of  Goshen  (b,  c.  1702). 

The  pathetic  and  interesting  story  of  "  Joseph  and  his  brethren,"  as 
narrated  in  the  Bible,  requires  no  comment  in  this  place;  but,  we  may, 
perhaps,  be  allowed  slightly  to  digress,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  case  of 
Joseph's  memorable  rise  from  the  condition  of  a  slave  to  that  of  the  chief 
ruler  of  Pharaoh's  household.  European  notions  of  slavery  very  natural- 
ly picture  to  the  mind  all  that  is  horrible,  cruel,  and  revolting;  and  it 
would  seem  next  to  an  impossibility  that,  by  any  chance,  one  so  helpless 
and  degraded  as  a  slave  could  become  an  officer  of  trust,  or — more  won- 
derful still — the  chief  minister  and  adviser  of  a  monarch  of  a  mighty  king- 
dom. It  is,  however,  remarked  by  Marshal  Marmont,  who  some  years 
ago  travelled  through  Turkey,  &c.,  and  who  evidently  paid  great  atlen- 
Jion  to  the  condition  of  the  people,  i\nd  the  customs  of  the  countries  he 
visited,  that  slaves  in  the  East  are  far  from  being  in  the  condition  we 
might  suppose ;  and  it  is  therefore  net  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the 
kindness  with  which  they  are  treated  at  the  present  day  is  derived  from 
immemorial  custom.  He  observes,  "the  most  docile  slave  rejects  with 
indignation  any  order  that  is  not  personally  given  him  by  his  master; 
and  he  feels  himself  placed  immeasurably  above  the  level  of  a  free  or 
hired  servant.  He  is  a  child  of  the  house ;  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  a 
Turk  entertain  so  strong  a  predilection  for  a  slave  he  has  purchased,  as 
to  prefer  him  to  his  own  son.  He  often  overloads  him  with  favors,  gives 
him  his  confidence,  and  raises  his  position ;  and,  when  the  master  is 
powerful,  opens  to  his  slave  the  path  of  honour  and  public  employment." 

As  peaceful  dwellers  in  the  rich  and  fertile  valleys  of  Goshen,  the  Is- 
raelites in  process  of  time  became  sufficiently  numerous  to  excite  the  en 
vious  alarm  of  the  Egyptians;  and  they  accordingly  underwent  many 
persecutions,  until  the  Almighty  raised  up  Moses  as  their  deliverer.  The* 
miracles  he  was  empowered  to  work,  the  murmurings  and  backsiidings  of 
the  people,  their  idolatrous  propensities,  and  all  other  particulars  relative 
to  them  while  travelling  through  the  parched  and  arid  deserts  of  Arabia, 
form  interesting  portions  of  the  sacred  volume ;  we  shall  therefore  pass 
on  briefly  to  the  death  of  Moses,  and  the  delegation  of  power  to  Joshua, 
the  acknowledged  chief  of  the  Jewish  nation,  b.  c.  1451.     Joshua  was 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  359 

now  ninety-three  years  of  age,  and  had  under  his  command  six  hundred 
thousand  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  besides  the  aged  and  infirm  wo- 
men, children,  and  servants.  On  every  side  were  warlike  nations,  some 
of  them  represented  as  containing  men  of  gigantic  stature  and  immense 
personal  prowess ;  their  towns  were  well  fortified,  and  every  necessary 
preparation  had  been  made  to  repel  invasion.  The  veteran  leader  was, 
however,  undismayed  ;  and  relying  on  that  protecting  Power  who  had 
delivered  the  people  from  Egyptian  bondage,  and  brought  them  safely  to 
the  frontiers  of  Canaan,  he  went  on  "  conquering  and  to  conquer."  At 
length,  after  subduing  the  "  promised  land,"  and  establishing  its  tranquility 
he  divided  it  among  the  twelve  tribes  ;  charging  them,  at  the  same  time, 
to  give  a  tenth  part  of  their  goods  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  who  were  conse- 
crated solely  for  the  priesthood  :  and  hence  proceeds  the  origin  of  tithes. 
Having  ruled  Palestine  as  wisely  as  he  had  conquered  it  bravely,  and 
being  an  hundred  and  ten  years  old,  the  aged  warrior  resigned  his  breath. 

Joshua  was  no  sooner  dead  than  the  Jews  gave  themselves  up  to  anar- 
chy,by  which  means  they  shortly  fell  under  the  power  of  Cushan.  king  of 
Mesopotamia.  After  a  servitude  of  eight  years,  Othoneel  became  judge 
of  Israel  ;  at  whose  death,  Eglon,  king  of  Moab,  reduced  them  to  his 
obedience  ;  and  under  his  yoke  they  continued  eighteen  years.  Ehud  then 
ruled  as  judge  of  Israel,  in  whose  time  they  fell  under  the  government  of 
Jabin,  king  of  Canaan,  who  held  them  twenty-nine  years  ;  when  Deborah 
and  Barak,  jointly,  judged  Israel  for  thirty-three  years.  A  fourth  servi- 
tude, of  seven  years,  then  followed  under  the  Midianites.  Then  Gideon 
and  his  succes.sors,  to  Jair,  ruled  Israel  as  judges  tliirty-six  years  ;  when 
in  the  fifteenth  year  of  ;rair,  the  fifth  servitude  commenced,  under  the 
Philistines  and  the  Ammonites.  Jephtha  succeeded  as  judge,  and  was  fol- 
lowed in  his  office  by,  Tour  successors,  the  last  of  whom  was  Samson, 
(whose  superhuman  strength  was  exerted  with  such  terrible  effect  on  his 
enemies,  the  Philistinesj).  In  his  time,  however,  the  Israelites  fell  again 
under  theii  oppressor's  yoke,  and  were  ruled  by  them  forty  years.  Eli 
then  became  judge,  who  being  nearly  a  hundred  years  old,  his  two  sons, 
Hophni  and  Phineas,  who  acted  under  him,  took  advantage  of  his  weak- 
ness to  commit  the  most  profligate  abominations.  They  were,  notwith- 
standing, by  no  means  deficient  in  bravery  :  but  having  sustained  a  great 
defeat  by  the  Philistines,  in  which  they  lost  their  lives  and  the  sacred  ark, 
their  aged  parent  was  so  overcome  on  hearing  the  fatal  tidings,  that  he 
fell  backward  from  his  chair  and  instantly  expired.  Samuel,  at  that  time 
but  a  youth,  though  divinely  inspired,  was  then  chosen  judge  of  Israel ; 
and  during  the  latter  part  of  his  administration,  the  land  was  in  a  more 
peaceful  state  than  it  had  been  for  many  previous  years. 

When  Samuel  had  been  judge  of  Israel  about  twenty  years,  the  people, 
wishing  to  imitate  the  example  of  their  neighbours,  demanded  that  they 
should  have  a  king  to  rule  over  them.  Saitiuel  accordingly  selected  Saul 
for  that  high  office,  and  on  presenting  him  for  their  acceptance,  "  all  the 
people  shouted  and  said,  God  save  the  king!"  Although  many  of  the  Is- 
raelites were  afterwards  discontented  with  having  a  king  who  had  been 
their  companion  and  equal,  the  numerous  proofs  which  Saul  gave  of  his 
military  qualifications  checked  their  murmurs.  He  attacked  and  defeated 
the  forces  of  the  different  nations  who  harassed  the  frontiers  of  his  king- 
dom, and  took  signal  vengeance  of  their  old  and  implacable  enemies,  the 
Philistines.  As  a  warlike  monarch  h3  reigned  with  glory,  but  put  an  end 
*o  his  life. 

The  judges  of  Israel  are  to  be  considered  the  defenders  of  religion,  and 
the  protectors  of  the  laws;  they  decided  upon  war  and  peace,  and  were 
at  all  times  magistrates  and  warriors.  Saul  was  succeed£d  by  David,  a 
shepherd  of  tne  tribe  of  Judah,  under  whom  the  government  gained  con- 
siderable strength.     He  was  succeeded  by  Solomon,  his  son,  celebrated 


(90  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

for  his  wisdom  and  his  magnificence :  he  rendered  the  people  happy  by 
continual  peace,  and  the  encouragement  of  commerce  ;  he  had  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  wise  prince,  and  liis  writings  and  his  laws  were  received 
and  esteemed  in  the  most  distant  countries,  with  all  that  veneration  they 
deserved.  His  son,  Rehoboam.  an  insensible  despot,  ruled  ihe  Israelites 
with  an  iron  rod.  Ten  of  the  tribes  separated  themselves  from  the  gov- 
ernment, and  chose  Jeroboam  for  their  king.  Palestine  now  became 
two  kingdoms  ;  the  one  called  Judah,  and  the  other  Israel.  A  difference 
in  religion  was  soon  after  introduced;  that  called  the  Samaritan  or  Is- 
raelite, was  embraced  by  the  ten  tribes;  while  Judah  and  Benjamin  kept 
to  the  ancient  usage  of  their  forefathers. 

Under  Ilosea,  king  of  Israel,  the  ten  tribes  were  carried  away  captive 
to  Nineveh,  by  Salmanczer.  Nebuchadnezzar  very  soon  placed  the  peo- 
ple of  Judah  in  the  like  unhappy  situation  of  ihe  people  of  Israel.  After 
having  conquered  Jerusalem,  he  transported  them  to  Babylon,  the  capital 
of  his  empire.  This  captivity  lasted  seventy  years,  when  Cyrus  gave 
them  the  liberty  of  returning  to  their  country.  Great  numbers  accepted 
the  offer,  conducted  by  Zerubabel,  Nehemiah,  and  Esdras.  They  re-built 
Jerusalem  and  the  temple.  They  re-established  their  state,  and  lived 
under  their  own  laws,  paying  a  small  tribute  to  the  kings  of  Persia  ;  and 
suffered  idolatry  no  more  to  supplant  their  devotion  to  the  true  God. 
The  Jews  were  subject  to  the  kings  of  Persia  at  the  time  Alexander 
made  his  conquest  of  that  empire.  At  his  death,  his  vast  dominions 
were  divided  between  his  principal  captains,  and  the  king  of  Syria  had  a 
part  of  Judea  :  but  lying,  as  it  were,  upon  the  frontiers  of  both  Syria  and 
Egypt,  it  suffered  severely  from  alternate  invasions.  Jerusalem,  after 
the  Babylonian  captivity,  had  no  particular  governors  who  took  upon 
themselves  the  title  of  king;  the  high  priests  held  the  interior  administra- 
tion, and  were  respected  as  much  as  if  they  had  actually  been  in  posses- 
sion of  the  the  throne. 

Ptolemy  Soter  besieged  Jerusalem,  and  carried  away  one  hundred 
thousand  captives,  whom  he  dispersed  through  Egypt,  Libya,  and  the 
country  about  Cyrene,  where  their  posterity  for  n)any  centuries  after 
continued  to  exist.  During  this  period,  Sin)on  surnamed  the  Just,  was 
high-priest ;  a  man  not  less  remarkable  for  his  merits  as  a  governor,  than 
for  his  eminent  piety.  Under  his  direction  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  completed,  and  thenceforward  transmitted  to  future  generations 
without  further  revisal :  e.  c.  202.  It  was  about  this  time  that  the  sect 
of  the  Sadducees  arose,  who  denied  the  existence  of  a  future  state  They 
were,  however,  inferior  in  numbers  and  popularity  to  the  Pharisees,  who 
entertained  a  decided  belief  in  the  resurrection,  and  in  the  doctrine  of  fu- 
ture rewards  and  punishments.  Under  the  patronage  of  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphus,  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  were  translated  into  Greek,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  Jews  residing  in  Egypt.  This  version  is  usually  called  the 
Septuagint,  because,  according  to  tradition,  the  translation  was  entrusted 
to  seventy  persons. 

The  situation  of  the  Jews  under  the  Syrians  was  various.  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  wishing  to  alter  their  religious  opinions,  took  the  power  of  the 
disposal  of  the  high-priesthood  into  his  own  hands,  which  he  alternately 
disposed  of,  and  dispossessed,  according  to  his  caprice.  He  pillaged  the 
temple,  and  put  Eleazer  to  death  ;  and  also  the  seven  brothers,  Maccabees, 
with  their  mother.  He  also  caused  to  be  put  the  sword,  on  the  sabbath- 
day,  all  those  that  had  assembled  together  for  the  purpose  of  devotion. 
This  cruel  and  unjust  persecution  caused  the  Jews  to  rebel:  they  were 
headed  by  Mattathias  ;  and,  after  his  death,  by  his  son,  the  celebrated  Ju- 
das Maccabeus,  the  defender  of  the  religion,  and  the  saviour  of  his  coun- 
try. That  hero  being  killed  in  battle,  was  succeeaed  by  Jonathan,  who 
united  in  himself  the  spiritual  and  temporal  powers.     His  brother  Simou 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  391 

succeeded,  and  was  equally  celebrated  for  his  wisdom  as  his  virtues,  and 
was  the  first  of  his  nation  who  had  governed  Judea  peaceably  and  abso 
lately,  since  tlie  return  from  Babylon.     He  was  killed  at  a  banquet,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John  Hyrcanus,  who  was  succeeded  by  Judas, 
surnamed  Aristobulus,  assuming  to  himself  the  title  of  king. 

Alexander  Jannsus  was  the  next  king,  a  hero  very  little  inferior  to  Da- 
vid. He  left  two  sons.  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus.  The  former  held  the 
sceptre  during  the  life  of  Alexandra,  his  mother;  but  soon  after  the  death 
of  that  princess,  Aristobulus  declared  war  against  his  brother,  and  deprived 
him  of  his  kingdom. 

Judea  having  become  a  Roman  province,  Pompey  the  Great,  its  con- 
queror, re-established  Hyrcanus*  in  the  government,  and  took  with  him 
Aristobulus  to  Rome,  to  heighten  the  glory  of  his  triumph.  Phraales, 
king  of  Parthia,  deposed  Hyrcanus,  and  put  in  his  place  Antigonus,  son 
of  Aristobulus.  Soon  after  Herod,  surnamed  the  Great,  an  Idumean  by 
birth,  and  patronised  by  Anthony,  obtained  permission  from  the  Romans 
to  assume  the  title  of  king  of  the  Jews.  This  prince,  although  a  tyrant 
to  his  subjects  and  to  his  family,  added  lustre  to  the  Jewish  nation;  he 
repaired  Jerusalem,  rebuilt  the  temple,  and  procured  to  himself  success- 
ively the  favour  of  Cassius,  Caesar,  Antony,  and  Octavius ;  augmenting 
his  power  by  the  art  which  he  possessed  of  pleasing  those  of  whom  he 
held  his  crown.     In  this  reign  Jesus  Christ  was  born. 

After  the  death  of  Herod,  Augustus  divided  the  government  of  Judea  be- 
tween the  sons  of  Herod  :  he  bestowed  one  half  upon  Archelaus,  and  the 
other  half  upon  Herod-Antipas  and  Philip.  Nine  years  afterwards,  Au- 
gustus, being  dissatisfied  with  their  conduct,  sent  them  into  exile,  and 
placed  the  government  of  Judea  under  the  pro-consul  of  Syria. 

The  governors  appointed  by  the  Romans  over  the  Jews  were  for  the 
most  part  tyrants,  which  served  to  strengthen  in  them  the  propensity  for 
revolt.  They  had  been  taught  that  a  descendant  of  the  house  of  David 
should  deliver  them  from  oppression;  they  believed  that  the  time  was 
nearly  arrived,  and  their  insolence  increased  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  pre- 
diction, in  their  opinion,  drew  near.  They  were  almost  in  continual  se- 
dition ;  and  although  severely  punished  for  their  turbulence,  their  ardour 
in  a  cause  wherein  they  supposed  their  own  liberties,  and  those  of  their 
posterity  depended,  was  not  in  the  least  diminished. 

In  the  year  66  after  Christ,  the  standard  of  revolt  was  set  up.  Jerusa- 
lem was  besieged  by  Cestius,  whom  the  Jews  compelled  to  retire.  Nero, 
who  was  then  in  Achaia,  no  sooner  heard  of  that  event,  than  he  sent  Ves- 
pasian into  Palestine,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  that  conquest  which 
Cestius  had  been  found  unequal  to  obtain.  Vespasian,  who  had  already 
distinguished  himself  in  Germany  and  Britain,  entered  this  devoted  coun- 
try with  a  well-disciplined  army;  and  as  he  encountered  everywhere  a 
fierce  resistance,  he  put  to  the  sword  men,  women,  and  children.  All  the 
cities  and  towns  that  lay  in  the  way  of  his  march,  were  taken  and  plun- 
dered. Those  persons  who  escaped  the  cruelty  of  the  conqueror,  fled  to 
Jerusalem,  then  in  the  hands  of  two  furious  parties,  each  of  whom  perse- 
cuted their  opponents  with  unfeeling  cruelty.  Civil  war  and  assassina- 
tion became  the  consequence  of  their  unbridled  rage,  and  the  priests  them- 
selves were  not  exempt  from  the  popular  fury. 

The  siege  of  Jerusalem  was  suspended  by  the  death  of  Nero.  Three 
emperors  mounted  the  throne;  Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitellius;  all  of  whom 
died  violent  deaths.  At  length  Vespasian  was  elected  to  the  purple.  He 
immediately  sent  his  son,  Tiius,  to  Jerusalem,  to  finish  the  war  which  he 
had  so  successfully  begun.  Titus  having  arrived  before  Jerusalem  pre- 
vious to  the  feast  of  Easter,  took  his  station  on  the  mount  of  Olives,  and, 
investing  the  city,  he  surrounded  it  with  a  wall,  flanked  with  thirty  tow- 
ers.   The  magazines  had  been  destroyed  by  fire,  and  a  most  cruel  fan  hw. 


592  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

raged  witliiii  iho  city;  but,  notwithstanding  tlioir  terrible  situation,  the  be- 
sieged refused  tlie  advantageous  conditions  ofTered  to  thenj  by  the  Roman 
general.  At  length  lie  became  master  of  the  city,  which  was  nearly  re- 
dueed  to  ashes,  and  also  of  the  temple.  A  scene  of  butchery  tlien  com- 
menced, and  was  continued  for  several  days,  until  Jerusalem  was  left  al- 
together desolate. 

According  to  Josephus,  eleven  hundred  thousand  persons  perished  dur 
ing  the  siege,  and  at  the  capture ;  and  those  that  were  taken  prisoners 
were  made  slaves.  The  misfortunes  of  Jerusalem  were  not  confined  to 
the  Jews  of  that  city,  but  extended  to  the  whole  of  that  people  under  the 
Roman  power;  some  were  thrown  to  ferocious  beasts  at  the  public  games, 
and  others  sold  into  bondage.  Tlie  sulferings,  indeed,  of  the  devoted  in- 
habitants, fraught  as  some  of  the  scenes  are  with  thrilling  interest,  are 
such  as  humanity  shudders  to  contemplate,  and  over  which  pity  is  glad 
to  throw  a  veil. 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  JEWS  SINCE  THE  DESTRUCTION  Ot 
JERUSALEM. 

The  Jews,  obliged  to  quit  their  country,  irritated  and  provoked  by  the 
cruel  treatment  they  had  received,  meditated  to  avenge  themselves  of  their 
enemies.  They  began  to  put  their  murderous  designs  into  execution  at 
the  city  of  Cyrene,  in  Lybia,  and  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  where,  since 
their  flight,  they  had  increased  considerably.  They  were  headed  by  an 
enterprising  but  artful  man,  named  Andrew,  under  whom  they  not  only 
committed  the  greatest  excesses,  but  also  gained  some  advantages  over 
the  Egyptians,  and  even  over  the  Romans.  The  emperor  Trajan  found 
himself  obliged  to  march  an  army  against  them ;  but  they  were  not  re- 
duced until  after  several  engagements,  maintained  with  the  greatest  ob- 
stinacy ;  they  were  at  length  overcome,  and  were  treated  by  the  Romans 
rather  as  enemies  of  the  human  race,  than  as  rebels  against  the  power  of 
Rome.  Lybia  became  so  far  depopulated  in  this  conflict,  that  the  Ro 
mans  deemed  it  necessary  to  send  a  colony  to  repeople  the  waste. 

The  Jews,  notwithstanding  their  recent  misfortunes  in  Palestine,  again 
revolted.  Adrian,  the  successor  of  Trajan,  sent  Julius  Severus  against 
them.  This  general  (according  to  Dion),  killed  five  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  in  different  battles  ;  and,  he  further  asserts,  they  could  not  reckon 
those  that  perished  by  famine,  or  otherwise ;  so  that  very  few  Jews  es- 
caped in  this  war.  They  razed  (continues  Dion),  fifty  fortified  castles, 
pillaged  and  burnt  nine  hundred  and  ninety-five  cities  and  towns,  and  made 
such  a  general  massacre  of  the  inhabitants  through  the  country,  that  all 
Judea  was  in  a  manner  converted  into  a  desert.  Before  this  massacre, 
the  number  of  Jews,  according  to  calculations  made  under  Nero,  and  es- 
timating those  destroyed  under  Titus,  amounted  to  two  million  five  hund- 
red and  forty-six  thousand  persons.  Adrian,  after  having  ruined  and  mas- 
sacred the  greatest  part  of  the  remaining  number,  prohibited,  by  a  solemn 
edict,  confirmed  in  the  senate,  any  of  those  that  had  escaped  the  sword, 
from  returning  into  their  own  country  :  and  from  that  time  this  unfortu- 
nate people  have  been  entirely  dispersed. 

Notwithstanding  the  prodigious  numbers  which  perished  in  the  succes 
sive  overthrows  of  the  Jewish  nation,  it  is  clear  that  very  considerable 
colonies  of  them  settled  in  different  countries,  as  the  travels  of  the  apos- 
tles alone  amply  testify.  In  Rome,  Alexandria,  and  many  other  places, 
there  were  flourishing  communities.  Some  devoted  themselves  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  others  pursued  handicraft  trades, 
mar  y  practised  as  physicians,  but  most  of  them  turned  their  attention  to 
C(..i.mercial  speculations,  and  soon  became  notorious  for  their  wealth  and 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  393 

overreaching  cupidity.  In  the  fifth  century  they  were  banished  from  Al- 
e.xandria,  where  they  had  been  estabhshed  from  the  time  of  Alexander. 
They  rendered  themselves  the  ridicule  of  all  nations  by  their  enthusiasm 
in  favour  of  a  false  3Iessiah,  who  appeared  at  the  time  in  Candia.  This 
impostor,  who  was  named  Moses,  and  pretended  to  be  the  ancient  legis-- 
lator  of  the  Jews,  asserted  that  he  had  descended  from  Heaven,  in  order 
to  enable  the  children  of  Abraham  to  enter  the  Land  of  Promise. 

A  new  revolt  in  Palestine,  in  the  sixth  century,  served  to  show  the  tur- 
bulent disposition  of  the  Jewish  race,  and  the  increase  of  the  massacres  of 
that  people.  Phocias  drove  them  from  Antioch,  and  Heraclius  from  Je- 
rusalem. While  some  of  the  scattered  families  resorted  to  Egypt,  Babylon, 
and  other  polished  countries  in  the  East,  there  were  others  who  settled  in 
Arabia,  penetrated  to  China,  or  wandered  over  the  European  continent. 
But  many  still  remained  in  Palestine.  After  the  conversion  of  the  Roman 
empire  to  Christianity,  Judea  became  an  object  of  religious  veneration, 
and  the  empress  Helena  repaired  thither  in  pilgrimage,  and  built  various 
splendid  temples.  A  crowd  of  pilgrims  resorted  thither  subsequently  from 
every  part  of  the  world  ;  the  most  numerous  arriving  from  the  west,  over 
which  the  church  of  Rome  had  fully  established  its  domination.  In  the 
commencement  of  the  sixth  century,  however,  an  entire  change  took  place. 
Judea  was  among  the  countries  first  exposed  to  the  fanatical  followers  of 
Mahomet,  and  soon  fell  under  their  sway.  But  when  the  Turks  poured 
in  from  the  north,  they  no  longer  observed  the  same  courtesy.  They  pro- 
faned the  holy  places,  and  the  intelligence  of  their  outrages  being  con- 
veyed to  Europe,  roused  the  religious  spirit  of  the  age  into  those  expedi- 
tions called  the  crusades.  All  Europe  seemed  to  pour  itself  upon  Asia; 
the  Saracen  armies  were  routed,  Jerusalem  taken  by  storm,  and  its  gar- 
rison put  to  the  sword.  The  leader  of  the  first  crusade,  Godfrey  of  Bouil- 
lon, was  made  king;  and  a  petty  Christian  sovereignty  established,  which 
endured  for  above  eighty  years ;  the  Holy  Land  continually  streaming 
with  the  blood  of  Christian  and  Saracen.  The  Mahometan  states,  whose 
resources  were  all  at  hand,  gradually,  however,  regained  the  ascendancy. 
In  1187  Judea  was  conquered  by  Saladin  ;  on  the  decline  of  whose  king- 
dom it  passed  through  various  hands,  till,  in  the  16th  century,  it  was 
eventually  swallowed  up  in  the  Turkish  empire. 

Great  calamities  to  the  Jews  occurred  during  the  crusades.  Wherever 
the  fanatical  soldiers  who  were  on  their  way  to  Palestine  passed,  they 
pillaged  and  murdered  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  the  once  happy  land  of 
Canaan,  and  the  people  of  the  nations  among  whom  they  dwelt  robbed 
them  of  their  valuables  without  remorse.  The  persecution  was  general, 
their  furious  enemies  endeavouring,  as  it  were,  to  extirpate  the  very  name 
of  Israel.  It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  both  Mahometans  and 
Jews  being  animated  by  a  like  hatred  of  the  Christians,  we  often  find 
them  acting  in  concert,  especially  during  the  Saracenic  conquest  of  Africa 
and  Spain.  Nay,  under  the  rule  of  the  Spanish  Moslems,  the  Jews  not 
only  enjoyed  toleration,  but  they  cultivated  science,  and  were  entrusted 
with  the  high  offices  of  state. 

In  the  twelfth  century,  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  banished 
them  twice  from  his  kingdom ;  and  during  the  reign  of  Philip  le  Bel, 
they  were  accused,  and  not  without  justice,  of  cruel  exactions  and  usu- 
rious extortions.  They  were  also  accused  with  having  committed  outra- 
ges against  the  host,  of  having  crucified  children  on  Good  Friday,  of  hav- 
ing insulted  the  image  of  Jesus  Christ,  &c.  They  were  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  judges  ;  and,  although  no  proof  whatever  was  brought  for- 
ward to  substantiate  their  guilt,  they  were  delivered  over  to  the  populace 
to  be  dealt  with  according  to  their  pleasure.  Philip  banished  them  en- 
tirely from  France  in  1308.  and  confiscated  all  their  efl'ects.  Louis  X., 
his  successor,  permitted  them  to  re-estabUsh  themselves  in  his  kingdom, 


394  THE  TEEASUIIY  OF  HISTORY 

on  condition  of  their  paying  him  a  large  sum  of  money.  In  the  reign  o*" 
Philip  the  Long,  brother  and  successor  of  Louis,  lliey  were  massacred 
and  pillaged.  In  1395,  Charles  V.  banislied  iheni  and  confiscated  all  their 
property.  This  was  their  fourth  and  last  banisiiment.  In  1393  they 
•  experienced  in  Germany  a  treatment  similar  to  that  which  they  had  re- 
ceived in  France.  In  Castile  they  purchased  their  peace  at  a  high  price  ; 
but  in  (Jalalonia,  Arragon,  and  the  oilier  parts  of  Spain,  they  were  most 
horribly  persecuted,  and  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  of  tliem  were 
compelled  to  embrace  the  Christian  religion,  or  at  least  appear  so  to  do. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Jews  established  in  Por- 
tugal iniderwent  all  the  mischief  with  which  Moses  menaced  their  nation 
In  150G,  during  three  days  successively,  they  were  barbarously  massa- 
cred at  Lisbon  :  yet  as  if  not  content  with  taking  away  their  lives,  they 
took  those  among  them  whom  they  had  mutilated  or  mortally  wounded 
and  burnt  them  by  heaps  in  the  public  squares.  Two  thousand  perislied 
in  this  manner.  The  fathers  not  daring  to  weep  for  their  children  nor  the 
children  for  tiieir  fathers,  they  were  mutually  overcome  by  despair  on 
seeing  each  other  dragged  away  to  torment.  In  the  eighth  century  we 
find  them  the  property  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  who  seem  to  have  exer- 
cised absolute  power  over  both  their  lives  and  goods.  In  this  abject  state 
they  remained  under  the  Norman  princes  and  the  early  Plantaganets,  who 
harassed  them  by  the  most  cruel  exactions,  and  often  treated  them  with 
great  barbarity.  In  proof  of  this,  we  need  only  refer  to  the  reigns  of 
Richard  I.,  John,  Henry  IIL,  and  I^dward  I.  If  we  pursue  their  history 
in  other  European  countries,  we  shall  find  that  if  we  except  the  Italian 
republics,  and  Spain  while  under  the  dominion  of  its  Arab  conquerors, 
the  Jews  everywhere  found  themselves  the  objects  of  persecution.  On 
the  introduction  of  the  Inquisition  into  Spain  and  Portugual,  that  dread 
tribunal  condemned  thousands  to  the  flames,  before  it  commenced  its  di- 
abolical proceedings  against  those  Christians  who  differed  from  the  see 
of  Rome  :  and  it  was  not  until  the  Protestant  states  were  strong  enough 
to  break  asunder  the  shackles  of  religious  intolerance,  that  the  Jew  had 
any  cliance  of  ensuring  his  personal  safety. 

We  thus  see  that  in  different  ages  the  Jews  have  suffered  the  most 
dreadful  persecutions  and  massacres :  but  though  the  annihilation  of  the 
race  seemed  inevitable,  their  numbers  were  still  very  considerable;  and 
they  exercised  then,  as  they  do  at  the  present  time,  no  little  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  civilized  nations.  Since  arts  and  learning  have  revived  in 
Europe,  they  have  felt  the  benefit  of  that  humane  enlightenment,  which 
has  extended  all  over  the  globe.  France,  Holland,  Austria,  and  most  of  the 
German  slates,  allow  them  the  rights  of  citizenship;  England  and  Prussia 
tolerate  and  protect  them  ;  in  many  of  the  British  colonies  they  are  among 
the  principal  merchants  and  traders;  and  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal, 
hey  are  at  least  suffered  to  reside  unmolested.  The  attention  of  the 
British  nation  has  of  late  years  been  particularly  directed  towards  the  im- 
provement of  their  political  condition  and  their  conversion  to  Christianity 
But  upon  the  latter  topic,  as  well  as  the  probable  restoration  of  the  Jews 
to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  it  is  not  necessary  to  offer  an  opinion  ;  both 
are  concealed  from  mortal  ken  by  the  impenetrable  veil  which  enwraps 
futurity. 


ARMENIA. 

The  ancient  history  of  this  large  and  warlike  people  is  connected  witn 
that  of  the  several  mighty  nations  who  in  turn  filled  the  world  with  the 
terror  of  their  names.  Its  first  king  appears  to  have  been  Seython,  the 
next  Barzanes,  after  whose  death  the  kingdom  was  divided  into  several 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  395 

petty  kingdoms.  The  Medes  under  Astyages  subsequently  subdued  Arme- 
nia, which  was  reduced  to  a  province  under  Persian  governors.  It  was 
afterwards  divided  into  Major  and  Minor  by  Artarias  and  Zadriades,  who 
having  united  their  forces,  established  each  himself  in  his  respective  prov- 
ince, indepenaent  of  his  master  ;  the  former  possessing  Armenia  Major, 
the  other  Minor.  They  were  contemporary  with  Hannibal,  who  planned 
for  Artarias  the  celebrated  town  of  Artarata.  Assisted  by  the  Roman 
alliance,  these  usurpers  maintained  their  power  in  spite  of  the  several 
attacks  of  their  former  master,  Antiochus.  After  their  death,  the  Arme- 
nians suffered  considerable  loss  in  a  war  with  the  Parthians.  Marc  An- 
tony put  Artavardes,  the  sovereign  of  Armenia,  to  death,  to  make  room 
for  Alexander,  his  own  son  by  Cleopatra;  others  say  that  he  led  him 
captive  to  Rome  in  golden  chains.  Trajan  reduced  Armenia  to  a  Roman 
province ;  but  in  the  reign  of  Constantine  the  Great,  and  his  successor, 
it  had  its  Oun  kings,  dependent  on  the  emperor.  Although  St.  Barthol- 
omew is  said  to  have  introduced  Christianity  into  Armenia,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  it  was  Christian  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century. 
The  Saracens  subdued  it  in  a.  d.  687,  who  gave  way  to  the  Turks  about 
a  century  afterwards.     It  was  then  called  Turcomania. 

Armenia  partially  recovered  its  independence,  but  was  again  subdued 
by  Occadan  or  Ileccate,  son  of  Genghis,  first  khan  of  the  Tartars.  A 
remnant  of  the  royal  family  of  Armenia  still  remained  ;  and  we  find  one 
of  them,  Leo,  came  to  England  to  solicit  the  aid  of  Richard  II.  against 
the  Turks,  by  whom  he  had  been  expelled  from  his  throne.  Armenia 
was  again  made  a  province  of  the  Persian  empire  in  1572.  Selim  II.  re- 
duced it  to  a  Turkish  province,  in  1522 ;  the  greater  part  of  which  still 
remains  subject  to  the  Crescent. 


ALBANIA. 

Albania  was  nominally  a  province  of  the  Turkish  empire.  Its  history 
is  diversified,  and  mixed  up  with  the  various  fortunes  of  the  surroimding 
nations.  Looked  upon  as  barbarous  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  because 
very  slightly  explored  by  them,  Albania,  better  known  to  those  celebra- 
ted people  as  Illyricum,  and  Epirus,  still  retains  the  simplicity  of  prim- 
itive habits,  so  that  it  is  emphatically  called  the  Scythia  of  the  Turkish 
empire.  The  ancient  historians  describe  the  inhabitants  of  this  country 
as  peculiarly  fierce  and  intractable.  The  remoteness  of  its  situation,  and 
want  of  union  among  the  several  tribes  which  inhabited  the  country  of 
Albania,  rendered  the  v;ilour  of  iis  people  of  little  consequence  to  the 
general  affairs  of  Greece,  and  accordingly  we  find  them  but  slightly 
mixed  up  with  Grecian  politics.  Under  the  conduct  of  Pyrrhus  II.,  one  of 
the  most  consummate  generals  of  antiquity,  who  waged  a  bloody  war 
with  the  Romans  in  Italy,  the  Albanians,  or  Epirotes,  routed  Antigonus, 
king  of  Macedonia,  and  held  that  country  in  subjection ;  but  their  con- 
quest ended  with  the  death  of  their  commander,  and  they  in  turn  fell 
under  the  power  of  the  Macedonians. 

The  Romans  made  some  settlements  in  their  country,  and  availed 
themselves  of  the  many  fine  harbours  to  be  found  along  its  coast.  At 
their  decline,  along  with  other  portions  of  that  once  mighty  empire,  Al- 
bania fell  a  prey  to  Alaric  and  the  Goths,  although  some  of  their  descend- 
ants afterwards  regained  possession  of  the  northern  distri(;t.  Sigismund, 
one  of  its  kings,  was  celebrated  for  his  alliance  with  Theodoric,  the 
victor  of  Clovis  and  Odoacer,  a.  d.  526.  Albania  now  became  the  prey 
of  the  Sclavonian  nations,  till  it  was  settled  within  its  present  limits, 
under  the  Bulgarians,  in  870.     As  the  Greek  empire  declined,  the  Alba- 


396  THE  TREASUaY  OF  HISTORY. 

nians  again  rose  to  distinction,  and  at  last  re-established  their  nidepend- 
ence,  in  spite  of  the  most  strenuous  exertions  of  the  Bulgarians,  who 
were  masters  of  all  the  neighbouring  districts  of  Greece.  Forming  a 
fourth  division  of  tiie  army  of  Nicephorus  Basilices,  a.  d.  1079,  they 
greatly  distinguished  themselves.  During  the  next  century,  the  period 
of  the  crusades,  there  were  several  settlements  on  their  coasts  by  the 
Sicilians,  Franks,  and  other  nations.  After  the  conquest  of  Constantino- 
ple, 1204,  Micliael  Angelus  established  an  independent  government  in  this 
district.  Albania  has  cut  some  figure  in  the  annals  of  the  last  forty  years, 
chiefly  through  the  enterprising  spirit  and  politic  conduct  of  Ali  Pacha, 
who  raised  himself  to  a  degree  of  power  which  long  kept  the  Turks,  who 
were  nominally  his  masters,  in  a  state  of  fear  to  attack  him.  After  amass- 
ing immense  treasures,  and  keeping  up  independent  alliances  with  the 
European  powers,  he  was,  in  1822,  finally  cut  off  by  the  Turkish  officers, 
"^he  modern  name  of  Albania  is  Arnaout. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT. 

(WITH  SYRIA.) 

The  early  history  of  Egypt,  like  that  of  China,  is  so  involved  in  obscu- 
rity and  faljle,  that  for  many  ages  it  must  be  passed  over  in  silence ;  for 
it  would  be  an  insult  to  common  sense,  in  a  work  professedly  historical, 
to  narrate  the  marvellous  actions  ascribed  to  Osiris,  Isis,  Typhon,  Apollo, 
and  a  host  of  ideal  personages  who,  as  we  are  told,  over  Egypt  "once 
held  sway."  After  those  purely  fabulous  ages,  the  first  king  who 
makes  his  appearance,  in  the  times  called  heroic,  but  without  any  certain 
date,  is  Menes,  who  is  by  some  considered  the  same  with  Misraim,  the 
son  of  Ham.  He  drained  the  lower  part  of  Egypt,  converting  that  which 
was  before  a  morass,  into  firm  ground;  turned  the  course  of  the  Nile,  so 
as  to  render  it  more  beneficial  to  the  country,  that  river  having  before  his 
time  washed  the  foot  of  a  sandy  mountain  in  Lybia ;  built  the  city  of  Mem- 
phis ;  instituted  solemn  festivals  and  oiher  religious  rites  ;  instructed  his 
subjects  in  many  valuable  arts,  and  accomplished  a  variety  of  wonders 
usually  attributed  to  the  founders  of  kingdoms. 

It  being  impossible  to  follow  the  succession  of  princes,  it  must  suffice 
to  state,  that  after  the  death  of  Menes,  Egypt  was  divided  into  several 
dynasties,  or  principalities ;  but  its  most  natural  and  permanent  division 
appears  to  have  been  into  three  portions,  sometimes  underone,  and  some- 
times under  different  kings.  The  most  southerly  portion  was  called  Up- 
per Egypt,  or  Thebais,  the  capital  of  which  was  Thebes,  still  remarkable 
for  the  extent  and  magnificence  of  its  remains.  The  central  part,  or 
Middle  Egypt,  had  Memphis  for  its  capital,  situated  opposite  to  the  mod- 
ern capital  Cairo.  Lower  Egypt  was  the  country  along  the  branches  of 
the  Nile,  as  it  approached  the  sea;  many  large  cities  were  built  in  this 
tract,  one  of  the  chief  of  which  was  Heliopolis. 

We  learn  that  some  ages  afterwards  (b.  c.  2084),  Egypt  was  invaded  by 
the  Hycsos,  a  pastoral  tribe  from,  the  north,  who  penetrated  to  Nubia,  and 
estabhshed  themselves  in  that  country,  and  in  Kgypt.  as  the  sovereign 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  397 

power.     These  are  known  as  "  the  shepherd  kings,"  and  they  were  even 
tually  expelled  by  Amosis,  king  of  Lower  Egypt,  b.  c.  1825. 

Vaiious  princes  succeeded,  who  all  bore  the  title  of  Pharaoh.  The 
Israelites  settled  in  Kgypt,  and  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery,  from 
which  they  were  delivered  by  Divine  interference  ;  and,  as  we  are  further 
informed  in  Holy  Writ,  one  of  the  Pharaohs,  with  all  his  host,  was 
drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.  The  most  distinguished  prince  of  this  race  was 
Sesostris,  who  marched  victoriously  through  both  Africa  and  Asia,  as  far 
as  to  the  countries  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  enriched  Egypt  with  the  booty 
he  acquired.  After  his  return,  he  divided  the  country  into  thirty-six  dis- 
tricts or  governments. 

In  725  B.  c,  Sabachus,  king  of  Ethiopia,  conquered  Egypt  and  left  the 
throne  to  his  natural  successors  ;  but  after  the  reign  of  Tharaca,  his  grand- 
son, a  period  of  anarchy  followed,  and  Egypt  was  divided  among  twelve 
kings;  one  of  these,  Psammetichus,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Greeks, 
subdued  his  competitors,  and  became  sole  monarch,  b.  c  670.  After  his 
death,  the  Egyptain  kings  continued  in  frequent  hostilities  with  the  neigh- 
bouring nations  of  Judea  and  Assyria,  attended  with  various  success,  and 
were  at  last  reduced  to  Persian  subjection  by  Cambyses,  the  son  of  Cy- 
rus, B.  c.  525.  The  Persians  remained  masters  of  Egypt  until  the  year 
327  B.  c,  when  it  was  conquered  by  Alexander  the  Great,  who  was  re- 
ceived with  joy  by  the  Egyptians ;  the  Persians  having  made  themselves 
odious  to  the  people  by  their  exactions,  and  by  their  contempt  of  the 
Egyptian  religion.  Alexander,  as  great  in  the  cabinet  as  in  the  field,  per- 
mitted the  conquered  to  enjoy  their  own  laws  and  customs.  He  founded 
Alexandria,  which  soon  became  the  deposit  of  the  commerce  of  tho  East ; 
and  it  ceased  not  to  flourish  until  the  discovery  of  a  passage  to  Ii;dia  by 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  After  the  death  of  the  Macedonian  hero,  Piolemy 
Soter,  one  of  his  generals,  took  upon  himself  the  government  of  Egypt, 
and  his  descendants  enjoyed  it  till  the  year  30  of  the  Christian  era,  wlien 
it  was  conquered  by  the  Romans ;  and  it  became  a  province  of  that  em- 
pire after  the  defeat  of  Marc  Antony,  and  the  death  of  Cleopatra. 

The  Ptolemies  governed  Egypt  for  293  years.  The  first  four  o!  the 
family  were  active  and  wise  princes,  who  promoted  the  prosperity  of  their 
country,  and  encouraged  literature  and  the  arts.  Ptolemy  Soter,  the  son 
and  successor  of  Ptolemy  Lagus,  established  an  academy  of  learned  men 
at  Alexandria,  and  founded  the  celebrated  library  at  that  city,  which, 
at  the  Roman  conquest,  contained  seven  hundred  thousand  volumes. 
It  was  partly  destroyed  by  fire  in  Julius  Caesar's  attack  on  Alexandria; 
but  the  losses  were  replaced  in  succeeding  centuries,  until  the  7th  after 
Christ,  when  it  was  totally  destroyed  by  order  of  the  Mohammedan  caliph 
Omar.  For  nearly  seven  centuries  Egypt  belonged  to  the  Roman  and 
Greek  empires,  and  was  for  a  lengthened  period  the  granary,  as  it  were, 
of  Rome.  It  then  remained  under  the  power  of  the  Mohammedan  caliphs 
till  the  beginning  of  the  12th  century,  when  they  were  expelled  by  the 
Turcomans,  who  in  their  turn  gave  way  to  the  Mamelukes,  1250. 

The  ancient  kings  of  Egypt  were  always  considered  subject  to  the  laws 
of  the  empire,  and  their  manners  were,  in  some  particulars,  regulated  by 
set  rules ;  among  which,  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  provisions  for 
their  tables  were  allotted.  If  a  king,  during  his  reign,  governed  arbitra- 
rily, or  unjustly,  his  memory  was  condemned  after  his  death.  No  people 
were  ever  more  idolatrous  or  superstitious  than  the  Egyptians.  Men,  an- 
imals, and  even  plants  were  the  objects  of  their  worship ;  but  the  deities 
Isis  and  Osiris  were  in  the  greatest  repute,  and  adored  generally  through- 
out the  country.  They  also  especially  worshiped  Apis,  a  bull,  dedicated 
to  Osiris,  at  Memphis;  and  Mnevis,  a  similar  bull  at  Heliopolis.  But 
every  city  had  its  sacred  animal ;  a  stork,  a  cat,  a  monkey,  a  crocodile, 
or  a  goat ;   any  irreverence  to  which  was  severely  punished,  and  an  in- 


398  THE  TREASURY  OF  IIISTORY. 

jury  held  deserving  of  death.  The  tribunal  of  Egypt  was  composed  of 
thirty  judges,  chosen  from  among  the  priests  of  Heliopolis,  of  Mempiiis. 
and  of  Tiiebes;  who  administered  justice  to  the  people  gratuitously,  the 
prince  allowing  tliem  a  tsufficent  revenue  to  enable  them  so  to  do. 

The  ICgyptians  had  two  kinds  of  writinjj;  one  sacred,  and  one  common. 
The  former  was  the  representation  of  ideas  by  figures  of  animals,  or 
other  sensible  objects,  called  hieroglyphics  ;  many  incriptions  of  which 
still  exist,  as  do  inscriptions  and  writings  in  the  common  character.  The 
priests  were  held  in  the  highest  reverence,  and  the  hieroglyphics  were 
known  to  them  alone.  Philosophy  was  early  cultivated  by  the  Egyptians, 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Metemp.sychosi3  taught  in  their  schools,  to  which 
many  of  the  Greek  philosophers  repairefl.  They  also  made  great  pro- 
gress in  astronomy  and  g.e()metry,  and  in  the  arts,  particularly  of  archi- 
tecture, of  which  the  whole  country  still  offers  extensive  columns,  obe- 
lisks, and  those  stupendous  specimens  of  human  labour,  the  pyramids. 

We  now  return  to  the  history  of  Kgypt  after  it  became  possessed  by 
the  Mamelukes,  of  whom  it  may  be  as  well  to  speak.  According  to  M. 
Volney,  they  came  originally  from  Mount  Caucasus,  and  were  distin- 
guished by  the  flaxen  colour  of  their  hair.  The  expedition  of  the  Tartars, 
in  1227,  proved  indirectly  the  means  of  introducing  them  into  Egypt. 
These  merciless  conquerors,  having  slaughtered  till  they  were  weary, 
brought  along  with  them  an  immense  number  of  slaves  of  both  sexes,  with 
whom  they  filled  all  the  markets  in  Asia.  The  Turks  purchased  about 
twelve  thousand  youne:  men,  whom  thoy  bred  up  in  the  profession  of  arms, 
which  they  soon  excelled  in;  but,  becoming  mutinous,  they  deposed  and 
murdered  the  sultan  Malek,  in  1260.  The  Mamelukes  having  thus  got 
possession  of  the  government,  and  neither  understanding  nor  valuing  any- 
thing but  the  art  of  war,  every  species  of  learning  decayed  in  Egypt,  and 
a  degree  of  barbarism  was  introduced.  Neither  was  their  empire  of  long 
duration,  notwithstanding  their  martial  abilities ;  for  as  they  depended 
upon  the  Christian  slaves,  chiefly  brought  from  Circassia,  whom  they 
bought  for  the  purpose  of  training  to  war,  and  thus  filling  up  their  ranks, 
these  new  Mamelukes,  or  13orgites  as  they  were  at  first  called,  in  time 
rose  upon  their  masters,  and  transferred  the  government  to  themselves, 
about  A.  D.  1382.  They  became  famous  for  ferocious  valour;  were  almost 
perpetually  engaged  in  wars  either  foreign  or  domestic  ;  and  their  domin- 
ion lasted  till  1517,  when  they  were  invaded  by  Selim  I.,  the  Turkish  sul- 
tan. The  Mamelukes  defended  themselves  with  incredible  bravery,  but, 
overpowered  by  numbers,  they  were  defeated  in  almost  every  engagement. 
Cairo,  their  capital,  was  taken,  and  a  terrible  slaughter  made  of  its  de- 
fenders. The  sultan,  Tuman  Bey,  was  forced  to  fly  ;  and,  having  col- 
lected all  his  forces,  he  ventured  a  decisive  battle.  The  most  romantic 
efforts  of  valour,  however,  were  insufficient  to  cope  witli  the  innumerable 
multitude  which  composed  the  Turkish  army.  PJost  of  his  men  were  cut 
in  pieces,  and  the  unhappy  prince  was  himself  taken  and  put  to  death. 
With  him  ended  the  glory  of  the  Mamelukes. 

The  sultan  Selim  commenced  his  government  of  Egypt  by  an  unexam- 
pled act  of  wholesale  butchery.  Having  ordered  a  theatre  to  be  erected 
on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  he  caused  all  the  prisoners  (upwards  of  thirty 
thousand),  to  be  beheaded  in  his  presence,  and  their  bodies  thrown  into 
the  river.  He  did  not,  however,  attempt  the  total  extirpation  of  the  Ma- 
melukes, but  proposed  a  new  form  of  government,  by  which  the  power, 
being  distributed  among  the  different  members  of  the  state,  should  preserve 
an  equilibrium  ;  so  that  the  dependence  of  the  whole  should  be  upon  him- 
self. With  this  view,  he  chose  from  among  those  Mamelukes  vvho  ha</ 
escaped  the  generalmassacre,  a  divan,  or  council  of  regency,  consisting  a' 
the  pacha  and  chiefs  of  the  sevppi  military  corps.  The  former  was  U 
notify  to  this  council  the  orders  of  the  porte,  to  send  the  tribute  to  Con 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  399 

stantinople,  and  provide  for  the  safety  of  government  both  external  and 
internal ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  members  of  the  council  had  a  right 
to  reject  the  orders  of  the  pacha,  or  even  of  deposing  him,  provided  they 
could  assign  sufficient  reasons.  All  the  civil  and  political  ordinances 
must  also  be  ratified  by  them.  Besides  this,  he  formed  the  whole  body 
into  a  kind  of  republic ;  for  which  purpose  he  issued  an  edict,  stating, 
'•  Though,  by  the  help  of  the  Almighty,  we  have  conquered  the  whole  king- 
dom of  Egypt  Willi  our  invincible  armies,  nevertheless  our  benevoleni'e 
is  willing  to  grant  to  the  twenty-four  sangiacs  of  Egypt  a  republican  gov- 
ernment," 6cc.  The  conditions  and  regulations  then  follow,  the  most 
important  of  which  are  those  which  make  it  incumbent  on  the  republic  lo 
provide  twelve  thousand  troops  at  its  own  expense  in  time  of  peace,  and 
as  many  as  may  be  necessary  for  its  protection  in  time  of  war ;  and  also 
to  send  to  the  Sublime  Porte  a  certain  sum  in  money  annually  as  tril)ule, 
with  six  hundred  thousand  measures  of  corn,  and  four  hundred  thousand 
of  barley.  Upon  these  conditions  the  Mamelukes  were  to  have  a  free 
government  over  all  the  inhabitants  of  Egypt,  independent  of  the  Turkish 
lieutenant.  Thus  the  power  of  the  Mamelukes  still  continued  in  a  consid- 
erable degree,  and  gradually  increased  so  much  as  to  threaten  a  loss  of 
dominion  to  the  Turks ;  but,  singular  as  it  may  seem,  notwithstanding  a 
residence  of  nearly  six  centuries,  they  never  became  naturalized  in  the 
country.  They  formed  no  alliance  vviih  the  females  of  Egypt,  but  had 
their  wives  brought  from  Georgia,  Mingrelia,  and  the  adjacent  countries  ; 
so  that,  according  to  Volney,  their  otTspring  invariably  became  extinct  in 
the  second  generation ;  they  were  therefore  perpetuated  by  the  same 
means  by  which  they  were  first  established ;  that  is,  their  ranks  were  re- 
cruited by  slaves  brought  from  their  original  country.  Indeed,  as  many 
writers  have  remarked,  the  Circassian  territories  have  at  all  times  been  a 
nursery  of  slaves.  Towards  the  end  of  last  century,  when  they  consti- 
tuted the  v.'hole  military  force,  and  had  acquired  the  entire  government  of 
Egypt,  the  Mamelukes,  together  with  the  Serradijes,  a  kind  of  mounted 
domestics,  did  not  exceed  ten  thousand  men.  Some  hundreds  of  tliem 
were  dispersed  throughout  the  country  and  in  the  villages,  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  their  corps  and  collect  tribute  ;  but  the  main  body  constantly 
remained  at  Cairo.  "Strangers  to  each  other,  bound  by  no  ties  as  parous 
or  children,  placed  among  a  people  with  whom  they  had  nothing  in  com- 
mon, despised  as  renegades  by  the  Turks,  ignorant  and  superstitious  from 
education,  ferocious,  perfidious,  seditious,  and  corrupted  by  every  species 
of  debauchery,  the  disorders  and  cruellies  which  accompanied  their  licen- 
tious rule  may  be  more  easily  imagined  than  described.  Sovereignty  to 
tliem  was  to  have  the  means  of  possessing  more  women,  toys,  horses,  and 
slaves,  than  others ;  of  managing  the  court  of  Constantinople,  so  as  to 
elude  the  tribute  or  the  menaces  of  the  sultan  ;  and  of  multiplying  parti- 
sans, countermining  plots,  and  destroying  secret  enemies  by  the  dagger 
or  poison.  But  with  all  this,  they  are  brave  in  the  extreme.  Their  beys, 
and  even  the  common  soldiers,  distinguished  themselves  by  the  magnifi- 
cence and  costliness  of  their  accoutrements,  though  these  were  in  general 
clumsy  and  heavy.  Being  trained  from  infancy  to  the  use  of  arms  and 
horsemanship,  they  were  admirable  horsemen  ;  and  used  the  scimitar,  car 
bine,  pistol,  and  lance,  with  almost  unequalled  skill  and  vigour." 

About  the  year  174G,  Ibrahim,  an  officer  of  the  Janissaries,  rendered 
himself  in  reality  master  of  Egypt,  having  managed  matters  so  well,  that 
of  the  twenty-four  beys,  or  sangiacs,  eight  were  of  his  household ;  so 
.hat  by  this  means,  as  well  as  by  attaching  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  his 
corps  to  his  interest,  the  pacha  became  altogether  unable  to  oppose  him, 
and  the  orders  of  the  sultan  were  less  respected  than  those  of  Ibrahim. 
At  his  death,  in  1757,  his  family  continued  to  rule  in  a  despotic  manner  ;  but 
wa^jing  war  among  each  other,  Ali  Bay,  who  had  been  a  principal  actor  in 


400  f HE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  disturbances,  in  1766  overcame  the  rest,  and  for  sometime  rendered 
himself  absolute  master  of  Egypt.  'I'his  remarkable  man  was  a  Syrian 
by  birth,  and  had  been  purchased  when  a  youth  in  the  slave  market  at 
Cairo ;  but  being  possessed  of  great  talents,  and  of  a  most  ambitious  turn 
of  mind,  he,  after  a  variety  of  extraordinary  adventures,  was  appointed 
one  of  the  twenty-four  beys  of  Egypt.  The  Porte,  being  at  that  time  on 
the  eve  of  a  dai>gerous  war  with  Russia,  had  not  leisure  to  atterid  to  the 
proceedings  of  Aii  Bey ;  so  that  he  had  an  opportunity  of  vigorously  pro- 
secuting his  designs.  His  first  expedition  was  against  an  Arabian  prince 
named  Ilamman;  against  wliom  he  sent  his  favourite  Mohammed  liey, 
under  pretence  that  the  former  had  concealed  a  treasure  entrusted  with 
him  by  Ibrahim,  and  that  he  afforded  protection  to  rebels.  Having  de- 
stroyed this  unfortunate  prince,  he  next  began  to  put  in  execution  a  plan 
proposed  to  him  by  a  young  Venetian  mercliant,  of  rendering  Gedda,  the 
port  of  Mecca,  an  emporium  for  all  the  commerce  of  India;  and  he  even 
imagined  he  should  be  able  to  m?ike  the  Europeans  abandon  the  passage 
to  the  Indies  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  With  this  view,  he  fitted  out 
some  vessels  at  Suez ;  and,  manning  them  with  Mamelukes,  commanded 
the  bey  Hassan  to  sail  with  them  to  Gedda,  and  seize  upon  it,  while  a 
body  of  cavalry  under  Mohammed  Hey  advanced  against  the  town.  Both 
these  commissions  were  executed  according  to  his  wish,  and  Ali  became 
quite  intoxicated  with  his  success.  Nothing  but  ideas  of  conquest  now 
occupied  his  mind,  without  considering  the  immense  disproportion  be- 
tween his  own  force  and  that  of  the  grand  seignior.  Circumstances  were 
then  indeed  very  favourable  to  his  schemes.  The  sheik  Daher  was  in 
rebellion  against  the  Porte  in  Syria,  and  the  pacha  of  Damascus  had 
so  exasperated  the  people  by  his  extortions,  that  they  were  ready  for  a 
revolt. 

Having  made  the  necessary  preparations,  Ali  Bey  dispatched  about  five 
hundred  Mamelukes  to  take  possession  of  Gaza,  and  thus  secure  an  en- 
trance into  Palestine.  Ositian,  the  pacha  of  Damascus,  however,  no 
sooner  heUrd  of  the  invasion  than  he  prepared  for  war,  while  the  troops 
of  Ali  Bey  held  themselves  in  readiness  to  fly  on  the  first  attack.  Sheik 
Daher  hastened  to  their  assistance,  while  Osnian  fled  without  even  offer- 
ing to  make  the  least  resistance  ;  thus  leaving  the  enemy  masters  of  all 
Palestine.  The  combined  army  of  Ali  Bey  and  Sheik  Daher  afterward 
marched  to  Damascus  ;  where  the  pachas  waited  for  thera,  and  on  the  6th 
of  June,  1771,  a  decisive  action  took  place:  the  Mamelukes  andSafadians 
(the  name  of  Daher's  subjects)  rushed  on  the  Turks  with  such  fury,  that, 
terrified  at  their  courage,  the  latter  immediately  fled  ;  and  the  allies  became 
masters  of  the  country,  taking  possession  of  the  city  without  opposition. 
The  castle  alone  resisted.  Its  ruinous  fortification  had  not  a  single  can- 
non ;  but  it  was  surrounded  by  a  muddy  ditch,  and  behind  the  ruins  were 
posted  a  few  musqueteers ;  and  these  alone  were  sufficient  to  check  this 
army  of  cavalry.  As  the  besieged,  however,  were  already  conquered  by 
their  fears,  they  capitulated  on  the  third  day,  and  the  place  was  to  be  sur- 
rounded next  morning,  when,  at  daybreak,  a  most  extraordinary  revolu- 
tion took  place.  This  was  no  less  than  the  defection  of  Mohammed  Bey 
himself,  whom  Osman  had  gained  over  in  a  conference  during  the  night. 
At  the  moment,  therefore,  that  tlie  signal  of  surrender  was  expected,  this 
treacherous  general  sounded  a  retreat,  and  turned  toward  Egypt  with  all 
his  cavalry,  flying  with  as  great  precipitation  as  if  he  had  been  pursued 
by  a  superior  army.  Mohammed  continued  his  march  with  such  celerity, 
that  the  report  of  his  arrival  in  Egypt  reached  Cairo  only  six  hours  before 
him.  Thus  Ali  Bey  found  himself  at  once  deprived  of  all  his  expecta- 
tions of  conquest ;  and,  what  was  indeed  galling,  he  found  a  traitor  whom 
he  durst  not  punish,  at  the  head  of  his  forces.  A  sudden  reverse  of  for- 
tmie  now  took  place.     Several  vessels  laden  with  corn  for  Sheik  Daher 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  401 

weie  taken  by  a  Russian  privateer;  and  Mohammed  Bey,  whom  he  de- 
signed to  have  put  to  death,  not  only  made  his  escape,  but  was  so  well 
attended  that  he  could  not  be  attacked.  His  followers  continuing  daily 
to  increase  in  number,  Mohammed  soon  became  sufficiently  strong  to 
march  toward  Cairo  ;  and,  in  April,  1772,  having  defeated  the  troops  of 
Ali  in  a  rencontre,  entered  the  city  sword  in  hand,  while  the  latter  had 
scarcely  time  to  make  his  escape  with  eight  hundred  Mamelukes.  With 
difficulty  he  was  enabled  to  get  to  Syria  by  the  assistance  of  Sheik  Daher, 
whom  he  immediately  joined  with  the  troops  he  had  with  him.  The 
Turks  under  Osman  were  at  that  time  besieging  Sidon,  but  raised  the 
siege  on  the  approach  of  the  allied  army,  consisting  of  about  seven  thou- 
sand cavalry.  Though  the  Turkish  army  was  at  least  three  times  their 
number,  the  allies  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  them,  and  gained  a  complete 
victory.  Their  affairs  now  began  to  wear  a  more  favourable  aspect,  but 
the  military  operations  were  retarded  by  the  siege  of  Yafa  (the  ancient 
Joppa),  which  had  revolted,  and  held  out  for  eight  monliis.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  1773  it  capitulated,  and  Ali  Bey  began  to  think  of  returning  to 
Cairo.  For  this  purpose  Sheik  Daher  had  promised  him  succours,  and 
the  Russians,  with  whom  he  had  now  contracted  an  alliance,  made  him  a 
similar  promise.  Ali,  however,  ruined  everything  by  his  own  impatience. 
He  set  out  with  his  Mamelukes  and  fifteen  hundred  Safadians  given  him 
by  Daher:  but  he  had  no  sooner  entered  the  desert  which  separates  Gaza 
from  Egypt,  than  he  was  attacked  by  a  body  of  one  thousand  chosen 
Mamelukes,  who  were  lying  in  wait  for  his  arrival.  They  were  command- 
ed by  a  young  bey,  named  Mourad,  who,  being  enamoured  of  the  wife  ol 
Ali  Bey,  had  obtained  a  promise  of  her  from  Mohammed,  in  case  he  could 
bring  him  her  husband's  head.  As  soon  as  Mourad  perceived  the  dust  by 
which  the  approach  of  Ali's  army  was  announced,  he  rushed  forward  to 
the  attack  and  took  prisoner  Ali  Bey  himself,  after  wounding  him  in  the 
forehead  with  a  sabre.  Being  conducted  to  Mohammed  Bey,  tlie  latter 
pretended  to  treat  him  with  extraordinary  respect,  and  ordered  a  magnifi- 
cent tent  to  be  erected  for  him  ;  but  in  three  days  he  was  found  dead  of 
his  wounds,  as  was  given  out;  thougli  some,  with  equal  probability,  af- 
firmed that  he  was  poisoned. 

Upon  the  death  of  Ali  Bey,  Mohammed  took  upon  himself  the  supreme 
dignity.  At  first  he  pretended  to  be  only  the  defender  of  the  rights 
of  the  sultan,  remitted  the  usual  tribute  to  Constantinople,  and  took  the 
customary  oath  of  unlimited  obedience;  after  which  he  solicited  to  make 
war  upon  Sheik  Daher,  against  whom  he  had  a  personal  pique.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1776,  he  appeared  in  Syria  with  an  army  equal  to  that  which  he  had 
formerly  commanded  under  Ali  Bey.  Daher's  forces  despairing  of  being 
able  to  cope  with  such  a  formidable  armament,  abandoned  Gaza,  of  which 
Mohammed  immediately  took  possession,  and  then  marched  toward  Yafa, 
which  defended  itself  so  long,  that  Mohammed  was  distracted  with  rage, 
anxiety,  and  despair.  The  besieged,  however,  whose  numbers  were  di- 
minished by  the  repeated  attacks,  became  weary  of  the  contest ;  and  it 
was  proposed  to  abandon  the  place,  on  the  Egyptians  giving  hostages. 
Conditions  were  agreed  upon,  and  the  treaty  might  be  considered  as  con- 
cluded, when,  in  the  midst  of  the  security  occasioned  by  this  belief,  some 
Mamelukes  entered  the  town  ;  numbers  of  others  following  their  example, 
attempted  to  plunder.  The  inhabitants  defended  themselves,  and  the  at- 
tack recommenced ;  the  whole  army  then  rushed  into  the  town,  which 
suffered  all  the  horrors  of  war  j  v/omen  and  children,  young  and  old  men, 
were  all  cut  to  pieces,  and  Mohammed,  equally  mean  and  barbarous,  caused 
a  pyramid,  formed  of  the  heads  of  the  unfortunate  sufferers,  to  be  raised 
as  a  monument  to  his  victory.  By  this  disaster  the  greatest  terror  and 
consternation  were  diffused  everywhere.  Sheik  Daher  himself  fled,  and 
Mohammed  soon  became  master  of  Acre  also.  Here  he  behaved  with 
26 

I 


102  THE  TllEASUilY  OF  HISTORY. 

his  usual  cruelty,  and  abandoned  the  city  to  be  plundered  by  his  soldiers. 
But  his  career  was  soon  slopped,  his  death  just  at  the  time  occurring 
through  a  malignani  fever,  after  two  days'  illness. 

Soon  after  Mohammed's  death  a  contest  arose  among  several  of  the 
beys,  as  to  who  should  succeed  him.  But  the  chief  struggle  lay  between 
Mourad  and  Ibrahim,  who,  having  ultimately  overcome  the  rest,  agreed 
in  1785,  to  share  the  government  between  them,  and  continued  to  rule  as 
ioint  pachas  for  many  years.  From  that  time  we  have  no  account  of 
any  remarkable  transaction  in  Egypt,  till  the  French  invaded  that  coun- 
try in  1798  ;  which  we  shall  as  concisely  as  possible  relate,  and  then  take 
a  brief  survey  of  some  striking  events  that  have  occurred  more  recently 
When  Selim  III.  ascended  the  Ottoman  throne,  the  French  revolution 
was  just  breaking  out ;  but  until  Bonaparte's  memorable  invasion  of  Egypt 
and  Syria,  its  effects  were  not  much  felt  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe.  Tlie 
two  Mameluke  beys,  Mourad  and  Ibrahim,  were  at  that  time  at  the  head 
of  the  government.  The  French  landed  near  Alexandria  on  the  1st  of 
•luly,  1798;  and  that  city  was  taken  by  assault  on  the  5th,  and  plundered 
by  the  soldiery.  They  then  marched  to  Cairo,  but  were  met  by  an  army 
of  Mamelukes  in  the  plains  near  the  Pyramids,  where  the  French  gained 
a  signal  victory,  which  was  followed  by  their  occupation  of  the  capital, 
and  the  submission,  in  general,  of  the  inhabitants.  The  destruction  of 
the  French  fleet,  by  the  English  under  Nelson,  in  tlie  bay  of  Aboukir,  was 
the  next  event  of  importance;  yet,  notwithstanding  this  great  calamity, 
Bonaparte  was  not  deterred  from  pursuing  his  original  design,  but  set 
out  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  men  to  cross  the  desert  which  separates 
Egypt  from  Palestine.  On  his  arrival  in  Syria  he  conquered  several 
towns,  one  of  which  was  Jaffna.  The  defence  of  Acre,  however,  by  Sir 
Sidney  Smith,  put  a  stop  to  the  future  proceeding  of  Napoleon  in  that 
quarter. 

The  most  remarkable  person  connected  with  Egypt  after  the  period  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking,  was  Mehemet  Ali,  the  Turkish  pacha  of  that 
country.  This  chief,  who  has  since  become  so  prominent  in  Egyptian 
and  Syrian  history,  was  ambitious  of  making  himself  independent  of  the 
Ottoman  Porte ;  but  as  this  could  not  be  effected  while  the  Mameluke  beys 
retained  their  power  and  influence,  he  determined  on  their  extirpation  by  a 
cold-blooded  act  of  treachery.  He  accordingly  invited  them  to  a  grand 
festival,  to  be  given  in  honour  of  his  son  Ibrahim,  who  had  just  been  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  of  an  expedition  against  the  Wahabites  of 
Arabia.  Wholly  unsuspicious  of  the  treacherous  design  of  Mehemet  Ali, 
the  beys  arrived  at  the  castle  on  the  appointed  day,  (March  1st,  1811), 
each  attended  by  his  suite ;  but  they  had  no  sooner  entered  than  they 
:,vere  seized  and  beheaded.  The  execution  of  all  the  chief  Mamelukes 
throughout  the  country  immediately  followed  :  and  Mehemet  now,  though 
nominally  a  vassal  of  the  Turkish  empire,  exercised  all  the  functions  and 
privileges  of  an  absolute  sovereign  prince.  In  the  histories  of  '  Turkey' 
and  '  Greece,'  will  be  seen  how  large  a  share  Mehemet  Ali  and  Ibrahim 
had  in  fomenting  and  carrying  on  the  war  between  those  countries.  It 
will  also  be  seen  in  its  proper  place  in  the  history  of  'England,'  that 
Mehemet  Ali  had  provoked  the  insurrection  in  Syria,  and  but  for  the  inter- 
ference of  England  and  her  continental  allies,  would  have  wrested  Egypt 
and  Syria  from  the  Turks.  But  the  allied  fleet,  under  the  command  of 
Sir  Pw.  Stopford  and  Commodore  Napier,  bombarded  and  captured  the 
whole  line  of  fortified  places  along  the  coast  of  Syria,  ending  their  oper- 
ations with  tlie  destruction  of  St.  Jean  d'  Acre.  This  place  is  renowned 
for  scenes  of  desperate  valour.  A  heavy  cannonade  for  three  hours  was 
kept  up,  by  which  time  the  guns  of  the  forts  were  silenced;  when,  owing 
to  one  of  the  bomb-shots  falling  on  the  enemy's  powder  magazine,  an 
i;wful  explosion 'ook  place,  and  twelve  hundred  human  beings  were  blown 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  403 

Into  the  air.  This  decided  the  fate  of  the  war;  and  Meheriiet  All,  after 
a  long  negotiation,  in  which  the  allied  powers  of  Europe  took  part,  was 
reinstated  in  his  viceroyship  of  Egypt,  the  government  of  that  country  to 
descend  in  a  direct  hereditary  liiie,  a.  d.  1841.  That  Mehemet  Ali  is  a 
man  of  superior  talents,  and  that  under  his  administration  of  affairs, 
Egypt  has  made  advances  in  arts  and  arms,  and  in  the  improvement  ol 
those  natural  advantages  which  she  possesses  for  securing  her  internal 
prosperity,  no  one  can  entertain  a  doubt;  but, at  the  same  time  we  cannot 
forget,  that  many  of  his  actions  prove  him  to  be  despotic,  cruel,  and  re- 
vengeful. 


ALEXANDRIA. 

Alexandria,  now  called  Scanderia,  the  ancient  capital  of  Lower  Egypt, 
occupies  a  prominent  po-siiion  in  the  annals  of  history,  even  from  its  first 
foundation.  Perhaps  there  is  no  place  whose  records  present  to  a  mari- 
time people  more  interesting  details.  Founded  by  the  Great  Alexander, 
whose  mind  was  comprehensive  as  his  valour  was  unequalled,  the  very 
cause  of  its  existence  was  commercial,  and  its  history  for  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  shows  how  well  the  Macedonians  appreciated  the  advantages 
of  maritime  resources.  The  strength  of  Tyre,  which  cost  him  so  long 
and  so  dear  a  contest,  probably  suggested  to  him  the  value  of  commerce. 
Accordingly,  after  the  city  "  whose  merchants  were  princes,"  had  fallen 
before  his  banners,  and  Egypt  received  his  j'oke,  he  formed  the  design 
of  building  a  city,  in  which  commerce  might  find  a  shelter,  and  from  which 
his  vast  empire  might  derive  riches  and  strength.  No  sooner  was  the  de- 
sign conceived  than  executed;  and  Alexander,  whose  new  commercial 
depot  was  situated  alike  convenient  for  the  trade  of  the  east  and  the  west, 
died  A.  D.  385.  Amidst  the  convulsions  which  shook  his  empire  to  pieces 
after  his  death,  Alexandria  continued  to  rise  in  greatness  and  magnificence 
under  the  fostering  protection  of  the  enlightened  Ptolemies,  the  friends  of 
commerce  and  science — whose  capital  it  became,  a.  d.  304.  But  such  is 
the  natural  proneness  of  human  things  to  decay,  that  wealth  begets  lux- 
ury, and  greatness  is  its  own  destroyer.  For  three  hundred  years  during 
which  Alexandria  was  subject  to  the  Ptolemies,  the  canker  of  corruption 
bloated  its  magnificence,  and  fed  upon  its  luxury. 

The  name  of  Ptolemy  Physcon  is  synonymous  with  vice  and  cruelty. 
His  savage  brutality  made  Alexandria  almost  a  desert  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years  before  Christ.  The  desertion  of  sages,  grammarians, 
philosophers,  and  other  masters  of  the  liberal  sciences,  whose  presence 
had  shed  a  lustre  over  the  capital  of  Egypt,  was  followed  by  the  influx  of 
people  of  various  nations,  invited  by  a  general  proclamation  of  the  tyrant. 
An  inhuman  massacre  of  all  the  young  men  of  the  city  shortly  afterward 
look  place,  and  Alexandria  was  for  some  time  the  scene  of  commotion 
and  anarchy.  In  48  b.  c,  the  conqueror  of  the  West  visited  the  city  of 
the  victor  of  the  East,  in  pursuit  of  his  defeated  rival,  where  he  arbitrated 
between  Ptolemy  XII.  and  Cleopatra.  His  military  conduct  was  no  less 
conspicuous  here  than  it  had  been  previously  in  Gaul,  Britain,  and  the 
plains  of  Pharsalia.  With  a  small  band  of  Romans,  assisted  by  some 
forces  of  the  Jews,  he  defeated  the  whole  army  of  Ptolemy.  Whilst  his- 
tory records  with  exultation  the  exploit  of  Caesar,  who  swam  across  the 
Nile  bearing  his  Commentaries  aloft  safe  from  the  waters,  slie  droops 
over  the  conflagration  whicli  accidentally  consumed  the  library  of  the 
Bruchion,  consisting  of  four  hundred  thousand  volumes.  For  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  city  of  Alexandria  was  originally  designed,  and 
actually  proved,  to  be  the  mart  of  philosophy  and  science. 


404  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

The  emperor  Caligula  had  designed  Alexandria  as  the  seat  of  his  empire, 
in  the  event  of  his  massacring  the  chief  senators  and  knights  of  Rome, 
In  the  year  a.  n.  40,  the  Jews,  who,  to  the  amount  of  a  milhon,  had  for 
many  years  enjoyed  a  variety  of  ()rivileges,  were,  by  an  edict  of  Flaccus, 
now  d'fA'Anred  strangers  in  Alexandria — and  underwent,  as  one  of  the 
signs  of  the  time  of  their  approaching  destruction  and  the  complete  disper- 
sion of  their  nation,  grievous  privations,  losses,  and  cruelty.  It  was  with 
in  a  few  years  after  this,  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  was  promulgated 
in  Alexandria,  and  received  by  many.  The  names  of  Pantretius,  8t.  Cle- 
ment, and  Origen,  are  found  as  presidents  of  a  Christian  school  of  con- 
siderable eminence  founded  in  this  city.  The  admixture,  however,  of  the 
philosophy  which  distinguished  Alexandria,  with  the  tenets  of  Christian- 
ity, and  the  dogmas  of  Judaism,  tended  materially  to  corrupt  both  truth, 
and  wisdom;  and  the  eclectic  philosophy  proved  the  foundation  of  the 
Jewish  cabbala,  and  many  corruptions  of  the  Christian  faith.  Undei 
Claudius,  Alexandria  again  reckoned  the  Jews  as  citizens.  It  was  the 
first  place  which  hailed  Vespasian  emperor,  a.  d.  GO;  and  here  he  abode 
whilst  his  generals  and  armies  were  deciding  his  cause  against  Vitellius 
The  account  Adrian,  who  visited  the  city  a.  d.  130,  gives  of  if,  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  commerce,  as  well  as  of  its  worst 
and  most  pernicious  effects  upon  the  inhabitants  who  thrive  upon  its  riches 
Under  the  emperor  Severus,  Alexandria  obtained  several  immunities  and 
privileges,  a.  d.  202;  a  grateful  sense  of  which  was  manifested  by  a  mon- 
ument erected  to  him.  Different,  however,  was  their  fortune  under  the 
despicable  Caracalla,  who  rewarded  their  entertainment  of  him  by  a  gen- 
eral massacre  of  the  inhabitants,  a.  d.  215;  by  abolishing  the  societies  of 
learned  men,  who  were  maintained  in  the  museum ;  by  the  plunder  oi 
temples  and  private  houses  ;  and  by  separating  different  parts  of  the  city 
from  one  another  by  walls  and  towers.  During  the  reign  of  Gallienus, 
Alexandria  suffered  most  severely  both  by  water  and  pestilence.  But 
history,  here,  records  with  admiration  the  conduct  of  two  Christian 
bishops,  Eusebius  and  Anatolius,  who,  like  the  good  Samaritan,  bound  up 
the  wounds  of  the  wretched,  and,  like  their  heavenly  Master,  were  un- 
wearied in  alleviating  the  distresses  of  their  suffering  fellow-creatures. 
Their  conduct  sheds  a  lustre  over  the  annals  of  this  city,  far  transcending 
the  most  brilliant  exploits  which  emblazon  its  heraldry.  Alexandria  was 
now  almost  depopulated.  It,  however,  again  recovered  somewhat  of  its 
former  greatness,  again  to  feel  the  unsparing  havoc  of  war  and  dissension, 
in  the  reign  of  Dioclesian,  who  having  captured  it  from  Achilleus,  the  usur- 
per of  Egypt,  gave  it  up  to  indiscriminate  pillage  and  plunder,  a.  d.  296 
He  made  some  retribution  for  this  severity  by  establishing  certain  salutarj 
regulations,  amongst  which  may  be  reckoned,  his  establishment  for  thf 
perpetual  distribution  of  corn,  for  the  benefit  of  this  city,  a.  d.  302.  Un 
der  Constantine,  Alexandria  again  flourished  by  its  trade  and  commerce 
A  dreadful  and  almost  universal  earthquake,  July  21,  365,  shook  this  cit] 
to  its  very  foundation,  and  swallowed  up  fifty  thousand  of  its  inhabitants 
Although  the  second  capital  of  the  Roman  empire,  Alexandria  was  cap 
tured  by  the  Moslems,  under  Amrou,  the  general  of  the  caliph  Omar,  De 
eember  22,  a.  d.  640.  Bloody  and  obstinate  was  the  siege :  amply  sup 
plied  with  provisions,  and  devoted  to  the  defence  of  their  dearest  rights 
and  honours,  its  inhabitants  bravely  withstood  the  astonishing  efforts  and 
unwearied  bravery  of  their  enemies;  and  had  Heraclius  as  promply  sec- 
onded their  resolution,  the  crescent  of  Mahomet  had  not  then  reigned  in 
bloody  supremacy  over  the  Christian  cross.  It  was  invaluable  to  Hera- 
clius, and  its  loss  was  a  source  of  great  inconvenience  to  Byzantium,  to 
which  it  had  been  the  storehouse.  Since,  in  the  short  space  of  five  years, 
the  harbours  and  fortifications  of  Alexandria  were  occupied  by  a  fleet  and 
•array  of  Romans,  twice  did  the  valour  of  its  conqueror,  Amrou,  expel 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  405 

ihem;  but  liis  policy  had  been  to  dismantle  several  walls  and  towers,  in 
pursuance  of  a  vow  he  had  made  of  rendering  Alexandria  as  accessible 
as  the  home  of  a  prostitute.  In  the  year  612,  the  library  of  Alexandria 
was  destroyed  by  order  of  the  caliph  Omar;  and  so  extensive  was  it,  that 
its  volumes  of  paper  or  parchment  sufficed  to  light  the  fires  of  the  four 
thousand  baths  which  were  in  the  city,  for  more  than  six  months ! 

So  waned  the  splendour  and  glory  of  this  mighty  city.  The  dominion 
of  the  Saracens  withered  its  energies,  and  Alexandria  gradually  sunk 
from  its  high  estate,  so  that  in  the  year  875,  its  extent  was  contracted  to 
laif  its  former  dimensions.  Mournful,  but  still  majestic  in  its  decline,  it 
still  retained  the  Pharos,  and  part  of  its  public  places  and  monuments. 
In  920  its  great  church,  called  Cosarea,  which  had  formerly  been  a  pagan 
temple,  erected  by  Cleopatra,  in  honour  of  Saturn,  was  destroyed  by  fire  ; 
and  two  years  after,  this  second,  or  Arabic,  Alexandria,  was  taken  by  the 
Magrebians,  who,  after  various  vicissitudes,  at  length  finally  lost  it  to  the 
Moslems,  a.  d.  928,  when  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  wretched 
inhabitants  perished.  The  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1499, 
completed  the  ruin  which  had,  for  some  centuries,  been  advancing  under  the 
Turkish  dominion  ;  and  Alexandria  ceases  from  that  time  to  possess  any 
particular  interest  for  the  historian,  until  the  close  of  the  last  century. 
The  first  cons*ul  of  France,  whose  name  will  be  reckoned  up  with  the 
Macedonian  Alexander  and  the  Roman  Caesar,  like  these  two  great  proto- 
types of  his  ambition,  displayed  in  Alexandria  his  skill  and  prowess.  It 
fell  to  his  army  July  4,  1798,  after  a  defeat  of  the  Arabs  and  Mamelukes. 
The  tiiundersof  the  British  navy,  braving  defeat  and  discomfiture  through 
the  ships  of  France,  at  Aboukir,  were  heard  at  Alexandria,  and  the  British 
ensign  waved  triumphant  over  its  walls  in  the  year  1801, as  again  in  1806. 
Among  the  names  of  various  heroes  connected  with  this  once  might}' 
city,  that  of  Abercrombie,  who  died  there  in  the  arms  of  victory,  shall 
live  enrolled  in  the  annals  of  history. 


ANTIOCH. 

The  history  of  this  interesting  place  is  pregnant  with  great  and  impor- 
tant events  connected  as  well  with  profane  as  sacred  history.  It  was  found- 
ed by  Antigonus,  and  called  Antigonia,  a  name  soon  after  changed  for  Anti- 
ocha,  in  honour  of  Antiochus,  father  of  Seleucus.  The  seat  of  empire  for 
the  kings  of  Syria,  and  of  government  for  the  Roman  officers,  Antioch  was 
a  place  of  considerable  importance.  It  contained  four  distinct  cities,  and 
was  therefore  called  Tetrapolis.  Another  city,  built  in  its  suburbs,  called 
Daphne,  superceded  it  in  magnificence  and  luxury  so  much,  that,  not  only 
did  "  to  live  after  the  manner  of  Daphne"  become  proverbial,  but  Antioch 
was  termed  Antioch  near  Daphne. 

Its  history  is  confined  pretty  much  to  the  various  calamities  of  war  and 
pestilence  which,  at  different  times,  have  visited  and  scourged  this  city. 
By  the  assistance  -of  Jonathan,  the  leader  of  the  Maccabees,  king  Deme- 
trius punished  the  e'<ntumacy  of  his  dissatisfied  subjects  by  slaying  ten 
thousand  of  them,  y.  c  145.  An  extraordinary  earthquake  laid  it  in  ruins 
in  the  reign  of  Tr?.jan,  a.  d.  115;  the  emperor  himself  being  with  difficulty 
saved  from  deit'iiction.  Antioch  rose  from  its  ashes  under  the  auspices 
of  Trajan,  ard  was  again  nearly  consumed  by  fire  in  155.  It  was  restored 
by  Anton'7)U.=  Pius,  but  was  dispossessed,  a.  d.  177,  by  a  severe  edict  of  his. 
of  111  j'.s  ancient  rights  and  priviliges,  as  a  punishment  for  abetting  the 
fac^iP.n  01  Ovidius  Cassius,  governor  of  Syria,  a  measure,  however,  which 
was  soon  annulled.  In  194  Severus,  to  punish  the  part  which  its  natives 
WOK  ixi  the  faction  between  him  and  Niger,  passed  a  similar  edict,  and 


40C  THE   TREASURY  01*"  HISTORY. 

subjected  AiUiocli^  reduced  to  the  level  of  a  village,  to  Laodicea,  but  the 
next  year  he  revoked  his  sentence.  In  the  meanwhile  Antioch  had  been 
distinguished  for  some  events  connected  with  the  spread  of  Christianity, 
which,  it  is  said,  was  established  here  by  St.  Peter,  in  the  year  .38.  It 
was  here  the  followers  of  the  Redeemer  were  first  called  Christians,  and 
an  assembly  of  the  apostles  was  held  in  5G.  There  have  also  been  sev- 
eral councils  convened  in  Antioch  at  dill'erent  periods. 

From  its  situation,  it  was  necessarily  exposed  to  severe  attacks  during 
the  wars  between  the  Persians  and  the  Romans,  when  the  power  of  the 
latter  began  to  decline.  It  was  three  times  taken  by  the  Persian  mon- 
arch. Sapor,  who,  after  its  last  capture,  plundered  it  and  laid  all  its  public 
buildings  prostrate.  In  3.31  it  was  visited  by  a  severe  famine.  Sixteen 
years  afterward  its  importance  was  increased  by  Constantine  II.,  who,  at 
an  immense  expense,  formed  the  harbour  of  Seleucia  for  its  convenience. 
During  the  residence  of  the  emperor  Julian  here,  on  his  way  to  the  Per- 
sian empire,  there  occurred  throughout  the  Roman  provinces  a  severe 
famine,  which  visited  Antioch  more  severely  tiian  other  places,  from  the 
establishment  of  a  corn-law  by  the  emperor.  In  381,  two  great  scourges 
appeared,  plague  and  famine  ;  the  former  soon  subsided,  but  on  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  latter,  Libanius,  the  bishop,  entreated  assistance  from 
Icairus,  prefect  of  the  East,  who  answered  the  entreaty  with  brutality 
and  insult.  A  commotion  ensued,  which,  however,  terminated  without 
bloodshed.  Six  years  afterward,  a  iremondous  tumult  took  place,  in  con 
sequence  of  a  tax  imposed  upon  the  people  by  the  emperor  Theodosius, 
in  commemoration  of  the  tenth  year  of  his  own  reign,  and  the  fifth  of  that 
of  his  son  Arcadius.  The  governor  of  the  city  with  difficulty  escaped 
the  frenzy  of  the  populace ;  and  great  indignities  were  offered  to  the  em- 
peror's statues  by  the  people,  who  were  made  to  atone  for  this  offence  by 
the  most  cruel  punishments.  St.  Chrysostom  distinguished  himself  on 
this  occasion  by  preaching  homilies  to  the  people,  which  tended  very  much 
to  reform  their  dissolute  and  corrupt  practices.  Severe  measures  were 
on  the  point  of  being  executed  against  Antioch  by  command  of  Theodo- 
sius, when  they  were  averted  by  tlie  united  entreaties  of  St.  Chrysotom, 
some  hermits,  and  Flavianus,  bishop  of  Antioch.  But  there  was  no  de- 
fence to  this  ill-fated  place  in  the  year  593  against  the  awful  visitation  of 
an  earthquake,  which,  on  September  19,  laid  desolate  the  most  beautiful 
quarter  of  the  city.  A  similar  visitation  occurred  in  525,  in  the  reign  of 
Justin.  Neither  was  the  fury  of  man  long  withheld  from  working  de 
struction  to  Antioch.  In  540  it  was  captured  by  Chosroes,  king  of  Persia. 
The  churches  were  pillaged,  and,  like  another  Nebuchadnezzar,  he  ap- 
propriated their  gold  and  silver  to  his  own  use.  Rapine,  pillage,  and  Ate 
in  her  fullest  insubordination,  were  let  loose.  Antioch  had  not  a  dwelling 
left;  her  people  were  scattered,  slain,  or  carried  into  captivity.  Once 
more,  phcEiiix-like,  it  rose  from  its  ruins,  to  experience  another  earthquake 
'n  530,  which  destroyed  thirty  thousand  persons. 

A  new  enemy  now  appears  on  the  page  of  its  history.  The  Saracens  took 
Antioch  in  the  year  634,  and  retained  possession  of  it  till  858,  when  again 
it  was  annexed  to  the  Roman  empire.  The  Turks  next  became  masters 
of  it;  and  they  in  turn  lost  it  to  the  Crusaders,  who  made  a  principality 
of  Antioch,  in  1093,  under  Bohemond,  prince  of  Torento.  He  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Turks  in  1101.  but  liberated  in  1103.  Meanwhile  Antioch 
had  been  governed  by  Tancred,  who  died  the  year  after  his  appointment. 
The  whole  of  the  principality  of  Antioch,  excepting  the  cit)',  was  overrun 
by  the  sultan  Noureddin  in  1148,  who  in  the  year  1160  took  Bohemond 
III.  prisoner.  On  his  liberation  in  1175,  he  was  created  knight  by  Louis 
VI.  of  France,  and  died  in  1201.  The  principality  of  Antioch  was  dis- 
solved in  1268  by  the  capture  of  the  city  by  Bibars,  sultan  of  Babylon. 
It  then  became  a  portion  of  the  Turkish  empire,  which  it  has  since  con- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  407 

tinued,  having  experienced  during  that  period  two  earthquakes — one  in 
1759,  and  the  other  in  182'2. 

Antioch  has  listed  to  the  march  of  empires  ;  the  splendors  of  the  Mace- 
donian, the  majesty  of  the  Roman,  the  voluptuousness  of  the  Persian,  the 
rigour  of  the  Saracenic,  and  the  tyranny  of  the  Osmanic,  have  in  turns 
revelled  in  her  palaces,  and  adorned  or  degraded  her  beauty ;  while  the 
voice  of  Christianity  has  whispered  in  her  temple,  and  the  thunders  of 
the  Incomprehensible  Deity  have  spoken  in  awful  prodigies,  and  awed  her 
inhabitants  by  pestilence,  famine  and  earthquakes. 


THE  BARBARY  STATES. 

Barbary  is  a  vast  territory  of  Africa,  containing  the  states  or  kingdoms 
of  Algiers,  Morocco,  Fez,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  Barca.  It  stretches  entire- 
ly across  the  northern  shores  of  Africa,  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the 
western  boundary  of  Egypt,  taking  almost  the  whole  range  of  the  soutli- 
ern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  In  width  it  is  various,  and  bounded 
by  the  "  great  desert."  The  Romans  obtained  possession  of  Barbary  in 
the  time  of  Julius  Cajsar,  and  remained  masters  of  it  till  a.  d.  428.  At 
that  time  Bonifacius,  the  Roman  governor,  revolted,  and  called  in  to  his 
assistance  Genseric,  king  of  the  Vandals,  who  had  been  sometime  settled 
in  Spain.  They  agreed  to  divide  the  country  between  them :  Genseric 
was  to  have  two-thirds,  and  Bonifacius  one-third.  Genseric  set  sail  in 
May  the  same  year,  wath  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men,  together  with 
their  wives,  children,  and  effects.  Genseric  had  no  sooner  effected  his 
landing,  and  secured  a  part  of  the  country,  than  he  turned  his  arms  against 
Bonifacius,  defeated  him,  and  obliged  him  to  shelter  himself  in  Hippo, 
which  place  he  besieged  in  May,  430  ;  but  was  under  the  necessity  of  re- 
tiring from  famine.  The  Romans  sent  au  army  into  Africa,  under  the 
conduct  of  the  celebrated  Aspar,  from  Constantinople;  a  dreadful  battle 
ensued,  and  Genseric  became  the  victor.  The  Vandals  were  by  this  vic- 
tory rendered  masters  of  Africa.  Cirtha  and  Carthage  were  the  only 
strong  places  possessed  by  the  Romans. 

In  435,  peace  was  concluded  between  the  Romans  and  the  Vandal.'^. 
The  former  gave  up  part  of  Numidia,  the  province  of  Procon  Salariz  and 
Byzancene,  for  which  a  yearly  sum  was  to  be  paid  to  the  emperor  of  the 
East.  However,  in  439,  the  Romans  being  engaged  in  a  war  with  the 
Goths  of  Gaul,  Genseric  took  this  advantage  to  seize  Carthage,  by  whicii 
he  considerably  enlarged  his  African  dominions.  On  the  taking  of  Car- 
thage, Genseric  made  it  the  seat  of  his  empire  ;  and,  in  440,  made  a  de- 
scent on  the  island  of  Sicily,  plundered  it  and  returned  to  Africa.  Being 
now  become  formidable  to  both  empires,  Theodosius,  emperor  of  the  East, 
resolved  to  assist  Valentiaian  against  so  powerful  an  enemy.  Accord- 
ingly, he  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  eleven  hundred  ships,  filled  with  the  flower 
of  his  army,  under  Arcovindus.  Genseric  now  pretending  a  desire  to  be 
at  peace  with  both  empires,  amused  the  Roman  general  with  pacific  pro- 
posals, till  the  ■eason  for  action  was  over.  Theodosius  being  obliged  to 
recall  his  forces  to  oppose  the  Huns,  Valentinian  found  it  necessary  to 
conclude  a  peace  with  the  Vandals,  yielding  them  quiet  possession  of  the 
countries  they  had   seized.     Genseric  was  now  become  so  powerful,  or 


408  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

rather  so  low  was  the  power  of  the  Roman  empire  reduced,  that,  in  455, 
he  took  the  city  of  Eome,  and  plundered  it ;  and  after  his  return  to  Africa, 
made  himself  master  of  all  the  remaining  countries  held  by  the  Romans 
in  that  part  of  the  world. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa  was  now  fully  established  ;  and 
Genseric  made  himself  master  of  Sicily,  as  well  as  all  the  other  islands 
between  Italy  and  Africa,  without  opposition  from  the  western  emperors, 
who  were  now  too  feeble  to  resist  him,  a.  d.  476.  Genseric  made  his  do- 
minions a  scene  of  blood,  and  died  in  477,  after  a  reign  of  forty-seven 
years.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Hunneric,  who  proved  a  greater 
tyrant  than  his  father,  persecuting  the  Christians  with  the  utmost  fury ; 
and  during  his  short  reign  of  seven  years  and  a  half,  he  destroyed  more 
of  them  than  Genseric  had  done  during  the  whole  of  his  life.  The  suc- 
cessors of  Hunneric,  Gutamund,  Thrasamund,  and  Hilderic,  of  whom  we 
know  very  little,  except  that  the  latter  was  deposed,  in  the  seventh  year 
of  his  reign,  by  Gelimer,  a  prince  of  the  blood-royal,  who  proved  a  greater 
tyrant  than  any  that  had  gone  before  him,  and  was  held  in  abhorrence, 
when  the  emperor  Justinian  proposed  an  invasion  of  Africa.  According- 
ly, he  sent  a  powerful  fleet  and  army  against  Gelimir,  under  the  command 
of  the  celebrated  Belisarius.  Gelimir  committed  the  management  of  his 
array  to  his  brothers,  Gundimer  and  Gelamnnd  :  they  attacked  the  Ro- 
mans ;  the  engagement  was  long  and  bloody,  but  at  length  the  Vandals 
were  defeated,  and  the  two  princes  slain.  Gelimer  headed  a  fresh  army, 
which  was  also  defeated,  and  the  loss  of  Carthage  followed.  Another 
defeat  followed  close  upon  the  former.  Gelimer  fled  into  Numidia,  and 
an  end  was  put  to  the  Vandal  power  in  Barbary.  Gelimer  was  afterward 
brought  in  gold  chains  before  Justinian,  whom  he  besought,  in  the  most 
submissive  manner,  to  spare  his  life.  This  was  readily  granted  by  the 
emperor;  and  a  handsome  yearly  pension  was  also  allowed  him. 

Barbary  remained  under  the  Roman  power  until  the  caliphate  of  Omar, 
when  it  was  reduced  by  the  Saracens.  It  continued  subject  to  the  ca- 
liph till  the  reign  of  Haroun  al  Raschid,  when  Ebn  Aglab,  the  governor, 
assumed  independence.  The  house  of  Aglab  was  driven  out  by  Al  Moh- 
di,  the  first  Fatimite  caliph.  Al  Mohdi  reigned  twenty-four  years,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Abul  Kaseni,  who  took  the  name  of  Al  Kayem 
Mohdi.  During  this  reign  we  read  of  nothing  remarkable,  except  the  re- 
bellion of  Yesod.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ishmael,  who  took  upon 
himself  the  title  of  Al  Mansur.  Al  Mansur  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Abu  Zammin  Moad,  who  assumed  the  surname  of  Al  Moez  Ledenillah. 
This  caliph  conquered  Egypt,  and  removed  the  caliphate  to  that  country. 
The  other  material  events  that  have  taken  place  in  the  Barbary  States  will 
be  found  in  the  historical  notice  of  Algiers. 


ALGIERS. 

Algiers,  a  country  of  northern  Africa,  and  which  was  regarded  as  the 
most  powerful  of  the  Barbary  states,  has  long  been  the  subject  of  Euro- 
pean indignation  for  its  piratical  practices,  and  the  ignominious  slavery  to 
which  all  Christians  who  fell  into  its  power  were  irrevocably  doomed. 
But  the  hour  of  retribution  has  at  length  come ;  and  the  events  of  late 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  409 

j'ears  have  greatly  contributed  to  call  the  attention  of  the  civilized  world 
to  its  past  and  present  history.  There  is  a  variety  of  opinions  respecting 
the  original  inhabitants :  some  contending  that  they  were  the  Sabeans 
who  plundered  the  patriarch  Job  ;  others,  Cananites  who  were  driven  out 
of  thnr  country  by  Joshua.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Algerine  kingdom  for- 
merly made  a  considerable  part  of  the  Mauritania  Tingiiania,  which  Julius 
Cassar  reduced  to  a  Roman  province.  The  Algerines  shared  in  the  for- 
tunes of  Rome ;  for,  at  the  decline  of  its  empire,  they  fell  to  the  Vandals, 
who  in  turn  were  expelled  by  the  Saracens  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh 
century.  From  that  period  they  were  subject  to  the  Arabs,  till  the  year 
1051,  when  Abubeker  ben  Omar,  by  the  agency  of  his  marabouts  or 
saints,  assembled  a  large  force  of  malcontents  in  Numidia  and  Lybia. 
His  followers  were  called  Morabites,  and  the  kingdom  which  he  founded 
is  distinguished  by  that  appellation.  Rehgious  frenzy  seems  to  have  im- 
parted resolution  and  strength,  the  sinews  of  victory,  to  these  combat- 
ants; whilst  a  variety  of  favourable  circumstances,  arising  from  the  ab- 
sence of  the  most  powerful  of  the  constituted  authorities,  enabled  Abube- 
ker to  vanquish  the  several  sheiks  who  opposed  him,  and  at  length  reduce 
the  whole  of  Tingitania  under  his  sway. 

His  successor  Yusef,  or  Joseph,  founded  Morocco  as  the  capital  of  the 
Morabitish  kingdom.  An  event  which  at  first  seemed  to  threaten  his  pro- 
ject with  annihilation,  turned  out  to  the  increase  of  his  power,  and  the 
consolidation  of  his  empire.  In  order  to  strengthen  his  new  dynasty,  he 
sent  ambassadors  to  a  powerful  sect  of  the  Mohammedans,  called  Zeneti, 
whom  he  wished  to  bring  back  to  what  he  called  the  true  faith,  who  not 
only  murdered  his  emissaries,  but  with  a  large  army  invaded  his  kingdom. 
Fearful  and  terrible  was  the  retribution  he  exacted  from  them.  He  ra- 
vaged their  lands  with  fire  and  sword;  and,  assisted  by  the  inhabitants  of 
Fez,  who  refused  the  Zeneti  the  succour  they  had  expected  from  them 
when  they  retreated  upon  their  city,  he  almost  annihilated  the  whole 
tribe,  to  the  amount  of  nearly  a  million  of  souls,  including  women  and 
children.  Their  desolated  country  was  soon  repeopled  by  colonies  from 
Fez ;  and  Joseph,  forgetful  of  the  efficient  support  he  had  received  from 
the  Fezzans,  attacked  and  subdued  both  them  and  the  remaining  Arab 
sheiks,  who,  relying  upon  their  supposed  impregnable  fortresses,  had  not 
yet  submitted  to  his  authority.  The  dynasty  of  the  Morabites,  founded 
by  the  influence  of  the  marabouts,  fell  before  the  power  of  Mohavedin,  a 
marabout,  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  whose  priestly  tribe  was 
expelled  by  Abdular,  governor  of  Fez.  Thus  did  the  conquered  become 
conquerors,  only  to  fall  before  the  renovated  power  of  the  descendants  of 
those  very  princes  whom  Abubeker  in  the  eleventh  century  had  stripped 
of  their  power.  Their  descendants  divided  their  new  conquests  into 
several  kingdoms  or  provinces,  dividing  the  present  kingdom  of  Algiers 
into  Tremecen,  Tenez,  Algiers  Proper,  and  Bujeyah.  The  alliance  of 
these  four  kingdoms  was  so  well  cemented,  that  mutual  amity  reigned 
amongst  them  for  nearly  three  centures.  It  was  interrupted  by  the  ag- 
gression of  the  king  of  Tremecen,  who  was  in  consequence  attacked, 
and  subjected  by  the  potentate  of  Tenez,  Abul  Farez.  He  left  his  power 
divided  amongst  his  sons,  which  occasioned  discords,  and  afforded  the 
Spaniards  an  opportunity  of  attacking  them.  Ferdinand  of  Spain  having 
driven  the  Saracens  from  Europe,  followed  them  into  Africa,  and,  in  1504 
and  1509,  took  possession  of  Oran,  Bujeyah,  Algiers,  and  other  places. 

The  successes  of  the  count  of  Navarre  struck  such  terror  into  the  Al- 
Ijerines,  that  they  sought  the  protection  of  Selim  Eutemi,  an  Arabian  prince. 
This  alliance  however,  though  actively  exerted,  did  not  save  them  from 
becoming  tributary  to  their  European  invaders,  who  raised  a  strong  fort 
on  a  small  island  opposite  the  city,  in  order  to  deter  the  maraudings  of 
the  corsairs.     The  death  of  Ferdinand,  in  1516,  seemed  the  signal  of  their 


410  THE  THEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

liberty ;  for  they  solicited,  with  larger  offers,  the  succour  of  Ameh  Barba- 
rossa,  whose  valour  and  suc(;ess  had  rendered  him  the  most  redoubtable 
captain  of  that  period.  Barbarossa  readily  answered  their  call,  and 
marched  with  a  [)owerful  army  to  Algiers,  having  first  reduced  and  then 
treacherously  murdered  Hassan,  another  celebrated  corsair,  whose  follow- 
ers, consisting  of  Turks,  he  compelled  to  follow  in  his  ranks.  The  whole 
populace  of  Algiers,  with  the  prince  Selim  Eutemi  at  their  head,  received 
this  accomplished  butcher  with  every  demonstration  of  gratitude  and 
honour ;  which  he  repaid  by  causing  the  prince  to  be  murdered,  and  him- 
self to  be  saluted  by  his  licentious  follovvers  with  "  Long  live  king  Ameh 
Barbarossa,  the  invincible  king  of  Algiers,  the  chosen  of  God  to  deliver 
the  people  from  the  oppression  of  the  Christians."  This  part  of  the  ac- 
clamation might  have  been  acceptable  enough  to  the  Algerines  in  respect 
of  the  object  for  which  they  had  sought  his  friendship  ;  but  the  conclud- 
ing words,  "destruction  to  all  who  shall  oppose,  or  refuse  to  own  him  as 
their  lawful  sovereign,"  struck  such  terror  into  them,  that  they  acknowl- 
edged his  pretensions  and  received  him  as  their  king.  His  treachery  to 
Selim  was  followed  by  brutal  insults  to  Zaphira,  his  widow,  who  having 
vainly  attempted  to  stab  the  tyrant,  poisoned  herself. 

The  reign  of  Barbarossa,  began  in  treachery  and  usurpation,  was  con- 
tinued by  havoc  and  bloodshed.  The  signal  barbarity  he  exercised  over 
some  conspirators  whom  he  had  detected,  effectually  repressed  all  similar 
plots  against  him  in  those  who  disliked  his  authority,  whilst  his  unbound- 
ed liberality  to  those  who  followed  him  obtained  the  favour  of  others  who 
sought  their  own  private  advantage  in  preference  to  their  country's  liberty. 
An  attempt,  fomented  by  Selim,  son  of  the  prince  whom  Barbarossa  had 
murdered,  proved  abortive,  although  backed  by  ten  thousand  Spaniards 
under  the  command  of  Don  Diego  de  Vera.  The  king  of  Tunis  also,  at 
the  head  of  ten  thousand  Moors,  was  defeated  by  the  Algerine  autocrat, 
with  only  one  thousand  Turkish  musqueteers  and  five  hundred  Granada 
Moors,  his  capital  taken  and  pillaged,  himself  deposed,  and  Barbarossa 
made  sovereign  in  his  stead.  This  victory,  which  he  owed  to  the  use  of 
fire-arms,  which  had  now  began  to  lend  their  terrible  assistance  to  the 
deadliness  of  war,  was  followed  by  an  embassy  from  Tremecen,  in  which 
place  also  he  was  chosen  king.  His  tyranny  in  Tremecen  led  to  his  de- 
struction, for  the  expelled  royal  family  having  obtained  the  assistance  of 
the  Spaniards,  and  being  joined  by  the  refugee  Algerines,  under  the  gui- 
dance of  prince  Selim,  pressed  the  monarch  so  closely,  that  in  his  attempt 
to  escape  he  was  overtaken,  and  after  a  resistance  distinguished  by  the 
most  uncompromising  valour  of  his  followers,  was  slain  by  his  pursuers,  in 
the  forty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  a.  d.  1520.  The  death  of  Barbarossa  did 
not  deliver  the  Algerines  from  the  Turkish  authority  ;  for  Hayradin,  his 
brother,  was  appointed  king.  To  strengthen  his  power  besought  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Grand  Seignior,  from  whom  he  received  a  confirmation  of  his 
ofl!ice,  and  such  reinforcements  that  he  both  compelled  the  acquiescence 
of  the  Moors  and  Arabs  to  his  sway,  and  was  enabled  also  greatly  to  an- 
noy the  Europeans  by  sea.  He  captured  the  Spanish  fort  of  Calan,  and 
by  employing  thirty  thousand  Christian  slaves  on  the  work  without  inter- 
mission for  three  years,  he  built  a  strong  mole,  as  a  protection  for  his 
shipping.  And  not  only  did  he  provide  this  defence  for  himself,  but,  by 
repairing  and  strengthening  the  captured  Spanish  fort,  he  effectually  kept 
out  all  foreign  vessels.  He  strengthened,  by  the  assistance  of  the  Otto- 
man sultan,  all  the  weak  places  of  his  kingdom,  and  was  at  length  re- 
warded by  him  wilii  the  dignity  of  bashaw  of  the  empire  ;  whilst  Algiers, 
now  completely  tributary  to  the  Porte,  received  Hassan  Aga,  a  Sardinian 
renegado,  as  the  Turkish  deputy. 

From  this  period  the  history  of  Algiers  for  about  a  hundred  j'earsisone 
bloody  series  of  piracy  abroad,  and  sanguinary  commotions  at  home. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  411 

Hassan  gave  the  Spaniards  no  respite.  He  ravaged  not  only  their  coasts, 
».  but  even  those  of  the  Papal  States,  and  other  parts  of  Italy.  A  most  for- 
midable armament  was  fitted  out  against  him  by  the  emperor  Charles  V., 
at  the  instigation  of  Paul  III.,  the  pope  of  Rome.  This  expedition  was, 
in  some  respects,  like  the  armanda  which  threatened  England  with  Span- 
ish bigotry  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  was  attended  with  similar  suc- 
cess. Confident  in  his  numbers  and  equipments,  Charles  pushed  his  pro- 
jects with  every  probability  of  success,  whilst  Hassan,  dispirited  by  the 
weakness  of  his  fortifications  and  the  paucity  of  his  garrison,  was  on  the 
point  of  surrender,  when  the  predictions  of  a  mad  prophet,  named  Yusef, 
encouraged  him  to  a  more  desperate  resistance.  The  predictions  of  the 
approaching  ruin  of  the  Spaniards  were  soon  verified.  The  war  of  ele- 
ments— storms  of  wind,  hail,  rain — a  general  darkness — and  violent  earth- 
quakes, combined  to  wreck  the  proud  hopes  of  the  Spanish  monarch. 
His  army,  the  fiiaest,  perhaps,  Europe  had  seen  for  many  an  age,  was  scatter- 
ed, destroyed,  or  taken  captive;  his  navy  in  a  few  minutes  was  swallowed 
up,  and  the  great  deep  closed  over  the  relics,  and  arms,  and  human  beings 
with  which  it  was  amply  furnished  ;  and  he  himself  with  dificulty  escaped 
from  the  general  destruction  which  pursued  his  ill-fated  attempt.  This 
extraordinary  event  look  place  on  the  2dlh  of  October,  1541.  The  Span- 
iards never  recovered  from  this  loss,  and  their  attempts  to  annoy  the  Alger- 
ines  were  henceforth  inconsiderable.  This  may  be  considered  as  the  most 
splendid  victory  which  this  freebooting  state  ever  acquired. 

In  1555,  the  Algerines  under  Pelha-Rais,  the  successor  of  Hassan,  cap- 
tured Bujeyah,  which  had  been  in  possession  of  the  Spaniards  for  fifty 
years.  A  period  now  occurs  thickly  clustered  by  names  of  those  who 
were  bashaws  for  brief  periods,  amongst  which  we  find  Hassan  Corso, 
who  was  murdered  to  make  room  for  Tekeli,  who  in  turn  was  assassinated 
by  Yusef  Calabres,  and  he  was  bashaw  for  only  six  days.  Then  came 
Hassan,  the  son  of  Hayradin,  who  defeated  another  attempt  of  the  Span- 
iards with  the  loss  of  twelve  thousand  men.  This  Hassan  was  deposed 
by  the  aga  of  the  Janissaries ;  then  reinstated ;  again  deposed  by  Ach- 
met :  and  a  third  time  made  bashaw,  when  he  undertook  the  seige  of 
Marsalquiver,  near  Oran,  with  a  powerful  army,  but  which  he  was  com- 
pelled to  raise  on  the  approach  of  the  celebrated  Doria.  He  was  again 
recalled  from  his  government,  and  died  at  Constantinople,  a-  d.  1567. 
His  successor,  Mahomet,  showed  prudence,  and  by  his  wise  regulations 
laid  the  foundation  of  Algerine  independence.  He  was  deposed  by  the 
notorious  renegado  Ochali,  who  reduced  Tunis  to  the  subjection  of  Al- 
giers, only  that  in  a  few  years  it  might  be  made  a  pachalic  of  the  Porte, 
in  1586.  In  the  preceding  year,  the  enterprising  spirit  of  these  pirates 
carried  them  through  the  straits  of  Gibraltar  as  far  as  the  Canary  islands, 
which  they  plundered.  In  the  beginning  of  the  following  century  the 
Algerines  effected  one  leading  step  toward  independence,  in  obtaining 
from  the  Porte  permission  to  appoint  a  dey  of  their  own;  but  the  sultan 
still  retained  a  bashaw,  whose  oflRce  was  confined  to  watching  that  the 
interests  of  his  master  did  not  suffer.  Their  power,  augmented  by  an  in- 
flux of  the  Moors  who  were  expelled  from  Spain  in  1G09,  was  now  formi- 
dable; and  the  slates  of  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  the  Dutch,  quailed 
before  them.  Alliances  were  formed  against  them  ;  and  to  the  honour 
of  France  be  it  said,  that  her  new  navy  was  the  first  which  dared  openly 
avenge  the  cause  of  insulted  Europe  and  suff'ering  humanity.  In  1617 
the  arms  of  Gaul  fell  with  violence  on  the  insolence  of  the  pirates. 

In  1623  Algiers  declared  herself  independent  of  the  Porte,  and  for  the 
next  thirty  years  pillaged  without  distinction  whatever  vessels  of  the  Eu- 
ropeans fell  m  their  way;  then  another  collision  look  place  between  them 
and  the  French  navy;  and  soon  after  a  large  fleet  under  Hali  Pinchinin, 
after  carrying  off  immense  booty  from  the  Italian  coast,  was  defeated  by 


112  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

llie  Venetians  under  Capello,  with  very  considerable  loss,  which  greatly 
crippled  their  power.  This  relapse  was  but  for  two  years;  when,  as  it  ' 
were,  renovated  by  the  misfortune,  they  scoured  the  whole  sea  with  a 
fleet  of  sixty-five  sail,  and  compelled  the  Dutch,  the  French,  and  English 
to  court  their  favour.  Louis  XIV.  at  last,  in  the  year  1681,  provoked  by 
some  outrages  which  the  pirates  had  committed  on  his  coasts,  ordered  a 
powerful  fleet  and  armament  to  be  fitted  out,  with  which  he  destroyed 
several  of  their  vessels  in  the  isle  of  Scio.  In  the  following  year  he 
bombarded  Algiers,  and  but  for  a  sudden  change  of  wind  would  have  de- 
stroyed it.  The  return  of  the  year  saw  the  French  admiral  Du  Quesne 
again  before  Algiers,  who  desisted  not  from  his  attack  till  he  had  com- 
pletely humbled  the  Algerine  audacity,  by  reducing  their  city  to  a  heap 
jf  ruins.  They  sued  for  peace,  which  was  granted,  and  all  Christian 
iaptives  were  set  at  liberty.  Taught  a  lesson  by  this  humiliation,  the 
Algerines  paid  some  respect  toother  nations,  and  the  English  in  particu- 
lar were  admitted  into  a  treaty  with  them  ;  who  further  enforced  respect 
from  the  pirates  by  the  capture  of  Gibraltar  and  Port  Mahon.  The  eigh- 
teenth century  presents  little  that  is  interesting  in  the  history  of  this  pi- 
ratical slate,  except  the  union  of  the  office  of  the  Algerine  dey  and 
Turkish  viceroy,  in  1710;  the  capture  of  Oran  in  1708;  audits  recapture 
in  1737. 

On  the  18th  of  August,  1816,  Lord  Exmouth,  with  a  fleet  of  four  ships 
of  war,  four  frigates,  and  several  vessels,  bombs,  &c.,  appeared  before 
Algiers,  to  exact  punishment  for  the  barbarous  massacre  of  a  num- 
ber of  Europeans  at  Bona,  on  May  23,  by  two  thousand  of  the  Alge 
rine  infantry  and  cavalry.  On  the  27th  of  August,  his  lordship  com 
menced  an  attack,  which  was  completely  successful.  The  whole  of  the 
Algerine  navy  was  destroyed,  and  half  the  town  demolished.  Like  the 
defeat  received  from  Du  Quesne  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  be- 
fore, this  disposed  them  to  accept  the  terms  oflTered  by  the  British  admi- 
ral. Christian  slavery  was  abolished,  and  full  reparation  made ;  and  on 
the  1st  of  September  was  beheld  the  proud  and  gratifying  sight  of  the 
fulfilment  of  the  conditions.  Algiers  disgorged  its  Christian  slaves,  and 
a  large  payment  of  money  for  the  use  of  the  several  states  which  had 
suffered  by  its  depredations.  This  was  one  of  the  most  honourable  tri- 
umphs achieved  by  the  British  flag.  Since  that  time  the  dey  has  been 
embroiled  with  the  Austrian  states  ;  but  its  most  signal  chastisement  was 
left  for  the  French  to  inflict. 

During  a  conversation  that  took  place  between  the  dey  and  the  French 
consul  at  Algiers,  the  former  had  the  ill-mannered  temerity  to  offer  the 
Frenchman  an  insult,  and  even  struck  him.  Redress  was,  of  course,  de- 
manded ;  but  so  far  from  complying  with  the  demand,  the  dey  displayed  a 
hostile  feeling,  and  demolished  the  French  post  at  La  Calle.  This  being 
tantamount  to  a  declaration  of  war,  France  fitted  out  a  powerful  arma- 
ment, including  a  land  force  of  thirty-eight  thousand  men,  with  a  formi- 
dable train  of  artillery,  under  the  command  of  General  Bourmont.  On 
the  14th  of  June,  1830,  the  French  troops  effected  a  landing,  and  after  a 
feeble  resistance,  Algiers  capitulated  on  the  5th  of  July.  The  French 
found  in  the  treasury  of  the  dey,  gold  and  silver  to  the  amount  of  nearly 
fifty  rmllions  of  francs,  besides  an  abundant  supply  of  stores  of  various 
kinds.  The  towns  of  Oran  and  Bona  soon  after  submitted.  But  the 
French  subsequently  met  with  considerable  resistance  from  the  bey  of 
Oran,  who,  however,  after  a  series  of  contests  and  negotiations,  submitted, 
in  1837 ;  and  agreed  to  abandon  the  maritime  parts  of  the  province,  and 
recognize  the  supremacy  of  the  French  in  Africa.  The  occupation  of 
Algiers  (or,  as  it  is  now  generally  termed,  Algeria)  has  been  a  work  of 
more  difficulty  than  its  Gallic  conquerors  anticipated,  and  thousands  of 
Europeans  have  annually  perished  by  sickness  and  the  sword  since  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  4I3 

territory  has  been  wrested  from  the  fierce  Arabs  in  whose  possession  it 
had  so  long  remained  unmolested. 

The  e:overnment  is  at  present  administered  by  the  commander-in-chiel 
of  the  French  forces  in  Algiers,  who  holds  the  rank  of  governor-general. 
It  was  previously  vested  in  a  dey,  or  pacha,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Turkish  soldiery,  and  who  exercised  absolute  power.  The  religion  of  the 
state  is  now  Roman  Catholic,  and  many  mosques  have  been  converted 
'nto  Christian  churches  ;  but  the  great  bulk  of  the  people  profess  Moham- 
medanism ;  and  although  the  French  have  established  schools  of  instruc- 
tion in  all  the  principal  towns,  the  Moors  show  no  desire  to  read  any 
other  book  than  the  Koran.  The  language  is  mostly  Arabic,  but  mixe^ 
with  Moorish  and  Phoenician  words.  What  effect  the  introduction  of  Euro- 
pean laws,  arts,  and  sciences  into  this  part  of  Africa  may  have,  time  alone 
can  show  ;  but  if  we  consider  how  great  were  its  population  and  influence 
in  distant  ages,  and  how  formidable  it  has  since  proved  under  the  domi- 
nation of  a  brutal  horde  of  pirates,  we  may  fairly  expect  that  the  fruits 
of  a  superior  civilization  will,  ere  long,  appear. 


THE    HISTORY 

0  F 

AUSTRALIA  AND  POLYNESIA. 


AUSTRALIA 

Until  the  last  century  it  was  believed  that  a  great  contment  existed  in 
the  Southern  Ocean,  to  which  the  name  of  Terra  Australia  was  given ; 
it  being  inferred  that  the  different  points  of  land  discovered  to  the  south 
of  the  islands  of  Java  and  Celebes,  and  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  afford- 
ed ample  proof  of  such  a  theory.  The  discoveries  of  modern  geographers, 
however,  go  to  invalidate  the  hypothesis  that  there  is  any  continent  south 
of  America. 

Under  the  name  of  Australia  (or  Australasia)  and  Polynesia,  is  compre- 
hended a  maritime  division  of  the  globe,  in  contradistinction  to  the  older 
terrene  divisions  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  being  altogether  a 
classification  of  islands,  including  no  one  continent  under  a  general  name, 
like  the  other  divisions  of  the  world,  in  which  various  kingdoms  are  cir- 
cumscribed by  one  shore ;  and  so  far  it  is  an  anomaly  in  geographical 
classiffication.  We  shall  first  speak  of  the  more  important  division,  now 
known  as  Australia. 

This  includes  the  semi-continental  mass  of  land  hitherto  known  as  New 
Holland,  and  the  islands  of  New  Zealand,  New  Caledon  ia.  New  Hebri- 
des, Queen  Charlotte's  Islands,  Solomon's  Archipelago,  New  Britain, 
New  Ireland,  New  Hanover,  Admiralty  Isles,  and  Papua  or  New  Guinea. 
In  no  part  of  the  globe  can  greater  extremes  of  barrenness  and  fertility 
occur,  than  in  the  various  islands  comprehended  in  Australia.     On  the 


414  THE  TEEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

shores  of  New  Holland,  its  most  prominent  feature,  we  find  fruitful  plains 
covered  with  verdure  eastward,  and  on  the  south  and  south-western  coast 
nothing  but  naked  hillocks  of  sand.  This  island,  if  such  indeed  it  is  to 
be  called,  almost  equal  in  size  to  the  whole  of  continental  Europe,  pre- 
sents of  itself  an  unequalled  and  almost  unexplored  field  for  geological 
enquiry. 

The  natives  of  Australia,  are,  for  the  major  part,  of  a  negro  character; 
and  nowhere  is  human  nature  found  in  a  more  depraved  state.  An  enor- 
mous head,  flat  countenance,  and  long,  slender  extremities,  mark  their 
physical  conformation,  together  with  an  aculeness  of  sight  and  hearing. 
Captain  Cook's  description  of  this  race  has  been  verified  by  every  suc- 
ceeding observer.  "  The  skin,"  says  he,  "  is  the  colour  of  wood  soot,  or 
what  is  usually  called  chocolate  color.  Their  features  are  far  from  dis- 
agreeable ;  their  noses  are  not  flat,  nor  are'  their  lips  thick :  their  teeth 
are  white  and  even,  and  their  hair  naturally  long  and  black ;  it  is,  how- 
ever, cropped  short."  It  seems  that  a  decidedly  inferior  variety  of  the 
human  race  is  found  in  Australia,  and  has  spread  itself  a  considerable  dis- 
tance north  and  east  among  the  islands  of  Polynesia  and  the  eastern 
archipelago.  The  Australian  is  puny  and  weak  compared  with  the  Afri- 
can negro  ;  and  his  intellectual  attainments  are  quite  on  as  low  a  scale  as 
his  physical  powers. 


NEW    HOLLAND. 

The  Portuguese  and  Spaniards  appear  to  have  visited  this  region  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  but  it  was  the  Dutch  who  first  made  it  known  to  Eu- 
rope. In  1605  they  coasted  it  along  the  western  shore  as  far  as  13°  45' 
of  south  latitude  ;  the  farthest  point  of  land  in  their  map  being  called  Cape 
Keer-Weer,  or  Turn-again.  In  1616  the  west  coasts  were  discovered  by 
Dirck  Hp.rfag,  commander  of  an  outward-bound  vessel  from  Holland  to  In- 
dia; and  in  the  year  1801  there  was  found,  by  some  of  the  navigators  by 
whom  that  coast  was  visited,  a  plate  of  tin,  with  an  iascription  and  dates, 
in  which  it  was  mentioned  that  it  had  been  left  by  him.  In  1618,  another 
part  of  the  coast  was  discovered  by  Zeachen,  who  gave  it  the  name  of 
Arnheim  and  Dieman  ;  though  a  diff"erentpart  from  what  afterwads  recei- 
ved the  name  of  Van  Dieman's  Land  from  Tasman.  In  1619,  Jan  Van 
Edels  gave  his  name  to  a  southern  part  of  New  Holland;  and  another 
part  received  the  name  of  Leuwen's  Land.  Peter  Van  Nuytz  gave  his 
name,  in  1G27,  to  the  coast  that  communicates  with  Leuwen  ;  and  another 
part  bore  the  name  of  De  Witt's  Land.  In  1628,  Peter  Carpenter,  a 
Dutchman,  discovered  the  great  Gulf  of  Carpentaria.  In  1687,  Dampier, 
an  Englishman,  sailed  from  Timor,  and  coasted  the  western  part  of  New 
Holland.  In  1699,  he  left  England,  with  a  design  to  explore  this  country : 
as  the  Dutch  suppressed  whatever  discoveries  had  been  made  by  them. 
He  sailed  along  the  western  coast  of  it,  from  15  to  28  degrees  of  latitude. 
He  then  returned  to  Timor ;  from  whence  he  sailed  again ;  examined 
the  isles  of  Papua;  coasted  New  Guinea;  discovered  the  passage  that 
hears  his  name,  and  also  New  Britain  ;  and  sailed  back  to  Timor  along 
New  Guinea.  This  is  the  same  Dampier  who,  between  the  years  1683 
and  1G91,  sailed  round  the  world,  by  changing  his  ships.  Notwithstanding 
the  attempts  of  all  these  navigators,  the  eastern  part  of  this  vast  country 
was  unknown  till  Captain  Cook  made  his  voyages,  and,  by  fully  explor- 
ing that  part  of  the  coast,  gave  his  country  a  title  to  the  possession  of  it; 
which  it  accordingly  look,  under  the  name  of  New  South  Wales,  in 
1787.  An  act  passed  in  parliament,  in  1779,  to  establish  a  colony  in  it, 
where  criminals  condemned  to  be  transported  should  be  sent  to  pa.sa 
their  time  of  servitude. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  415 


NEW    ZEALAND. 

This  is  a  group  of  islands  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean,  which  was  discov- 
ered by  Tasman,  in  1642.  He  traversed  the  eastern  coast,  from  latitude 
34  to  43  south,  and  entered  a  strait ;  but  being  attacked  by  the  natives 
soon  after  he  came  to  an  anchor,  in  the  place  to  which  he  gave  the  name 
of  Murderer's  Bay,  he  did  not  go  on  shore.  He  called  the  counJ;ry  Staten 
Land,  in  honour  of  the  States  General;  though  it  has  been  generally  dis- 
tinguished, in  maps  and  charts,  by  the  name  of  New  Zealand.  In  1770, 
it  was  circumnavigated  by  Captain  Cook,  who  found  it  to  consist  of  two 
large  islands;  the  northernmost,  called  by  the  nai'iv es,  A ienomawie  ;  and 
the  southernmost,  Tovaipoenammoo  ;  separated  by  a  strait  which  he  named 
after  himself.  The  coast  is  indented  with  deep  bays,  aflTording  excellent 
shelter  for  shipping.  There  are  also  several  rivers,  particularly  in  the 
northern  island,  capable  of  receiving  large  ships,  in  which  the  spring-tide 
rises  ten  feet  perpendicular. 

Captain  Cook,  in  1773,  planted  several  spots  of  ground  with  European 
garden  seeds  ;  and  in  1777,]in  several  of  these  spots,  although  totally  neg- 
lected and  overrun  with  weeds,  were  found  cabbages,  onions,  leeks,  pars- 
ley, radishes,  mustard,  &c.,  and  a  few  fine  potatoes,  greatly  improved  by 
change  of  soil.  In  other  places  everything  had  been  rooted  out  to  make 
room  for  temporary  villages.  Captain  Cook  also  introduced  European 
poultry  ;  and  on  his  last  visit  had  the  satisfaction  to  find  them  increased, 
in  a  wild  and  domestic  state,  beyond  all  danger  of  being  exterminated. 
From  that  period,  the  coasts  were  occasionally  visited  by  whalers,  and 
some  communication  was  held  with  the  natives ;  but  until  181.5,  when  a 
missionary  station  was  established  there,  no  permanent  settlement  ap- 
pears to  have  been  made  by  any  people.  At  the  general  peace,  the  right 
of  Great  Britain  to  these  islands  was  recognized  ;  but  no  constituted 
authority  was  placed  over  New  Zealand  till  1833,  when  a  sub-governor 
from  New  South  Wales  was  sent  to  reside  there.  Meantime  the  shores 
had  become  infested  by  marauding  traders  and  adventurers  of  the  worst 
class,  who  attempted  to  obtain  from  the  natives  large  tracts  of  land  by  the 
most  fraudulent  means.  In  order  to  remedy  this  evil  as  far  as  possible, 
and  to  put  a  stop  to  such  practices  in  future.  New  Zealand  was,  in  1840, 
constituted  a  colony  dependent  on  New  South  Wales,  and  a  governor 
appointed  ;  a  commission  was  also  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  validity 
(if  all  claims  to  land,  (Sec. 

The  New  Zealanders  are  tall,  strong,  active  and  well-shaped  ;  being 
superior  in  every  respect  to  the  negro  race  of  Australia  and  the  eastern 
Archipelago.  Their  colour  is  in  general  a  dark  chestnut,  though  many 
bear  a  resemblance  to  the  gipsy,  and  some  have  even  the  complexion  of 
a  European  brunette.  Were  it  not  for  the  disgusting  practice  of  occa- 
sionally feasting  on  the  prisoners  they  take  in  battle,  and  the  crime  of 
infanticide — both  of  which  barbarities  are  said  to  be  rapidly  on  the  de- 
cline— it  might  be  said  the  New  Zealanders  were  less  addicted  to  the 
vices  of  savage  life  than  most  other  savages.  These  islands  lie  between 
the  34lh  and  4Pth  degrees  of  south  latitude,  and  between  the  166th  and 
180th  degrees  of  east  longitude,  being  the  antipodes  of  London  and  other 
parts  o'  Great  Britain. — The  other  isles  belonging  to  the  Australian  divi- 
sion  are  too  unimportant  to  render  a  description  necessary. 


POLYNESIA. 

This  name,  as  we  have  already  observed,  is  given  by  modern  geogra- 
phers, to  various  groups  of  islands  in  the  Great  Pacific  Ocean,  lying  east 
of  the  Asiatic  isles  and  Australia,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  equator; 
stretching  through  an  extent  of  about  5100  miles  from  north  to  south,  and 
3600  from  east  to  west.  P>erything  bespeaks  their  submarine  creation, 
and  in  many  are  positive  evidences  of  volcanic  agency.  They  are  some- 
times divided  into  Northern  and  Southern  Polynesia,  and  classed  in  the 
following  groups: — Pelew  Islands;  Carolines;  Ladrones ;  Sandwich 
Islands;  Friendly  Islands ;  Gallapagos  ;  Admiralty  Isles  ;  New  Ireland; 
New  Britain,  and  New  Hanover;  Solomon's  Isles ;  New  Hebrides,  and 
New  Caledonia ;  Queen  Charlotte's  Islands  ;  Navigators'  Islands  ;  Soci- 
ety Islands ;  Marquesas :  Pitcairn  Island,  &c.  Of  these  we  shall  only 
mention  a  few ;  as  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  come  within  the  scope  of  a 
work  professedly  historical ;  though  their  entire  omission  might  be  re- 
garded as  a  defect. 


LADRONES,  OR  MARIANNE  ISLANDS. 

The  Ladrcnes  are  a  cluster  of  islands  belonging  to  Spain,  lying  in  tne 
North  Pacific  Ocean,  between  the  12th  and  21st  degrees  of  north  latitude, 
and  about  the  145th  degree  of  east  longitude.  They  were  discovered  by 
Magellan,  who  gave  them  the  name  of  Lad'-one  Islands,  or  the  Islands  of 
Thieves,  from  the  thievish  disposition  of  the  inhabitants.  At  the  time  of 
this  discovery,  the  natives  were  totally  ignorant  of  any  other  country 
than  their  own,  and,  as  it  is  said,  were  actually  unacquainted  with  the  el- 
ement of  fire,  till  Magellan,  provoked  by  their  repeated  thefts,  burned  one 
of  their  villages.  At  the  latter  end  of  the  17th  century,  they  obtained  the 
name  of  the  Marianne  Islands,  from  the  Queen  of  Spain,  Mary  Anne  of 
Austria,  mother  of  Charles  II.,  at  whose  expense  missionaries  were  sent 
thither  to  propagate  the  Christian  faith. 

Though  plunged  in  the  deepest  ignorance,  and  destitute  ol  c^'erythlng 
valued  by  tlie  rest  of  mankind,  no  nation  ever  shewed  more  presumption, 
or  a  greater  conceit  of  themselves,  than  these  islanders  ;  for  to  use  the 
words  of  an  old  voyager,  they  looked  on  themselves  as  the  only  sensible 
and  polished  people  in  the  world.  As  Japan  lies  within  six  or  seven  days 
sail  of  them,  vome  have  been  induced  to  believe  that  the  first  inhabitants 
came  from  that  empire  ;  but,  from  their  greater  resemblance  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Philippine  Islands,  than  to  the  Japanese,  it  is  more  probable 
that  they  came  from  the  former.  Commodore  Anson  visited  the  La- 
drones  in  1742,  and  describes  Tirrian,  one  of  the  group,  as  abounding  with 
everything  necessary  to  human  subsistence,  and  presenting  at  the  same 
time  a  pleasant  and  delightful  appearance,  where  hill  and  valley,  rich  ver- 
dure and  spreading  trees,  formed  a  happy  intermixture.  Subsequent  nav- 
igators, however,  found  the  island  to  have  been  deserted,  and  become 
an  unmhabited  wilderness.  The  natives  of  the  the  Ladrones  are  tall, 
robust,  and  active,  managing  their  canoes  with  admirable  adroitness. 
Guajan  is  the  largest  island  in  the  group,  and  the  population  consists  of 
settlers  from  Mexico  and  the  Philippine  Islands. 


THE  TREASCmY  OF  HISTOILY  417 


FRIENDLY  ISLANDS. 


The  Friendly  Isl'n,nds  are  a  group  or  cluster  of  islands,  said  to  be  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  in  number,  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean.  They 
received  their  name  from  the  celebrated  Captain  Cook,  in  the  year  1773,  in 
consideration  of  the  friendship  which  appeared  to  subsist  among  the 
inhabitants,  and  from  their  courteous  behaviour  to  strangers.  The  chief 
islands  are  Anamooka,  Tongataboo,  Lefooga,  and  Eooa.  Abel  Jansen 
Tasman,  an  eminent  Dutch  navigator,  first  touched  here  in  1643,  and  gave 
names  to  the  principal  islands.  Captain  Cook  laboriously  explored  the 
whole  cluster,  which  he  found  to  consist  of  upwards  of  sixty.  The 
three  islands  which  Tasman  saw,  he  named  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam 
and  Middleburg.  Tongataboo  is  the  residence  of  the  sovereign,  and  the 
chiefs.  These  islands  are  fertile,  and  in  general  highly  cultivated.  Eooa 
is  described  as  a  beautiful  spot :  the  land  rising  gently  to  a  considerable 
height,  presents  the  eye  with  an  extensive  view.  Captain  Cook  and 
some  of  his  officers  walked  up  to  the  highest  point  of  the  island.  "  While 
I  was  surveying  this  delightful  prospect,"  says  the  captain,  "  I  could  not 
help  flattering  myself  with  the  pleasing  idea,  that  some  future  navigator 
may,  from  the  same  station,  behold  these  meadows  stocked  with  cattle, 
brought  to  these  islands  by  the  ships  of  England  ;  and  that  the  comple- 
tion of  this  single  benevolent  purpose,  independent  of  all  other  consider- 
ations, would  sufficiently  mark  to  posterity,  that  our  voyages  had  not  been 
useless  to  the  general  interests  of  humanity."  Of  tiie  nature  of  their 
government,  no  more  is  known  than  the  general  outline.  The  power  of 
the  king  is  unlimited,  and  the  life  and  property  of  the  subjects  are  at  his 
disposal ;  and  instances  enough  were  seen  to  prove,  that  the  lower  order 
have  no  property,  nor  safety  for  their  persons,  but  at  the  will  of  the  chiefs 
to  whom  they  respectively  belong. 


SOCIETY  ISLANDS. 

The  Society  Islands,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  are  eight  in  number;  viz., 
Otaheite,  Huaheine,  Ulitea,  Otaha,  Bolabola,  Maurowa,  Toobaee,  Taboo- 
yamanoo.  They  are  situated  between  the  latitude  of  16°  10'  and  16°  55' 
south,  and  between  the  longitude  of  150°  57'  and  152°  west.  The  people, 
religion,  language,  customs  and  manners,  soil  and  productions,  are  nearly 
the  same  as  Otaheite, — which  was  discovered  by  Captain  Wallis  in  1767, 
who  called  it  King  George  the  Third's  Island.  Bougainville,  a  French 
circumnavigator,  next  arrived  at  it,  in  1768,  and  stayed  ten  days.  Cap- 
tain Cook,  in  the  Endeavour,  next  visited  it,  in  1769,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Banks,  Dr  Solander,  and  other  learned  men,  to  observe  the  transit  of  Ve- 
nus, and  staid  three  months  ;  and  it  was  visited  by  Captain  Cook  in  his 
two  succeeding  voyages  ;  since  which  time  the  Spaniards  and  ojher  Euro- 
peans have  called  there.  It  consists  of  two  peninsulas,  great  part  of 
which  is  covered  with  woods,  consisting  of  bread-fruit  trees,  palms,  cocoa- 
nuts,  and  all  tropical  vegetation.  The  people  of  this  and  the  neighbour- 
ing islands,  were  the  most  honest  and  civilized  of  any  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  ; 
but  it  appears  certain  that  the  inhabitants  have  degenerated  rather  than 
improved  since  Cook's  time. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

The  Sandwich  Islands,  in  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  consist  of  eleven  m 
number.     They  are  called  by  the  natives  Owyhee,  Movvee,  Ranai,  Moro- 
27 


418  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTOBiV. 

toi,  Taboorowa,  Woakoo,  Atooi,  Neeheeneow,  Orehowa,  Morotinne,  and 
Takoora :  all  inhabited  except  the  last  two.  They  were  discovered  by 
Captain  Cook  in  Mil  and  1778.  Goats,  and  European  seeds,  were  left  by 
the  English  at  their  departure  the  first  time ;  but  the  possession  of  the 
goats  soon  gave  rise  to  a  contest  between  two  districts,  in  which  the 
breed  was  entirely  destroyed.  The  inhabitants  are  undoubtedly  of  the 
same  race  as  those  that  possess  the  islands  south  of  the  equator ;  and  in 
their  person  and  manner,  approach  nearer  to  the  New  Zealanders  than  to 
their  less  distant  neighbours,  either  of  the  Society  or  Friendly  Islands. 
Tattooing  the  body  is  practised  by  the  whole  of  them.  As  these  islands 
are  not  united  under  one  government,  wars  are  frequent  among  them.  The 
same  system  of  subordination  prevails  here  as  at  the  other  islands,  the 
same  absolute  authority  on  the  part  of  the  chiefs,  and  the  same  unresist- 
ing submission  on  the  part  of  the  people.  The  government  is  monarchial, 
and  hereditary. 

Owyhee,  the  eastermost  and  largest  of  these  islands,  was  discovered 
by  Captain  Cook,  on  the  30th  November,  1778,  on  his  return  from  his  voy- 
age northward.  Having  circumnavigated  the  island,  and  anchored  in  a 
bay,  called  Karakakooa,  he  found  great  alteration  in  the  conduct  of  the 
natives,  and  a  general  disposition  to  theft.  Still  no  hostilities  were  com- 
menced, honours  were  paid  the  commander,  and  on  going  ashore,  he  was 
received  with  ceremonies  little  short  of  adoration.  A  vast  quantity  of 
hogs,  and  other  provisioiis,  were  procured  for  the  ships  ;  and  on  the  4th  of 
February,  1789,  they  left  the  island,  not  without  most  magnificent  pres- 
ents from  the  chiefs,  such  as  they  had  never  received  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  Unluckily,  they  encountered  a  storm  on  the  6th  and  7th  of  the 
eame  month,  during  which  the  Resolution  sprung  the  head  of  her  foremast 
in  such  a  manner,  that  they  were  obliged  to  return  to  Karakakooa  bay  to 
have  it  repaired.  On  the  13th,  one  of  the  natives  being  detected  in  steal- 
ing the  tongs  from  the  armourer's  forge  in  the  Discovery,  was  dismissed 
with  a  pretty  severe  flogging  :  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  another 
having  snatched  up  the  tongs  and  a  chisel,  jumped  overboard  with  them, 
and  swam  for  the  shore,  and  having  got  on  board  of  a  canoe,  escaped. 
These  tools  were  soon  after  returned,  through  the  means  of  Pareah,  a 
chief.  But  Captain  Cook  was  not  satisfied  with  the  recovery  of  the  sto- 
len goods  ;  he  insisted  upon  having  the  thief,  or  the  canoe  which  carried 
him,  by  way  of  reprisal.  This  brought  on  hostilities.  The  Indians  at- 
tacked the  sailors  with  stones,  and  drove  them  to  their  boats.  And  al- 
though the  difference  appeared  to  be  presently  adjusted,  the  jealousy  of 
the  natives  subsequently  broke  forth  in  a  furious  assault,  on  an  attempt  to 
induce  the  King  of  the  Islands  to  go  on  board  one  of  the  ships.  On  this 
occasion,  Sunday,  Uth  February,  1779,  Captain  Cook  was  killed. 


ICELAND. 

This  is  a  large  island  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  between 
the  63rd  and  67th  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  between  the  16th  and 
23rd  degrees  of  west  longitude  from  London.  It  is  of  a  very  irregular 
shape,  and  contains  about  fifty-six  thousand  inhabitants.  At  what  time 
the  island  was  first  peopled  is  uncertain.  The  Icelandic  chronicles  go  no 
farther  back  than  the  arrival  of  the  Norwegians,  about  the  year  861,  when 
Naddodr,  a  pirate,  was  driven  on  the  coast.  In  864,  Garder  Suafarson,  a 
Swede,  encouraged  by  the  account  given  by  Naddodr,  went  in  search  of 
it,  sailed  round  it,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Gardersholmer,  or  Garder's 
Island.    Having  remained  in  Iceland  during  the  winter,  he  returned  in  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  419 

spring  to  Norway,  where  he  described  the  new-discovered  island  as  a 
pleasant,  well-wooded  country.  This  excited  a  desire  in  Floke,  another 
Swede,  reputed  the  best  navigator  of  his  time,  to  undertake  a  voyage 
thither.  Floke  staid  the  whole  winter  in  the  island,  and,  because  he 
found  great  quantities  of  floating  ice  on  the  north  side,  he  called  it  Ice- 
land, which  name  it  has  ever  since  retained. 

In  874,  Ingolfr,  and  his  friend  Liefr,  established  a  colony,  and  in  sixty 
years  the  whole  island  was  inhabited.  The  tyranny  of  Harold,  king  of 
Norway,  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  population  of  Iceland.  Besides 
the  Norwegians,  new  colonies  arrived  from  different  nations.  In  928 
they  chose  a  chief ;  but  his  powers  were  inconsiderable,  and  the  Iceland- 
ers began  to  wage  war  against  each  other.  They  remained,  however, 
free  from  a  foreign  yoke  till  1261,  when  they  became  subject  to  the  Nor- 
wegians. Afterwards  Iceland,  together  with  Norway,  became  subject  to 
Denmark.  Iceland  is  famous  for  the  volcanoes  with  which  it  abounds, 
appearing,  indeed,  to  owe  its  existence  to  submarine  volcanic  agency, 
and  to  have  been  upheaved  at  intervals  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
Tracts  of  lava  traverse  the  island  and  almost  in  every  direction  ;  besides 
which  the  country  abounds  with  other  mineral  masses  indicative  of  an 
igneous  origin.  The  burning  mountains,  so  dreadful  in  their  eflfect,  seldom 
begin  to  throw  out  fire  without  giving  warning.  A  subterraneous  noise 
precedes  the  eruption  for  several  days,  with  a  roaring  and  crackling  in  the 
place  from  whence  the  fire  is  about  to  burst  forth.  The  immediate  sign 
is  the  bursting  of  the  mass  of  ice,  or  snow,  which  covers  the  mountain, 
with  a  dreadful  noise.  The  flames  then  issue  forth,  and  stones,  ashes,  &c. 
are  thrown  out  to  vast  distances.  Egbert  Olassen  relates,  that  in  the 
eruption  of  Kattle-gia,  in  1755,  a  stone  weighing  two  hundred  and  ninety 
pounds  was  tlirown  to  the  distance  of  twenty-four  English  miles. 

Besides  more  than  thirty  volcanic  mountains,  there  exists  an  immense 
number  of  small  cones  and  craters,  from  which  streams  of  melted  substan- 
ces have  been  poured  forth  over  the  surrounding  regions.  Twenty-three 
eruptions  of  Hecla  are  recorded  since  the  occupation  of  the  island  by 
Europeans;  the  first  of  which  occurred  in  1004.  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
give  an  account  of  that  which  happened  in  1783,  and  which,  from  its 
violence,  seems  to  have  been  unparalleled  in  history.  Its  first  signs  were 
observed  on  the  first  of  June,  by  a  trembling  of  the  earth  in  the  western 
part  of  the  province  of  Skapterfiall ;  it  increased  gradually  till  the  elev- 
enth, and  became  at  last  so  great,  that  the  inhabitants  quitted  their  houses 
and  lay  at  night  in  tents  on  the  ground.  A  continual  smoke,  or  steam, 
was  perceived  rising  out  of  the  earth  in  the  northern  and  uninhabited 
parts  of  the  country.  Three  fire  spouts,  as  they  were  called,  broke  out 
m  different  places ;  one  in  Ulfarsdal,  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  river  Skap- 
la  ;  the  other  two  were  a  little  to  the  westward  of  the  river  Ilverfisfliot. 
The  three  fire  spouts,  or  streams  of  lava,  united  in  one  after  having  risen 
a  considerable  height  in  the  air,  arrived  at  last  at  such  an  amazing  alti- 
tude as  to  be  seen  at  the  distance  of  upwards  of  two  hundred  miles  ;  the 
whole  country,  for  double  that  distance,  being  enveloped  in  the  densest 
smoke  and  steam,  while  the  atmosphere  was  filled  with  sand,  brimstone, 
and  ashes,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  occasion  continual  darkness.  Consid- 
erable damage  was  done  by  the  pumice-stone,  which  fell  red-hot  in  great 
quantities.  Along  with  these,  a  tenacious  substance,  like  pitch,  fell  in 
abundance.  This  shower  having  continued  for  three  days,  the  fire  be- 
came very  visible,  and  at  last  arrived  at  the  amazing  height  already  men- 
tioned. Sometimes  it  appeared  in  a  continual  stream,  at  others  in  flashes, 
with  a  perpetual  noise  like  thunder,  which  lasted  the  whole  summer. 
The  obscurity  occasioned  by  this  extraordinary  eruption,  seems  to  have 
reached  as  far  as  Great  Britain;  for,  during  the  whole  summer  of  1783, 
a  haze  or  dullness  appeared  to  darken  the  atmosphere.    The  whole  ex- 


420  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tent  of  ground  covered  by  the  lava,  was  computed  to  be  ninety  miles  long, 
by  forty-two  in  breadth  ;  the  depth  of  the  lava  being  from  sixteen  to  twen- 
ty fathoms.  Twelve  rivers  were  dried  up,  twenty-one  villages  were  de- 
stroyed, and  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  persons  lost  their  lives. 
After  this  eruption,  two  new  islands  were  thrown  up  in  the  sea;  one  of 
about  three  miles  in  circumference,  and  about  a  mile  in  height,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  a  hundred  miles  south-west  from  Iceland,  in  one  hundred  fath- 
oms water.  The  other  lay  to  the  north-west,  between  Iceland  and 
Greenland.     Both  these  islands  subsequently  disappeared. 

Iceland  abounds  also  with  hot  and  boiling  springs,  called  geysers,  some 
of  which  throw  the  water  into  the  air  to  the  surprising  height  of  from 
two  hundred  to  three  hundred  feet.  These  are,  indeed,  the  most  remark- 
able phenomena  in  Iceland.  The  great  geyser,  or  principal  fountain  of 
this  kind,  rises  from  a  tube  or  funnel,  seventy-eight  feet  in  perpendicular 
depth,  and  from  eight  to  ten  feet  in  diameter  at  the  bottom,  but  gradually 
widening  till  it  terminates  in  a  capacious  basin.  The  jets  take  place  at 
intervals  of  about  six  hours;  and  when  the  water,  in  a  violent  state  of 
ebulition,  begins  to  rise  and  fill  the  basin,  subterraneous  noises,  like 
the  distant  roar  of  cannon,  may  be  heard,  the  earth  is  slightly  shaken, 
and  the  agitation  increases,  till  at  length  a  column  of  water  is  sud- 
denly thrown  up,  to  a  vast  height,  as  already  stated.  After  playing  for  a 
time  like  an  immense  artificial  fountain,  a  column  of  steam  rushes  up 
with  great  violence,  and  a  thundering  noise  terminates  the  eruption.  All 
the  hot  waters  have  an  incrusting  quality  ;  in  some  places  they  taste  of 
sulphur,  in  others  not,  but  when  drank  as  soon  as  cold,  they  taste  like 
common  boiled  water.  This  island  is  committed  to  a  governor,  who  re- 
sides at  Bassa-stadr ;  he  has  under  him  a  bailiff,  two  laymen,  a  sheriff, 
and  twenty-two  sysselmen,  or  magistrates,  who  superintend  small  dis- 
tricts ;  and  almost  everything  is  decided  according  to  the  laws  of  Den- 
mark, to  whom  it  belongs. 

At  a  period  when  most  parts  of  continental  Europe  were  in  a  state  ol 
rude  ignorance,  the  inhabitants  of  this  remote  island  were  well  acquainted 
with  poetry  and  history.  The  most  flourishing  period  of  Icelandic  liter- 
ature appears  to  have  been  from  the  twelfth  to  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century  ;  but  even  during  the  last  three  centuries,  Iceland  has  produced 
several  eminently  learned  men.  At  present  there  is  no  want  of  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  people  to  apply  to  literature,  but  they  wisely  attend 
more  to  solid  branches  of  learning  than  to  the  lays  and  legends  of  their 
ancient  sages.  Domestic  education  is  universal ;  there  are  few  among 
them  who  cannot  read  and  write,  and  many  among  the  better  class  would 
be  distinguished  by  their  taste  and  learning  in  the  most  cultivated  society. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  AMEEICA. 


This  vast  continent  comprises  nearly  one  half  of  the  habitable  globe. 
It  is  supposed  by  some  who  have  given  the  matter  a  particular  investiga- 
tion, to  have  been  partially  known  to  the  ancients  ;  but,  be  that  as  it  may, 
ihe  glory  of  its  discovery  in  modern  history  belongs  to  Christoval  Colon, 
a  native  of  the  republic  of  Genoa,  better  known  to  us  as  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus. This  enterprising  man,  after  many  fruitless  attempts  to  obtain 
assistance  to  enable  him  to  prosecute  his  elaborate  speculations  in  geo- 
graphy, discovered  the  island  of  St.  Salvador,  Oct.  12th,  1492 ;  and  six 
years  afterwards  he  reached  the  main  continent  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ori- 
noco, August  1st,  1498. 

The  discovery  of  the  north  continent  of  America  belongs  to  the  family 
of  the  Cabots,  Venetian  by  birth,  but  who  were  residing  in  Bristol.  The 
father  and  three  sons  set  out  in  the  year  1497,  stimulated  by  the  fame  of 
Columbus,  and  under  the  patronage  of  Henry  VII.  of  England.  They 
discovered  several  islands,  and  coasted  the  whole  of  the  main-land  of  the 
northern  continent  down  to  the  Floridas.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  the 
honour  of  giving  a  name  to  these  immense  discoveries,  was  gained  by 
Amerigo  Vespucci,  a  Florentine,  who  accompanied  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  as 
pilot,  and  on  returning  published  the  first  account  of  the  several  countries ; 
from  which  circumstance  the  newly-discovered  world  was  called  America. 

The  Brazilian  coast  was  first  approached  by  Alvarez  de  Cabral,  a  Por- 
tuguese admiral,  in  1500  ;  and  Florida  by  Ponce  de  Leon,  a  Spaniard,  in 
1512.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  peninsula,  called  Yucatan,  the  natives 
were  found  clothed  in  cotton  garments,  and  exhibiting  other  marks  of  civ- 
ilization, by  Hernandez  Cordova,  a.  d.  1517.  The  expedition  which  fol- 
lowed this  discovery  led  to  the  conquest  of  Mexico. 

The  spirit  of  discovery  was  now  active,  and  all  the  great  European 
courts  emulated  one  another  in  affording  facilities  to  carry  into  effect 
the  enterprising  efforts  of  numerous  able  and  adventurous  navigators, 
who  successively  prosecuted  the  attempt,  and  immortalized  their  names 
by  the  successes  which  they  gained.  The  history  of  the  principal  colo- 
nies and  states  which  arose  from  these  discoveries  will  be  given  in  due 
course. 

America  is  divided  into  North  and  South.  The  principal  colonies  of 
the  first  were  made  by  England  and  France  ;  those  of  the  South  by  Spain 
and  Portugal.  The  distinguishing  spirit  of  the  respective  mother  coun- 
tries seems  to  have  been  infused  into  the  infant  states ;  for  while  the 
southern  division  is  rent  by  crude  aspirants  after  liberty,  the  greater  part 
of  North  America  stands  conspicuous — a  mighty  nation,  growing  in  all 
the  essentials  of  greatness,  and  already  worthy  to  rival  the  leading  Euro- 
pean states.  The  vigour  of  the  United  States  is  that  of  youth;  while 
the  strength  of  the  European  dynasties  assimilates  very  closely  to  the  con- 
dition of  Age — some  of  them  strong,  it  is  true,  in  their  gray  hairs,  but 
others  effete,  and  tottering  to  decay. 


BRITISH   POSSESSIONS. 


CANADA. 

This  is  the  most  important  province  possessed  by  Great  Britain  in  Nortn 
America.  Its  history  is  closely  interwoven  with  that  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  people  of  which  it  has  been,  both  under  its  original  and  present 
masters,  in  almost  constant  collision.  Founded  by  the  French,  in  1C08, 
the  colonists  were  for  many  years  in  danger  of  being  overwhelmed  by  the 
native  Indians,  with  whom  at  length  they  entered  into  treaties,  which  en- 
abled them  to  annoy  very  materially  the  neighbouring  states  under  the 
British  jurisdiction.  Twenty  years  after  the  founding  of  Quebec,  the  right 
of  trading  with  Canada  was  granted  exclusively  to  a  company  of  French 
merchants,  who,  in  the  following  years,  were  dispossessed  of  Quebec  by 
Sir  David  Keith.  This  conquest  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  British  till 
it  was  ceded  at  the  treaty  of  St.  Germaine. 

In  1663  the  West  India  Company  obtained  the  exclusive  right  of  com 
merce  for  forty  years,  and  Canada  for  thirty  years  enjoyed  tranquillity, 
and  its  concomitant,  prosperity  ;  which  were  interrupted  by  a  bold  but  un- 
successful expedition  of  the  people  of  New  England,  consisting  of  one 
thousand  two  hundred  or  one  thousand  three  hundred  men  under  the  com- 
mand of  Sir  William  Phipps.  This  attempt  was  repeated  about  seventeen 
years  afterwards  (1711),  on  a  larger  scale,  but  shared  the  same  result,  al- 
though four  thousand  veteran  British  troops  were  employed. 

Little  occurs  in  the  affairs  of  Canada  deserving  notice,  till  the  breaking 
out  of  the  continental  war,  in  175(),  when  Canada  became  the  theatre  of 
military  scenes,  which  ended,  three  years  afterwards,  in  the  conquest  of 
it  by  the  British.  The  English  general,  Wolfe,  though  defeated  in  his 
first  operations  by  the  French,  at  length,  after  an  action  sustained  by 
equal  gallantry  on  both  sides,  obtained  possession  of  Quebec.  In  this  ex- 
ploit the  opposing  generals,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  are  equally  renowned 
for  spirit  and  courage  ;  one  did  not  survive  the  mortification  of  defeat — 
the  other  only  lived  to  hear  the  shouts  of  victory.  This  conquest  was 
ratified  to  the  English  by  the  treaty  of  1763.  Since  that  period  it  long 
enjoyed  comparative  peace ;  for  with  the  exception  of  one  unsuccessful 
expedition  sent  against  it  during  the  revolutionary  war,  under  General 
Montgomery,  who  was  killed,  Canada  was  exempt  from  military  operations 
till  the  last  American  war,  when  it  became  the  theatre  of  several  bloody 
frays,  but  resisted,  by  means  of  the  British  troops,  the  reiterated  attacks 
of  the  Americans.  Canada  is  now  rising  in  importance.  The  facility  of 
commerce  is  increased,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  this  colony  will  be  a 
▼aluable  acquisition  to  the  British  crown 

Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  the  present  governor,  who  was  appointed  on  the 
death  of  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  in  1843,  is  a  man  of  great  experience  and 
ability.  "From  the  first  moment  of  his  assumption  of  the  vice-regal  of- 
fice," says  the  Montreal  Gazette,  "  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  who  had  been 
used  to  represent  the  crown  of  England  with  honour  and  success,  in  other 
parts  of  the  globe,  found  himself,  and  most  naturally  so,  in  a  state  o( 
antagonism,'  as  they  very  correctly  phrase  it,  with  those  who  were  con- 
verting Canada  into  a  democracy,  and  nullifying  the  royal  power.  He 
found  the  whole  power  of  the  provinces  united  and  centralized  by  the  act 
of  Lord  Sydenham,  and  the  royal  and  paternal  influence  abdicated  by  that 
of  Sir  Charles  Bagot.  He  found  a  democracy  concentrated  in  one  cham 
ber  and  ruled  by  one  cabal ;  claiming  the  right  despotically  to  introduce 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  423 

into  the  other  chamber  any  number  of  new  members  necessary  to  register 
its  decrees — ay,  and  exercising  it,  too;  demanding  that  the  power  of  the 
crown  and  of  the  mother  country  should  be  a  mere  nullity,  and  asserting 
that  the  only  duty  of  their  representative  was  to  transfer  its  patronage  to 
them  for  the  purpose  of  perpetually  confirming  their  own.  Such  was  the 
system  which  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  found  in  full  operation;  to  which, 
from  the  first,  he  intimated  himself  to  be  in  a  state  of  'antagonism;'  to 
which  he  opposed  himself  under  the  great  difficulties  which  circumstances 
had  arrayed  against  him ;  against  which  he  has  now  taken  his  stand,  and 
called  on  everything  that  is  loyal  and  constitutional,  on  every  man  who 
loves  the  British  connexions  and  respects  the  principles  of  constitutional 
liberty  as  distinguished  from  mere  democracy,  to  rally  around  him." 

We  make  no  mention  in  this  place  of  the  internal  insurrections  and 
piravical  invasions  of  Canada  in  the  years  1838  and  1839,  but  refer  the 
reader  to  the  "History  of  England,"  p.  739,  and  the  "History  of  the 
United  States,''  p. ,  et  seq. 


NEWFOUNDLAND. 

This  large  island  of  North  America,  situated  near  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence, is  s^posed  to  have  been  first  discovered  by  the  Norwegians,  about 
the  beginning  of  the  lllh  century;  be  it  so  or  not,  it  was  not  generally 
made  known  till  John  Cabot  visited  it  in  1497,  and  gave  it  its  present  name. 
Immediately  after  this,  we  find  that  an  extensive  fishery  was  carried  on, 
by  the  Portuguese  and  French,  on  the  neighbouring  banks ;  but  no  suc- 
successful  attempt  at  a  settlement  was  made  till  1623,  when  Lord  Balti- 
more established  a  colony  on  the  south-east  part  of  the  island,  and  ap- 
pointed his  son  governor.  In  1633  some  colonists  arrived  from  Ireland, 
and  in  1654  a  few  English  settlers  came  over,  having  the  authority  of  a 
parliamentary  grant.  The  Newfoundland  fishery  has  for  nearly  a  century 
been  the  occasion  of  disputes  between  the  English,  French,  and  Ameri- 
cans ;  though  for  a  great  portion  of  the  time  the  English  were  enabled  to 
monopolize  the  trade.  Since  the  peace  of  1815,  however,  it  has  been  very 
different ;  the  French  and  Americans  enjoying  the  greatest  share  of  it. 

The  other  British  Possessiom  in  North  America  are  New  Brunswick, 
NovA  Scotia,  Cape  Breton,  and  Prince  Edward's  IsLiiND ;  but  want  of 
space  prevents  us  from  entering  on  the  particular  history  of  either. 


GREENLAND. 

Under  the  name  of  Greenland  is  denoted  the  most  easterly  parts  of 
America,  stretching  towards  the  North  Pole,  and  likewise  some  islands 
to  the  northward  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  lying  in  very  high  latitudes. 
This  country  is  divided  into  West  and  East  Greenland.  West  Greenland 
had  long  been  considered  to  be  a  part  of  the  continent  of  America,  but 
recent  geographers  seem  to  think  it  an  island.  It  is  bounded  on  the 
west  by  Baffin's  bay,  on  the  south  by  Davis'  straits,  and  on  the  east  by 
.he  North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

This  country  was  first  peopled  by  Europeans  from  Iceland,  headed  by 
Eric  Rande  in  the  eighth  century;  and  a  regular  intercourse  was  main- 
Uiined  between  Norway  and  Greenland  till  the  year  1406;  from  that 
ime  all  correspondence  was  cut  off,    and  all  knowledge  of  Greenland 


424  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

buried  in  oblivion.  It  is  supposed  that  a  nation  called  Schrellings,  whosfc 
descendants  still  inhabit  the  western  part,  got  the  better  of  the  settlers, 
and  exterminated  thcin.  All  that  can  be  learned  from  the  most  authentic 
records  is,  that  Greenland  was  divided  into  two  districts,  called  West 
Bygd,  and  East  Bygd  ;  that  the  western  division  contained  four  parishes, 
and  one  hundred  villages  ;  and  the  eastern  district  was  still  more  flourish- 
ing. This  colony,  in  ancient  times,  certainly  comprehended  twelve  ex- 
tensive parishes,  one  hundred  and  ninety  villages,  a  bishop's  see,  and  two 
monasteries.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  re-discover  the  east 
country,  without  etfect,  by  the  Danes  and  the  English.  The  land  has  been 
seen,  but  the  ice  has  always  prevented  any  approach  to  the  shore. 

The  Greenland  Company,  at  Bergen,  in  Norway,  transported  a  colony 
to  the  west  coast;  and  in  1712,  the  Rev.  Hans  Egede,  and  others,  en- 
deavoured to  reach  the  eastern  district  by  coasting,  but  were  obliged  to 
return,  owing  to  continual  storms.  That  part  of  West  Greenland  which 
is  now  settled  by  the  Danes  and  Norwegians,  lies  between  the  64th  and 
68th  degrees  of  north  latitude  ;  and  thus  far,  it  is  said,  the  climate  is 
temperate.  To  the  northward  of  the  68th  degree,  the  cold  is  prodigious- 
ly intense ;  and  towards  the  end  of  August  all  the  coast  is  covered  with 
ice,  which  never  thaws  till  April  or  May,  and  sometimes  June.  Thun- 
der and  lightning  rarely  happen  ;  but  the  aurora  borealis  is  very  fre- 
quent and  splendidly  luminous.  The  Greenlanders  are  constantly  em- 
ployed either  in  fishing  or  hunting;  at  sea  they  pursue  the  whale,  morse, 
seal,  fish,  and  sea-fowl,  and  on  shore  they  hunt  the  rein-deer. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  MEXICO. 

This  rich  and  interesting  country  may  be  regarded  as  altogether  a  Span- 
ish colony,  though  it  is  no  longer  dependent  on  Spain,  having  become  a 
federal  republic.  Discovered  by  Fernando  Cortez,  a.  d.  1519,  it  was  by 
him  taken  possession  of  in  the  name  of  the  Spanish  government.  The 
exploits  by  which  he  made  himself  master  of  this  country,  seem  rather  to 
belong  to  romance  than  history ;  the  circumstances  of  the  age,  and  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  opposing  powers,  throw  an  air  of  universal 
interest  over  operations  so  multiform  and  diversified — as  the  conquest  of 
a  great  and  powerful  state  by  a  body  of  men  hitherto  unseen  by  them, 
possessing  all  the  advantages  of  skill  and  experience  in  war,  and  resolu- 
tion and  enterprize  in  action. 

The  first  conquest  made  by  Cortez  was  on  the  river  Tabasco ;  after 
which,  landing  at  St.  Juan  de  Ulloa,  he  erected  a  fort,  where  he  received 
two  ambassadors  sent  by  the  emperor  of  Mexico  with  offers  of  assistance. 
A  haughty  answer  was  the  reply  of  Cortez ;  and  gifts  of  the  most  costly 
character  were  heaped  upon  him  by  the  natives,  in  the  hope  of  conciliating 
peace  and  preventing  his  further  advance.  Dangers,  however,  encom- 
passed his  steps.  Sedition  broke  out  in  his  own  camp,  which  he  had  the 
address  not  only  to  quell,  but  turn  to  his  own  advantage.  A  new  town 
was  founded,  called  La  Villa  Rica  de  la  Vera  Cruz.  Still  a  more  alarm- 
ing mutiny  showed  itself,  which  he  again  converted  into  the  means  of 
executing  a  measure  fraught  with  imminent  risk,  but  calculated  to  super- 
induce the  deadly  courage  of  despair.  This  measure  was  the  destruction 
of  the  fleet.  Soon  after  this,  being  joined  by  one  of  the  native  caciques, 
with  a  force  of  little  more  than  one  thousand  men,  fifteen  horses,  and  six 
cannons,  he  entered  the  state  of  the  Tlascalans,  whom,  after  a  desperate 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  425 

resistance  of  fourteen  days,  he  subdued,  and  converted  into  allies.  At 
Cholula  he  massacred  six  thousand  of  the  natives  in  revenge  for  their 
treachery.  Success  now  wafted  his  banners,  and  the  capital  of  the  em- 
pire lay  before  him.  Received  by  the  emperor  Montezuma  at  the  head 
of  his  nobles,  Cortez  was  conducted  to  a  house  in  the  city,  which  he  for- 
tified in  the  strongest  manner  possible.  It  appears  there  was  a  prediction 
among  the  Mexicans,  that  a  strange  people  should  come  to  chastise  them 
for  their  sins — a  piece  of  superstition  of  which  Cortez  availed  himself. 
By  treachery  he  obtained  possession  of  the  person  of  Montezuma,  whom 
he  kept  a  prisoner  for  six  months.  Worn  out  at  length,  the  Mexican  em- 
peror acknowledged  himself  a  vassal  of  the  Spanish  throne.  In  the 
meanwhile  Cortez  lost  no  opportunity  of  strengthening  his  power,  by  sur- 
veys of  the  country,  and  dividing  the  spoils  among  his  followers. 

He  was  again  on  the  point  of  losing  the  fruit  of  his  exertions ;  for  Ve- 
lasquez, who  commanded  the  expedition  from  which  Cortez  had  been 
despatched  from  Cuba,  hearing  of  his  success,  sent  out  a  large  force  under 
Narvaez,  to  seize  him,  and  take  possession  of  Mexico.  This  formidable 
danger  Cortez  frustrated,  as  well  by  bribes  as  the  rapidity  of  his  move- 
ments, almost  without  bloodshed.  But  this  he  observed  gave  fresh  spirit 
to  the  Mexicans,  who  attacked  him  on  his  return,  and  wounded  him  in  his 
fortress.  The  wretched  Montezuma,  who  had  been  placed  in  the  van  to 
deter  the  assailants  from  prosecuting  their  attacks,  was  wounded,  and 
died  of  a  broken  heart.  Cortez  was  compelled  to  evacuate  the  place  se- 
cretly, but  only  to  return  with  a  larger  body  of  forces  at  the  expiration  of 
six  months.  We  shortly  afterwards  find  his  head-quarters  at  Tezcuco, 
where,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Indians,  he  built  a  flotilla  of  thirteen 
ships.  Reinforced  with  two  hundred  men,  eight  horses,  and  some  mili- 
tary stores,  he  renewed  the  siege.  Gallantly  was  the  capital  defended  by 
Guatimozin,  the  new  emperor,  and  Cortez  was  once  taken  prisoner,  but 
rescued  at  the  expense  of  a  severe  wound.  Seventy-four  days  did  the 
city  hold  out,  although  the  ranks  of  Cortez  were  augmented  by  one  hun- 
dred thousand  Indians.  August  12,  1512,  beheld  Guatimozin  a  prisoner, 
and  his  capital  in  the  hands  of  the  merciless  invaders — merciless  to  him 
they  were,  for  Cortez  stained  the  lustre  of  his  glory  by  putting  the  brave 
but  ill-fated  monarch  to  the  torture.  But  there  is  even  in  this  world  a 
retributive  justice  ;  and  worldly  minds,  however  sublimed  by  courage  and 
enterprize,  generally  encounter  reverses  similar  in  character  to  their  own 
conduct.  Success  had  excited  envy ;  and  Cortez  was  doomed  to  find  that 
no  courage  and  enterprize  can  be  altogether  free  from  reverses.  Created 
captain-general  of  New  Spain  (the  name  he  had  given  to  his  new  con- 
quest) even  after  an  order  had  been  issued,  but  not  executed,  for  his  ar- 
rest— established  in  high  favour  and  honour  with  the  emperor,  his  native 
master — endowed  with  a  grant  of  large  possessions  in  the  New  World — 
he  had  the  mortification  to  find  himself  possessing  only  military  command. 
The  political  government  was  vested  in  a  royal  ordinance.  His  enter- 
prising spirit  led  him  to  the  discovery  of  the  great  Cahfornian  gulf,  but 
his  glory  was  on  the  wane ;  irritated  and  disappointed,  he  returned  to 
Europe  to  appeal  against  the  proceedings  of  the  royal  ordinance,  but  with- 
out success  ;  and  he,  who  had  barbarously  tortured  the  gallant  emperor 
of  Mexico,  died  twenty- six  years  afterwards  of  a  broken  heart,  a.  d.  1547, 
in  the  62nd  year  of  his  age. 

Abstracting  the  interest  which  attended  the  discovery  and  first  conquest 
of  Mexico,  or  New  Spain,  the  historian  finds  a  tame  succession  of  events, 
which  claim  but  a  very  vague  notice.  From  the  year  1535  to  1808  there 
was  a  succession  of  fifty  viceroys,  one  alone  an  American  by  birth.  At 
the  latter  period  a  spirit  broke  forth,  elicited  by  centuries  of  oppression 
and  exclusive  favour  to  Europeans,  which  led  the  Mexicans  to  offer  re- 
sistance to  the  disunion  of  Spain.  The  dissensions  were  headed  by  Hi- 
dalgo, an  enthusiastic  patriot,  who  was  proclaimed  generalissimo,  Sen- 


426  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

lember  17,  1810.  lie  unfortunately  halted  in  his  advance  towards  the 
capital,  which  gave  the  royalists  time  to  rally,  and  enabled  them  to  defeat 
his  intentions  a  few  months,  and  put  him  to  death.  But  with  him  the 
spirit  of  independence  vanished  not.  Morelos,  a  priest,  assumed  the  com- 
mand, and  several  princes  were  completely  ensured  to  the  side  of  liberty. 
A  congress  of  forty  members  was  called,  but  after  the  defeat  and  execu- 
tion of  Morelos,  it  was  dissolved  by  General  Teran,  who  succeeded  him. 
After  languishing  for  some  time,  the  revolt  was  entirely  quelled  in  1819. 

The  change  of  system  introduced  into  Spain  by  the  cortes  alarmed  the 
ecclesiastics  in  Mexico,  who,  for  their  defence,  elected  Iturbide,  undei 
whom  a  bloodless  revolution  was  effected,  and  Mexico  maintamed  in  all 
its  rights,  independent  of  the  Spanish  dominion,  a.  d.  1822.  After  an 
usurpation  of  the  title  of  emperor  for  little  more  than  one  year,  Iturbide 
was  compelled  to  lay  down  his  usurpation,  and  he  retired  to  Leghorn. 

A  federal  government  was  now  formed,  and  sworn  to,  February  24, 1824. 
Still  commotions  arose,  in  one  of  which  Iturbide,  who  had  been  induced 
to  return,  lost  his  life.  Thenceforward  the  government  has  been  almost 
in  a  continual  turmoil,  adverse  parties  fighting  for  the  rule,  and  alternate- 
ly overthrowing  each  other.  The  generals  Pedrazzo,  Guerrero,  Arenas, 
Arista,  Urrea,  and  others,  rapidly  succeeded  in  grasping  after  the  shadow 
of  power,  were  exalted,  and  debased.  Bravo,  Bustamente,  and  Santa 
Ana,  more  successful  because  more  unscrupulous  tyrants,  managed  for  a 
time  to  monopolize  what  there  was  of  authority.  Each  of  them  being  in 
turn  banished,  General  Herrera  was,  in  1845,  elected  president. 


SOUTH    AMERICA. 


PERU. 

The  Peruvians  have  strange  traditions  that  their  progenitors  were  in- 
structed in  the  arts  of  government  and  society  by  a  man  and  woman, 
named  Manco  Capac  and  Mama  Oello,  from  an  island  in  a  lake  south  of 
Peru.  Under  their  instructions  their  kingdom  was  established,  the  royal 
family  instituted,  and  success  and  power  heaped  upon  them.  This  was 
about  the  thirteenth  century  ;  and  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards 
in  1524,  there  had  been  fourteen  successive  monarchs  or  incas.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  Europeans,  Huana  Capac  was  the  reigning  inca,  who  was 
taken  prisoner  and  put  to  death  by  Pizarro,  the  discoverer  of  the  country, 
although  he  had  paid  as  much  gold  for  his  ransom  as  filled  the  place  of 
his  confinement.  Pizarro  likewise  defeated  his  successor,  and  was  created 
marquis  of  Atibellos,  with  large  possessions  in  his  conquest.  His  asso- 
ciate, Almagro,  was  also  amply  rewarded. 

The  city  of  Lima  was  founded  by  Pizarro,  in  1533,  but  the  Peruvians 
again  took  up  arms  under  their  inca,  Manco  Capac,  and  obtained  some 
successes.  A  division  took  place  between  Pizarro  and  Almagro,  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  having  sustained'  a  defeat,  was  taken  prisoner  and  beheaded 
by  his  conqueror ;  who,  two  years  afterward,  was  assassinated  by  Alma- 
gro's  party.  Various  insurrections  ensued  with  various  successes,  in 
which  were  conspicuous  Vasco  de  Castro,  Blasco  Vela,  Gonzales  Pizarro, 
and  Pedro  de  la  Gasca,  a  priest.  The  royal  authority  of  the  Spaniards 
was  at  length  established  by  the  surrender  and  execution  of  the  last  inca, 
Tupac  Amaru,  by  Toledo,  the  viceroy  at  Ciizco,  a.  d.  15C2.     Peru  re- 


THE  TREASUaY  OF  HISTORY.  427 

mamed  in  a  state  of  uninterrupted  vassalage  to  the  Spanish  crown,  till  the 
year  1762,  when  a  descendant  of  the  last  inca,  on  being  refused  a  title 
which  had  been  granted  his  ancestor,  Sayu  Tupac,  reared  the  standard  of 
independence,  round  which  the  natives  rallied  with  spirit,  and  in  great 
numbers.  For  two  years  the  war  continued  with  alternate  success.  At 
last  Jose  Gabriel  Condorcanqui  was  defeated,  and  with  the  rest  of  his 
family,  excepting  his  brother  Diego,  put  to  death.  The  surviving  brother 
shortly  afterward  shared  the  same  fate,  on  suspicion  of  being  engaged  in 
a  revo't  at  Quito. 

Peru  escaped  awhile  the  rising  spirit  of  insubordination,  which  con- 
vulsed the  other  colonies ;  but  in  1809  commotions  ensued,  and  juntas 
were  established  in  the  cities  of  Quito  and  La  Paz,  but  were  suppressed. 
In  1813  the  independents  of  Chili  were  subjugated,  but  their  efforts  were 
triumphant  in  1817,  under  General  San  Martin,  and  Chili  was  not  only 
evacuated  by  the  Peruvian  army,  but  sent  an  army  to  retaliate  upon  Peru. 
Lima  capitulated  on  July  6,  1821,  and  San  Martin  held  levees  in  the  vice- 
regal palace.  The  independence  of  Peru  was  solemnly  proclaimed  on  the 
28th  of  the  same  month,  and  San  Martin  was  proclaimed  protector.  This 
office  he  laid  down,  after  calling  together  a  constituent  and  sovereign  con- 
gress, on  the  20th  of  September,  1822. 

Disinterested  as  was  this  abdication,  it  was  not  followed  by  prosperity 
to  the  country.  The  inadequacy  of  the  junta  appointed  by  the  congress 
soon  became  manifest :  the  patriots  were  defeated  early  in  1823  ;  the  con- 
gress was  dissolved,  anarchy  predominated,  and  Lima  surrendered  to  the 
Spanish  troops  in  July  of  the  same  year.  They  were  partially  dispos- 
sessed by  Bolivar  and  the  Chilians  shortly  afterward ;  and  Peru,  thouah 
safe  from  Spanish  subjugation,  was  liice  a  vessel  tossed  by  every  casual 
wave,  unsafe,  and  exposed  to  conflicting  dangers. 


CHILL 

This  country  was  subjugated  in  1450,  by  the  Peruvians,  who  retained 
possession  of  it  till  they  were  driven  out  by  the  Spaniards  under  Alma- 
gro,  in  1535.  The  Spaniards  were  driven  out  by  a  general  rising  of  the 
natives  three  years  afterward.  Pizarro  attempted  to  colonize  the  country 
in  1540,  and  though  opposed  by  the  natives  of  Copiapo,  he  succeeded  in 
conquering  several  provinces,  and  founded  the  city  of  Santiago,  February, 
1541.  In  attempting  to  extend  his  conquest  he  exposed  his  settlement, 
for  six  years,  to  the  strong  and  repeated  attacks  of  the  Mapochians,  in 
whose  district  Santiago  was.  His  lieutenant,  Pedro  de  Valdivia,  to  whom 
this  extension  was  entrusted,  made  the  Promancians  his  allies,  and,  sur- 
mounting various  attacks  and  oppositions  from  the  natives,  founded  the 
cities  of  Concepcion,  Imperial,  and  Valdivia.  He  was  shortly  afterward 
defeated  by  his  old  enemies  the  Araucanians,  who  took  him  prisoner,  and 
he  was  at  length  despatched  by  an  old  chief  with  the  blow  of  a  club. 

These  Araucanians  kept  the  new  colonies  for  several  years  in  a  contin- 
ual state  of  alarm  and  distress ;  and  so  far  succeeded  in  avenging  their 
former  defeats,  as  in  1598  to  capture  Vallansa,  Valdivia,  Imperial  and 
other  towns,  and  form  the  cities  of  Concepcion  and  Chillar.  Nor  were 
these  the  only  losses  sustained  by  the  Spaniards.  The  Dutch  plundered 
Chiloe,  and  massacred  the  garrison.  The  feuds  between  the  Araucani- 
ans and  Spaniards  were  settled  by  a  treaty  of  peace  in  1641,  which  lasted 
for  fourteen  years  ;  then  came  a  war  of  ten  years,  and  another  peace.  In 
1722  a  conspiracy  for  the  extirpation  of  the  whites  vras  happily  frustrated. 
The  colonists  were  gathered  into  towns,  the  country  divided  into  provin- 
ces, and  several  new  cities  founded  by  the  governor  Don  Josef  Manio, 


428  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

1742.  A  similar  attempt  by  Don  Antonia  Gonzago,  in  respect  of  the 
Araucanians,  relierhted  the  torch  of  war,  which  blazed  three  years,  when 
harmony  was  restored.  Nor  does  anything-  of  particular  moment  occur 
in  the  history  of  Chili,  till  1809:  then  a  successful  revolutionary  move- 
ment took  place,  and  for  four  or  five  years  fortune  favoured  the  cause  of 
independence  ;  but  in  1814,  a  royalist  party  from  Peru  nearly  extinguished 
the  flame  of  liberty.  Success  (in  1817)  returned  with  General  San  Mar- 
tin, who  brought  them  freedom.  D.  Bernado  O'Higgins  was  made  direc- 
tor of  the  junta  ;  and  a  fatal  blow  was  struck  at  the  power  of  the  royalists 
on  the  5th  of  April,  1818,  when  a  large  tract  of  coast  was  declared  in  a 
state  of  blockade  by  the  Chilian  navy  under  Lord  Cochrane.  In  1820,  as 
stated  in  the  history  of  Peru,  the  Chilian  army  under  San  Martin,  liber- 
ated Peru  from  the  Spanish  thraldom,  and  San  Martin  retired  into  the 
ranks  of  private  life  in  Chili.  His  example  was  followed  by  O'Higgins, 
who  resigned  the  dictatorship,  January  28,  1823,  and  was  succeeded  by 
General  Freire,  the  commander-in-chief.  The  royalist  flag,  which  was 
hoisted  in  September,  near  the  city  of  Concepcion,  was  pulled  down  after 
a  short  period,  and  a  free  constitution  appointed,  with  a  popular  govern- 
ment. 


BRAZIL. 

The  honour  of  discovering  this  country  is  contested  between  Martin 
Behem,  and  Pedro  Alvarez  Cabral,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
It  was  originally  called  Santa  Cruz  by  Cabral,  but  afterward  Brazil,  from 
the  name  of  a  wood  produced  there.  It  was  first  colonized  by  some  re- 
fugee Jews,  in  1548,  banished  from  Portugal,  and  was  fostered  by  the  able 
guidance  of  Governor  de  Sonza,  and  the  blandishments  of  the  Jesuits.  In 
1624,  San  Salvador  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  Dutch,  who  were  in 
turn  defeated  by  an  armament  of  Spaniards  under  Frederic  de  Toledo. 

The  Dutch,  in  1630,  succeeded  in  making  themselves  masters  of  De- 
merara,  Paraiba,  and  Rio  Grande.  Maurice  of  Nassau  added  Scara,  Se- 
regipee,  and  the  greater  part  of  Bahia;  and  the  whole  of  Brazil  was  on 
the  point  of  yielding  to  their  arms,  when  the  revolution  which  drove 
Philip  IV.  from  the  Portuguese  throne,  afforded  an  opportunity  for  both 
the  Dutch  and  Portuguese  to  expel  the  Spaniards  from  Brazil.  By  an 
agreement  between  them,  the  country  received  a  plural  title,  being  called 
Brazils  from  the  circumstance  that  both  the  Dutch  and  Portuguese  pos- 
sessed almost  equal  parts  of  it.  By  conquest  and  treaty  the  whole  at 
length  fell  to  Portugal. 

In  1806,  the  royal  family  of  Portugal,  driven  from  Europe  by  the  inva- 
sion of  the  French,  migrated  to  Brazil,  which  from  that  period  has  risen 
rapidly  in  importance,  independence,  and  strength.  In  1817,  a  revolution 
broke  out  in  Pernambuco,  which  failed.  A  free  constitution  was  passed, 
and  the  king  returned  to  Lisbon.  Subsequently  the  prince-regent,  on  his 
birth-day,  October  12,  1822,  was  proclaimed  constitutional  emperor  of 
Brazil,  independent  of  the  Portuguese  throne — a  measure  which  has  since 
been  formally  recognised  by  the  government  of  the  parent  country. 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF  LA  PLATA,  OR  UNITED  PROVINCES. 

The  title  of  the  United  Provinces  is  of  modern  date,  as  the  following 
brief  outline  of  the  history  of  this  part  of  the  New  World  will  exhibit. 
Juan  Diaz  de  Soils,  a  Spaniard,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  adventurer 
who  explored  the  country,  and  took  possession  of  it,  a.  d.  1513.    Sebas- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  429 

tian  Cahot,  in  1526,  in  the  La  Plata,  discovered  the  island  of  St.  Gabriel, 
the  river  St.  Salvador,  and  the  Paraguay. 

Buenos  Ayres  was  founded  in  1535,  by  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza.  This 
did  not  flourish  much,  on  account  of  the  restricted  state  of  commerce, 
which  was,  however,  gradually  relaxed,  and  in  1748  the  annual  flota 
made  its  last  voyage.  A  free  trade  with  several  American  ports  began  in 
1774,  and  an  extension  to  the  Spanish  ports  was  granted  in  1778.  Under 
a  viceroy,  trade  augmented,  and  commercial  prosperity  ensued.  Buenos 
Ayres  was  captured  in  1806  by  General  Beresford,  with  a  British  army, 
which  was  in  turn  compelled  to  surrender  a  few  weeks  afterward  to 
General  Liniers,  a  French  officer,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  miliiia.  Sir 
Home  Popham,  with  five  thousand  men,  having  captured  Fort  Maldon- 
ado,  attacked  Monte  Video,  without  success;  but,  reinforced  by  Sir  Sam- 
uel Auchmuty,  at  length  carried  the  town  by  storm.  The  operations 
were  extended  under  General  Whitelocke  and  General  Crawford,  who 
with  twelve  thousand  men  renewed  the  attack  upon  Buenos  Ayres,  but 
were  defeated  and  captured  by  the  native  militia.  Liniers,  who  had  con- 
tributed so  largely  to  this  defeat,  was  raised  by  the  people  to  the  vice- 
royalty,  upon  the  expulsion  of  Sobremonte  for  cowardice. 

The  United  Provinces  escaped  not  the  swell  of  that  storm  which  the 
French  invasion  stirred  up  in  Spain.  After  various  intrigues  and  plots, 
Ferdinand  VIL  was  at  length  proclauned  in  Buenos  Ayres  by  the  address 
of  Don  Josef  de  Goyeneche.  A  rising  of  the  people  (August  1809)  was 
suppressed  by  Liniers,  who  was  shortly  after  deposed  and  sent  into  exile. 
Rapid  were  the  convulsions  which  now  shook  this  unhappy  country  ;  till, 
on  May  26,  1810,  the  people  rose,  expelled  the  viceroy,  and  appointed  a 
provisional  junta  of  nine  persons.  In  vain  the  provinces  of  Cordova, 
Paraguay,  and  Monte  Video  refused  their  co-operation  ;  they  were  com- 
pelled to  go  along  with  the  tide.  In  vain  Liniers  and  General  Nieto  as- 
sembled armies  ;  they  were  defeated,  and  beheaded.  Shortly  after  the 
district  of  Potosi  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  patriots,  who  deputed,  in  1814, 
a  special  mission  to  Ferdinand,  on  his  restoration  to  the  Spanish  throne, 
with  conditions  of  submission.  These,  happily  for  them,  were  rejected. 
In  the  same  year  a  small  cloud  passed  over  the  hopes  of  the  patriots  by 
General  Artigas,  which  was  dispelled  by  the  capture  of  Monte  Video,  the 
last  stronghold  of  the  Spaniards.  After  two  years  of  carnage  and  con- 
fusion, in  1816,  a  sovereign  congress  met  at  Tucuman,  and  on  October  6, 
the  same  year,  the  act  of  independence  was  ratified,  D.  Juan  Martin 
Pueyrsedon  being  dictator.  Monte  Video  was  taken  by  the  Portuguese 
under  the  Baron  de  Leguna,  who  had  seized  on  the  most  valuable  part  of 

Hilda  Oriental. 

Petty  dissensions  and  intrigues,  incident  to  the  effects  of  rising  inde- 
pendence, interrupted  the  progress  of  success  necessary  for  the  consoli- 
dation of  a  new  state.  D.  Jose  de  San  Martin  cut  a  distinguished  figure 
in  this  part  of  the  history,  having  twice  defeated  the  independents  at 
Entre  Rios,  in  1811  ;  but  his  efforts  failed,  and  the  independence  of 
the  Provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  was  shortly  after  sealed.  Artigas, 
driven  by  the  Portuguese  across  the  Paraguay,  was  apprehended  by  the 
dictator  Francia,  and  in  1819,  Pueyrsedon,  the  dictator,  fled  to  Monte 
Video,  and  thus  dissolved  the  confused  mass  of  the  union  of  conflicting 
anddiscordant  provinces.  After  a  variety  of  events  and  political  changes, 
D.  Martin  Pvodriguez  was  established  governor,  October  6, 1820  ;  and  in 
the  following  year  the  independence  of  Buenos  Ayres  was  recognised  by 
the  Portuguese  government.  A  general  congress  was  convened  at  Cor- 
dova the  same  year,  and  on  the  15th  of  December  they  decided  the  num- 
ber of  deputies  to  be  sent  by  each  province. 

In  1827  a  war  broke  out  between  the  republic  and  Brazil,  respecting  the 
possession  of  Uruguay  (Banda  Oriental)  established  as  an    independent 


430  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

state  in  1828  ;  and  more  recently  La  Plata  has  been  involved  in  disputes 
with  both  Bolivia,  and  France.  These  wars  have  contributed  to  retard 
the  march  of  her  prosperity;  but  with  all  her  accumulated  difficulties, 
La  Plata  has  every  appearance  of  soon  becoming  a  prosperous  country. 


COLOMBIA. 

This  is  a  new  state,  formed  at  the  close  of  the  year  1819,  from  the 
states  of  Grenada,  and  Venezuela  or  Caraccas.  It  will  therefore  be  ne- 
cessary to  detail  the  distinct  history  of  these  two  original  states. 

Grenada,  or  as  it  is  called.  New  Grenada,  was  discovered  by  Columbus 
in  his  fourth  voyage,  and  taken  possession  of  for  the  Spanish  government. 
He  was  followed  by  others,  and  especially  by  Amerigo  Vespucci,  who 
was  the  first  who  made  Kurope  acquainted  with  a  published  account  of 
this  part  of  the  New  World.  The  first  regular  colonists  were  Ojeda,  and 
Nica  Essa,  in  1508  ;  the  former  founded  the  district  called  New  Andalusia, 
but  with  no  great  success  ;  the  latter.  Golden  Castile,  and  he  also  per- 
ished. These  two  districts  were  united  (1514)  in  one,  called  Terra  Firma, 
under  Avila,  who  successfully  extended  the  discoveries,  and  founded  the 
town  of  Panama.  Other  additions  were  subsequently  made,  and  the 
kingdom  of  New  Grenada  was  established  under  a  captain-general,  in 
1547.  As  it  had  been  established,  so  did  it  continue  for  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  when  in  1718  it  became  a  vice-royalty,  which 
form  of  government  lasted  but  for  six  years,  when  it  was  supplanted  by 
the  original  one,  which  was  again  superseded  in  1740,  by  the  incubus  of 
the  vice-royalty.  Thus  did  itpontinue,  till  the  weakness  of  the  mother 
country,  from  the  invasion  of  the  French,  afforded  an  opportunity  to  raise 
the  standard  of  independence.  Many  and  various  have  been  the  events 
attendant  upon  the  struggle  for  mastery ;  but  a  severe  blow  was  inflicted 
oy  their  old  masters  in  1810,  who,  under  Morillo,  defeated  the  colonists 
with  tremendous  loss.  Three  years  of  renewed  subjection  followed 
when  the  success  of  the  illustrious  Bolivar  caused  the  union  of  Grenada 
with  Venezuela. 

Venezuela. — This  district  was  discovered  somewhat  earlier  than  Gren- 
ada, by  Columbus,  in  1498.  After  several  fruitless  attempts  to  colonize 
it,  the  Spanish  government  disposed  of  the  partially  subdued  natives  to 
the  Weltsers,  a  German  company  of  merchants.  Their  management  led 
to  a  change  in  1550,  when  Venezuela,  like  Greneda  three  years  before, 
became  a  supreme  government  under  a  captain-general.  From  that  pe- 
riod to  1806,  Venezuela  was  a  torpid  vassal  under  the  Spanish  crown, 
when  a  futile  attempt  for  independence  was  made  under  General  Mirando, 
a  native.  Simultaneous  with  Grenada,  Venezuela  rallied  for  liberty,  when 
the  mother  country  was  prostrate  before  the  ascendancy  of  France,  in 
1810.  In  the  following  year  a  formal  proclamation  of  independence  was 
made,  July  6,  and  success  seemed  to  attend  the  cause.  Then  came  the 
dreadful  earthquake.  Superstition  re-nerved  the  arm  of  freedom,  and  the 
royalist  general,  Monteverde,  discomfited  Mirando,  and  again  overran  the 
province.  In  1813  Bolivar  called  independence  again  into  action,  and  suc- 
cess attended  him  for  three  years,  when  another  defeat  was  sustained, 
which  was  followed  by  another  victory.  Reverses  again  recurring,  com- 
pelled the  congress  to  appoint  Bolivar  dictator;  and  in  1819  the  union  of 
Venezuela  with  Grenada  was  effected  under  the  name  of  Colombia. 

Colombia  may  therefore  date  its  history  as  a  nation  from  this  union, 
which  was  agreed  upon  December  17,  1819;  and  the  installation  of  the 
jnited  congress  took  place  May  6,  1821 ;  which  was  followed  in  June  24, 
by  a  victory  obtained  by  the  president  Bolivar  over  the  Spaniards,  at  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  431 

celebrated  battle  of  Carabobo,  in  which  the  royalist  army  lost  above  six 
thousand  men,  besides  their  artillery  and  baggage. 


BOLIVIA. 

The  history  of  this  recently  formed  state,  known  before  as  Upper 
Peru,  partakes  of  the  nature  of  an  episode  in  the  life  of  the  great  Bol- 
ivar, in  whose  honour  its  present  name  was  given,  and  to  whose  wise 
f.-ouncils  it  is  so  much  indebted.  Previously  to  the  battle  of  Ayachuco,  in 
1824,  it  formed  a  part  of  the  Spanish  viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Ayres ;  but 
General  Sucre,  at  the  head  of  the  republicans,  having  then  defeated  Vhe 
royalist  troops,  the  independence  of  the  country  was  effected ;  and  in  the 
following  year,  at  the  request  of  the  people,  Bolivar  drew  up  a  constitu- 
tion for  its  governance. 

The  reader  will  find  in  the  life  of  Bolivar  the  following  passage,  which 
is  so  applicable  that  we  cannot,  perhaps,  do  better  than  transcribe  it. 
"  His  renown  was  now  at  its  height,  and  every  act  of  his  government 
showed  how  zealously  alive  he  was  to  the  improvement  of  the  national 
instiiutious  and  the  moral  elevation  of  the  people  over  whom  he  ruled. 
In  1823  he  went  to  the  assistance  of  the  Peruvians,  and  having  succeeded 
in  settling  their  internal  divisions,  and  establishing  their  independence,  he 
was  proclaimed  liberator  of  Peru,  and  invested  with  supreme  anthority. 
In  1825  he  visited  Upper  Peru,  which  detached  itself  from  the  goverment 
of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  was  formed  into  a  new  republic,  named  Bolivia,  in 
honour  of  the  liberator;  but  domestic  factions  sprung  up,  the  purity  of  his 
motives  were  called  in  question,  and  he  was  charged  with  aiming  at  a 
perpetual  dictatorship  ;  he  accordingly  declared  his  intention  to  resign  his 
power  so  soon  as  his  numerous  enemies  were  overcome,  and  to  repel  the 
imputations  of  ambition  cast  upon  him,  by  retiring  to  seclusion  upon  his 
patrimonial  estates.  The  vice-president,  Santander,  urged  him,  in  reply, 
to  resume  his  station  as  constitutional  president;  and  though  he  was  beset 
by  the  jealousy  and  distrust  of  rival  factions,  he  continued  to  exercise  the 
chief  authority  in  Colombia  till  May,  1830,  when,  dissatisfied  with  the  as- 
pect of  internal  affairs,  he  resigned  the  presidency,  and  expressed  his  de- 
termination to  leave  the  country.  The  people  ere  long  became  sensible 
of  their  injustice  to  his  merit,  and  were  soliciting  him  to  resume  the  gov- 
ernment, when  his  death,  which  happened  in  December,  1830,  prevented 
the  accomplishment  of  their  wishes."  The  government  of  Bolivia  is  in 
the  hands  of  a  president,  to  which  office  General  Santa  Cruz  was  elected 
in  1829. 


GUIANA. 

This  is  a  Britsh  possession,  comprising  the  several  districts  of  Berbice, 
tlssequibo,  Demerara,  and  Surinam.  It  is  asserted  by  some  that  Colum- 
bus saw  this  coast  in  1458,  and  by  others  that  it  was  discovered  by  Vasco 
Nunez,  in  1504.  It  became,  however,  known  to  Europe  in  1595,  when 
Raleigh  sailed  up  the  Orinoco  in  his  chimerical  search  of  El  Dorado,  a 
city  supposed  to  be  paved  with  gold.  The  coast  of  Guiana  then  became 
the  resort  of  buccaneers  ;  and  in  1634,  a  mixed  company  of  these  free- 
booters, English  and  French,  formed  the  settlements  of  Surinam  for  the 
cultivation  of  tobacco.  They  were,  after  twenty  years  of  great  hardship 
and  difficulty,  taken  under  the  protection  of  the  British,  who  appointed 
Lord  Willoughby,  of  Parham,  governor,  1662.     The  Dutch  captured  the 


432  THE  TEBASURY  OF  HISTORY 

settlement  in  1667,  and  the  possession  of  it  was  confirmed  by  the  treaty 
of  Westminster,  Kngland  receiving  the  colony  of  New-York  in  exchange. 
In  1773,  the  Dutch  settlements  on  the  Essequibo,  which  had  been  captured 
by  the  British  in  the  American  war,  were  restored  to  the  states-general. 
In  1796,  both  Berbice  and  Demerara  fell  to  the  English,  as  also  Surinam, 
in  1799;  but  again  reverted  to  Holland,  at  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1802  ^ 
fell  to  the  English  arms  in  1813,  and  were  confirmed  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris,  1814,  to  Great  Britain. 


AMAZONIA. 

A  couNTBY  of  South  America,  so  called  from  a  martial  and  powerful 
state,  in  which  a  body  of  women,  it  is  said,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  op- 
posed Francisco  Orellana  in  his  passage  down  the  river  Maragnon.  It 
was  first  discovered  by  him,  a.  d.  1541  ;  when,  with  fifty  soldiers,  he  was 
wafted  in  a  vessel  down  the  stream  of  a  smaller  river  into  the  channel  of 
the  Maragnon,  which  he  also  called  Amazon. 

The  origin  of  the  name  Amazon  is  folded  in  some  mystery.  It  is  applied 
exclusively  to  females  of  strong  and  martial  habits,  and  was  first  used  in 
reference  to  a  race  of  them  who,  whether  actually  or  fabulously  is  a  mat- 
ter of  dispute,  founded  an  empire  in  Asia  Minor,  upon  the  river  Thermo- 
doon,  along  the  coast  of  the  Black  Sea,  as  far  as  the  Caspian.  They  are 
mentioned  by  the  most  ancient  Greek  writers,  as  well  as  by  others  of  a 
late  date ;  and  various  are  accounts  given  both  of  their  origin  and  history. 


THE  WEST  INDIA  ISLANDS. 

The  West  Indies  consist  of  a  number  of  islands  in  the  central  part  of 
America,  extending  from  the  tropic  of  Cancer  southward,  to  the  coast  of 
Terra  Firma  and  Mexico ;  the  principal  of  which  are  Cuba,  Hayti  or  St. 
Domingo,  Jamaica,  Porto  Ptico,  Trinidad,  St.  Christopher,  (commonly 
called  St.  Kitt's,)  Antigua,  Guadaloupe,  Martinique,  Barbadoes,  St.  Lucia, 
St.  Vincent,  Grenada,  and  Tobago  ;  for  the  most  part  discovered  by  Co- 
lumbus, near  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  islands  are  in  pos- 
session of  various  powers. 

CUBA. 

Cuba,  the  largest  and  most  westerly  island  in  the  West  Iniies,  was  dis- 
covered by  Columbus,  1492 ;  and  was  first  called  Juana,  in  honour  of  prince 
John,  son  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella ;  afterward  Fernandina ;  then  San- 
tiago and  Ave  Maria,  in  deference  to  the  patron  saint  of  Spain  and  the 
Virgin.  The  name  of  Cuba  is  that  which  it  was  called  by  the  natives  at 
the  time  of  its  discovery.  It  is  about  eight  hundred  miles  in  length, 
and  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  in  breadth.  The  Spaniards  made 
no  settlement  upon  it  till  1151,  when  Diego  de  Velasquez  arrived  with 
four  ships,  and  landed  on  the  eastern  point.  This  district  was  under  the 
government  of  a  cacique,  named  Hatney,  a  native  of  St.  Domingo,  who 
had  retired  hither  to  avoid  tlie  slavery  to  which  his  countrvnien  were  con- 


THE  TREASUilY  OF  HISTORY.  433 

demned.  Those  who  could  escape  the  tyranny  of  the  Spaniards  bad 
followed  hinn  in  his  retreat. 

The  Spaniards  soon  overcaine  the  Indians.  Hatney  was  taken  in  the 
woods,  and  condemned  to  be  burned.  When  he  was  fastened  to  the  stake, 
and  waited  only  for  the  kindling  of  the  fire,  a  priest  advanced  towards 
him,  and  proposed  the  ceremony  of  baptism  as  a  means  of  entering  the 
Christian  paradise.  "Are  there,"  said  the  cacique,  "any  Spaniards  in 
that  happy  place  !"  "  Yes,"  replied  the  priest.  "  I  will  not,"  replied  Hat- 
ley,  "  go  to  a  place  where  I  should  be  in  danger  of  meeting  one  of  them. 
Talk  to  me  no  more  of  your  religion,  but  leave  me  to  die." 

Velasquez  found  no  more  enemies.  All  the  caciques  hastened  to  do 
him  homage.  After  the  mines  had  been  opened,  and  it  was  found  that 
they  did  not  answer,  the  inhabitants  of  Cuba,  having  become  useless, 
were  exterminated.  A  small  part  only  of  this  island  is  cleared  ;  there  are 
only  some  traces  of  cultivation  at  St.  Jago,  and  at  Matanzas ;  t!ie  fine 
plantations  are  all  confined  to  the  beautiful  plains  of  the  Havana. 

Havana,  the  capital  of  Cuba,  is  a  fine  city,  and  the  harbour  one  of  the 
safest  in  the  world.  The  English  took  it  in  the  year  1762,  but  it  was  re- 
stored at  the  peace  of  1763,  since  which  time  prodigious  pains  have  been 
taken  to  render  this  key  to  all  the  Spanish  American  colonies  impregnable. 


HAYTI,  OR  ST.  DOMINGO. 

This  island  was  discovered  by  Columbus  in  1492,  and  is,  next  to  Cuba., 
the  largest  of  the  West  India  islands.  It  is  upwards  of  four  hundred 
miles  in  length,  from  east  to  west,  and  averages  more  llian  one  hundred  in 
breadth.  Having  taken  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  Spain,  Columbus 
founded  the  town  of  La  Isabella  on  the  north  coast,  and  established  in  it, 
under  his  brother  Diego,  the  first  settlement  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  New 
World.  It  was  in  high  estimation  for  the  quantity  of  gold  it  supplied; 
but  this  wealth  diminished  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  whom  they 
compelled  to  perpetual  labour  in  the  mines ;  and  it  was  entirely  lost  when 
those  wretched  victims  were  no  more.  The  cruelties  of  the  Spaniards 
almost  exceed  belief.  It  is  computed,  that  considerably  more  than  a  mil- 
lion of  natives  (the  number  at  the  time  of  its  discovery)  perished  in 
the  space  of  fifty  years,  by  the  hands  or  tlirough  the  means  of  the  con- 
querors. 

The  gold  mines  have  failed  for  want  of  hands  to  dig  them.     The  Span- 
iards  thought  of   procuring    slaves  from  Africa,  to  re-open    them,  and 
numbers  were    imported  :  but  the  mines  on  the  continent  having  been 
begun  to  be  worked  w  ith  good  eflfect,  those  of  St.   Domingo  were  no  lon- 
ger of  importance.     The  settlers  then  turned  their  thoughts  to  agricul- 
ture, which  was  cultivated  with  success.     Sugar,  tobacco,  cocoa,  cassia, 
ginger  and  cotton,  were  among  their  productions  at  the  close  of  the  six- 
teenth century.     The  immense  fortunes  raised  in  Mexico,  and  other  parts, 
induced  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Dominfro  to, despise  their  settlements,  and 
they  quitted  the  island  in  numbers  in  search  of  those  regions  of  wealth. 
This  conduct  ruined  St.  Domingo.     It  had  no  intercourse  with  the  mother 
country,  but  by  a  single  ship,  of  no  great  burden,  received  from  thence 
every  third  year;  and  the  whole  colony,  in  1717,  consisted  of  only  eigh- 
teen thousand  four  hundred  and  ten,  including  Spaniards,  Mestees,  Mulat- 
toes  and  Negroes. 

The  Spaniards  retained  possession  of  the  whole  istaland  till  1GG5,  when 
the  French  obtained  a  footing  on  its  western  coast,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  that  colony  which  sftervvards  became  so  flourishing.     The  French 
settlers  increased  very  fast;  and  sugar  works  were  erected  in  great  num- 
28 


434  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

bers ;  the  planters  became  rich,  and  the  negroes  became  numerous,  until 
the  fatal  measure  of  giving  liberty  to  the  slaves  was  adopted,  without 
preparatory  means,  by  the  French  national  convention.  At  that  period 
the  negroes  in  the  French  part  of  St.  Domingo  were  estimated  at  about 
five  huTidrod  tliousand ;  and  while  the  revokitionary  terrorists  in  France 
were  hourly  exhibiting  scenes  of  barbarity,  and  recommending  their  ac- 
tions as  worthy  of  imitation  by  all  other  nations,  the  inhabitants  of  St. 
Domingo  were  precisely  in  that  unsettled  situation  wliich  seemed  to  fa- 
vour  the  commission  of  similar  atrocities,  under  the  pretext  of  avenging 
past  injuries  and  redressing  present  grievances.  In  October,  1790,  James 
Oge,  a  free  mulatto  who  had  been  in  Paris,  and  who  is  described  as  an 
enthusiast  for  liberty,  but  otherwise  humane,  returned  from  France,  and 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  insurgent  people  of  colour;  but  being  de- 
feated, in  March,  1791,  was  betrayed  by  the  Spaniards,  to  whom  he  had 
fled  for  refuge,  and,  with  Mark  Chavane,  his  lieutenant,  broke  alive  on  the 
wheel. 

At  this  time  eight  thousand  troops  arrived  from  France ;    and  Maudit, 
the  new  governor,  was  murdered  by  his  own  soldiers,  with  circumstances 
of  horrid  barbarity.     By  a  decree  of  the  national  assembly  of  the  15th  of 
May,  1791,  people  of  colour  were  declared  eligible  to  seats  in  the  colonial 
assembly.     And  on  the  11th  of  September,  a  concordat,  or  truce,  was 
signed  between  the  whites  and  mulattoes.      But  the  operation  of  this 
truce   was  destroyed  by  an  absurd  decree  of  the  national  assembly  re- 
pealing the  decree  of  the  15th  of  May.     Open  war  in  all  its  horrors  wao 
now  renewed.     It  was  no  longer  a  contest  for  victory,  but  a  diabolical 
emulation  to  outvie  each  other  in  barbarous  atrocities.     On  the  23rd  of 
August,  1791,  Cape  Frangois  was  burnt;  and  it  was  computed  that  in  the 
space  of  two  months,  upwards  of  two  thousand  persons  perished  by  these 
horrible  massacres,  while  not  fewer  than  ten  thousand  of  the  mulattoes 
and  negroes  died  by  famine  and  the  sword,  besides  numbers  that  suffered 
by  the  executioner,     Meantime  three  commissioners  arrived  from  France, 
accompanied  by  six  thousand  of  the  national  guards;  and  citizen  Galbaud 
was  appointed  governor.     Their  attempts,  however,  to  stop  these  enormi- 
ties, proved  fruitless,  though  they  proclaimed  the  total  abolition  of  slavery, 
and  a  general  indemnity. 

In  October,  1793,  a  body  of  British  under  Colonel  Whitelock,  landed  and 
took  possession  of  Tiburon,  Treves,  Jeremie,  Lcogane,  Cape  Nicholas 
Mole,  and  upwards  of  ninety  miles  of  the  eastern  coast,  with  little  opposi- 
tion. It  was,  however,  a  disastrous  acquisition  to  the  English,  for  in  less 
than  six  months  after  their  arrival,  not  less  than  six  thousand,  of  whom 
one  hundred  and  fifty  were  officers,  fell  victims  to  disease.  Leogane  was 
soon  after  re-taken  by  the  negroes,  who  now  amounted  to  above  one  hun- 
dred thousand,  under  their  general  Touissant  L'Ouverture :  and  Tiburon 
was  taken  by  the  French  under  General  Rigaud.  To  remedy  these  dis- 
asters another  expedition  was  undertaken  by  the  British,  but  v/as  attended 
with  vast  expense  and  the  loss  of  many  brave  troops.  Colonels  Brisbane 
^and  Markham  were  killed  ;  and  at  length,  in  1798,  the  British  having 
surrendered  Port  au  Prince  and  Cape  Nicholas  Mole  to  General  Hedonville, 
the  island  was  totally  abandoned  by  them.  At  this  time  the  name  of  Port 
au  Prince  was  changed  to  Port  Repiihlicain  ;  and  the  Spanish  part  of  the 
island  was  taken  possession  of  by  L'Ouverture;  a  man  of  superior  talents 
and  character,  whose  unremitting  exertions  were  directed  to  the  laudable 
object  of  healing  the  wounds  and  improving  the  condition  of  every  class 
in  the  island.  The  beneficial  efTecls  of  such  an  administration  were  soon 
visible.  The  wasted  colony  began  to  revive;  the  plantations  were  again 
brought  into  a  fertile  state  ;  the  poils  were  opened  to  foreign  vessels  ;  and, 
DOtwithstanding  the  ravages  of  a  ten  years'  war,  the  commerce  of  St.  Do- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  435 

mingo  was  rapidly  recovering ;  while  the  population  also  increased  with 
astonishing  rapidity. 

In  1798,  when  the  British  forces  evacuated  the  island,  the  military  es- 
tablishment of  St.  Domingo  did  not  exceed  forty  thousand  ;  but  in  two 
years  it  was  more  than  double  that  number.  Touissant  was  regarded  as 
an  extraordinary  being  by  his  soldiers,  and  no  European  army  was  ever 
subject  to  a  more  rigorous  discipline.  Every  officer  commanded,  pistol  in 
hand ;  and  had  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  the  subalterns.  Sixty 
thousand  men  were  frequently  reviewed  and  exercised  together;  on 
which  occasions  two  thousand  officers  were  seen  in  the  field,  carrying 
arms,  from  the  general  to  the  ensign,  yet  with  the  utmost  attention  to 
rank,  and  without  the  smallest  symptom  of  insubordination.  In  these  re- 
views, says  M.  de  la  Croix,  Touissant  appeared  like  an  inspired  person, 
and  became  the  fetiche  or  idol  of  the  blacks  who  listened  to  him.  In 
order  to  make  himself  belter  understood,  he  frequently  addressed  them  iu 
parables,  and  often  made  use  of  the  following  : — In  a  glass  vessel  full  of 
grains  of  black  maize,  he  would  mix  a  few  grains  of  white  maize,  and  saj'^ 
to  those  who  surrounded  him,  "  you  are  the  black  maize;  the  whites,  who 
are  desirous  of  enslaving  you  are  the  white  maize."  He  would  then 
shake  the  vessel,  and  presenting  it  to  their  fascinated  eyes,  exclaim,"  see 
the  white  here  and  there  !"  in  other  words, "  see  how  far  the  whites  are 
apart  in  comparison  to  ourselves.''  The  gleam  of  prosperity,  however, 
which  resulted  from  his  wise  administration,  was  but  of  short  continuance. 

The  independence  of  St.  Domingu  vas  proclaimed  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1801 ;  and  while  the  inhabitants  were  indulging  the  hope  of  future  happi- 
ness, a  storm  was  gathering,  which  burst  upon  them  with  accumulated 
fury.  Scarcely  was  the  peace  of  Amiens  concluded,  when  a  formidable 
armament  of  twenty-six  ships  of  war  was  equipped  by  order  of  the  first 
consul,  with  the  determination  of  reducing  the  revolted  colony  of  St.  Do- 
mingo. On  board  this  fleet  v/ere  embarked  twenty-five  thousand  chosen 
troops,  amply  furnished  with  all  the  apparatus  of  military  slaughter  ;  and 
the  chief  command  was  confided  to  General  Le  Clcrc,  the  brother- in  law 
of  Bonaparte.  Before  proceeding  to  hostilities,  however,  recourse  was 
had  to  various  perfidious  acts.  Attempts  were  made  to  sow  disunion 
among  the  free  people  of  St.  Domingo.  Proclamations  and  letters,  ex- 
pressed in  all  the  delusive  jargon  of  the  republic,  were  widely  circulated. 
The  chiefs  of  both  colours  then  in  France,  and  the  two  sons  of  Touissant 
himself,  who  had  sent  them  thither  for  instruction,  were  pressed  into  the 
service  of  the  expedition. 

The  French  forces  arrived  in  January,  1801 ;  yet  so  little  did  Touissant 
expect  to  have  any  enemy  to  combat,  that  he  was  at  the  time  making  a 
tour  round  the  eastern  part  of  the  island,  and  had  given  no  order  for  resis- 
tance in  case  of  aitack.  After  the  French  troops  had  disembarked,  and 
previously  to  commencing  operations  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  Le 
Olerc  thought  proper  to  try  what  effect  the  sight  of  his  two  sons,  and  a 
specious  letter  from  Bonaparte,  would  have  upon  Touissant.  Coisnon, 
their  tutor,  who  had  accompanied  them  from  France,  and  was  one  of  the 
chief  confidential  agents  in  this  expedition,  was  accordingly  deputed  on 
this  errand,  with  instructions  to  press  Touissant's  instant  return  to  the 
Cape,  and  to  bring  back  the  children  in  case  he  should  not  succeed.  On 
arriving  at  Touissant's  country  residence,  and  learning  that  its  owner 
would  not  return  from  his  excursion  until  the  next  day,  the  wily  French- 
man availed  himself  of  this  delay  to  work  upon  the  feelings  of  their 
mother,  whose  tears,  and  the  solicitations  of  the  children,  when  llieir  fath- 
er returned,  for  a  while  shook  his  resolutions.  But  being  at  length  con- 
firmed in  his  suspicions  of  the  snare  that  was  laid  for  him,  by  the  conduct 
and  language  of  Coisnon,  Touissant  suddenly  composed  his  agitated 
countenance;  and,  gently  disefigaging  himself  from  the  embraces  of  his 


436  THE  TEEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

wife  and  children,  he  took  their  preceptor  hito  another  apartment,  and 
gave  him  this  dignified  decision  : — "  Take  back  my  children  ;  since  it 
must  be  so,  I  will  be  faithful  to  my  brethren  and  my  God."  Unwilling  to 
prolong  this  painful  scene,  Touissant  mounted  his  horse,  and  rode  to  the 
camp;  and  although  a  correspondence  was  afterwards  opened  between 
him  and  Le  Clcrc,  it  failed  to  produce  his  submission. 

Hostilities  now  commenced.  After  several  obstinate  conflicts  in  fh» 
open  field,  and  the  burning  of  several  towns,  the  blacks  found  themselves 
overpowered,  and  were  compelled  to  retire  into  the  inaccessible  fortresses 
of  the  interior,  whence  they  carried  on,  under  their  brave  chieftain,  Touis- 
sant, a  desultory,  but  destructive  warfare  against  detached  parties  of  their 
enemies.  At  length,  however,  the  negroes  and  cultivators  were  either 
subdued  by  the  terror  of  the  French  army,  or  cajoled  by  the  deceitful 
promises  of  the  French  general,  who  had  published  in  his  own  name,  and 
in  that  of  the  first  consul,  solemn  declarations  that  the  freedom  of  all  the 
inhabitants  of  St  Domingo,  of  all  colours,  should  be  preserved  inviolate. 
But  no  sooner  did  Le  Clerc  find  that  his  plans  succeeded  than  he  threw 
aside  the  mask,  and  issued  an  order  restoring  to  the  proprietors,  or  their 
attorneys,  all  their  ancient  authority  over  the  negroes  upon  their  eslates. 
This  order  at  once  opened  the  eyes  of  the  negro  population;  Touissant 
and  Christophe  united  their  forces  ;  and  such  was  the  fierce  and  active  na- 
ture of  their  attacks,  that  Le  Clerc  was  obliged  to  abandon  most  of  his 
former  conquests,  and  seek  refuge  in  the  town  of  Cape  Frangois  ;  whei« 
he  again  issued  a  proclamation,  couched  in  such  specious  terms  that  the 
blacks  and  their  leaders  accepted  the  conditions  of  his  proffered  amnesty. 
This  master-piece  of  deception  having  thus  succeeded,  and  the  French 
now  having  the  dominion  of  the  island,  began  to  put  in  execution  their 
meditated  system  of  slavery  and  destruction  ;  and,  as  a  preliminary  step 
towards  this  object,  Le  Clerc  caused  Touissant  to  be  privately  seized  in 
the  night,  together  with  his  family,  and,  putting  him  on  board  a  fast-sail- 
ing frigate,  he  was  conveyed  to  France,  as  a  prisoner,  (May,  1802). 
There,  under  a  charge  of  exciting  the  negroes  to  rebel,  he  was  committed 
to  close  custody,  and  was  no  more  heard  of  by  his  sorrowing  countrymen, 
till  his  death  was  announced  in  the  following  year  as  having  taken  place 
in  the  fortress  of  Joux. 

Aroused  by  the  treachery  of  Le  Clerc,  the  black  chieftains,  Dessalines, 
Christophe,  and  Clervaux,  again  raised  their  standards,  and  were  soon 
found  at  the  head  of  considerable  bodies  of  troops,  ready  to  renew  the 
struggle  for  liberty,  and  determined  to  succeed  or  perish  in  the  attempt. 
Many  and  desperate  were  the  contests  which  ensued  ;  Le  Clerc  died,  and 
was  succeeded  in  the  command  of  the  French  army  by  Rochambaud;  but 
the  losses  they  sustained  by  disease  as  well  as  by  this  harrassing  warfare 
rendered  any  escape  froni  Hayti  preferable  to  a  continuance  there :  and, 
as  war  had  then  recommenced  between  Great  Britain  and  France,  the 
French  gladly  surrendered  themselves  prisoners  of  war  to  a  British  squad- 
ron, and  were  conveyed  to  England.  The  independence  of  Hayti,  which 
had  been  first  proclaimed  in  1800,  was  thus  consolidated,  and  Dessalines 
erected  the  west  or  French  part  of  the  island  into  an  empire,  of  which  he 
became  emperor,  with  the  title  of  Jacques  L  (January  1,  1804).  But  his 
reign  was  of  short  duration;  the  cruelties  he  perpetrated  caused  a  conspi- 
racy to  be  formed  against  him ;  and,  two  years  after  his  coronation,  he 
was  surrounded  by  the  conspirators  at  his  head-quarters,  and,  struggling 
to  escape,  received  his  death-blow. 

The  assassination  of  Dessalines  caused  another  division  of  the  island, 
and  another  civil  war.  In  the  north,  Christophe  assumed  the  government, 
with  the  modest  designation  of  chief  of  the  government  of  Hayti;  while 
Petion,  a  mulatto,  asserted  his  claim  to  sovereign  power.  For  several 
years  these  rival  chieftains  carried  on  a  sanguinary  contest,  with  various 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  437 

success,  until  the  year  1810,  when  hostilities  were  suspended;  and,  though 
no  formal  treaty  was  concluded,  the  country  enjoyed  the  blessings  of 
peace.  Christophe  was  crowned  king  of  Hayli  in  March,  1811,  by  the 
title  of  Henry  I. ;  and  Petion,  as  president  of  the  republic  of  Hayli,  gov- 
erned the  southern  part  until  1818,  when  he  died,  and  was  succeeded  by 
General  Boyer,  whom  he  was  allowed  to  nominate  his  successor.  Both 
governments  evinced  a  praiseworthy  solicitude  for  the  encouragement  of 
agriculture,  as  the  basis  of  their  national  prosperity;  and  both  were  per- 
severing in  their  endeavours  to  promote  the  intellectual  instruction  of  the 
rising  generation.  Christophe,  in  imitation  of  other  monarchs,  created 
various  orders  of  nobility,  together  with  numerous  officers  of  state,  &c. 
His  dynasty,  however,  was  like  his  predecessor's,  short-lived.  In  1820, 
a  successful  conspiracy  was  formed  against  him;  and,  finding  himself 
completely  surrounded  by  an  overwhelming  force,  he  committed  suicide. 
Boyer  now  took  possession  of  his  dominions  ;  and,  the  Spanish  portion  of 
the  island  having,  in  1821,  voluntarily  placed  itself  under  his  government, 
he  became  master  of  the  whole  of  Hayti. 

Though  nominally  republican,  the  government  of  Hayti  is  in  reality  an 
elective  military  monarchy ;  vested  ostensibly  in  a  president,  senate,  and 
chamber  of  representatives ;  but  the  whole  efficient  authority  is  wielded 
by  the  chief  officer.  The  president  is  charged  with  all  the  executive  du- 
ties;  commands  the  army  and  navy;  makes  war,  peace,  and  treaties, 
subject  to  the  sanction  of  the  senate  ;  appoints  all  public  functionaries,  &c. 
In  1825,  Boyer  concluded  a  treaty  with  France,  by  the  provisions  of  which 
the  independence  of  Hayti  was  fully  recognized,  and  its  ports  thrown 
open  to  all  nations,  but  with  certain  exclusive  advantages  to  the  French. 
The  Haytians  also  agreed  to  pay  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  francs 
to  France,  in  five  annual  payments,  as  an  indemnity  for  the  losses  of  the 
colonists  during  the  revolution.  The  first  instalment  of  thirty  millions 
was  paid  in  183G;  but  it  being  evident  that  the  annual  exaction  was  be- 
yond the  ability  of  Hayti  to  repeat,  it  was  agreed,  in  1838,  to  reduce  the 
original  sum  to  sixty  millions  of  francs,  to  be  paid  in  six  instalments,  by 
1867. 


PORTO-RICO. 

Porto-Rico  was  discovered  by  Columbus  in  1493 ;  it  is  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  in  length,  from  east  to  west,  and  forty  from  north  to  south. 
The  Spaniards  neglected  it  till  1509,  when  thirst  of  gold  brought  thera 
vhither  from  Si.  Domingo,  under  Ponce  de  Leon,  to  make  a  conquest, 
which  afterwards  cost  them  dear.  Ambitio-i,  revenge,  and  love  of  gold 
prompted  the  Spaniards  to  the  most  atrocious  outrages.  They  found  the 
inhabitants  brave  and  fond  of  liberty;  and  as  they  looked  up  to  the 
Kuropean  visitants  as  a  superior  order  of  beings,  to  their  authority  they 
voluntarily  submitted.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  they  wished  to 
shake  off  the  intolerable  yoke  under  which  they  groaned,  and  postponed 
the  enterpise  only  till  they  could  assure  themselves  that  they  were  not 
immortal.  A  cacique,  named  Broyo,  was  entrusted  with  this  coinmission ; 
and  chance  soon  favoured  the  design,  by  bringing  to  him  Salzedo,  a  young 
Spaniard,  who  was  travelling.  Broyo  received  him  with  the  greatest  re- 
spect, and,  at  his  departure,  sent  some  Indians  to  attend  him  on  his  way, 
in  quality  of  guides.  When  they  came  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  which 
Ihcy  were  to  pass,  one  of  them  took  him  on  his  shoulders  to  carry  him 
across;  but  no  sooner  had  he  got  into  the  middle  of  the  stream,  than  he 
threw  the  S[)aniard  into  it,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  his  companions,  he 
kept  him  there  till  no  signs  of  life  remained.  They  then  dragged  him  to 
the  bank,  but,  as  they  were  still  in  doubt  whether  he  was  dead  or  living, 


.i:.y  THE  TREASUilY  OF  HISTORY. 

llicy  bogged  pardon  many  times  for  the  afcident  that  hud  happened.  Thw 
lart'o  lasted  three  days;  till  at  len{/tli  being  convinced,  by  the  puiridily  of 
the  body,  llial  it  was  possible  for  Spaniards  to  die,  the  Indians  rose  on  all 
Hides  upon  their  opi)ressors,  and  massacred  upwards  of  one  hundred 
of  them. 

Ponce  de  Leon  immediately  assembled  all  the  Castilians  who  had  es- 
caped, and  fell  upon  the  Indians,  who,  as  historians  relate,  had  the  extreme 
folly  to  suppose  that  these  Spaniards  were  the  same  that  had  been  killed 
and  were  come  to  life  again  to  fight  them.  I'lider  this  ridiculous  and  al- 
most incredible  persuasion,  dreading  to  continue  a  war  with  men  who  re- 
vived after  death,  they  submitted  again  to  the  yoke  of  a  cruel  foe;  and 
being  condemned  to  the  mines,  six  hundred  thousand  are  said  to  have 
fallen  martyrs  to  the  sword  or  the  toils  of  slavery. 

Under  the  old  cohjiiial  system  of  Spain,  in  1768.  the  population  was 
little  more  than  eighty  thousand;  whereas  it  amounted,  in  1836,  to  three 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  thousand,  and  it  was  supposed  to  contain  near 
four  hundred  thousand,  of  whom  an  eighth  are  slaves.  Previously  lo 
1815,  Porto-liico  being  excluded  from  all  direct  iiitercouse  with  oilier 
countries  excepting  Sjiain,  was  but  slowy  progressive.  At  that  period, 
however,  a  royal  decree  appeared,  which  exempted  the  trade  between 
Spain  and  the  Spanish  colonies  and  Porto- Hico  from  all  duties  for  fifteen 
years;  and  she  was  then  also  permitted  to  carry  on  a  free  trade,  under 
reasonable  duties,  with  other  countries.  Tliese  wise  and  liberal  meas- 
ures have  wonderfully  contributed  to  the  prosperity  of  the  island  ;  and 
their  coffee,  sugar,  and  tobacco  plantations  are  jiow  in  a  thriving  condi- 
tion. In  the  latter  part  of  the  17lli  century,  Porto-liico  was  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  lOnglish;  but  they  did  not  long  retain  it,  owing  to  the 
prevalence  of  disease  among  the  troops.  The  government,  laws,  and 
institutions  are  nearly  similar  to  those  established  in  the  other  trans- 
atlantic colonies  of  Spain. 


BARUADOES. 

This  is  the  most  easterly  island  of  the  West  Indies.  It  is  twenty-two 
miles  in  length,  from  north  to  south,  and  fifteen  in  breath,  from  east  to 
west.  The  time  of  its  discovery  is  not  certain,  nor  by  whom;  but  it  is 
generally  attributed  to  the  P«)rtugucse,  on  their  way  to  Brazil.  However, 
the  English  touched  there  in  1615,  and,  landing  some  men  in  1625,  made 
their  first  permanent  settlement.  In  16'27,  the  earl  of  Pembroke  obtained 
a  grant  of  the  island  in  trust  for  Sir  William  Courleen,  unknown  to  the 
earl  of  Carlisle,  who  had  before  obtained  a  grant  of  all  the  Caribbee  islands 
from  James  I.  The  first  planters  were  gentlemen  of  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall,  principally  of  the  parliamentary  party. 

The  country  bore  not  the  least  appearance  of  having  ever  been  peopled  : 
there  was  no  kind  of  beast  of  pasture  or  of  prey;  no  fruit,  herb,  or  root, 
fit  for  the  support  of  human  life ;  but  the  soil  was  good,  and  soon  began 
to  submit  to  cultivation.  Population  increased  through  a  variety  of  ad- 
ventures, and  the  civil  wars  of  England  added  prodigiously  thereto;  Bar- 
badoes,  in  twenty-five  years  from  its  first  settlement,  containing  upwards 
of  fifty  thousand  \vhites,  and  a  much  greater  number  of  negroes  and  Indian 
slaves.  The  former  of  these  they  bought,  and  the  latter  they  seized  upon 
without  any  pretence.  In  1676,  the  population  and  trade  were  at  their 
highest  pitch;  four  hundred  ships,  averaging  about  one  hiindred  and  fifty 
tons  each,  were  employed ;  since  which  the  island  has  been  much  oil  the 
decline. 

Barbadoes  has  been  frequently  visited  by  hurricanes,  of  which  those  of 
August  10,  1674,  October  10,  1780,  and  August  11,  1S31,  have  been  the 


THE  THEASURY  OF  HISTOllY.  439 

most  destructive  in  their  effects ;  but  the  fury  and  violence  of  the  last 
hurricane  far  exceeded  that  of  either  of  the  former,  in  it  twenty-five 
hundred  persons  were  killed,  and  the  loss  of  property  amounted  to  two 
millions  and  a  half  sterling.  By  the  munificent  aid  of  the  British  parlia- 
ment, and  the  industry  of  the  inhabitants,  the  planters  have  now  recovered 
from  these  losses.  The  population,  as  in  the  adjoining  islands,  may  prop- 
erly be  divided  into  four  classes;  crcolc  or  native  whites;  European 
whites;  Creoles  of  mixed  blood;  and  native  blacks.  Barbadoes  has  all 
along  remained  in  possession  of  the  English.  It  is  the  residence  of  the 
bishop  of  Barbadoes  and  tlie  Leeward  Islands;  and  the  clerical  establish- 
ment IS  on  a  very  respectable  and  effective  scale. 


ST.  CHRISTOPHER'S,  OR  ST.  KITT'S. 

This  island,  which  b'dongs  to  Great  Britain,  was  discovered  in  1493,  by 
Columbus,  v.iio  gave  it  the  name  it  bears.  It  was  the  mother  country 
of  all  the  English"  and  French  settlements  in  the  West  Indies.  Both 
nations  arrived  there  on  the  same  day  in  1U25;  they  shared  the  island 
between  them;  signed  a  perpetual  neutrality;  and  entered  into  a  mutual 
engagement  to  assist  each  other  against  their  common  enemy,  the  Span- 
iards. War  commenced  between  England  and  France  in  ItJGG,  and  St. 
Christopher's  became  a  scene  of  carnage  for  nearly  half  a  century,  ter- 
minating only  with  the  total  expulsion  of  the  French  in  170J.  This 
island  is  about  fifteen  miles  long,  by  four  broad.  There  is  no  harbour  in 
the  country,  nor  the  appearance  of  one. 


NEVIS. 


Tnis  small  island,  now  belonging  to  the  British,  was  originally  discov- 
ered by  Columbus;  and  the  English,  under  Sir  Thomas  Warner,  settled 
on  it  in  lti28.  It  is  separated  from  St.  Christopher's  by  a  narrow  cliauncl; 
and  is  properly  only  one  very  high  mountain,  about  seven  miles  over 
each  way.  It  was  ravaged  by  the  French  in  170G,  and  the  next  year  al- 
most destroyed  by  the  most  violent  hurricane  ever  recorded. 


ANTIGUA. 

Anticda,  a  West  Indian  island,  belonging  lo  Great  Biitain,  is  one  of 
those  denominated  the  Windward  Islands.  It  was  called  by  the  natives 
Xaymaca,  but  Columbus  gave  it  the  name  of  Santa  Maria  do  la  .Vntigua. 
The  island  is  about  twenty-five  miles  long,  by  eighteen  broad.  (Jolumbus 
discovered  it  in  1492,  but  it  was  found  totally  uninhabited  by  those  few 
Frenchmen  who  fled  thither  in  1G29,  upon  being  driven  from  St.  Christo- 
pher's by  the  Spaniards.  The  want  of  fresh  water  induced  the  fugitives 
to  return  as  soon  as  they  could.  It  appears  that  in  1G40  there  were  about 
thirty  English  families  settled  in  this  island  ;  and  the  number  was  not 
much  increased  when  Charles  II.  granted  the  property  to  Lord  Willough- 
by,  of  Parham.  His  lordship  sent  over  a  considerable  number  of  inhabi- 
tants in  16GG ;  but,  from  that  lime  till  1680,  it  grew  nothing  but  indigo  and 
tobacco  ;  when  the  island  being  restored  again  to  the  state.  Colonel  Cod- 
rington  introduced  the  culture  of  sugar.     The   harbours  of  tlic   island, 

Particularly  that  called  English  Harbour,  are  the  best  belonging  to  tho 
ritish   government  in  these  seas;  and  the   v/Iiolc  is  so  much  encora 


440 


THE  TKEASUILY  OF  UISTOIIY. 


passed  with  rocks  and  shoals,  that  it  is  very  dangerous  for  those  unac- 
quainted with  its  navigation  to  cfTect  a  landing.  For  this  cause  it  has 
remained  unmolested  by  the  French  in  all  tiie  late  wars. 


MONTSERRAT. 

Tins  island  was  discovered  by  the  Spaniards  in  1493,  who  gave  it  the 
name  of  a  mountain  in  Catalonia,  which  it  resembled  in  shape.  It  is 
about  twelve  miles  in  length,  and  five  in  its  broadest  part.  The  English 
landed  here  in  1G32,  and  soon  after  drove  off  all  the  natives.  The  pro- 
gress of  the  colony  was  slow ;  and  it  acquired  no  kind  of  importance  till 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  culture  of  sugar  took 
place.  It  has  no  harbour,  nor  even  a  tolerable  road ;  and  masters  of  ves- 
sels are  under  the  necessity  of  putting  to  sea  when  they  see  a  storm  ap- 
proaching.    It  is  in  the  possession  of  the  English. 


JAMAICA. 

Jamaica,  the  largest  and  most  valuable  of  the  British  West  India  islands, 
was  discovered  by  Columbus  in  his  second  voyage,  in  1494.  It  is  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  miles  in  length,  from  east  to  west,  and  its 
average  breadtli  about  foity  miles,  bearing  a  resemblance  to  a  long  oval. 
In  1502,  Columbus  was  driven  upon  the  island  by  a  storm,  and  having  lost 
his  ships,  he  implored  the  humanity  of  the  natives,  who  gave  him  all  the 
assistance  that  natural  pity  suggests.  They  soon,  however,  grew  tired 
of  supporting  strangers,  and  insensibly  withdrew  from  their  neighbour- 
hood. The  Spaniards,  who  had  already  treated  the  Indians  ungenerous- 
ly, now  took  up  arms  against  one  of  their  chiefs,  whom  they  accused  of 
severity  toward  them.  Columbus,  forced  to  yield  to  the  threats  of  his 
people,  in  order  to  extricate  himself  from  so  perilous  a  situation,  availed 
himself  of  one  of  those  natural  phenomena,  in  which  a  man  of  genius 
may  sometimes  find  a  resource.  From  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired  ot 
astronomy,  he  knew  that  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  was  fast  approaching. 
He  took  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  and  summoned  all  the  caciques 
in  the  neighbourhood  to  come  and  hear  something  that  concerned  them, 
and  was  essential  to  their  preservation.  He  then  stood  up  in  the  midst  ol 
them,  and  having  upbraided  them  w-ith  their  cruelty,  in  suffering  him  and 
his  distressed  companions  almost  to  perish,  he  thus  emphatically  addressed 
them  :  "  To  punish  you  for  this,  the  God  whom  1  worship  is  going  to  strike 
you  with  his  most  terrible  judgments.  This  very  evening  you  will  see 
ihe  moon  turn  red,  then  grow  dark,  and  withhold  its  light  from  you.  This 
will  be  only  a  prelude  to  your  calamities,  if  you  obstinately  persist  in 
refusing  to  give  us  food."  He  had  scarcely  done  speaking,  when  his  pror 
phecies  were  fulfilled.  The  Indians  were  terrified  beyond  measure ;  they 
begged  for  mercy,  and  promised  to  do  anything  that  he  should  desire.  He 
then  told  them,  that  Heaven,  moved  with  their  repentance,  vvas  appeased, 
and  that  nature  was  going  to  resume  her  natural  course.  From  that  mo- 
ment provisions  weres  ent  from  all  quarters  ;  and  the  Spaniards  were  never 
in  want  of  anything  during  the  time  they  remained  there. 

It  was  Don  Diego  Columbus,  son  of  the  discoverer,  that  first  fixed  the 
Spaniards  in  Jamaica.  In  1509,  he  sent  thither  seventy  robbers  from  St. 
Domingo,  under  the  command  of  John  de  Esquimel;  and  others  soon  fol- 
lowed. These  wretches  went  over  apparently  for  no  other  purpose  but 
to  shed  human  blood;  in  fact,  they  never  appear  to  have  sheathed  their 
swords  while  there  was  an  inhabitant  left.  The  murderers  raised  several 
settlements  upon  the  ashes"  of  the  natives;  but  that  of  St.  Jago  de  la  Ve- 
ga, was  the  only  one  that  could  support  itself.     The  inhabitants  of  tbai 


THE  TREASUaY  OF  HISTOEY.  44) 

town  contented  themselves  with  living  upon  the  produce  of  some  few 
plantations,  and  the  overplus  they  sold  to  the  ships  that  passed  by  their 
coasts.  The  whole  population  of  the  colony,  centered  in  the  little  spot 
that  fed  this  race  of  destroyers,  consisted  of  about  fifteen  hundred  whites, 
and  as  many  slaves,  when  the  English  came  and  attacked  the  town,  took 
it,  and  settled  there,  in  1655.  The  English  brouglit  the  fatal  sources  of 
discord  along  with  them.  At  first  the  new  colony  was  only  inhabited  by 
three  thousand  of  that  fanatical  army  who  had  fought  and  conquered  un- 
der the  standards  of  the  republican  party.  These  were  soon  followed  by 
a  multitude  of  royalists.  The  divisions  which  had  prevailed  for  so  long 
a  time,  and  with  so  much  violence,  between  the  two  parties  in  Europe, 
followed  them  beyond  the  seas.  One  party  triumphed  in  the  protection 
of  Cromwell;  the  other  trusted  to  the  governor  of  the  island,  who  was, 
in  secret,  a  royalist.  The  name  of  this  governor  was  Dudley ;  and  by 
his  disinterested  behaviour  he  enforced  his  authority.  When  Charles  II. 
was  restored  to  the  crown,  a  form  of  civil  government  was  established 
at  Jamaica,  modelled  like  those  of  the  other  islands,  upon  that  of  the 
mother  country.  The  governor  represented  the  king;  the  council,  the 
peers ;  and  three  deputies  from  each  town,  with  two  from  every  parish, 
constituted  the  commons.  In  1682,  the  code  of  laws  was  drawn  up  which 
has  so  long  existed. 

Jamaica  soon  after  became  the  grand  depot  of  the  buccaneers,  a  set  of 
pirates  who  plundered  the  seas,  and  ravaged  the  coasts  of  America. 
Here  the  spoils  of  Mexico  and  Peru  met  with  a  ready  reception ;  and 
here  "  extravagance  and  debauchery  held  their  court,"  till  this  destruc- 
tive race  became  extinct,  or  annihilated,  in  consequence  of  the  frequency 
of  the  murders  they  committed.  The  illicit  trade  carried  on  between  Ja- 
maica and  the  Spanish  colonies,  had,  in  1739,  according  to  the  best  cal- 
culations, brought  into  the  former  upwards  of  jC65, 000,000  sterling.  The 
court  of  Madrid  thought  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  by  prohibiting  the  admis- 
sion of  foreign  ships  into  the  Spanish  harbours,  on  any  pretence  what- 
ever. But  the  people  of  Jamaica  supported  themselves  in  this  trade 
under  the  protection  of  the  English  men-of-war,  by  allowing  the  captain 
five  per  cent,  upon  every  article  of  which  he  authorized  the  smuggling. 
After  the  establishing  of  register  ships  by  Spain,  this  trade  gradually  di- 
minished ;  and  sometime  previous  to  the  year  1766,  it  was  reduced  to 
about  ^£56,000  per  annum.  The  British  ministry  at  that  time  wishing  to 
restore  or  recover  the  profit  of  it,  thought  that  the  best  expedient  to  re- 
pair the  losses  of  Jamaica  was  to  make  it  a  free  port.  This  was  no  sooner 
done  than  the  Spanish  American  ships  flocked  thither  from  all  parts,  to 
exchange  their  gold  and  silver,  and  other  commodities,  for  the  manufac- 
tures of  England. 

St.  Jago,  or  Spanish  Town,  is  the  capital,  but  Kingston  by  far  exceeds 
it  in  size  and  opulence.  The  town  of  Port  Royal  stood  on  a  point  of  land 
running  far  out  into  the  sea,  and  ships  of  seven  hundred  tons  cotild  come 
up  close  to  the  wharfs.  When  the  earthquake  happened  on  the  7ih  of 
June,  1692,  this  town  contained  two  thousand  houses,  all  of  which  were 
destroyed,  and  vast  numbers  of  persons  perished.  The  earthquake  was 
followed  by  an  epidemic  disease,  which  carried  off  three  thousand  more. 
Port  Royal  was  soon  rebuilt ;  but  in  January,  1703,  it  experienced  another 
great  taiamity,  a  fire  nearly  reducing  it  to  ashes.  Many  people  now  re- 
moved to  Kingston.  It  was,  however,  built  a  third  time,  and  was  rising 
toward  its  former  grandeur,  when  it  was  overwhelmed  by  the  sea,  on  the 
28lh  of  August,  1722.  Kingston  was  built  in  1692,  from  a  plan  of  Colonel 
Lilly's,  after  the  earthquake  which  destroyed  Port  Royal.  It  is  a  beauti- 
ful city,  laid  out  in  squares,  with  streets  wide  and  regular,  crossed  by 
others  at  right  angles.  The  harbour  is  spacious,  and  capable  of  admitting 
one  hundred  ships,  or  more,  in  safety. 


442  THE  TRKASURY  OF  IIISTOIIY. 


MARTINIQUE. 

MARTiNiquF:,  one  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  and  the  principal  ol 
the  Frencii  Caribbec  islands,  is  about  forty  miles  in  length,  and  ten  in 
average  breadth.  It  was  first  settled  by  M.  iJesnambouc,  a  Frer.ehman, 
in  the  year  in3o,  with  only  one  hundred  men  from  St.  Christopher's.  He 
chose  rather  to  have  it  peopled  from  thence  than  from  Europe  ;  as  he  fore- 
saw that  men  tired  from  the  fatigue  of  a  long  voyage  would  be  likely  U, 
perish,  after  their  arrival,  either  from  the  climate,  or  the  hardships  inci- 
dent to  most  emiirralions.  They  completed  their  first  settlement  without 
any  difTiculty.  The  natives,  intimidated  by  fire-arms,  or  seduced  by  pro- 
mises, gave  up  to  the  French  the  western  and  the  southern  parts  of  the 
island,  and  retired  to  the  other.  This  tranquillity  was  of  short  duration. 
The  Caribs,  when  tliey  saw  those  enterprising  strangers  dnily  increasing, 
were  resolved  to  extirpate  them  :  they  therefore  called  in  the  natives  of 
the  neighbouring  isles  to  their  assistance,  and  suddenly  attacked  a  little 
fort  that  had  been  newly  erected.  Tiiey  were,  however,  repulsed,  leaving 
upwards  of  seven  hundred  of  their  best  warriors  dead  upon  the  spot. 
After  this  check,  they  disappeared  for  a  long  time  ;  and  when  they  did  ap- 
pear, it  was  with  presents  in  their  hands  for  their  conquerors. 

The  Indians,  whose  manner  oflife  requires  a  vast  e.Ment  of  land,  find- 
ing themselves  daily  more  straitened,  waylaid  the  French  who  frequented 
the  woods,  and  destroyed  them.  Twenty  men  had  been  killed,  before  any 
one  was  &b\e  to  account  for  their  disappearance.  No  sooner  was  it  dis- 
covered, than  the  aggressors  were  pursued,  their  houses  burnt,  their  wives 
and  children  massacred;  and  those  few  that  escaped  the  carnage,  fled 
from  Martinique,  and  never  appeared  there  any  more. 

The  French,  by  this  retreat,  became  sole  masters  of  the  island.  They 
were  divided  into  two  classes  ;  the  first  consisted  of  such  as  had  paid  their 
passage  to  the  island,  and  those  were  called  inhabitants.  The  govern- 
ment distributed  lands  to  them,  which  became  their  absolute  property  upon 
paying  a  yearly  tribute.  These  had  under  their  command  a  number  of 
disorderly  people,  sent  from  Europe,  ai  their  expense,  whom  they  called 
engages,  or  bondsmen.  This  engagement  was  a  kind  of  slavery  for  three 
-ears,  and  when  it  expired  they  became  free.  The  first  cultivation  was 
confined  to  tobacco,  cotton,  annato,  and  indigo.  That  of  sugar  was  intro- 
duced in  1G50.  Benjamin  Da  Costa,  ten  years  after,  planted  cocoa.  In 
1718,  all  the  cocoa-trees  were  destroyed  by  the  season,  and  the  cofTee-tree 
immediately  took  its  place. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  Martinique  became  the  mart  for  all  the 
windward  French  settlements ;  and  Port  Royal  became  the  magazine  for 
all  matters  of  exchange  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country. 
The  prosperity  of  this  island  was  very  great  until  the  war  of  1744,  when 
a  stop  was  put,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  contraband  trade  with  the  Span- 
ish colonies,  by  the  introduction  of  registered  ships. 

Martinique  was  taken  by  the  English  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1762, 
and  returned  to  France  in  July,  1763.  It  was  again  taken  by  the  English 
in  1809,  but  restored  to  France  by  the  peace  of  Amiens.  The  empress 
Josephine,  and  her  first  husband,  the  viscount  Beauharnois,  were  natives 
of  this  island. 


GUADALOIJPE. 

GUADALOUPE,  a  valuable  island  colony  belonging  to  France,  was  one  of 
the  discoveries  of  Columbus.  It  is  of  an  irregular  form,  about  twentj-.five 
miles  long  and  thirteen  broad.     It  is  divided  into  two  unequal  parts  by  a 


THE  TH"AsunY  or  iiisTorvY.  443 

small  arm  of  the  sea,  nearly  six  miles  long,  and  varying  from  one  to  three 
hundred  feet  in  breadih.  'J'his  canal,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Riviere- 
salce,  or  Salt  River,  is  navigable  for  vessels  of  fifty  tons  burthen. 

The  part  of  the  isla-nd  which  gives  its  name  to  the  whole  colony  i«, 
towards  the  centre,  full  of  craggy  rocks.  Among  these  rocks  is  a  moun- 
tain, called  La  Soufnere,  or,  the  Brimstone  Mountain,  which  rises  to  an 
immense  height,  and  exhales,  through  various  openings,  a  thick  and  black 
smoke,  intermixed  with  sparks  that  are  visible  by  night.  Frorn  these 
hills  flow  numberless  streams,  which  fertilize  the  plains  below.  Such  is 
that  part  of  the  island  properly  called  Guadaloupe,  or  Basse-terre.  That 
part  which  is  commonly  called  Grande-terre,  has  been  less  favoured  by 
nature. 

In  1635  the  first  settlement  was  made  on  this  island,  by  two  gentlemen 
from  Dieppe,  named  Loline  and  Duplesis,  with  about  five  hundred  follow- 
ers. Through  imprudence,  all  their  provisions  were  exhausted  in  two 
months;  famine  stared  them  in  the  face,  when  they  resolved  to  plunder 
the  natives.  This,  however,  did  not  avert  the  dreadful  alternative.  How 
far  the  accounts  of  their  horrible  sufferings  are  to  be  credited  we  know 
not,  but  it  is  asserted  that  the  colonists  were  reduced  to  graze  in  the  field, 
and  to  dig  up  dead  bodies  for  their  subsistence.  Many  who  had  been 
slaves  in  Algiers  deplored  the  fate  that  had  broken  their  fetters;  and  all 
of  them  cursed  their  existence.  It  was  in  this  manner  that  they  atoned 
for  their  crime  of  invasion,  till  the  government  of  Aubert  brouglit  about  a 
peace  with  the  natives,  a.  d.  1640.  The  few  inhabitants  that  escaped 
the  calamities  they  liad  brought  upon  themselves,  were  soon  joined  by 
some  discontented  colonists  from  St.  Ctiristopher's,  and  by  Europeans 
fond  of  novelty.  But  still  the  prosperity  of  Guadaloupe  was  impeded  by 
obstacles  arising  from  its  situation.  Martinique  engrossed  every  species 
of  traffic,  from  its  convenient  harbours  and  roads.  It  was  in  consequence 
of  this  preference,  that  the  population  of  Guadaloupe,  in  1700,  amounted 
only  to  about  lour  thousand  whites,  and  seven  thousand  slaves,  many  of 
whom  were  Caribs ;  while  the  produce  of  the  island  was  proportionably 
small.  Its  future  progress  was,  however,  as  rapid  as  the  first  attempts 
had  been  slow. 

At  the  end  of  1755,  the  colony  contained  near  ten  thousand  whites,  and 
between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  slaves;  and  such  was  the  state  of  Guad- 
aloupe when  conquered  by  the  Enghsh,  in  1759,  after  a  siege  of  three 
months,  in  which  time  the  island  suffered  so  much  as  to  be  nearly  ruined 
The  conquerors,  however,  delivered  the  inhabitants  from  their  fears;  they 
overstocked  the  market,  and  thereby  reduced  the  price  of  all  European 
commodities.  The  colonists  bought  them  at  a  low  price,  and  in  consequence 
of  this  plent)^  obtained  long  delays  for  payment.  The  colony  was  re- 
stored to  France  by  the  peace  of  Paris,  in  1765.  During  the  French  re- 
publican war,  Guadaloupe  was  taken  by  the  English,  and  retaken  by  the 
French,  in  whose  hands  it  now  remains 


ST.  LUCIA. 

St.  Lucia  was  discovered  by  Colimibus,  and  is  about  thirty  miles  in 
length,  by  twelve  in  breadth.  The  English  took  possession  of  it  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1639,  without  opposition.  They  lived  there  peace- 
ably about  a  year  and  a  half,  when  they  were  massacred  by  the  natives. 

In  1650,  about  forty  French  arrived  there  under  Rousselan,  who  married 
one  of  the  natives,  and  was  beloved  by  them.  He  died  four  years  after. 
Three  of  his  successors  were  murdered  by  the  discoiitpnted  Caribs;  and 
the  colony  was  declining,  when  it  was  taken  by  the  English  in  1661,  who 


444  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

evacuated  it  in  1666.  They  had  scarce  left  it,  when  the  French  appeared 
again  on  the  island.  Twenty  years  after,  the  English  drove  out  the  French- 
The  English  again  quitted  it;  and  it  at  lengtii  remained  wholly  without 
culture. 

In  1718,  Marshal  d'Estrees  obtanied  a  grant  of  St.  Lucia,  and  sent  over 
a  commaiulant,  troops,  and  inhabitants.  This  gave  umbrage  to  the  cour- 
of  London,  wliicli  iiad  a  prior  claim ;  therefore,  the  French  ministry  or- 
dered that  tilings  i^hould  be  put  into  the  same  state  as  tliey  were  before 
the  grant.  In  1722,  the  duke  of  Montague  had  a  grant  of  St.  Lucia  from 
the  British  ministry.  This  gave  uneasiness  to  France,  and  it  w  as  at  length 
agreed,  in  173G,  tiiat  neither  nation  should  occupy  it,  but  that  both  should 
"wood  and  water"  there.  However,  the  peace  of  17G3,  gave  to  France 
this  long-contested  territory.  During  the  American  war,  1778,  it  was 
taken  by  the  English.  It  was  afterwards  given  up  to  France  ;  then  again 
captured  by  the  English  in  1803,  with  whom  it  now  remains,  having  been 
so  definitely  assigned  by  the  treaty  of  Paris. 


ST.  VINCENT. 

This  island  was  discovered  by  the  same  enterprising  navigator,  and 
nearly  at  the  same  time,  as  the  other  islands  in  its  neighbourhood.  It  is 
about  sixteen  miles  long,  and  eight  broad.  For  some  time  after  its  dis- 
covery, it  was  the  general  rendezvous  of  the  red  Caribs,  the  original  pos- 
sessors of  the  western  archipelago.  In  1660,  when  the  English  and  French 
agreed  that  Dominica  and  St.  Vincent  should  be  left  to  the  Caribs  as  their 
property,  some  of  these  natives,  who  till  then  had  been  dispersed,  retired 
into  the  former ;  but  the  greater  part  into  the  latter.  This  population  was 
soon  after  increased  by  a  race  of  Africans,  whose  origin  was  never  posi- 
tively ascertained.  It  is  supposed  that  they  were  slaves  intended  for  the 
Spanish  markets,  and  wrecked  upon  the  coast.  But  by  whatever  chance 
these  strangers  were  brought  into  the  island,  is  now  of  no  importance. 
The  natives  treated  them  with  kindness,  and  mingled  with  them  in  mar- 
riage ;  from  whence  sprung  the  race  called  black  Caribs. 

In  1719,  many  inhabitants  of  Martinique  removed  to  St.  Vincent.  The 
first  who  came  there  settled  peaceably,  not  only  with  the  consent,  but  by 
the  assistance  of  the  red  Caribs.  This  success  induced  others  to  follow 
their  example  ;  but  these,  whether  from  jealousy,  or  some  other  motive, 
taught  these  Caribs  a  fatal  secret;  it  was,  that  they  could  sell  their  lands. 
This  knowledge  induced  them  to  measure,  and  fix  boundaries;  and  from 
that  instant  peace  was  banished  from  the  island. 

The  black  Caribs  no  sooner  knew  the  price  which  the  Europeans  set 
upon  the  lands  they  inhabited,  than  they  claimed  a  share  with  the  red 
Caribs,  and  also  a  share  in  all  future  sales.  Provoked  at  being  denied  a 
part  of  these  profits,  they  formed  themselves  into  a  separate  tribe,  swore 
never  more  to  associate  with  the  red  Caribs,  chose  a  chief  of  their  own, 
and  declared  war.  In  this  war  they  were  successful,  made  themselves 
masters  of  all  the  leeward  coast,  and  required  of  the  Europeans  that  they 
should  again  buy  the  lands  they  had  already  purchased.  A  Frenchman 
attempted  to  show  the  deed  of  his  purchase  of  the  same  lands  which  he 
had  bought  of  a  red  Carib;  "I  know  not,"  said  the  black  Carib,  "what 
thy  paper  says ;  but  read  what  is  written  on  my  arrow.  There  you  may 
see,  in  characters  which  do  not  lie,  that  if  you  do  not  give  me  what  I  de- 
mand, I  will  go  and  burn  your  house  this  night."  Time,  which  brings  on 
a  change  of  measures  with  a  change  of  interests,  put  an  end  to  these  dis- 
turbances. The  French  became,  in  their  turn,  the  strongest.  In  less  than 
twenty  years  the  population  amounted  to  eight  hundred  whites  and  three 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY'  445 

thousand  blacks.  In  this  situation  was  the  island  when  it  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  English,  to  whom  it  was  secured  by  the  peace  of  17G3.  In 
1779  it  was  re-captured  by  the  French ;  but  it  reverted  to  Great  Britain 
in  1783. 

The  English  had  no  sooner  got  possession,  than  they  issued  an  order 
to  deprive  the  cultivators  of  the  lands  of  their  property,  unless  redeemed. 
The  settlers  remonstrate-d  against  a  proceeding  so  unjust,  but  were  disre- 
garded ;  and  the  lands  were  ordered,  by  the  English  ministry,  to  be  sold 
indiscriminately.  This  severity  made  them  disperse.  Some  went  to  St. 
Martin,  Margalanlc,  Guadaloupe,  and  Martinique  ;  but  the  greater  part  to 
St.  Lucia.  The  Caribs  still  occupied  the  windward  side  of  the  island, 
which  contained  fine  plains ;  but  having  refused  to  evacuate  them  when 
ordered  so  to  do  by  the  English,  the  latter  took  to  arras  to  compel  them. 
These  unfortunate  people  defended  themselves  with  extraordinary  cour- 
age during  several  years,  but  were  at  length  obliged  to  submit.  The 
greater  part  had  been  exterminated  during  the  war,  and  the  remainder 
either  fled,  or  were  sent  off  the  island. 


DOMINICA. 

Dominica,  discovered  by  Columbus,  in  1493,  is  about  thirty  miles  long, 
and  sixteen  broad.  This  island  was  for  many  years  afterward  inhabited 
only  by  its  natives.  In  173-2,  nine  hundred  and  thirty-eight  Caribs  were 
found  there,  dispersed  in  thirty-two  carbets,  or  huts  ;  and  three  hundred 
and  forty-nine  French  lived  in  a  district  by  the  sea-side.  At  the  peace 
of  1763,  when  it  became  an  English  colony,  it  was  found  to  contain  six 
hundred  whites,  and  two  thousand  blacks.  The  island  was  captured  by 
the  French  in  1778,  but  restored  at  the  peace  of  1783.  The  great  advan- 
tage of  this  island  to  the  English  is  its  situation.  It  is  nearly  equi-distant 
from  Guadaloupe  and  Martinique,  and  at  a  small  distance  from  either;  and 
its  safe  and  commodious  roads  and  bays  enable  their  privateers  and  squad 
rons  to  intercept,  without  risk,  the  navigation  of  France  in  her  colonies 


GRENADA. 

One  of  the  West  India  islands,  belongings  to  Great  Britain,  is  aboui 
thirty  miles  long,  and  twelve  broad.  The  French  formed  a  project  for 
settling  there  as  early  as  the  year  1638,  yet  they  never  carried  it  into 
execution  till  1651.  At  their  arrival  they  gave  a  few  hatcliets,  some 
knives,  and  a  barrel  of  brandy,. to  the  chief  of  the  natives  they  found 
there  ;  and  imagining  they  had  purchased  the  island  with  these  trifles, 
assumed  the  sovereignty,  and  soon  acted  as  tyrants.  The  Caribs,  unable 
to  contend  with  them  by  open  force,  took  the  usual  method  which  weak- 
ness inspires  to  repel  oppression:  they  murdered  all  whom  they  found 
alone  and  defenceless.  The  troops  that  were  sent  to  support  the  infant 
colony,  destroyed  all  the  natives  they  found.  The  remainder  of  these 
miserable  people  took  refuge  upon  a  steep  rock,  preferring  rather  to 
throw  themselves  down  alive  from  the  top  of  it,  than  to  fall  into  tlie 
hands  of  an  implacable  enemy.  The  French  called  this  rock,  Le  Morno 
des  Sauteurs,  (the  Hill  of  the  Leapers),  which  name  it  still  retains.  The 
French  held  this  island  till  1762,  when  it  was  captured  by  the  British,  to 
whom  it  was  confirmed  by  the  treaty  of  1763.  The  French,  however, 
retook  it  in  1799,  but  restored  it  in  1783,  agreeable  to  the  treaty  of  peace. 


446  THE  TREASUllY  OF  HISTORY. 


TRINIDAD. 

This  is  the  most  southerly  of  the  Windward  Islands,  and,  next  to  Ja- 
maica, the  largest  ;ind  most  valuable  of  thf  West  India  islands  belonging 
to  Great  liritain.  It  lies  immediately  off  the  northeast  coast  of  Colom- 
bia, beinir  only  separated  from  it  by  a  narrow  strait.  It  was  first  visited 
by  Columbus  in  1498,  at  the  time  he  discovered  the  river  Orinoco.  Its 
favourable  situation  for  carrying  on  trade  with  the  main,  as  well  as  the 
neighbouring  islands,  its  extent,  fruitfulncss,  and  the  convenience  of  its 
harbours,  make  it  an  object  of  considerable  importance  ;  indeed,  so  fertile 
is  the  soil,  that  not  more  than  a  thirtieth  part  of  its  surface  is  incapable 
of  cultivation.  Cocoa  is  more  extensively  grown  in  Trinidad  than  in 
any  of  the  other  British  Antilles,  and  is  of  superior  quality;  but  its  sugar 
j^antations  are  still  more  important.  Coffee,  indigo,  tobacco,  and  cotton, 
also  come  to  perfection  here,  though  the  quantities  grown  are  but  small; 
but  all  the  fruits  and  vegetables  of  the  adjacent  tropical  climates  arc  found 
in  abundance;  and  the  pines  transplanted  from  France  or  Spain  are  said 
to  be  equal  to  the  parent  stock. 

The  mineral  products  of  Trinidad  are  considerable,  but  the  most  abun 
dant  is  that  of  asphaltum,  which  is  found  in  the  greatest  profusion  in  the 
lake  Brea,  or  Pitch  lake ;  part  of  which  is  in  a  liquid  state,  and  consists 
of  fluid  pitch  of  unknown  depth,  in  a  state  of  slow  ebullition,  and  exhaling 
a  strong  bituminous  and  sulphurous  odour.  Exclusive  of  this  pitch  lake, 
Trinidad  has  several  extinct  volcanic  craters  and  other  positive  evidences 
of  volcanic  agency.  Is  is.  however,  happily  exempt  from  the  destructive 
scourge  of  hurricanes.  Although  discovered  in  1498,  Trinidad  was  not 
taken  possession  of  by  the  Spaniards  until  1558,  when  a  similar  scene 
of  extermination  of  the  natives  occurred  as  marked  most  of  the  other 
territories  in  the  New  World  which  fell  under  their  power.  Raleigh 
visited  it  in  1595;  and  the  French  took  it  in  1696,  but  soon  after  re- 
stored it  to  the  Spaniards,  who  held  it  till  it  was  taken  by  the  English 
in  1797,  and  ceded  to  them  by  the  peace  of  Amiens. 


ST.  EUSTATIUS. 

St.  Edstatius,  one  of  the  West  India  islands,  in  the  group  called  the 
Leeward  islands,  is  about  fifteen  miles  in  circumference,  and  is,  properly 
speaking,  nothing  but  a  steep  mountain,  rising  out  of  the  sea  in  the  form 
of  a  cone,  the  centre  of  which  is  apparently  the  crater  of  an  extinct  vol- 
cano. Some  Frenchmen,  who  had  been  driven  from  St.  Christopher's, 
took  refuge  there  in  1629,  and  abandoned  it  soon  after,  'i'he  Dutch  got 
possession  of  it  in  1639.  They  were  afterward  driven  out  by  the  f^nglish, 
and  the  latter  by  the  French,  to  whom  it  v»'as  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  Bre- 
da; notwithstanding  which,  Louis  XIV.  restored  it  to  the  Dutch,  in  whose 
possession  it  remained  until  the  American  war,  when  it  was  taken  by  the 
English,  and  retaken  by  the  Dutch.  During  the  French  republican  war, 
it  was  again  taken  by  the  English,  with  whom  it  now  remains 


TOBAGO. 

One  of  the  West  India  islands  belonging  tg  Great  Britain,  is  about  thirty- 
five  miles  in  length,  and  twelve  in  breadth.     In  1632,  two  hundred  men 
from  Flushing,  landed  there  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  Dutch  colony 
upon  which  the  neighbouring  Indians  joined  with  the  Spaniards  to  oppose 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  447 

an  establishment  that  gave  umbrage  to  both.  Whoever  attempted  to  stop 
their  fury,  were  murdered  or  taken  prisoners  ;  and  the  few  who  escaped 
into  the  woods  soon  deserted  the  island.  In  1654,  the  Dutch  sent  a  fresh 
colony  to  Tobago,  which  was  driven  out,  in  1666,  by  the  English.  The 
English  were  soon  deprived  of  this  conquest  by  the  French  ;  but  Louis 
XIV.,  satisfied  with  having  conquered  it,  restored  it  to  the  Dutch.  In 
the  month  of  February,  1677,  a  French  fleet,  destined  to  seize  upon  To- 
bago, fell  in  with  the  Dutch  fleet  sent  out  to  oppose  this  expedition.  The}' 
engaged  in  the  road  of  the  island;  and  the  courage  displayed  on  both 
sides  was  such,  that  every  ship  was  dismasted,  nor  did  the  engagement 
cease  till  twelve  vessels  were  burnt.  The  French  lost  the  fewest  men ; 
but  the  Dutch  kept  possession  of  the  island.  D'Estrees  was  determined 
to  take  it,  and  landed  there  the  same  year,  in  the  month  of  December,  at 
a  time  when  there  was  no  fleet  to  obstruct  his  progress.  A  bomb,  thrown 
from  his  camp,  blew  up  their  powder  magazine,  which  proved  a  decisive 
stroke  ;  and  the  Dutch,  unable  to  resist,  surrendered  at  discretion.  The 
conquerors  availed  tliemselves  to  the  utmost  of  the  rights  of  war;  not 
content  with  razing  the  fortifications,  they  burned  the  phintations,  seized 
upon  all  the  ships  in  the  harbour,  and  transported  the  inhabitants.  This 
conquest  was  secured  to  France  by  the  peace  tliat  soon  followed.  The 
French,  however,  neglected  this  important  island  ;  not  a  single  man  was 
sent  thither  for  many  years,  and  it  fell  into  a  very- low  condition.  The 
English  claimed  a  right  to  Tobago;  their  arms  confirmed  their  preten- 
sions ;  and  it  was  ceded  to  England  by  the  peace  of  1763.  It  was  taken 
by  the  French  in  1781,  and  ceded  to  them  by  the  peace  of  1783.  The 
English  again  took  it  in  the  French  republican  war,  (1793),  and  it  now 
remains  with  them. 


THE  BAHAMAS. 

These  islands,  the  first  which  Columbus  discovered  in  America,  are 
about  five  hundred  in  number,  and  belong  to  Great  Britain.  St.  Salvador, 
one  of  them,  was  the  first  land  discovered  by  Columbus,  on  the  ISth  of 
October,  1492.  They  are,  in  general,  little  more  than  rocks  just  above 
water.  When  first  discovered,  some  were  densely  inhabited,  and  their 
natives  were  sent,  by  the  Spaniards,  to  perish  in  the  mines  of  St.  Do- 
mingo. Not  one  of  them  had  a  single  inhabitant  in  1672,  when  the  English 
landed  a  few  men  on  that  called  New  Providence,  who  were  all  destroyed 
by  the  Spaniards  seven  or  eight  years  after.  This  disaster  did  not  deter 
other  Englishmen  from  settlnig  there  in  1690.  They  had,  built  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  houses,  when  the  French  and  Spaniards  jointly  attacked 
them  in  1703,  and  destroyed  their  plantations,  and  carried  off  their  ne- 
groes. The  pirates  next  got  possession,  and  insulted  every  flag,  till  1719, 
when  England  fitted  out  a  sufficient  force  to  subdue  them.  The  greater 
part  of  them  accepted  the  pardon  held  out  upon  submission,  and  served  to 
increase  the  colony,  which  Woods  Rogers  brought  with  him  from  Britain. 


There  are  other  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  belonging  to  the  English, 
Danes,  Swedes,  and  Dutch,  but  of  so  little  consideration,  that  to  give  de- 
tails of  them  would  afford  but  little  interest  or  real  information. 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TO    THE    CLOSE    OF    THE    EEVOLUTIONART    WAR 

These  were  originally  Ihirtcen  colonies,  composed  of  emisrrants  princi- 
pally from  Great  Britain.  After  enduring  all  the  hardships  incident  to 
the  settlement  of  anew  country,  having  at  the  same  time  to  contend 
against  hostility  from  the  natives  and  each  other, they  triumphed  over  every 
obstacle  and  became  permanently  settled.  For  the  space  of  about  a  cen- 
tury they  acknowledged  the  sway,  and  continued  to  contribute  like  loyal 
subjects  to  the  support  of  the  British  crown  ;  but  at  the  end  of  that  period 
a  plan  of  taxation  was  projected  and  attempted  to  be  carried  into  effect  by 
the  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  which  was  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the 
people  of  the  colonies.  This  attempt  was  the  cause  which  finally  sepa- 
rated the  two  countries ;  for  the  colonies  with  unexampled  vigour  and 
pertinacity  opposed  all  the  efforts  of  the  mother  country  to  subject  them 
to  obedience.  The  national  existence  of  this  country,  therefore,  com- 
menced on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  such  being  the  date  of  that  celebrated 
document,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  colonies. 

So  rapid  and  unprecedented  has  been  the  rise  of  this  new  nation,  that 
the  great  European  powers  have  already  ranked  her  immediately  after 
themselves  in  the  scale  of  national  importance;  and  she  is  now  univer- 
sally attracting  attention  as  the  most  celebrated  and  powerful  Republic 
that  exists. 

A  brief  consideration  of  the  causes  which  superinduced  the  American 
revolution,  may  not  be  here  improper.  As  early  as  the  year  1651,  had 
been  passed  in  England,  a  navigation  act,  for  the  regulation  of  the  com- 
merce of  the  colonies,  by  which  it  was  .declared  that  no  merchandize  ol 
the  English  Plantations  should  be  imported  into  England  in  any  othei 
than  English  vessels ;  also,  that  the  transfer  of  articles  of  domestic  manu- 
facture from  one  colony  to  another  were  prohibited,  particularly  sudb 
goods  as  could  be  obtained  from  England ;  also,  shortly  after,  was  en 
acted  another  law  forbidding  hatters  to  have  more  than  two  apprentices 
or  to  extend  their  business ;  forbidding,  also,  the  erection  of  iron  works 
and  the  manufacture  of  steel ;  and  prohibiting  the  importation  of  sugar 
rum,  and  molasses,  without  the  payment  of  exorbitant  duties  ;  and  declaring 
to  be  illegal  the  felling  of  pitch  and  white-pine  trees  not  comprehended 
within  the  enclosures. 

Even  so  soon  as  1739,  certain  restless  scheming  English  politicians 
proposed  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  then  prime-minister,  the  subsequently 
fatal  notion  of  imposing  direct  excises  upon  the  colonies,  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  a  revenue  for  support  of  the  government.  That  profound  and 
sagacious  statesman,  however,  replied,  with  an  ironical  stnile, "  I  will  leave 
that  operation  to  some  one  of  my  successors,  who  shall  have  more  courage 
than  I,  and  less  regard  for  commerce.  During  my  administration  I  have 
always  thought  it  my  duty  to  encourage  the  commerce  of  the  American 
colonies  ;  and  I  have  done  it.  For,  it  is  my  opinion  that,  if  by  their  trade 
ihey  gain  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling,  at  the  end  of  tv.-o  years 
full  the  half  that  sum  will  have  entered  British  coffers.  This  is  a  mode 
of  taxing  them  more  conformable  to  their  constitution,  and  to  our  own." 

In  1763,  however,  the  government  of  Great  Britain  found  it  necessary 
*«  search  out  every  object,  and  every  occupation,  which  was  susceptible 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  449 

of  laxes,  QT  contributions;  as  her  public  debt  had  at  that  time  increased 
to  the  prodigious  amount  of  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  millions  sterling', 
or  about  six  hundred  and  fifty-seven  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. It  was  therefore  thought  expedient,  and  even  necessary,  to  tax  the 
colonies;  and  George  Grenville,  then  prime-minister,  accordingly  intro- 
duced a  resolution  in  parliament,  "That  it  was  proper  to  charge  certain 
stamp  duties,  in  the  colonies  and  plantations."  This  passed  the  house  of 
commons,  March  10th,  1764;  but  no  further  action  was  taken  until  the 
year  following. 

Meanwhile  the  colonies  received  intelligence  of  the  design,  with  a  gen- 
eral feeling  of  indignation.  They  considered  it  the  commencement  of  a 
system  of  revenue  which,  if  unresisted,  opened  a  prospect  of  oppression 
boundless  in  extent,  and  endless  in  duration.  Meeinigs  were  held,  and 
remonstrances  addressed  to  the  king,  and  to  both  houses  of  parliament; 
and  agents  were  sent  to  London,  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  intended  act 
from  becoming  a  law.  But  ministers  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  their 
plan  ;  the  memorials,  remonstrances,  petitions,  and  resolutions  of  the 
American  provinces  were  alike  rejected:  and  the  obnoxious  stamp  act 
passed  in  the  month  of  March,  1765,  by  a  vote  of  five  to  one  in  the  Com- 
mons, and  without  opposition  in  the  Lords. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  debate  preceding  the  law,  eloquence  and  patriot- 
ism of  the  most  exalted  character  were  exhibited.  Charles  Townsend, 
a  brilliant  orator  on  the  side  of  the  ministry,  took  occasion  to  exclaim. 

"These  Americans,  our  own  children,  planted  by  our  care,  nourished  by 
our  indulgence,  protected  by  our  arms,  until  they  are  grown  to  a  good  de- 
gree of  strength  and  opulence;  will  they  now  turn  their  backs  upon  us, 
and  grudge  to  contribute  their  mite  to  relieve  us  from  the  heavy  load  which 
overwhelms  usV 

Colonel  Barrc  caught  the  words,  and,  with  a  vehemence  becoming  a 
soldier,  rose  and  said: 

^'■Planted  by  your  care  !  No  !  your  oppression  planted  them  in  America: 
they  fled  from  your  tyranny  into  a  then  uncultivated  land,  where  they 
were  exposed  to  almost  all  the  hardships  to  which  human  nature  is  liable, 
and  among  others,  to  the  savage  cruelty  ol  the  natives  of  the  country,  a 
people  the  most  subtle,  and,  I  take  it  upon  me  to  say,  the  most  truly  ter- 
rible of  any  people  that  ever  inhabited  God's  earth;  and  yet  actuated  by 
principles  of  true  English  liberty,  they  met  all  these  hardships  with  pleas- 
ure, compared  with  those  they  suffered  in  their  own  country,  from  the 
hands  of  those  that  should  have  been  their  friends. 

"  They  nourished  by  your  indulgence !  They  grew  by  your  neglect :  as  soon 
as  you  began  to  care  about  them,  that  care  was  exercised  by  sending  per- 
sons to  rule  over  them,  in  one  department  and  another,  who  were,  perhaps,, 
the  deputies  of  the  deputies  of  some  members  of  this  house,  sent  to  spy 
out  their  liberty,  to  misrepresent  their  actions,  and  to  prey  upon  them:: 
men,  whose  behaviour,  on  many  occasions,  had  caused  the  blood  of  these 
sons  of  liberty  to  recoil  within  them ;  men,  promoted  to  the  highest  seats 
of  justice,  some  of  whom,  to  my  knowledge,  were  glad,  by  going  to  foreign 
countries,  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  the  laws  of  their  ovvn. 

"  They  protected  by  your  arms !  They  have  nobly  taken  up  arms  in  your 
defence  -.  have  exerted  their  valour  amid  their  constant  and  laborious  in- 
dustry, for  the  defence  of  a  country  whose  frontiers  were  drenched  in 
blood,  while  its  interior  parts  yielded  for  your  enlargement  the  little  savings 
of  theii  frugality  and  the  fruits  of  their  toils.  And  believe  me,  remember,  I 
this  day  told  you  so,  that  the  same  spirit  vv'hich  actuated  that  people  at 
first,  will  continue  with  them  still." 

When  the  news  of  the  passage  of  this  act  reached  America,  a  burst  of 
resentment  was  everywhere  manifested.  In  Boston  and  in  Philadelphia 
the  bells  were  mufEed  and  rung  a  funeral  peal;  in  New-York  the  act  was 
29 


450  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

carried  through  the  streets  with  a  death's  head  affixed  to  it,  and  styled 
"Tlie  folly  of  Eiif^laud  and  the  ruin  of  America."  In  Portsmouth,  a  cof- 
fin, inscribed  with  the  word  "Liberty,"  in  large  letters,  was  carried  to 
the  grave  with  much  ceremony  ;  minute  guns  being  fired  during  the  move- 
ment of  the  procession,  and  an  oration  in  favour  of  the  deceased  delivered 
at  the  place  of  interment.  The  stamped  paper  was  in  many  places  seized 
and  destroyed,  and  the  houses  of  those  who  sided  with  the  government 
plundered.  The  stamp  officers  were  compelled  to  resign,  and  the  doctrine 
openly  avowed,  that  England  had  no  right  to  tax  America.  It  was  main- 
tained, as  a  fundamental  principle,  that  taxation  and  representation  were 
inseparable ;  and  as  the  American  colonies  were  not  represented  in  the 
parliament  of  Great  Britain,  ihe  act  complained  of  was  every  way  repre- 
hensible, unjust,  and  unconstitutional. 

On  the  night  the  bill  was  passed,  Doctor  Franklin,  who  was  then  in 
London,  wrote  to  Charles  Thompson,  afterwards  secretary  of  the  conti- 
nental Congress,  "The  sun  of  liberty  is  set;  the  Americans  must  now 
light  tlie  lamps  of  industry  and  economy."  To  which  Mr.  Thompson 
answered,  "Be  assured  we  shall  light  torches  of  quite  another  sort :" 
Thus  predicting,  as  it  were,  the  convulsions  about  to  follow. 

The  opposition  to  the  stamp  act  was  so  spirited  and  universal,  that  par- 
liament had  only  the  alternative  to  compel  submission  or  repeal  the  law. 
Accordingly,  on  the  22d  February,  1766,  General  Conway  introduced  a 
motion  in  the  house  of  commons  for  its  repeal.  Great  excitement  was 
exhibited  on  the  occasion  ;  but  a  division  of  the  house  being  at  length 
called  for,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  vote  stood  as  follows:  one 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  voices  against  the  motion,  and  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  in  favour  of  it :  so  the  obnoxious  bill  was  repealed. 

As  a  salvo  to  the  wounded  honour  of  the  ministerial  party,  a  declar- 
atory act  was  passed  at  the  same  time,  more  hostile  to  the  American 
rights  than  anything  which  had  preceded  it.  The  language  of  the  enact- 
ment was,  "That  parliament  have,  and  of  right  ought  to  have,  power  to 
bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever." 

Nevertheless,  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  on  the  repeal  of  the  act  was 
sincere  and  general.  But  they  mistook  entirely  the  spirit  and  determina- 
of  the  ministry;  for,  in  1767,  a  bill  was  passed  imposing  a  duty  to  be  col- 
lected in  the  colonies  on  glass,  paper,  paints,  and  tea.  Again  the  fire  of 
opposition  and  alarm,  which  had  been  partially  smothered  by  the  previous 
action  of  parliament,  broke  forth  anew;  again  associations  were  formed 
to  prevent  the  importation  of  British  goods  ;  and  meetings  called  to  resolve, 
petition,  and  remonstrate.  Parliament  presently  suspended  the  action  of 
this  law  also,  except  upon  the  single  article  of  ^ea,  upon  which  a  merely 
nominal  duty  of  three  pence  per  pound  was  demanded.  The  non-importa- 
tion recommendations  of  meetings  and  associations  to  suspend  the  pu»^ 
chase  of  tea,  had  been  so  strictly  complied  with,  that  but  little  had  been 
brought  into  the  country.  The  consequence  was,  that  a  vast  quantity, 
seventeen  millions  of  pounds,  had  accumulated  upon  the  hands  of  the  East 
India  Company.  For  their  relief,  the  parliament  now  authorized  them  to 
export  this  tea  into  any  part  of  the  world,  free  of  duty.  By  this  regula- 
tion, tea  would  come  cheaper  to  the  colonies  than  before  it  had  been  made 
a  source  of  revenue — parliament  having,  in  1767,  reduced  the  duty  on  it 
to  three  pence  a  pound. 

Confident  of  now  finding  a  market  for  iheir  tea  in  America,  the  East 
India  Company  freighted  several  ships  with  that  article  for  the  different 
colonies,  and  appointed  agents  to  dispose  of  it.  On  the  arrival  of  this  tea, 
however,  the  determination  of  the  colonists  was  formed — they  would  not 
pay  even  three  pence  by  way  of  duty.  The  consequence  was,  that  cargoes 
of  tea,  sent  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  were  returned  without  being 
entered  at  the  custom  house  ;  and  those  sent  to  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
tina,  were  stored,  but  not  olFered  for  sale. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  45I 

Tn  Massachusetts,  a  different  fate  awaited  it.  Upon  its  arrival,  the  in- 
habitants endeavoured  to  procure  its  return,  but  this  being'  impracticable, 
the  tea  having  been  consigned  to  the  relations  and  friends  of  the  royal 
governor,  Hutchinson,  they  resolved  to  destroy  it.  Accordingly,  a  num- 
ber of  persons,  dressed  like  Indians,  repaired  to  the  ships,  and  discharged 
three  hundred  and  forty-two  chests  of  tea  into  the  water,  without,  how- 
ever, doing  any  other  damage. 

Intelligence  of  these  proceedings  was,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1774,  com- 
municated in  a  message  from  the  throne  to  both  houses  of  parliament. 
The  excitement  was  pecularly  strong.  In  the  spirit  of  revenge  against 
Massachusetts,  and  particularly  against  Boston,  which  was  considered  as 
the  chief  seat  of  rebellion,  a  bill  was  brought  forward,  called  the  "Boston 
port  bill,"  by  which  the  port  of  Boston  was  precluded  from  the  privilege 
of  landing  and  discharging,  or  of  loading  and  shipping  goods,  wares,  and 
merchandise. 

A  second  bill,  which  passed  at  this  time,  essentially  altered  the  charter 
of  the  province,  making  the  appointment  of  the  council,  justices,  &c.,  de- 
pendent upon  the  crown,  or  its  agent.  A  third  soon  followed,  authorizing 
and  directing  the  governor  to  send  any  person  indicted  for  murder,  or  any 
other  capital  offence,  to  another  colony,  or  to  Great  Britain,  for  trial. 

Early  the  next  year,  January  7th,  1775,  Lord  Chatham,  Mr.  Pitt,  after 
along  retirement,  resumed  his  seat  in  the  house  of  lords,  and  introduced 
a  conciliatory  hill,  the  object  of  which  was,  to  settle  the  troubles  in  Amer- 
ica. But  the  efforts  of  this  venerable  and  peacemaking  man  wholly  failed, 
the  bill  being  rejected  by  a  majority  of  sixty-four  to  thirty- two,  without 
even  the  compliment  of  lying  on  the  table. 

The  crisis,  therefore,  had  arrived ;  and  the  signal  of  war  being  given, 
the  blood  shed  at  Lexington  opened  the  scene.  The  circumstances  of 
the  case  were  as  follows ;  General  Gage,  the  king's  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, learning  that  a  quantity  of  military  stores  had  been  deposited 
by  the  provincials  at  Concord,  eighteen  miles  from  Boston,  detached  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Smith,  and  Major  Pitcairn,  with  eight  hundred  grenadiers 
to  seize  them.  It  is  said,  also,  that  another  and  more  important  object  of 
the  same  expedition  was  to  obtain  possession  of  the  persons  of  two  dis- 
tinguished leaders  of  the  patriots,  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams, 
They  receiving  timely  intimation  of  the  design  through  the  means  of  Dr. 
Warren,  an  ardent  lover  of  freedom,  who  afterwards  fell  on  Bunker's  Hill, 
they  made  their  escape.  When  the  detachment  arrived  at  Lexington,  a 
small  town  lying  in  their  course,  they  found  a  body  of  militia,  numbering 
about  seventy,  under  arms.  Major  Pitcairn,  riding  up  to  them,  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  "Disperse,  disperse,  you  rebels  ;  throw  down  your  arms  and 
disperse."  The  sturdy  yeomanry  not  immediately  obeying  his  orders,  he 
approached  nearer,  discharged  his  pistol,  and  ordered  his  soldiers  to  fire. 
The  result  is  known.  They  succeeded  in  destroying  the  stores,  but 
were  compelled  to  retire  with  the  loss  of  273  men,  while  the  loss  on  the 
side  of  the  colonists  only  amounted  to  84. 

The  provincial  congress  of  Massachusetts,  being  in  session  at  this  time, 
despatched  a  minute  account  of  the  affair  at  Lexington,  to  Great  Britain, 
vvith  depositions  to  prove  that  the  British  troops  were  the  aggressors.  In 
conclusion,  they  used  this  emphatic  language  ;  "Appealing  to  heaven  for 
the  justice  of  our  cause,  zve  determine  to  die,  or  be  free-''' 

While  these  things  were  passing  within  and  about  Boston,  the  other 
provinces  were  making  their  preparations  for  war  with  extreme  activity. 
The  city  of  New  York  itself,  in  which  the  English  had  more  friends  than 
in  any  other  on  the  continent,  and  which  hitherto  had  manifested  so  much 
reserve,  at  the  first  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  was  seized  with  a 
violent  emotion,  and  resolved  to  make  common  cause  with  the  other  col 
onies.     The  inhabitants  adopted  the  resolutions  of  the  general  Congress 


452  THE  TilEASURY  OF  HISTORl. 

with  the  determination  to  persist  in  them  until  tlie  entire  re-establiohment 
of  constitulionai  hiwo.  They  drew  up  an  energetic  address  to  the  common 
council  of  the  city  of  London,  which  had  sliuvvn  itself  favouriible  to  the 
cause  of  the  colonies;  they  declared,  thai  ail  the  calamities  in  tlie  train 
of  civil  war,  could  not  constrain  the  Americans  to  bend  to  the  will  of 
Great  Britain,  and  that  such  was  the  universal  sentiment,  from  Nova  Scotia 
to  Georgia;  they  conjured  the  city  of  London  to  exert  all  its  endeavour.^ 
to  restore  peace  between  the  two  parts  of  the  empire ;  but  as  to  them- 
selves, tliey  protested  tlieir  determination  no  longer  to  endure  tyranny.' 

The  second  continental  Congress  met  at  Philadelphia  on  the  lOih  May, 
1775,  and  as  war  had  now  actually  commenced,  it  became  necessary  to 
fix  upon  a  proper  person  to  conduct  it.  The  one  unanimously  selected 
by  Congress  was  CJeohge  Wasuington,  a  member  of  their  body,  from  Vir- 
ginia. General  Washington,  in  liis  reply  to  the  president  of  Congress,  who 
announced  to  him  his  appointment,  after  consenting  to  enter  upon  the  mo- 
mentous duly  assigned  iiim,  added  ;  "As  to  pay,  Sir,  I  beg  leave  to  assure 
the  Congress,  that  as  no  pecuniary  consideration  could  have  tempted  me  to 
accept  this  arduous  employment,  at  tlie  expense  of  my  domestic  ease  and 
happiness,  I  do  not  vvisli  to  make  any  profit  from  it.  I  will  keep  an  exact 
account  of  my  expenses.  These  I  doubt  not  they  will  discharge,  and  that 
is  all  I  desire."  A  special  commission  was  drawn  up  and  presented  to 
him,  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  forces  ;  on  presenting  it,  Con- 
gress unanimously  adopted  this  resolution:  "That  they  would  maintain 
and  assist  him,  and  adhere  to  him  with  their  lives  and  fortunes,  in  the  cause 
of  American  liberty."  Following  his  appointment,  was  that  of  four  ma- 
jor-generals, Arlemas  Ward,  Charles  Lee,  Philip  Schuyler,  and  Israel 
Putnam ;  and  eight  brigadier-generals,  Selh  Pomeroy,  Richard  Mont- 
p^omery,  David  Wooster,  William  Heath,  Joseph  Spencer,  John  Thomas, 
John  Sullivan,  and  Nathaniel  Greene. 

It  may  not  be  inappropriate  here  to  give  a  table  of  the  time  and  order 
of  the  principal  battles  which  led  to  the  freedom  of  the  colonies  from 
iheir  mother  country,  together  with  the  name  of  the  commanding  officer 
of  either  force,  witli  their  respective  losses.  The  war  commenced,  as 
we  have  said,  with  the  battle  of 

Lexington,  April  19,  1775;  British,  Major  Pitcaim,  loss  273;  American  yeomamy, 

loss  81. 
Bunker  IIiLL,  June  17,  1775;  British,  Lord  Howe,  loss  1054;  American,  Col.  Pres- 

cott,  loss  453. 
Flatbusii,  Aug.  12,  1776;  British,  Lord  Howe,  loss  400;  American,  Putnam  and 

Sullivan,  loss  2000. 
White  Plains,  Oct.  28,   1766;  British,  Lord   Howe,  loss  300  to  400;  American. 

General  Washington,  loss  300  to  400. 
Trenton,  Dec.  25,  1776  ;  British,  General  Rahl,loss  1000 ;  American,  General  Wash- 
ington, loss  9. 
Princeton,  Jan.  3,  1777;  British,  General  Mawhood,  loss  400 ;  American,  General 

Washington,  loss  100. 
HuBBARDSTON,  Aug.  7,  1777  ;  British,  General  Frazer  and  Baron  Reidesei,  loss  180; 

American,  Cols.  Francis  and  Wanier,  loss  800. 
Bennington,  Aug.   16,    1777;    British,  Generals  Baum    and  Breyman,  loss  800; 

American,  General  Stark,  loss  100. 
Bkandxwine,  Sept.  11,  1777;  British,  Lord  Howe,  loss  500;  American,  General 

Washington,  loss  1200. 
Stillwater,  Sept.  17,  1777;  British,  General  Burgoyne,  loss  600;  American,  Gen- 
eral Gates,  loss  350. 
Germantown,  Oct.    4,  1777;  British,  General  Grey  and   CoL  Musgrave,  loss  600 ; 

American,  General  Washington,  loss  1200. 
Saratoga,  Oct.  17,  1777;  British,  General  Burgoyne,  surrendered  5752  men,  hia 

entire  array,  to  General  Gates. 
Red  Hook,  Oct.  22,  1777 ;  British,  Count  Donop,  loss  500 ;  American,  Col.  Greene, 

loss  32. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  453 

Monmouth,  June  25,  1778;  British,  General  Clinton,  loss  400;  American,  General 
Wasliington,  loss  130. 

Rhode  Island,  Aug.  29,  1778;  British,  General  Pigott, loss  260;  American,  General 
Sullivan,  loss  211. 

Briar  Creek,  March  ;J0,  1779;  British,  General  Trevost.  loss  13 ;  American,  Gen- 
eral Ash,  loss  100, 

Stony  Point,  July  15,  1779,  British,  General  Johnson,  loss  600;  American,  Gen- 
eral Wayne,  loss  100. 

Camden,  Aug.  16,1780;  British,  Lord  Cornwallis,  loss  375;  American,  General 
Gates,  loss  610. 

King's  Mountain,  Oct.  1,  1780;  British,  Major  Ferguson,  loss 950 ;  American,  Cols. 
Cleveland,  Campbell,  and  Shelby,  loss  96. 

CovvPENS,  Jan.  17,  1781 ;  British,  Col.  Tarleton,  loss  800;  American,  Col.  Morgan. 
loss  72.  ^ 

Guilford  Court-Hodse,  March  15, 1781 ;  British,  Lord  Cornwallis,  loss  523 ;  Amer 
ican.  General  Greene,  loss  400. 

Hobkir;k's  Hill,  April  25,  1781 ;  British,  Lord  Rawdon,loss  300  to  400  ;  American. 
General  Greene,  loss  300  to  400. 

EuTAW  Springs,  Sept.  8,  J781;  British,  General  Stewart,  loss  1000;  American, 
General  Greene,  loss  550. 

YoRKTOWN  Oct.  19,  1783;  British,  Lord  Cornwallis  surrendered  7073  men,  his  en- 
tire  army,  to  General  Washington. 

This  last  surrender  was  the  final  conclusion  of  the  revolutionary  war. 
The  whole  expense  of  the  struggle  to  ihe  Americans,  estimated  in  round 
numbers,  was  $135,191,700.  The  occasion  of  peace,  as  may  be  well  im- 
agined, was  celebrated  throughout  the  country  with  the  most  fervent  de- 
monstrations of  joy;*  and  General  Washington,  the  American  Fabius, 
who  had  with  such  signal  ability  conducted  this  great  contest  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue,  was  unanimously  called  to  preside  over  the  councils  of  the 
nation. 

Provisional  articles  of  peace,  acknowledging  the  independence  of  the 
United  Slates,  were  signed  in  Paris,  Nov.  30th,  1782,  by  John  Adams, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Jay,  and  Henry  Laurens,  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  and  Mr.  Fitzherbcrt  and  Mr.  Oswald,  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain.  The  definitive  treaty  was  signed  September  30th,  1783.  The 
confederation  of  the  states,  which  in  time  of  the  war  had  given  to  the  re- 
solves of  Congress  the  force  of  law,  now  that  the  danger  was  passed, 
evinced  that  its  power  was  inadequate  to  all  the  purposes  of  an  efficient 
government.  It  could  neither  meet  the  claims  against  the  United  States, 
provide  for  the  public  debt,  raise  a  revenue,  or  harmonize  the  jarring  in- 
terests of  the  states.  Indeed,  the  difficulties  which  attended  the  forma- 
tion of  this  new  government,  it  is  said,  though  diflferent  in  kind  were 
scarcely  less  than  those  of  achieving  its  independence.  But  by  a  happy  con- 
currence of  circumstances,  a  Constitution  was  at  length  formed  and 
ratified,  which  has  effectually  secured  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the 
people,  and  stands  as  an  illustrious  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  fathers  of 
the  revolution,  and  a  model  for  other  nations  in  the  pursuit  of  freedom. 

The  Constitution  is  here  appended. 


CONSTITUTION    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Article  I. 

Sec.  I. — All  legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall  be  vested  in  a  con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  senate  and  house  of 
representatives. 

Sec.  IJ. — 1,  The  house  of  representatives  shall  be  composed  of  mem- 
bers chosen  every  second  year,  by  the  people  of  the  several  states  ;  and 


454  THE  TREASUIIY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  electors  in  each  state  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  elec- 
tors of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  slate  legislature. 

2.  No  person  shall  be  a  representative,  who  shall  not  have  attained  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a  citizen  of  tlie  United 
States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inliabitant  of  the  state  in 
which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

3.  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the 
several  states  whicii  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according  to 
their  n^spective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the 
whole  number  of  free  persons,  mcluding  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term 
of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons. 
The  actual  enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subse- 
quent term  of  ten  years  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The 
number  of  representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand, 
but  each  state  shall  have  at  least  one  representative ;  and  until  such  enu- 
meration shall  bo  made  the  state  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to 
choose  three  ;  Massachusetts  eight ;  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plan- 
tations one  ;  Connecticut  five;  New-York  six;  New  Jersey  four;  Penn- 
sylvania eight;  Delaware  one;  Maryland  six;  Virginia  ten;  North-Car- 
olina five  ;  South-Carolina  five  ;  and  Georgia  three. 

4.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  state,  the 
executive  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such 
vacancies. 

5.  The  house  of  representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker  and  other 
officers,  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

Sec.  III. — 1.  The  senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  legislature  thereof,  for  six  years  ; 
and  each  senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

2.  Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of  the 
first  election,  they  shall  be  divided,  as  equally  as  may  be,  into  three 
classes.  The  seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be  vacated  at  the 
expiration  of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class  at  the  expiration  of  the 
fourth  year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year, 
that  one-third  may  be  chosen  every  second  year  ;  and  if  vacancies  happen 
by  resignation  or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature  of  any 
state,  the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the 
next  meeting  of  the  legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

3.  No  person  shall  be  a  senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  the  age  of 
thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  state  for  which  he  is 
chosen. 

4.  The  vice-president  of  the  United  States  shall  be  president  of  the 
senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

5.  The  senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  president 
pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  vice-president,  or  when  he  shall  exer- 
cise the  office  of  president  of  the  United  States. 

6.  The  senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments 
When  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  aflirmation. 
When  the  president  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  chief-justice  shall 
preside ;  and  no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  concurrence  of 
two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 

7.  Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  not  extend  farther  than  to 
removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of 
honor,  trust,  or  profit,  under  the  United  States  ;  but  the  party  convicted 
shall,  nevertheless,  be  liable  and  subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment, 
and  punishment,  according  to  law. 

Sec.  /r. — 1.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  455 

senators  and  representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  state,  by  the  le 
gislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may,  at  any  time,  by  law  maive  or  al- 
ter such  regulations,  except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing  senators. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year ;  and  such 
meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by 
law  appoint  a  ditl'erent  day. 

-Sec.  V. — 1.  Each  house  shall  be  judge  of  the  elections,  returns,  and 
qualifications  of  its  own  members ;  and  a  majority  of  each  shall  consti- 
tute a  quorum  to  do  business,  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from 
day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent 
members,  in  such  manner,  and  under  such  penalties,  as  each  house  may 
provide. 

2.  Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish  its 
members  for  disorderlyjbehaviour,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

3.  Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may,  in  their  judgment,  re- 
quire secrecy  ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  house  on 
any  question,  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered 
on  the  journal. 

4.  Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place 
than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  shall  be  sitting. 

Sec.  VI. — 1.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  receive  a  compen- 
sation for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall,  in  all  cases,  except  treason, 
felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  priviliged  from  arrest  during  their  at- 
tendance at  the  session  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  or  re- 
turning from  the  same  ;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house, 
they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

2.  No  senator  or  representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which  he  was 
elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  tlie  United 
States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall 
have  been  increased,  during  such  time  ;  and  no  person  holding  any  ofllce 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  house,  during  his 
continuance  in  office. 

Sec.  VII. — 1.  All  bills  for  raising  revenues  shall  originate  in  the  house 
of  representatives;  but  the  senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  amend- 
ments, as  on  other  bills. 

2.  Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  house  of  representatives  and 
the  senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  president  of 
the  United  States  ;  if  he  approves,  he  shall  sign  it ;  but  if  not,  he  shall  re 
turn  it  with  his  objections,  to  that  house  in  which  it  shall  have  origina- 
ted, who  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to 
reconsider  it.  If,  after  such  reconsideration,  "two-thirds  of  that  house 
shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  must  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to 
the  other  house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  appro- 
ved by  two-thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such 
cases  the  votes  of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays ; 
and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill,  shall  be  en- 
tered on  the  journal  of  each  house  respectively.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be 
returned  by  the  president  within  ten  days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it 
shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law  in  like  manner 
as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress,  by  their  adjournment,  prevent 
its  return;  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

3.  Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote,  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the 
senate  and  house  of  representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  ques- 
tion of  adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the  president  of  the  United 


456  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

States;  and  before  the  same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him, 
or,  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  re-passed  by  two-thirds  of  the 
senate  and  house  of  representatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limita- 
tions prest-ribed  in  the  face  of  a  bill. 

Sec.   VIII. — The  Congress  shall  have  power — 

1.  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  diiiies,  imposts,  and  excises:  to  pay  the 
debts,  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  warfare  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall  be  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States  : 

2.  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States: 

3.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes : 

4.  To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on 
the  subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States : 

5.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and 
fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures  : 

6.  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securies  and 
current  coin  of  the  United  States  : 

7.  To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads  : 

8.  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts  by  securing,  for 
limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive  right  to  their  re- 
spective writings  and  discoveries : 

9.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court :  to  define  and 
punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  offences 
against  the  law  of  nations  : 

10.  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make 
rules  concerning  capture  on  land  and  water  : 

11.  To  raise  and  support  armies  ;  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to  that 
use,  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years  : 

12.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy: 

13.  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  forces  : 

14.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions  : 

15.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and 
for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  reserving  to  the  states  respectively,  the  appointment  of  the 
officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia,  according  to  the  disci- 
pline prescribed  by  Congress  : 

16.  To  exercise  exclusive  legislation,  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over 
such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  par- 
ticularstates,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places 
purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same 
shall  be,  for  the  erectior;  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  and 
other  needful  buildings: — And 

17.  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carry- 
ing into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by 
this  Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  Slates,  or  in  any  de- 
partment or  officer  tliereof. 

Sec. IX. — 1.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of 
the  states  now  existing  shall  think  proper  lo  admit,  shall  not  be  prohib' 
ited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eight ;  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation  not  exceed- 
ing ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

2.  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspendedi 
unless  when,  in  cases  of  rebellion,  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  re 
quire  it 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  457 

3.  No  bill  of  attainder,  or  ex-post  facto  law,  shall  be  passed. 

4.  No  capitation,  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion 
to  the  census  or  enumeration  herein  before  directed  to  be  taken. 

5.  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any  state. 
No  preference  shall  be  given,  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue, 

.  to  tlie  ports  of  one  state  over  those  of  another;  nor  shall  vessels  bound 
to  or  from  one  state,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

6.  No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  consequence  of 
appropriations  made  by  law;  and  a  regular  statement  or  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money,  shall  be  published  from 
time  to  time. 

7.  No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States;  and  no 
persons  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  shall,  without  the 
consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office  or  title, 
of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  kinjo:,  prince,  or  foreign  state. 

Sec.  X. — 1.  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confedera- 
tion ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin  money ;  emit  bills  of  cred- 
it ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts; 
pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex-post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obliga- 
tion of  contracts  ;  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

2.  No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  imposts  or 
duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the  nett  produce  of  all  duties  and 
imposts  laid  by  any  state  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States;  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the 
revision  and  control  of  the  Congress.  No  state  shall,  without  the  consent 
of  Congress,  lay  any  duly  of  tonnage,  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war  in  time 
of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  state,  or  with 
a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such 
imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  delay. 

Article  II. 

Sec.  I. — 1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  president  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of 
four  years,  and  together  with  the  vice-president,  chosen  for  the  same  term, 
be  elected  as  follows  : 

2.  Each  stale  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators 
and  representalives  to  which  the  state  may  be  entitled  in  Congress ; — but 
no  senator  or  representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

3.  [Annulled.     See  Amendments,  Art  l"-2.] 

4.  The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  elector,  and 
the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes  ;  which  day  shall  be  the  same 
throughout  the  United  States. 

6.  No  person,  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to 
the  office  of  president ;  neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office, 
who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  four- 
teen years  a  resident  within  the  United  States. 

6.  In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  president  from  office,  or  of  his  death, 
resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said 
office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  vice-president;  and  the  Congress 
may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inabil- 
ity, both  of  the  president  and  vice-president,  declaring  what  officer  shall 
then  act  as  president,  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  dis- 
ability be  removed  or  a  president  shall  be  elected. 


458  THE  TREASUaY  OF  HISTOKY. 

7.  The  president  shall  at  stated  times  receive,  for  his  services,  a  com- 
pensation, which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  during  tlie 
period  for  which  he  sliall  have  been  elected  ;  and  he  shall  not  receive, 
within  that  period,  any  other  emolument  from  the  United  States  or  any 
of  them. 

8.  Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  ofBce  he  shall  take  the  fol- 
lowing oath  or  affiirmation. 

9.  "  1  do  solemnly  swear  [or  affirm]  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the 
office  of  president  of  the  United  states  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  ability 
preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

Sec.  II — 1.  The  president  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  states 
when  called  into  actual  service  of  the  United  States  ;  he  may  require 
the  opinion  in  writing  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  de- 
partments, upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective 
offices  ;  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardon  for  offen- 
ces against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

2.  He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  sen- 
ate, to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  senators  present  concur; 
and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  consent  and  advice  of  the 
senate,  shall  appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and  consuls, 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  Slates, 
whose  appointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which 
shall  be  established  by  law.  But  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  vest  the  ap- 
pointment of  such  inferior  officers  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  president 
alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

3,  The  president  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  hap- 
pen during  the  recess  of  the  senate,  by  graninig  commissions  which  .shall 
expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

Sec.  III. — 1.  lie  shall,  from  time  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress  infor- 
mation of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration, 
such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  he  may,  on  ex- 
traordinary occasions,  convene  both  houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in 
case  of  disagreement  between  them,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjourn- 
ment, he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall 
receive  ambassadors,  and  other  public  ministers  ;  he  shall  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed ;  and  shall  commission  all  the  officers  of 
the  United  States. 

Sec.  IV. — 1.  The  president,  vice-president,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  impeachment  for,  and  con 
viction  of  treason,  bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

Article  III. 

Sec.  I. — 1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested  in  one 
Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as  the  Congress  may  from  time 
to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  judges  both  of  the  Supreme  and  infe- 
rior courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good  behaviour,  and  shall,  at  sta- 
ted times,  receive  for  their  services,  a  compensation,  which  shall  not  bf. 
diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office. 

Sec.  II- — 1.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases  inlaw  and  equity 
arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority ;  to  all  cases  affect 
ing  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls  ;  to  all  cases  of  admi- 
ralty and  maritime  jurisdiction  ;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United 
Stales  shall  be  a  party ;  to  controversies  between  two  or  more  states, 
between  a  state  and  citizens  of  another  state,  between  citizens  of  different 
states,  between  citizens  of  the  same  state  claiming  lands  under  grants  of 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  459 

different  states,  and  between  a  state  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign 
states,  citizens,  or  subjects. 

2.  In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  con- 
suls, and  those  in  which  a  state  shall  be  a  part}',  the  Supreme  Court  shall 
have  original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  naentioned,  tlie 
Supreme  Court,  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact, 
with  such  exceptions  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Oongress  may 
make.- 

3.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by 
jury  ;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  state  where  the  said  crimes  shall 
have  been ' committed ;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  state,  the 
trial  shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have 
directed. 

$ec.  III. — 1.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in 
levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them 
aid  and  comfort.  No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason,  unless  on  the 
testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in 
open  court. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of  treason ; 
but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture, 
except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

Article  IV. 

-Sec.  1. — 1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given,  in  each  state,  to  the  pub- 
lic acts,  records  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  state.  And  the 
Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such  acts, 
records,  and  proceedings,  shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

Sec.  II. — 1.  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  priviliges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states. 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime, 
who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  state,  shall,  on  de 
raand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  state  from   which  he  fled,  be  de- 
livered up  to  be  removed  to  the  state  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

3.  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the  laws  there- 
of, escaping  into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation 
therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labour  ;  but  shall  be  delivered 
up,  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour  may  be  due. 

Sec.  III. — 1.  New  states  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
union  ;  but  no  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  any  other  state,  nor  any  state  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more 
states,  or  parts  of  states,  without  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the 
states  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful 
rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other  property  belong- 
ing to  the  United  States ;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution,  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United  States  or  of  any  par- 
ticular state. 

Sec.  IV. — The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state  in  this  union 
a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against 
invasion:  and,  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  of  the  executive,  (when 
the  legislature  cannot  be  convened,)  against  domestic  violence. 

Article  V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  houses  shall  deem  it  ne- 
cessary, shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Constitution  ;  or,  on  the  a{)- 
plication  of  the  legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  several  states,  >li;ill  call  a 


460  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be  valid 
to  ail  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified 
by  ihe  legislatures  of  three-fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode 
of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  Congress  ;  provided  that  no  amendment 
which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eight,  shall,  in  any  manner,  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth 
section  of  the  first  article  ;  and  that  no  state,  without  its  consent,  shall  be 
deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  senate. 

Article  VI. 

1.  All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered  into,  before  the  adop- 
tion of  tliis  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under 
this  Constitution,  as  under  the  confederation. 

2.  This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  sliail  be  made 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land  ;  and  the  judges  in  every  state  shall  be  bound  thereby  ;  anything  in 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

3.  The  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  several  state  legislatures,  and  executive  and  judicial  officers 
both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  states,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or 
affirmation  to  support  this  Constitution  ;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office,  or  public  trust,  under  the  Uni- 
ted States. 

Article  VII. 

The  ratification  of  the  convention  of  nine  states  shall  be  sufficient 
for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  states  so  ratifying 
itlip  S3.rn6 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  Pres't. 

William  Jackson,  Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

Article  I, 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  to 
petition  the  government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

Article  II. 

A  well  regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  state, 
the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

Article  III. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house  without 
the  consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  pre- 
scribed by  law. 

Article  IV. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers, 
and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  vio- 
lated ;  and  no  warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by 
oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched, 
and  the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  461 

Article  V. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous 
crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except  in 
cases  arising  in  ihe  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual 
eervice,  in  time  of  war,  or  public  danger  ;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject, 
for  the  same  offence,  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall 
be  compelled  in  any  criminal  case,  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be 
deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law  ;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 

Article  VI. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  stale  and  district 
wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have 
been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and 
cause  of  the  accusation  ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him ; 
to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  liis  favour ;  and  to 
have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  the  defence. 

Article  VII. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved;  and  no  fact 
tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examintd  in  any  court  of  the  United 
States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

Article  VIII. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  noi 
cruel  and  unusual  punishments  infli.cted. 

Article  IX. 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

Article  X. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the  states  respectively,  or  to 
the  people. 

Article  XI. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  ex- 
tend to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one 
of  the  United  States,  by  citizens  of  another  state,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects 
of  any  foreign  state.  "^ 

Article  XII. 

1.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote  by  ballot 
for  president  and  vice-president,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  in- 
habitant of  the  same  state  with  themselves ;  they  shall  name  in  theii 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  president,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person 
voted  for  as  vice-president ;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  per- 
sons voted  for  as  president,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  vice-president, 
and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify, 
and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States,  di- 
rected lo  the  president  of  the  senate  ;  the  president  of  the  senate  shall,  in 
the  presence  of  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives,  open  ail  the 
certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted;  the  person  having  the 


402  THE  TREASUllY  OF  HISTORY. 

greatest  number  of  votes  for  president,  shall  be  the  president,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed  ;  and  if 
no  one  has  such  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest  num- 
bers, not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  president,  the 
house  of  representatives  shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  president. 
But  in  choosing  the  president,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  slates,  the  rep- 
resentation from  each  state  having  one  vote  ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose 
shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of  the  states,  and  a 
majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  house 
of  representatives  shall  not  choose  a  president,  whenever  the  right  of 
choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next  fol- 
lowing, then  the  vice-president  shall  act  as  president,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  death,  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the  president. 

2.  'I'hc  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  vice-president, 
shall  be  the  vice-president,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  electors  appointed ;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then 
from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  senate  shall  choose  the  vice- 
president ;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  number  of  senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be 
necessary  to  a  choice. 

3.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  president 
shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  vice-president  of  the  United  States. 

Article  XIII, 

If  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  shall  accept,  claim,  receive,  or  retain 
any  title  of  nobility,  or  honour,  or  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress, 
accept  and  retain  any  present,  pension,  office,  or  emolument  of  any  kind 
whatever,  from  any  emperor,  king,  prince,  or  foreign  power,  such  person 
shall  cease  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be  incapable  of 
holding  any  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  them  or  either  of  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    ADMINISTRATION   OF  GOVERNMENT. 

On  the  second  Monday  of  May,  1787,  delegates  from  the  several  states 
assembled  at  Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Constitution 
for  the  United  States.  The  preceding  instrument  was  adopted  (being 
mainly  the  production  of  Thomas  Jeflerson,  of  Virginia),  and  sent  to  the 
several  states  for  their  approval.  After  a  due  consideration  by  the  state 
conventions,  it  was  finally  adopted  by  them  all ;  and  the  Congress  of  July, 

1788,  in  conclusion,  fully  ratified  it.     On  the  first  Wednesday  of  January, 

1789,  electors  of  president  and  vice-president  were  appointed;  and  on 
the  first  Wednesday  of  February,  1789,  George  Washington,  "first  in  war, 
first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  was  unanimously 
chosen  president,  and  John  Adams,  vice-president.  General  Washington 
was  inaugurated  as  first  president  of  the  Union  on  the  30th  of  April,  1789, 
in  the  open  gallery  of  the  old  Federal  Hall,  in  New- York,  where  the  Cus- 
tom House  now  stands.  And  perhaps  there  never  was  a  warmer  response 
from  any  multitude,  than  that  which  greeted  the  conclusion  of  the  cere- 
mony with,  "  Long  live  George  Washington  !"  And  now,  after  an  experi- 
ment of  more  than  half  a  century,  after  having  seen  how  completely  this 
Constitution  secures  all  the  purposes  of  a  good  government,  and  at  how 
cheap  a  rate,  the  fear  and  trembling  which  marked  its  commencement  are 
exchanged  for  steadfast  confidence  and  unbounded  hope  :  it  stands  like  a 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  463 

light-house  on  the  shore  of  the  sea  of  liberty,  to  direct  the  political  voya- 
ger in  his  perilous  course  to  the  port  of  freedom. 

In  despite  of  the  prognostications  of  enemies  of  freedom  abroad,  and 
the  fears  of  the  weak-hearted  at  home,  the  entire  eight  years  of  Washing- 
ton's administration  of  the  government  passed  away  without  his  once  as- 
suming the  exercise  of  any  authority  which  might  be  termed  unconstitu- 
tional. He  betrayed  no  disposition  to  tyrannize,  no  latent  desire  to  elevate 
himself  or  family  unduly  in  the  land ;  his  enemies  he  pursued  not;  and 
they  looked  in  vain  to  the  last,  who  sought  in  him  the  slightest  aspiration 
for  any  regal  power.  Nor  were  his  capabilities  in  council  less  distin- 
guished for  discernment  and  propriety,  than  in  the  field :  and  the  men  he 
at  first  drew  around  him  as  advisers,  who  were  subsequently  confirmed 
as  his  cabinet,  afforded  a  new  evidence  of  his  singularly  admirable  insight 
into  human  character,  as  well,  also,  as  that  the  land  was  even  then  rich 
in  the  most  glorious  of  allmateriel  whereof  to  form  a  nation's  government. 
t.  c,  able  and  honest  men. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  was  his  Secretary  of  State ;  Alexander 
Hamilton,  of  New  York,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  General  H.  Knox, 
of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  War;  Samuel  Osgood,  of  Massachusetts, 
Post-Master  General ;  Edmund  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  Attorney  General ; 
and  John  Jay,  of  New- York,  at  the  head  of  the  Judicial  department.  The 
Associate  Justices,  United  States' Supreme  Court,  were  John  Rutledge,  of 
South  Carolina;  James  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania;  William  Cushing,  of 
Massachusetts;  Robert  Harrison,  of  Maryland;  and  John  Blair,  of  Virgi- 
nia. Before  the  close  of  Washington's  second  term,  the  chief  officers  of 
his  government  were  changed,  the  following  names  being  substituted : 
Timothy  Pickering,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Oliver  Wolcott, 
of  Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  James  M'Henry,  of  Maryland, 
Secretary  of  War;  Joseph  Habersham,  of  Georgia,  Post-Master  General; 
Charles  Lee,  of  Virginia,  Attorney  General;  and  Oliver  Ellsworth,  of 
Connecticut,  at  the  head  of  the  Judiciary. 

The  American  people  having  thus,  by  an  energetic  though  long  and 
bloody  struggle,  thrown  off  all  allegiance  and  achieved  for  themselves 
independence  and  an  honourable  position  among  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
have  since  continued  to  grow  and  flourish.  Very  few  events  have  oc- 
curred to  disturb  the  harmony  of  the  Republic ;  perhaps  the  first  of  any 
note,  was  an  outbreak  in  the  interior  of  Massachusetts,  which  for  a  short 
time  threatened  to  involve  the  country  in  a  civil  war.  One  Daniel  Shays, 
a  person  of  some  energy,  about  the  close  of  the  year  1786,  collected  to- 
gether not  less  than  two  thousand  men,  who  demanded  that  the  collection 
of  debts  should  be  suspended,  and  that  ihe  legislature  should  authorize  the 
emission  of  paper  money  for  general  circulation.  Two  bodies  of  militia, 
drawn  from  those  parts  where  the  disaffection  did  not  prevail,  were  im- 
mediately despatched  against  them,  one  under  the  command  of  General 
Lincohi,  the  other  of  General  Shepard.  The  rebels  were  easily  dispersed  ; 
and  afterwards  abandoning  their  seditious  purposes,  accepted  the  proffered 
indemnity  of  the  government. 

The  next  occurrence  of  a  rebellious  nature  which  took  place,  arose 
from  the  necessity  of  levying  taxes  for  the  support  of  government.  A 
duty  had  been  imposed  upon  spirits  distilled  within  the  country,  which 
was  bearing  heavily  upon  the  people  of  western  Pennsylvania.  The 
leaders  of  the  disaffected  in  consequence  called  a  public  meeting,  which 
was  held  in  September,  1791,  at  Pittsburgh,  and  was  very  largely  attended. 
Resolutions  were  passed  at  this  meeting,  declaring  all  excise  taxes  hos- 
tile to  liberty,  and  denouncing  all  such  officers  as  might  be  appointed  to 
collect  them  ;  great  exertions  were  made  to  inflame  the  public  mind  against 
any  who  should  willingly  pay,  and  to  encourage  resistance  to  the  laws  ; 
committees  of  correspondence  were  also  appointed  to  give  unity  of   sv.s- 


-564  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tem  to  their  measures,  and  to  increase  the  number  of  their  associates  , 
subsequently  other  meetings  were  field  at  which  similar  resolutions  were 
adopted.     A  proclamation  of  the  president  exhorting  all  persons  to  desist 
from  illegal  combinations,  and  callmir  upon  the  magistrates  to  execute 
the  lawsj^was  disregarded ;  the  marshal  of  the  state,  while  serving  pro- 
cesses upon  delinquents  and  offenders,  was  resisted   and  fired  upon  ;  ihr 
inspector  of  the  revenue,  dreading  the  indignation  of  the  populace  pro 
cured  a  detachment  of  soldiers  to  guard  his  house,  and  they  vvereattacke* 
by  a  numerous  body  of  insurgents,  who,  after  setting  fire  to  several  con 
tiguous  buildings,  obliged  the  soldiers  to  leave  the  house  and  deliver  them 
selves  up;  several  individuals  zealous  in  supporting  the  government  wert 
ordered  to  leave  the  country,  and  compelled  to  obey.  The  eifeetive  strength 
of  the  insurgents  was  computed  at  seven  thousand  men— and  an  intention 
was  openly  showed  of  forcibly  resisting  the  general  government,  with 
the  view  of  extorting  a  repeal  of  the  oflfensive  laws. 

The  president,  conceiving  himself  bound  by  the  most  solemn  obliga 
tions,  "  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,"  called  out  a 
portion  of  the  militia  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  adjacent  states,  to  suppress 
this  insurrection.  In  the  autumn  of  179  J,  fifteen  thousand  were  detached, 
and  being  placed  under  the  command  of  Governor  Lee,  of  Virginia,  were 
marched  into  the  disaffected  counties.  The  strength  of  this  army  ren- 
dering resistance  desperate,  none  was  offered,  and  no  blood  was  shed.  A 
few  of  the  most  active  leaders  were  seized,  and  detained  for  legal  prose- 
cution. The  great  body  of  the  insurgents  on  submission  were  pardoned, 
as  were  also  the  leaders,  after  their  trial  and  conviction  of  treason.  The 
government  acquired  the  respect  of  the  people  by  this  exertion  of  its 
force,  and  their  afi'ection,  by  this  display  of  its  lenity. 

Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  Mr-  Washington's  administration, 
he  strongly  recommended  to  Congress  the  adoption  of  some  effectual 
measures  for  establishing  the  public  credit.  Alexander  Hamilton,  in  an 
able  report  on  the  stale  of  the  Treasury,  proposed  a  plan  for  the  object. 
He  estimated  the  public  debt  to  be  at  that  time  about  fifty-four  millions  of 
dollars :  twelve  millions  were  due  to  France  and  Holland — and  the  bal- 
ance had  been  contracted  for  by  the  several  slates  in  the  course  of  the 
war,  for  its  support.  These  debts,  he  proposed,  should  all  be  assumed  by 
the  general  government,  and  paid  out  of  the  public  treasury.  This  mea- 
sure was  strongly  opposed  by  the  republican  parly.  It  was  contended  that 
men  had  taken  advantage  of  the  low  state  of  public  credit,  and  bought 
up  for  a  small  price,  certificates  of  security  against  the  government,  and 
that  the  present  holders  were  not  justly  entitled  to  receive  more  than  they 
had  paid.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that  the  government  originally  pro- 
mised to  pay  the  whole,  and  the  reason  why  these  securities  had  depre- 
ciated, was  owing  to  its  not  having  exactly  fulfilled  this  promise ;  and 
now,  to  preserve  the  public  faith,  the  whole  must  be  paid.  Further,  it 
was  asserted  that,  for  the  general  government  to  assume  the  debts  of  the 
several  state  governments,  would  be  dangerous  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
states  :  but  this  objection  was  ably  answered,  and  after  some  debate,  the 
plan  was  in  the  main  adopted. 

Another  financial  measure  of  tlie  secretary  of  the  treasury  soon  at- 
tracted much  attention  and  dispute.  Through  his  means  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced into  Congress  for  establishing  a  national  bank,  with  a  capital  of  ten 
millifuis  of  dollars.  This  was  violently  opposed  by  the  republican  party. 
It  was  contended  that  banks  were  unnecessary,  and  that  by  the  constitu- 
tion. Congress  was  not  vested  with  the  competent  power  to  establish  a 
national  bank.  After  a  debate  of  great  length,  however,  the  bill  was 
passed,  by  a  majority  of  nineteen  voles.  Washington  was  now  clamo- 
rously 'Mlled  upon  to  crush  "the  monster"  by  the  power  of  his  veto; 
but  he  '  '   'SO  rather  to  require  from  the  heads  of  departments  their  differ- 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  4g5 

ent  opinions  on  the  subject,  in  writing.  Mr.  Jeffersor.,  Secretary  of  State, 
and  Mr.  Randolph,  Attorney  General,  considered  the  bill  as  entirely  un- 
constiuilional  :  while  Mr.  Hamilton,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained  the 
opposite:  opinion  with  great  ability  and  decision.  After  wt-ighing  their 
opinions,  and  examining  the  subject  in  all  its  relations,  Washington  be- 
came satisfied  of  the  the  utility  of  the  bill,  and  accordingly  gave  it  the 
sanction  of  his  name.  The  charter  of  this,  the  first  United  States'  Bank, 
extended  to  the  4lh  of  May,  1811. 

in  1790,  a  termination  was  pin  to  the  war  which  for  several  years  had 
raged  between  the  Creek  Indians  and  the  state  of  Georgia.  Pacnfic  over- 
tures were  also  made  to  the  hostile  tribes  inhabiting  the  banks  of  the 
Scioto  and  Wabash.  These  being  rejected,  an  army  of  fourteen  huinlred 
men,  commanded  by  General  Harmer,  was  despatched  against  them.  Two 
battles  were  fought  near  Chilicothe,  Ohio,  between  successive  detach- 
ments from  tills  army  and  the  Indians,  in  which  the  latter  were  victorious. 
Emboldened  by  these  successes,  they  made  more  vigorous  attacks  on  the 
frontier  setllemenis,  which  sufTered  all  the  distressing  calamities  of  an 
Indian  war.  Additional  troops  were  raised,  and  the  command  given  to 
General  St.  Clair.  With  near  two  thousand  men  he  marched,  in  October, 
into  the  wilderness.  By  desertion  and  detachments,  this  force  was  re- 
duced to  fourteen  hundred.  On  the  third  of  November,  they  encamped 
a  few  miles  from  the  villages  on  the  Miami,  intending  to  remain  there 
until  joined  by  those  who  were  absent.  But  before  sunrise  ne>a  morning, 
just  aft(;r  the  troops  were  dismissed  from  parade,  they  were  attacked  un- 
expectedly by  the  Indians.  The  nevv  levies,  who  were  in  front,  fell  back 
in  confusion  upon  the  regulars.  These,  who  had  been  hastily  formed, 
were  thrown  into  disorder.  They,  however,  with  great  intrepidity,  ad- 
vanced into  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  who  retired  from  covert  to  covert, 
keeping  always  beyond  reach,  and  again  returning  as  soon  as  the  troops 
were  recalled  from  pursuit.  In  these  charges,  many  brave  and  e.vperienced 
officers  were  killed;  the  loss  of  men  was  also  great,  and  no  permanent 
impression  was  made  upon  the  enemy.  At  length,  after  a  contest  of 
three  or  four  hours.  General  St.  Clair,  whose  ill  health  disabled  him  from 
performing  the  active  duties  of  commander,  determined  lo  withdraw  from 
the  field  the  remnant  of  his  troops.  The  instant  the  directions  to  retire 
were  given,  a  disorderly  flight  commenced.  Fortunately  for  the  survivors, 
the  victorious  Indians  were  soon  recalled  from  the  pursuit  to  the  camp, 
by  their  avidity  for  plunder;  and  the  vanquished  continued  their  retreat 
unmolested  to  the  frontier  settlements.  In  this  bailie,  the  numbers  en- 
gaged on  each  side  were  supposed  to  be  equal.  Of  the  whites,  the  slaughter 
was  beyond  example.  Six  hundred  and  thirty  were  killed  and  n)issing, 
and  two  hundred  and  sixty  were  wounded — a  loss  which  proves  at  once 
the  obstinacy  of  the  defence,  and  the  bravery  of  the  assailants.  On  re- 
ceiving information  of  this  disaster.  Congress  resolved  to  prosecute  the 
war  with  increased  vigour,  and  made  provision  directly  for  augmenting  by 
enlistment  the  military  force  of  the  nation  to  five  thousand  men. 

In  1791,  was  completed  the  first  census  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States.  They  amounted  to  3,921,3-26,  of  which  number  095,655  were 
slaves.  The  revenue,  according  to  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  amounted  to  $4,771,000,  the  exports  to  about  $19,000,000,  and 
imports  to  about  $20,000,000.  A  great  improvement  in  the  circumstances 
of  the  people  began  at  this  period  to  be  visible.  The  establishment  of  a 
firm  and  regular  government,  and  confidence  in  the  men  whom  they  had 
chosen  to  administer  it,  gave  an  impulse  to  their  exertions  which  bore 
Ihcm  rapidly  forward  in  their  career  of  prosperity. 

In  the  autumn  of  1792,  General  Washington  was  again  unanimously 
elected  president  of  the  American  republic,  and  in  March,  1793,  was  in- 
ducted into  office.  Mr.  .\dams  was  re-elected  vice-president,  in  opposition 
30 


4fi6  THE  TREASUEY  OP  HISTORY. 

to  George  Clinton,  of  New-York.  In  the  progress  of  these  elections, 
but  little  party  feeling  was  exliibited.  The  repose  of  society  was  not  then 
disturbed,  as  at  present — but  tiie  citizens  raised  to  posts  of  the  highest 
honor  those  whom  their  judgments  and  affections  designated  as  the  most 
worthy. 

After  the  defeat  of  St.  Clair  by  the  Indians,  in  1791,  General  Wayne 
was  appointed  to  command  the  American  forces.  This  officer  taking 
post  near  the  country  of  the  enemy,  made  assiduous  and  long-protracted 
endeavours  to  negociate  a  peace.  Failing  in  this,  he  marched  against 
them,  at  the  head  of  three  thousand  men.  On  the  20th  of  August,  1794, 
an  action  took  place  in  the  vicinity  of  one  of  the  British  garrisons  ovi  the 
banks  of  the  Miami.  A  rapid  and  vigorous  charge  roused  the  ii.va.'^es 
from  their  coverts,  and  they  were  driven  more  than  two  miles  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  liroken  and  dismayed,  they  fled  without  renewing 
the  combat.  Their  houses  and  cornfields  were  destroyed,  and  forts  were 
erected  on  the  sites  of  the  towns  laid  waste.  In  1795,  a  treaty  was  coa- 
cluded  at  Greenville,  Ohio,  which  was  long  and  faithfully  observed,  and 
gave  peace  and  security  to  the  frontier  inhabitants ;  in  consequence  of 
which,  the  already  abundant  population  of  the  eastern  states  began  to 
spread,  with  astonishing  rapidity,  over  the  fertile  region  northwest  of  the 
Ohio. 

Simultaneous  with  the  conclusion  of  the  Indian  war,  in  1795,  a  treaty 
highly  satisfactory  to  the  Americans  was  formed  with  Spain.  That  coun- 
try had  from  the  first  regarded  with  especial  coldness  the  hopes  of  the 
republicans  ;  fearing,  perhaps,  lest  the  principles  of  liberty  and  the  desire 
of  independence  should  find  their  way  into  her  contiguous  American  pro- 
vinces. Becoming  at  length  involved  in  a  war  with  France,  the  Spanish 
government  intimated  its  willingness  then  to  form  a  satisfactory  treaty 
with  the  United  States,  which  was  accordingly  concluded.  The  naviga- 
tion of  the  Mississippi  river,  which  was  controlled  by  the  province  of 
Louisiana,  and  was  very  important  to  the  south-western  states,  had  for- 
merly been  denied  them,  and  was  a  fruitful  source  of  disturbance  ind 
threatened  invasion  of  the  Spanish  territory.  This  treaty  secured  to  the 
United  States  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  ocean,  and  the 
privilege  of  landing  and  depositing  cargoes  at  New-Orleans.  In  the 
same  year,  also,  a  permanent  peace  was  arranged  with  the  regency  of 
Algiers,  with  which  state  the  republic  was  previously  at  war,  on  account 
of  its  flagrant  piracies  and  interruptions  of  American  commerce.  Thus 
all  difficulties  were  arrranged,  and  the  star  of  independence  again  shone 
brightly  forth  upon  the  w^orld. 

At  the  close  of  1796,  the  two  rival  parties  of  the  nation  brought  forward 
their  candidates  for  the  presidency.  John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  was 
voted  for  by  the  federalists,  while  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  was  up- 
held by  the  republicans.  The  contest  was  nearly  equal.  Mr.  Adams, 
however,  was  chosen  to  fill  the  first  office,  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  course, 
succeeded  to  the  second.  The  cabinet  during  this  administration,  was 
composed  as  follows:  John  Marshall,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  State; 
Samuel  Dexter,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Roger 
Griswold,  of  Connecticut,  Secretary  of  War;  Benjamin  Stoddert,  of 
Maryland,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  no  change  was  made  in  the  office  of 
Attorney  General,  or  the  chief  of  the  post-office  department. 

When  this  administration  came  into  power,  it  found  the  nation  involved 
in  difficulties  with  France.  Mr.  Pinckney,  who  had  been  sent  by  Wash- 
ington to  adjust  existing  differences  between  the  two  republics,  was  or- 
dered to  leave  the  country  ;  and  the  American  government  was  soon  after 
under  the  painful  necessity  of  declaring  war  against  its  ancient  ally. 
That  country  was  at  the  time  suffering  under  the  misguided  rule  of  the 
Directory,  which  it  seems  desired  the  co-operation  of  the  United  States 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  467 

in  their  Kuropean  wars,  and  had  demanded  of  the  American  government 
a  large  sum  of  money  previous  to  any  negotiation  for  a  commercial  treaty. 
To  enforce  compliance  with  their  unjust  demands,  a  law  had  been  passed 
authorizing  the  capture,  in  certain  cases,  of  American  merchant  vessels 
by  French  cruizers;  and  in  consequence  of  this  several  hundred  vessels 
loaded  with  valuable  cargoes,  were,  while  prosecuting  a  lawful  trade, 
taken,  and  the  whole  confiscated.  When  these  events  were  known  in  the 
United  States,  they  excited  general  indignation.  The  spirit  of  party  ap- 
peared to  be  extinct.  "  Millions  for  defence,  not  a  cent  for  tribute," 
resounded  from  every  quarter  of  the  Union.  The  former  treaty  of  alli- 
ance with  France  was  declared  by  Congress  to  be  now  without  force,  and 
authority  was  given  for  capturmg  French  armed  vessels.  Laws  were 
passed  authorizing  the  president,  whenever  he  should  deem  it  necessary, 
to  detach  eighty  thousand  men  from  the  militia  of  the  United  States — and 
providing  for  an  increase  of  the  navy,  and  for  augmenting  the  revenue  of 
the  nation. 

To  display  to  France  and  to  the  world  his  desire  of  peace,  and  to  leave 
no  means  unattempted  to  preserve  it,  the  president  resolved  to  institute  a 
formal  and  solemn  mission  to  the  French  republic.  General  Pinckney, 
John  Marshall,  and  Elbridge  Gerry,  were  accordingly  appointed  envoys, 
and  were  instructed  to  seek  a  reconciliation  as  the  representatives  of  a 
people  dreading  war  much,  but  the  sacrifice  of  honour  more.  These  the 
Directory  refused  to  receive.  After  remaining  several  months  at  Paris, 
pressing  in  vain  to  be  received  and  heard,  the  two  former,  who  were  fed- 
eralists, were  ordered  to  leave  France  ;  but  Mr.  Gerry,  who  was  a  repub- 
lican, was  permitted  to  remain,  and  was  invited  singly  to  enter  into  a 
discussion  relative  to  the  commencement  of  a  negotiation.  This  also 
failing  to  produce  any  good  effect,  belligerent  operations  commenced. 
On  land,  no  opportunity  was  presented  of  testing  the  courage  and  skill 
of  the  American  troops  ;  but  at  sea,  a  desperate  action  was  fought  between 
the  frigate  Constellation  of  thirty-eight  guns,  commanded  by  Captain 
Truxton,  and  the  French  frigate  L'Insurgente,  of  forty  guns ;  in  this,  the 
latter,  although  of  superior  force,  was  compelled  to  surrender.  The  same 
intrepid  officer,  in  a  subsequent  action,  obliged  another  French  frigate,  La 
Vengeance,  of  fifty  guns,  to  strike  her  colors  ;  but  she  afterward  escaped 
in  the  night,  owing  to  the  disabled  state  of  the  Constellation.  By  such 
means  the  United  States,  in  arms  at  home  and  victorious  on  the  ocean, 
commanded  the  respect  of  their  enemy.  The  Directory  made  overtures 
of  peace.  The  president  immediately  appointed  ministers,  who,  on  their 
arrival  at  Paris,  found  the  executive  authority  in  the  possession  of  Bona- 
parte as  first  consul.  They  were  promptly  accredited,  and  in  September, 
1800,  a  treaty  was  concluded  satisfactory  to  both  countries. 

While  this  negotiation  was  in  progress,  an  event  occurred  which  over- 
shadowed the  whole  American  people  with  gloom.  On  the  14th  of  De- 
cember, 1799,  after  an  illness  of  one  day  only,  General  Washington,  the 
father  of  his  country,  expired.  He  died  at  his  residence  at  Mount  Vernon, 
of  an  inflammation  of  the  throat,  aged  sixty-eight  years.  After  having 
led  on  to  victory  the  armies  of  his  countrymen — after  having  filled  for 
eight  successive  years  the  presidential  chair,  and  in  all  cases  manifesting 
the  same  unapproachable  integrity  with  which  his  public  career  had  first 
commenced,  this  singularly  virtuous  man,  may  truly  be  said  to  have  "  filled 
the  measure  of  his  own  and  his  country's  glory."  Intelligence  of  this 
event,  as  it  rapidly  spread,  produced  spontaneous,  deep  and  unaffected 
grief,  suspendmg  every  other  thought,  and  absorbing  every  different  feel- 
ing. The  American  Congress,  then  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  immedi- 
ately adjourned  ;  and  the  senate,  on  this  melancholy  occasion,  addressed 
a  letter  of  condolence  to  the  president  of  the  United  States,  which  con- 
tained the  following  just  tribute  to  the   memory  of  this  great  man :— 


468  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

"  With  patriotic  pride  we  review  the  life  of  our  Washington,  and  compare 
him  with  those  of  other  countries  who  have  been  pre-eminent  in  fame. 
Ancient  and  modern  names  are  diminished  before  him.  Greatness  and 
guilt  have  loo  often  been  allied  ;  but  his  fame  is  whiter  than  it  i.s  brilliant. 
The  destroyers  of  nations  stood  abashed  at  the  m;ijesly  of  his  virtues.  It 
reproved  the  intemperance  of  their  ambiti(jn,  and  darkened  the  sj)lendour 
of  victory.  Such  was  the  man  whom  we  deplore.  Thanks  to  God,  his 
glory  is  consummated.  Washington  yet  lives  on  earth  in  his  spotless 
example — his  spirit  is  in  heaven.  Let  his  countrymen  consecrate  the 
memory  of  the  heroic  general,  the  patriotic  statesman,  and  the  virtuouj 
sage;  let  them  teach  their  children  never  to  forget  that  the  fruits  of  his 
labours,  and  of  his  example,  are  their  inheritance." 

In  pursuance  of  a  law  enacted  in  17'J0,  a  place  had  been  selected  on  the 
Potomac,  a  few  miles  above  Mount  Vernon,  for  the  permanent  seat  of  tlie 
national  government.  Within  a  district  ten  miles  square,  which  was  called 
the  District  of  Columbia,  a  city  was  laid  out,  to  which  tlie  name  of  Wash- 
ington was  appropriately  given.  Public  buildings  having  been  erected, 
the  officers  of  government  removed  to  that  place  in  1800.  and  in  Novem- 
ber of  that  year.  Congress,  for  the  first  time,  there  commenced  its  ses- 
sion. A  second  census  of  the  people  was  now  ordered,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  completed.  They  then  amounted  to  5.319,702,  having  in  ten 
years  increased  nearly  one  million  four  hundred  thousand.  In  the  same 
number  of  years,  the  exports  increased  from  nineteen  to  ninety-four  mil- 
liorts,  and  the  revenue  from  $4,771,000  to  $12,915,000.  This  rapid  advance 
in  the  career  of  prosperity  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  nations,  and 
It  is  to  be  attributed  principally  to  the  institutions  of  the  country,  which, 
securing  equal  privileges  to  all,  give  to  the  enterprize  and  industry  of  all 
free  scope  and  full  encouragement. 

Since  the  year  1801,  war  had  existed  between  the  United  States  and 
Tripoli,  one  of  the  Barbary  slates,  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean. 
No  memorable  event  occurred  until  1803,  when  a  large  squadron  under 
the  command  of  Commodore  Preble,  was  despatched  into  that  sea.  On 
arriving  before  Tripoli,  Captain  Bainbridge,  in  the  frigate  Philadelphia,  of 
forty-four  guns,  was  sent  into  the  harbour  to  reconnoitre.  While  in  eager 
pursuit  of  a  small  vessel,  he  unfortunately  advanced  so  far  that  the  frigate 
grounded,  and  all  attempts  to  remove  her  were  in  vain.  The  sea  around  her 
was  immediately  covered  with  Tripolitan  gun-boats,  and  Captain  Bain- 
bridge was  compelled  to  surrender.  The  officers  were  considered  as  pri- 
soners of  war;  but  the  crew,  according  to  the  customs  of  Barbary,  were 
treated  as  slaves.  At  the  capture  of  this  frigate,  the  enemy  rejoiced  and 
exulted  beyond  measure.  Lieutenant  Stephen  Decatur  conceived  the  de- 
sign of  retaking  or  destroying  her.  Commodore  Preble,  applauding  the 
spirit  of  the  youthful  hero,  granted  him  permission  to  make  the  attempt. 
In  February,  1804,  he  accordingly  sailed  from  Syracuse,  Sicily,  in  a  small 
schooner,  having  on  board  but  seventy-six  men — entered  undiscovered 
the  harbour  of  Tripoli,  and  advancing  boldly  in  the  teeth  of  a  battery,  un- 
der the  guns  of  which  the  Philadelphia  had  been  towed  and  anchored, 
took  his  station  alongside  the  frigate.  Perceiving  the  crew  in  consterna- 
tion, Decatur  sprang  on  board,  his  men  followed,  and  with  drawn  swords 
rushed  upon  the  enemy.  The  decks  were  soon  cleared,  some  being  killed 
and  others  driven  into  the  sea.  A  heavy  cannonade  upon  the  frigate 
from  the  batteries  on  shore  and  the  corsairs  near  was  now  commenced, 
and  several  vessels  of  war  were  seen  approaching.  She  was  therefore 
set  on  fire  and  abandoned,  none  of  the  party  being  killed  and  but  four 
wounded.  Throughout  all  the  piratical  states,  this  brilliant  exploit  exalted 
the  reputation  of  the  American  arms.  The  president,  in  reward  of  his 
address  and  bravery,  promoted  Lieutenant  Decatur  to  the  rank  of  post- 
captain  in  the  navy. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  469 

While  the  squadron  remained  before  Tripoli,  other  deeds  of  heroism 
were  performed,  evincinur  a  love  of  fame  and  a  devotion  to  country  unsur- 
passed in  Grecian  or  Roman  story.  The  events  and  operations  of  this 
war  slied  a  lustre  upon  the  American  name,  gave  experience  and  charac- 
ter to  the  officers,  and  prepared  tliem  to  acquire  greater  glory  in  a  contest 
with  a  nobler  foe.  They  were  equalled,  however,  by  an  enterprize  on 
land,  bold  and  romantic  in  its  conception,  and  exhibiting  in  its  execution 
uncommon  address  and  decision  of  character.  William  Eaton,  who  had 
been  a  captain  in  the  American  army,  was  at  the  commencement  of  this 
war  consul  at  Tunis.  He  there  became  acquainted  with  Hamet  Cara- 
manly,  whom  a  younger  brother  had  excluded  from  the  throne  of  Tripoli. 
With  him  he  concerted  an  expedition  against  the  reigning  sovereign,  and 
ret'  riicd  to  the  United  States  to  obtain  permission  and  the  means  to  un- 
dtr-iiike  it.  Permission  was  granted,  the  co-operation  of  the  squadron 
reconnnended,  and  such  pecuniary  assistance  as  could  be  spared  was 
afforded. 

To  raise  an  army  in  Egypt,  and  lead  it  to  attack  the  usurper  in  his  do- 
minions, was  the  project  which  had  been  concerted.  In  the  beginning  of 
1805,  Eaton  met  Flamet  at  Alexandria,  and  was  appointed  general  of  his 
forces.  On  the  6th  of  March,  at  the  head  of  a  respectable  body  of  mounted 
Arabs,  and  about  seventy  Christians,  he  set  out  for  Tripoli.  His  route  lay 
across  a  desert  of  one  thousand  miles  in  extent.  On  his  march,  he  encount- 
ered peril,  fatigue,  and  suffering,  the  description  of  which  would  resemble 
the  exaggerations  of  romance.  On  the  25th  of  April,  having  been  fifty 
days  on  the  march,  he  arrived  before  Derne,  a  Tripolitan  city  on  the  Med- 
iterranean, and  found  in  the  harbour  a  part  of  the  American  squadron 
destined  to  assist  him.  He  learned  also  that  the  usurper,  having  received 
notice  of  his  approach,  had  raised  a  considerable  army  and  was  then 
within  a  day's  march  of  the  city.  No  time  was  therefore  to  be  lost.  The 
next  morning  he  summoned  the  governor  to  surrender,  who  returned  for 
answer,  "  My  head  or  yours."  The  city  was  assaulted,  and  after  a  con- 
test of  two  hours  and  a  half,  possession  gained.  The  Christians  suffered 
severely,  and  the  general  was  sligluly  wounded.  Great  exertions  were 
immediately  made  to  fortify  the  city,  which  were  partially  successful. 
On  the  8th  of  May,  it  was  attacked  by  the  Tripolitan  army.  Although 
ten  times  more  numerous  than  Eaton's  band,  the  assailants,  after  persist- 
ing four  hours  in  the  attetnpt,  were  compelled  to  retire.  On  the  lOih  of 
June  another  battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  enemy  were  defeated.  The 
next  day  the  American  frigate  Constitution  arrived  in  the  harbour,  which 
so  terrified  the  Tripolitans  that  they  fled  precipitately  to  the  desert.  The 
frigate  came,  however,  to  arrest  the  operations  of  Eaton,  in  the  midst  of 
his  brilliant  and  successful  career.  Alarmed  at  his  progress,  the  reigning 
bashaw  had  offered  terms  of  peace  which,  being  much  more  favorable 
than  had  before  been  offered,  were  accepted  by  Mr.  Lear,  the  authorized 
agent  of  the  government.  Sixty  thousand  dollars  weie  given  as  a  ransom 
for  the  unfortunate  American  prisoners,  and  an  engagement  was  made  to 
withdraw  all  support  from  Hamet.  The  nation,  proud  of  the  exploits  of 
Eaton,  regretted  this  diplomatic  interference;  but  the  treaty  was  rati- 
fied by  the  president  and  senate — and  thus  ended  the  war  in  the  Medi- 
terranean. 

Just  previous  to  these  occurrences,  an  election  of  stirring  interest  had 
taken  place.  The  two  great  political  parties  in  the  United  Stales  were 
still  distinguished  a.**  federalists  and  republicans,  and  were  then  of  nearly 
equal  strength.  Thomas  Jefferscm  and  Aaron  Burr  received  the  same 
number  of  votes  for  the  office  of  president,  and  so  strenuously  and  with 
such  acerbity  did  the  parties  contest  the  matter,  that  it  was  not  until  after 
thirty-five  balloiings  that  the  former  was  elected  over  the  latter.  Colonel 
Burr  next  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  governorship  of  the  slate 


470  '^IJ^  TREASURY  OF    HISTORY. 

of  New  York  ;  but  liaviiig  already  lost  tlie  confidence  of  his  party  by  re 
ceiving  thti  votes  of  the  federalists  in  tlic  house  of  representatives  ag:<irist 
Jefferson,  he  failed  also  in  this,  and  (ieneral  Morgan  Lewis  was  elected 
over  hinri.  Stung-  to  the  quick  by  these  failures,  Burr  is  said  to  have 
plotted  a  scheme  to  divide  the  Union,  or  to  erect  an  independent  state 
from  the  Spanish  dependencies  adjacent,  to  have  for  its  head  himself 
First,  however,  his  heated  passions  goaded  liimonto  recompense  himself 
for  all  that  he  had  lost,  by  some  deep-laid  revenge  against  the  men  who 
had  mainly  been  the  cause  of  his  political  undoing.  Foremost  among 
them  stood  Alexander  Hamilton,  a  man  as  pure  in  politics  as  he  was  emi- 
nent in  talents  and  profound  in  judgment :  a  man  always  of  unblemished 
charai'ter,  the  friend  of  Washington,  and  a  statesman  whose  proud  name 
to  this  day  is  emulated.  Such  an  one  Burr  deemed  a  fitting  sacrifice  to 
appease  his  injured  honor.  Hamilton  was  accordingly  drawn  into  the 
acceptance  of  a  challenge,  and  of  course  fell,  mortally  wounded.  But 
the  indignation  of  the  country  was  aroused  in  consequence  against  the 
slayer,  who  fled  with  all  haste  to  avoid  apprehension  and  a  trial  for 
murder. 

For  a  time  he  sunk  into  merited  obscurity.  At  length,  his  conduct 
showed  that  he  had  not  been  idle,  though  unobserved.  In  the  autumn  of 
1806,  his  movements  in  the  western  country  were  such  as  to  attract  the 
attention  of  government.  He  had  purchased  and  was  building  boats  on 
the  Ohio,  and  was  engaging  men  to  descend  that  river.  His  declared  pur- 
pose was  to  form  a  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Washita,  in  Louisiana; 
but  the  character  of  the  man,  the  nature  of  his  preparations,  and  the 
hicautious  disclosures  of  his  associates,  led  to  the  suspicion  that 
his  true  object  was  either  to  gain  possession  of  New-Orleans,  and  then 
establish  a  separate  government  for  the  country  watered  by  the  Missis- 
sippi and  its  branches — or  to  invade,  from  the  territories  of  the  United 
States,  the  rich  Spanish  province  of  Mexico.  From  the  first  moment  of 
suspicion,  he  was  closely  watched  by  the  agents  of  government.  At 
Natchez,  while  on  his  way  to  New-Orleans,  he  was  cited  to  appear  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Mississippi  territory  ;  but  he  had  so  enveloped 
his  projects  in  secresy,  that  sufficient  evidence  to  convict  him  could 
not  be  produced,  and  he  was  discharged.  Hearing,  however,  that  several 
persons  suspected  of  being  his  accomplices  had  been  arrested  at  New 
Orleans,  and  elsewhere,  he  fled  in  disguise  from  Natchez,  but  was  appre- 
hended at  Torabigbee,  and  conveyed  a  prisoner  to  Richmond.  Two  in- 
dictments were  found  against  him,  one  charging  him  with  treason  against 
the  United  States — the  other  with  preparing  and  commencing  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  dominions  of  Spain.  In  August,  1807,  he  was  tried  upon 
those  indictments,  before  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  Full  evidence  of  his 
guilt  not  being  exhibited,  he  was  acquitted  by  the  jury.  The  people,  how- 
ever, beheved  him  guilty ;  and  by  their  desertion  and  contempt,  he  was 
reduced  to  a  condition  of  the  most  abject  wretchedness.  The  ease  with 
which  his  plans  were  defeated,  demonstrated  the  strength  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  his  fate  will  be  an  impressive  warning  to  those  who,  in  a  free 
country,  listen  to  the  suggestions  of  criminal  ambition- 

During  the  first  four  years  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  rule,  he  continued  in  office 
the  members  of  Mr.  Adams'  cabinet,  with  the  exception  of  appointing 
James  Madison,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  State,  and  John  Breckenridge, 
of  Kentuc-ky,  Attorney  General.  In  the  course  of  his  second  term  (extend- 
ing to  1809),  his  official  advisers  were  changed,  with  the  exception  of 
James  Madison.  George  Clinton,  of  New  York,  was  elected  Vice  Presi- 
dent;  Albert  Gallatin,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury;  Henry  Dearborn,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  War;  Rj 
bert  Smith,  of  Maryland,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Gideon  Granger    of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  47I 

Connecticut,  Post-Master  General ;  and  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  of  Delaware 
Attorney  General. 

In  1803,  Louisiana  was  purchased  from  the  French  government  for 
sixteen  millions  of  dollars.  The  title  being-  given  under  Napoleon,  and 
including  nearly  the  whole  vast  region  beyond  the  Mississippi,  was  called 
in  question  by  the  British  :  but  the  president,  Mr.  Jefferson,  made  imme- 
diate preparations  for  taking  possession  of  the  territory,  and  for  correctly 
defining  its  boundaries,  and  for  other  purposes  tending  to  the  increase  o'f 
knowledge  and  extension  of  the  fields  of  science.  Captains  Lewis  and 
Clarke,  the  former  of  whom  was  private  secretary  to  the  president,  were 
selected  as  proper  persons  to  head  the  expedition  on  this  occasion.  Never 
was  an  arduous  undertaking  accomplished  with  more  ability  and  prudence. 
Accompanied  by  thirty-five  persons,  mostly  soldiers,  they  embarked  at 
St.  Louis,  in  suitable  boats,  on  the  16th  of  May,  1804,  and  ascended  the  Mis- 
souri to  its  stupendous  falls,  a  distance  of  three  thousand  miles.  Finding 
the  season  then  too  far  advanced  to  attempt  crossing  the  Rocky  Moun"^ 
tains,  they  built  a  fort,  named  Mandan,  wherein  they  wintered.  Early  in 
the  succeeding  April,  they  were  again  in  motion,  and  having  reached  the 
crest  of  the  great  rocky  chain,  although  impeded  by  its  everlasting  snows 
and  suffering  from  want  of  provisions,  they  rapidly  descended.  After 
travelling  four  hundred  miles  thus,  they  reached  the  navigable  waters  of 
the  Columbia  ;  and  following  its  course  six  hundred  and  forty  miles  fur 
ther,  were  recompensed  for  all  their  toils  and  privations  by  hearing  the 
sound  of  breakers  from  the  ocean,  and  viewing  with  their  glad  eyes  the 
Pacific.  They  wintered  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  hastened  back  by 
the  same  route  the  following  spring.  They  reached  St.  Louis  on  their 
return,  in  September,  1806,  after  an  absence  from  all  civilization  of  more 
than  twenty-seven  months,  having  travelled  altogether  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  miles.  Only  one  of  the  party,  who  was  of  a  sickly  constitu- 
tion, had  died. 

The  American  government  sent,  in  1805,  another  expedition  under  Ma- 
jor Pike  (afterward  conspicuous  for  his  bravery  in  the  war  of  1812),  to 
trace  the  yet  unknown  head  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  found  in  a  direc- 
tion almost  due  north,  not  rising  from  any  great  natural  range,  but  in  a 
flat  marshy  region,  and  passing  through  a  number  of  little  lakes,  the  chief 
of  which,  named  Leech  and  Red  Cedar,  contend  for  the  honour  of  giving 
birth  to  this  noble  American  river.  Its  length,  too,  proved  to  be  at  the 
mutual  junction  a  little  less  than  half  that  of  the  Missouri,  which,  there- 
fore, ought  properly  to  rank  as  the  main  stream.  Pike,  on  his  return,  was 
sent  to  explore  the  course  and  origin  of  the  Arkansas  and  Red  rivers. 
The  former  he  found  very  broad,  flowing  througjh  a  country  richly  stocked 
with  game,  and  having  its  source  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  attempted 
then  to  descend  the  Red  river,  but  entered  by  mistake  on  the  Rio  del  Norte, 
and  proceeding  into  the  Mexican  territory,  was  made  prisoner  by  the 
Spaniards,  but  was  well  treated  and  soon  after  released. 

Since  the  peace  of  1783,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  had  each 
incessantly  complained  that  the  other  had  violated  the  spitulations  con- 
tained in  the  treaty.  The  former  was  accused  of  having  carried  away 
negroes  at  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war ;  and  of  retaining  in  her 
possession  certain  military  posts  situated  in  the  western  wilderness,  and 
in  the  limits  of  the  United  States — in  consequence  of  which  the  Ameri- 
cans were  deprived  of  their  share  of  the  fur  trade,  and  the  Indians  in- 
cited to  make  incursions  upon  the  frontier  settlements.  The  latter  were 
accused  of  preventing  the  loyalists  from  regaining  possession  of  their 
estates,  and  British  subjects  from  recovering  debts  contracted  before  the 
commencement  of  hostilities. 

Now,  however,  a  new  and  more  pressing  cause  of  disturbance  arose 
between  the  two  nations.     Great  Britain  had  always  found  it  impossible 


472  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

to  man  her  numerous  fleets  by  voluntary  enlistments,  and  was,  therefore, 
in  the  habit  of  levying  by  force  her  subjects  and  compelling  them  to  serve 
as  sailors  on  board  lier  ships  of  war.  l)esertions  taknig  place  frequently 
nnder  such  a  state  of  things,  slie  claimed  a  right  to  search  for  her  sailors, 
even  on  board  of  neutral  vessels  while  traversing  the  ocean  in  pursuit  of 
their  lawful  business.  In  the  exercise  of  tliis  pretended  right,  citizens 
of  the  United  States  were  sometimes  by  mistake  and  sometimes  by  de 
sign,  claimed  and  held  as  British  sailors. 

But  not  in  this  mode  only  were  the  rights  of  the  United  States  invaded 
and  their  interests  sacrificed  on  the  ocean.  Owing  to  the  extermination 
of  the  French  navy  by  Great  Britain,  the  commerce  between  France  and 
the  West  Indies  was  almost  exclusively  carried  on  in  American  ships. 
To  cut  off  France  from  this  privilege  also,  British  orders  in  council,  dated 
May,  1806,  declared  all  ports  of  consequence  under  the  control  of  France 
to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade,  though  they  were  not  at  the  time  invested 
with  a  British  fleet ;  and  American  vessels  attempting  to  enter  those  ports 
were  captured  and  condemned.  In  retaliation,  Bonaparte  issued  his  Ber- 
lin decree,  of  November,  1806,  proclaiming  the  British  islands  in  a  state 
of  blockade,  and  of  course  authorizing  the  capture  of  all  neutral  vessels 
attempting  to  trade  with  those  islands.  Not  deeming  this  sufficient  to 
prevent  American  vessels  from  trading  with  his  enemy,  ihe  French  em- 
peror shortly  thereafter  issued  another  decree,  from  Milan,  denouncing 
every  neutral  vessel  which  should  submit  to  be  searched  or  visited  by  any 
British  cruizer,  and  confiscating  all  ships  so  submitting  whenever  found 
in  any  of  his  ports.  By  these  measures  of  both  nations  the  commerce  of 
the  United  States  was  suddenly  and  most  strangely  made  illegal;  mer- 
chants of  course  sufi"ered  severely,  and  with  united  voice  they  loudly  de- 
manded of  the  government  redress  and  protection  from  such  violations  of 
the  laws  of  nations. 

In  .Tune,  1807,  an  event  occurred  which  for  a  time  concentrated  upon 
Great  Britain  the  whole  weight  of  popular  indignation.  The  frigate  Chesa- 
peake, an  American  thirty-six  gun  ship,  refusing  to  allow  a  search  on 
board  her  for  British  deserters,  was  fired  into  by  the  Leopard  of  fifty  guns, 
and  three  men  killed  and  eighteen  wounded.  The  Chesapeake  being  un- 
prepared for  action,  struck  her  colors,  and  was  boarded  by  a  detachment 
from  the  Leopard,  when  the  crew  were  mustered  and  four  men  forcibly 
carried  away  as  British  deserters.  The  truth  upon  investigation  was  as- 
t!ertained  to  be,  that  three  of  them  were  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
who  had  been  impressed  by  ihe  British  and  afterward  escaped  from  their 
service.  One  of  these  men  they  hanged,  another  died  in  prison,  and  the 
remaining  two  were  subsequently  returned  to  the  decks  of  tlie  Chesapeake, 
whence  they  had  been  taken. 

It  is  true  this  act  was  promptly  disavowed  by  the  authorities  at  London, 
but  as  ihey  delayed  to  make  reparation,  and  refused  to  give  any  guaran- 
tee that  the  like  should  not  transpire  again,  the  hostile  feelings  which  had 
been  aroused  in  the  breasts  of  the  community  were  neither  extinguished 
nor  appeased.  The  president  accordingly  recommended  to  Congress  the 
passage  of  a  law  laying  an  indefinite  embargo,  which  was  thereupon 
enacted.  He  also,  by  proclamation,  prohibited  all  British  ships  of  war 
from  continuing  in  or  entering  the  harbors  of  the  United  States;  and  in 
these  measures  he  was  fully  justified  by  the  public  sentiment,  with  perhaps 
one  exception.  In  the  New  England  states  the  embargo  occasioned  dis- 
content and  clamor.  The  members  of  the  federal  party,  who  were  more 
numerous  there  than  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  Union,  with  one  consent 
pronounced  it  a  measure  unwise  and  oppressive.  Public  meetings  were 
accordingly  called,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  counter  resolu- 
tions passed;  alternately  sustaining  and  denouncing  the  acts  of  govern- 
ment. 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  473 

James  Madison  was  electeti  President  in  1808,  and  took  his  seat  on  the 
4lh  of  March  foUowing;  George  Clinton  was  re-elected  to  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  and  filled  ihal  office  with  ability  up  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
April  i'Oih,  181'-?.  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachnsetis,  was  elected  Vice- 
President  for  Mr.  Madison's  second  term,  and  also  died  in  office,  Novem- 
ber 236,  1814,  not  long  after  his  installation.  Mr.  Madison's  first  lerra  of 
office  commenced  with  James  Monroe,  of  Virginia,  as  Secretary  of  State  ; 
.\lbert  Gallatin,  of  Pennsylvania,  slill  at  t!ie  head  of  the  Treasury  ;  Paul 
Hamilton,  of  South  Carolina,  Secretary  of  the  Navy;  General  William 
Kusiis,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  War;  and  a  continuation  of  Mr. 
Granger,  of  Connecticut,  as  chief  of  the  Post-Office  department — and 
Mr.  Rodney,  of  Delaware,  as  Attorney  General. 

Changes  were  presently  made,  however,  and  before  the  close  of  the 
executive's  second  term,  his  cabinet  stood  as  follows: — James  Monroe, 
Secretary  of  State  ;  Alexander  J.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury;  B.  W.  Crowninshield,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  ;  William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  War;  William 
Pinckney,  of  Maryland,  Attorney  General;  Return  J.  Meigs,  of  Ohio, 
Post-Master  Genenil. 

In  March,  1809,  Congress  repealed  the  embargo,  and  instituted  a  law 
prohibiting  all  intercourse  with  France  and  Great  Britain,  until  ihe  offen- 
sive edicts  of  either  should  be  revoked.  In  revenge  for  this,  another  de- 
cree was  issued  by  Bonaparte,  at  Rainbouillet,  directing  that  all  American 
vessels  then  in  the  ports  of  France,  or  that  might  afterward  enter,  should 
be  directly  seized  and  confiscated.  Expostulation  in  such  case  might 
seem  vain  ;  but  General  Armstrong  having  been  despatched  as  American 
envoy  to  the  court  of  France,  he  was  assured  by  the  minister  of  state  of 
Napoleon,  that  the  obnoxious  edicts  would  be  fully  revoked  on  the  1st  of 
November  ensuing.  Confiding  in  this  assurance,  the  president,  on  the 
2d  of  November,  issued  his  proclamation  declaring  that  all  intercourse 
with  Great  Britain  was  prohibited,  while  an  unrestrained  commerce  with 
France  was  allowed.  This  conciliatory  movement  was  hailed  with  satis- 
faction alike  by  the  French  and  American  people — though  it  has  been 
strongly  suspected  the  intention  of  Napoleon  in  allowing  it,  was  only 
to  involve  America  in  a  war  with  Great  Britain — thereby  materially  to  as- 
sist him  in  his  design  of  universal  conquest.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  this 
arrangement,  that  the  great  soldier  of  fortune  is  said  to  have  descended 
so  far  from  his  loftiness  as  to  indulge  in  a  bon  mot.  The  former  American 
minister  sent  to  negotiate  with  him,  was  a  little  hard  of  hearing  :  the 
present  one  quite  imperfect  in  his  mastery  of  the  French  language. 
"  These  Americans  are  a  queer  people,"  said  he,  "  first  they  send  me  a 
deaf  minister,  and  then  they  send  me  a  dumb  one." 

Great  Britain  having  expressed  a  willingness  to  repeal  herorders  when- 
ever France  should  repeal  her  decrees,  she  was  now  called  upon,  by  the 
American  envoy,  to  fulfil  her  engagement.  She  objected,  that  the  French 
decrees  could  not  be  considered  as  repealed,  a  letter  from  the  minister  of 
stale  not  being,  for  that  purpose,  a  document  of  sufficient  autliority.  In 
answer  to  this  objection,  proof  was  presented  that  tiie  French  admiralty 
courts  considered  them  as  repealed,  and  that  no  American  vessel,  although 
many  had  entered  the  ports  of  France,  had  been  subjected  to  their  pro- 
visions. Great  Britain,  however,  still  attempted  to  enforce  her  orders. 
For  this  purpose  she  had  stationed  ships  of  war  before  the  principal  har- 
bours of  the  United  States.  Merchantmen  departing  or  returning  were 
all  boirded,  searched,  and  many  of  them  sent  to  British  ports  as  legal 
prizes.  Impressments,  too,  were  frequent;  and  the  British  officers,  en- 
tertaininy;  exalted  ideas  of  their  naval  strength,  and  iiolding  in  contempt 
the  republican  flag,  exhibited  on  all  occasions  an  extreip.e  insolence  of 
behaviour.     In  one  instance,  however,  -heir  aggression  was  deservedly 


474  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

punished.  Commodore  Rogers,  sailing  in  the  frigate  President,  met  in 
the  evening  a  vessel  on  the  coast  of  \irginia.  He  hailed,  but  instead  ol 
receiving  an  answer,  was  hailed  in  turn,  and  a  shot  was  fired  which  struck 
the  mainmast  of  the  I'resident.  Tlic  fire  was  instantly  returned  by  the 
<;ommodore,  and  continued  for  a  few  minutes,  when  finding  that  his  an- 
tagonist was  of  inferior  force,  and  that  her  guns  were  almost  silenced,  he 
desisted.  On  hailitig  again,  an  answer  was  given,  that  the  ship  was  the 
British  sloop  of  war  Little  Ijeil,  of  eighteen  guns.  Thirty-two  of  her 
men  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  the  ship  was  much  disabled. 

In  the  summer  of  1811,  an  earnest  and  final  attempt  was  made  by  the 
American  government  to  arrange  satisfactorily  with  Great  Britain  the 
subject  of  impressment,  and  other  points  mooted  between  them.  No  ap- 
proach tow'ard  a  reconciliation  could  be  made.  It  was  proven  that  not 
less  than  nine  hundred  American  merchant  vessels  had  been  seized  by 
British  cruizers  and  confiscated,  since  the  year  180.3.  It  was  also  shown 
that  an  agent  had  been  employed  by  the  British  authorities  in  Canada,  in 
time  of  peace,  to  spread  disaffection  between  the  states,  and  if  possible 
to  bring  about  a  division  of  the  Unicm.  The  patience  of  the  nation  was 
exhausted — forbearance  would  no  longer  do.  Early  in  November,  1811, 
President  Madison  called  Congress  together,  and  laid  before  them  the 
state  of  foreign  relations,  recommending  tiiat  the  Republic  should  be 
placed  in  an  attitude  to  maintain  by  force  its  wounded  honour  and  essen- 
tial interests.  The  representatives  of  the  people  determined  to  act  in 
accordance  with  the  views  of  the  president.  Laws  were  therefore  en- 
acted, providing  for  the  increase  of  the  regular  army  to  thirty -five  thousand 
men ;  for  the  augmentation  of  the  naval  establishment ;  for  arming  the 
militia,  and  for  borrowing  eleven  millions  of  dollars. 

About  this  time  events  occurred  which  turned  the  public  attention  for 
an  instant  in  a  new  direction.  The  Indian  tribes  residing  near  th«  remote 
lakes  and  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  had  for  some  years  past  displayed 
symptoms  of  hostility,  murdering  a  number  of  whites  and  robbing  others. 
General  Harrison,  with  a  small  force,  was  sent  into  their  territories,  in- 
structed to  negotiate  if  possible,  but  to  fight  if  necessary.  On  the  6th  o( 
Novem.ber  he  arrived  at  Tippecanoe,  their  principal  town,  where  he  was 
met  by  Indian  messengers,  with  whom  an  agreement  was  made  that  hos- 
tilities should  not  take  place  before  the  next  morning,  and  that  then  an 
amicable  conference  should  be  held.  Just  before  daybreak,  the  savages, 
in  violation  of  their  engagement,  made  a  sudden  and  furious  attack  upon 
the  troops  in  their  encampment.  Nothing  but  the  precaution  of  sleeping 
in  order  of  battle,  on  their  arms,  saved  them  from  total  defeat.  A  dread- 
ful slaughter  was  made  ;  but  the  savages  were  finally  repulsed,  dispersed, 
and  their  town  laid  waste.  A  strong  belief  was  entertained,  founded  upon 
credible  testimony,  that  they  had  been  incited  to  hostility  by  British  agents 
stationed  among  them. 

Congress  continued  to  be  employed  until  the  20th  of  May,  in  making  pre- 
parations for  war,  though  still  cherishing  a  hope  that  a  change  of  policy 
in  Europe  would  render  unnecessary  an  appeal  to  arms.  On  that  day 
the  Hornet  arrived  from  London,  bringing  information  that  no  prospect 
existed  of  a  favourable  change.  On  the  1st  of  June,  the  president  sent 
a  message  to  Congress,  recounting  the  wrongs  still  unatoned  for  which 
Great  Britain  had  inflicted,  and  submitting  the  question  whether  the  United 
States  should  contintie  to  endure  them  or  resort  to  war  1  The  message 
was  considered  with  closed  doors — and  on  the  18;h  an  act  was  passed 
declaring  war  against  Great  Britain.  The  vote  stood,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  79  to  49 ;  in  the  Senate,  19  to  1-3. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  475 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    WAR    OF    1812-1814, 

The  people  of  the  United  States  remembered  with  pride,  the  patriotism 
and  bravery  exhibited  by  their  army  in  the  revolutionary  war.  A  lontj  period 
ot  peace  and  prosperity  had  increased  their  confidence  in  their  own 
strength ;  and  the  belief  was  generally  entertained,  that  victory  over  the 
same  foe  would  now  be  so  much  the  more  certainly  and  easily  gained,  as 
the  nation  was  more  rich  and  populous.  Perhaps  they  did  not  reflect  that 
peace  had  impaired  the  military  energies  of  the  republic,  while  their  ene- 
my, by  constant  exercise  in  arms,  had  acquired  not  only  additional 
strength,  but  greater  skill  to  use  and  apply  it. 

From  the  veteran  officers  who  had  acquired  fame  in  the  former  conflict, 
a  selection  was  made  to  fill  the  principal  posts  in  the  new  army.  Henry 
Dearborn,  of  Massachusetts,  was  appointed  major-general  and  comman- 
der-in-chief: he  was  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  in  the  expedition  to 
Quebec;  and  had  distinguished  himself  on  o'tlier  occasions.  Thomas 
Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  was  also  appointed  a  major-general  ;  and 
Wilkinson,  Hull,  Hampton,  and  Bloomfield,  were  among  the  brigadiers. 
With  such  names  at  the  head  of  their  forces,  the  people  might  seem  to 
an  extent  justified  in  expecting  soon  to  see  brave  deeds  enrolled  on  the 
escutcheon  of  their  country's  fame.  Yet  strangely  different  were  the  first 
results. 

At  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  war,  General  Hull  was  also  governor 
of  the  Michigan  territory,  of  which  Detroit  was  the  capital.  On  the  12th 
of  July,  with  two  tiiousand  regulars  and  volunteers,  he  crossed  the  river 
dividing  the  United  States  from  Canada.  On  the  same  day,  he  addressed 
a  proclamation  to  the  Canadians,  tendering  them  the  blessings  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  assuring  them,  in  a  lofty  tone,  "  that  his  force  was 
sufficient  to  break  down  all  opposition,"  and  yet  was  but  the  van-guard  of 
one  much  greater.  It  appeared  to  be  his  purpose  to  attack  Maiden  (the 
strongest  fortress  in  Upper  Canada,  and  then  but  weakly  guarded),  and 
thence  proceed  to  Montreal.  Had  the  attack  been  instantly  made,  suc- 
cess would  have  undoubtedly  crowned  it :  but  a  month  was  wasted  in 
ruinous  delay,  allowing  the  ardour  of  the  troops  to  cool,  and  Maiden  to  be 
reinforced.  Distrust  and  contempt  took  the  place  of  confidence  in  the 
breasts  of  the  Canadians ;  and  at  this  critical  moment  information  was 
received  that  Mackinaw,  an  American  post  of  importance  above  Detroit., 
had  been  surprised,  and  had  surrendered  to  a  large  body  of  British  and 
Indians,  who  were  rushing  down  in  numbers  sufficient  to  overwhelm 
tlie  American  forces.  Panic-struck,  General  Hull  hastened  back  to 
Detroit. 

General  Brock,  the  commander  at  Maiden,  pursued  him  with  a  force 
superior  in  number,  but  composed  chiefly  of  militia  and  Indians.  On  the 
14th  of  August,  he  erected  batteries  opposite  Detroit.  The  next  day  he 
began  a  cannonade  upon  the  American  fortifications,  which  was  returned 
with  precision  and  effect.  On  the  16th,  the  enemy  crossed  the  river, 
taking  post  about  three  miles  above  the  city.  Meeting  with  no  resistance, 
and  hearing  that  some  of  the  American  troops  were  absent.  General 
Brock  resolved  to  march  directly  forward  and  assault  the  fort.  The 
troops,  cool  and  undaunted,  awaited  in  good  order  the  approach  of  the 
enemy,  anticipating  an  easy  victory.  To  the  astonishment  of  all,  Genera] 
Hull  forbade  the  artillery  to  fire,  and  hung  out  a  white  flag  in  token  of  a 
wish  to  capitulate.  A  correspondence  between  the  two  generals  was  im- 
mediately  opened,  which  ended  in  the  surrender  of  the  army  and  of  the 
territory  of  Michigan. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  indignation  of  the  soldiers  and  citizens, 


476  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

when  they  saw  tlicmsclvcs  thus  delivered,  hy  the  niithorily  of  one  man, 
into  the  power  of  an  enemy  vvlioin  Ihey  supposed  they  rniyht  easily  have 
conquered.  lOvcn  ilie  women  were  indignant  at  so  shameful  a  submis- 
sion. And  the  same  feelings  pervaded  the  entire  Union,  as  all  had  looked 
in  this  quarter  with  the  nnjst  confident  anticipations  of  perfect  success. 
On  bem<r  exchanged,  General  Hull  was  arresttid  and  brought  to  trial, 
charged  with  treason,  cowardice,  and  neglect  of  duly.  The  court  martial 
not  having  legal  jurisdiction  in  treasonable  matters,  declined  giving  judg- 
ment on  ttie  first  charge;  but  he  was  found  guilty  on  the  other  charges, 
and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  The  president,  however,  ii.  consideration  of 
former  good  conduct,  and  the  age  of  the  prisoner,  remitted  the  punishment 
of  death. 

The  peopleof  Ohio  and  Kentucky  were  alarmed.  Nearly  ten  thousand 
citizens  made  a  tcrider  of  their  services — and  a  part  of  them  were  placed 
under  the  command  of  General  W.  H.  Harrison  and  marched  toward  the 
territory  of  Michigan.  But  great  and  nmnerous  were  the  difficulties  en- 
countered; the  volunteers  were  unwilling  in  submit  to  the  wholesome  re- 
straints of  discipline  ;  and  winter  arrived  before  any  important  undertak- 
ing could  be  accomplished.  Several  incursions  were  made  into  the 
country  of  the  savages,  who,  owing  to  the  influence  of  British  agents  and 
a  fanatic  termed  the  prophet,  had  become  almost  universally  hostile.  For 
the  purpose  of  invading  Canada  in  another  quarter,  an  army  of  regulars 
and  miliiia  were  assembled  on  the  northern  frontier  of  New-York.  It 
was  far  less  numerous  than  the  government  had  anticipated.  So  happy 
was  the  condition  of  even  the  poorest  class  of  American  citizens,  that 
few  could  be  induced  to  enlist  as  soldiers.  And  in  some  of  the  states  the 
plausible  doctrine  was  main'ained.  that  the  officers  of  the  general  govern- 
ment have  no  power  over  the  miliiia  until  called  into  regular  service  and 
consigned  to  their  authority  by  the  slate  executive;  and  that  even  then 
they  cannot  be  compelled  lo  march  beyond  the  boundary  of  the  republic. 
Several  governors  aciually  wilhiield  their  militia  when  called  for  by  the 
president,  and  ihus  diminished  the  amount  of  one  species  of  force  upon 
which  the  general  government  had  relied. 

General  Van  Rensselaer,  of  the  New-York  militia,  being  the  senior  of- 
ficer on  that  frontier,  had  the  command  of  these  troops,  which  were  called 
the  army  of  the  centre.  His  head-quarters  were  at  Lewistown,  on  the 
river  Niagara,  and  on  the  opposite  was  Queenstown,  a  fortified  British 
post.  The  militia  displaying  great  eagerness  lo  be  led  against  the  enemy, 
the  general  determined  lo  cross  over  lo  Queenstown.  The  first  attempt 
was  defeated  by  tempestuous  weather  On  the  13lh  of  October,  a  party 
led  by  Colonel  Van  Rensselaer  efl^ected  a  landing,  although  opposed  by  a 
British  force  stationed  on  the  bank.  The  colonel  was  severely  wounded, 
but  the  troops,  under  captains  Ogilvie  and  Wool,  advanced  to  storm  the 
fort.  They  gained  possession,  but  at  the  moment  of  success,  General 
Brock  arrived  from  a  neighbouring  post,  with  a  reinforcement  of  six  hun- 
dred men.  These,  although  the  most  numerous,  were  gallantly  driven 
back  by  the  American  troops.  In  attempting  to  rally  them,  General 
Brock  and  his  aid-de-camp  were  both  killed.  General  Van  Rensselaer, 
who  had  previously  crossed  over,  now  returned  to  hasten  the  embarka- 
tion of  ihe  rear  division.  But  those  who  had  lately  shown  so  much 
eagerness  to  meet  the  enemy,  now  utterly  refused  lo  pass  beyond  the 
national  boundary  I  He  entreated  and  remonstrated,  but  in  vain.  Mean- 
while the  enemy,  having  received  another  reinforcement,  advanced  to 
attack  the  Americans  in  the  fort.  A  desperate  and  bloody  conflict  en- 
sued, of  which  ihe  militia  at  Lewistown  were  calm  spectators — making 
a  constitutional  privilege  their  plea  for  cowardice.  In  the  end,  the  British 
were  completely  victorious :  so  that  of  above  one  thousand  men,  who 
dad  crossed  into  Canada,  but  few  efll'ecled  their  escape. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  477 

Soon  after  this  disaster.  General  Van  Rensselaer  retired  from  the  ser- 
vice, and  was  succeeded  by  General  Alexander  Smyth,  of  Virginia.  Ire 
a  turgid  address  10  the  '"men  of  New-York,"  he  announced  thai  in  a  few 
days  he  should  retrieve  the  lost  honour  of  the  country,  by  planting  the 
Ameri(;an  standard  in  Canada,  and  mvited  them  to  share  in  the  danger  and 
glory  of  the  enterprise.  His  force,  was  increased  speedily  to  four  thousand 
five  hundred  men :  and  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  November,  assigned 
as  the  time  for  crossing.  The  time  came,  but  strangely  enough  the 
troops  could  not  be  got  ready  to  pass  over.  Another  day  was  appointed, 
and  when  that  arrived,  it  was  found  the  general  had  changed  his  plan  of 
operations.  A  council  of  war  was  called,  the  invasion  of  Canada  was 
postponed,  and  the  troops  were  ordered  into  winter  quarters.  The  blame 
of  these  failures  was  attributed  by  the  soldiers  to  their  commander ;  and 
so  highly  were  they  exasperated,  that  for  several  days  his  life  was  in 
dancrer  from  their  fury. 

The  army  of  the  north,  which  was  under  the  immediate  command  of 
General  Dearborn,  was  stationed  at  Greenbush,  near  Albany,  and  at  Platts- 
burgh,on  liake  Champlain.  From  the  latter  post,  a  detachment  marched 
a  short  distance  into  Canada,  surprised  a  small  body  of  British  and  In- 
dians, and  destroyed  a  considerable  quantity  of  public  stores.  Other 
movements  were  anxiously  expected  by  ihe  people;  but  after  the  misfor- 
tunes at  Detroit  and  Niagara,  the  genernl  deemed  it  inexpedient  to  engage 
in  any  important  enterprise  :  and  thus  ended  ihe  campaign  of  1812. 
Although  on  many  occasions  extraordinary  gallantry  had  been  displayed, 
yet  nothing  was  accomplished,  and  the  losses  sustained  were  numerous 
and  heavy.  Those  who  approved  the  declaration  of  war,  felt  disap- 
pointed, mortified,  and  dejected.  Those  who  were  opposed  to  it,  assumed 
a  bolder  tone  of  censure,  and  evinced  a  more  determined  spirit  of  oppo- 
sition. 

While,  however,  defeat  and  disgrace  attended  the  American  arms  on 
land,  far  different  results  were  witnessed  on  the  ocean.  On  that  great 
field  where  were  committed  the  offences  which  led  to  the  war,  they  gained 
a  rich  harvest  of  victory  and  glory.  Upon  the  declaration  of  war,  the 
American  officers  and  seamen  were  filled  with  ardour  to  avenge  the  suffer- 
ings of  their  impressed  fellow-citizens,  and  to  vindicate  the  honour  of  the 
republican  flag.  Such  ships  of  war  as  were  ready  for  sea,  immediately 
sailed  in  search  of  the  enemy.  On  the  19lh  of  August,  Captain  Hull, 
who  commanded  the  Constitution,  of  forty-four  guns,  descried  a  British 
(frigate  ;  his  crew,  giving  three  cheers^ requested  lo  be  placed  alongside 
of  their  antagonist.  For  three  quarters^  an  hour  the  latter  endeavoured, 
by  skilful  maiia?uvring,  to  obtain  the  advantage  of  position.  Defeated  in 
this,  she  advanced  toward  the  Constitution,  firing  broadsides  at  intervals. 
When  slie  had  approached  within  half  pistol  shot,  a  tremendous  cannonade 
burst  upon  her  from  the  American  frigate.  In  thirty  minutes,  every  mast 
and  nearly  every  spar  being  shot  away,  she  struck  her  flag.  She  was 
found?to  be  the  Guerriere,  of  thirty-eight  guns,  commanded  by  Captain 
Dacre^who  had  been  cruizing  in  quest  of  an  American  frigate.  At 
her  mast-head  she  had  displayed  her  name,  and  a  flag  upon  which  was 
he  taunting  inscription,  "  No  Little  Belt."  Of  her  crew,  fifty  were 
Killed  and  sixty-four  wounded;  and  the  vessel  itself  was  so  much  injured 
that  it  was  set  fire  to  and  blown  up.  The  damage  sustained  by  the  Con- 
stitution was  very  slight;  of  her  crew,  but  seven  were  killed  and  seven 
wounded  ;  and  the  ship  in  a  few  hours  was  ready  for  another  action.  Tljis 
battle  was  the  more  remarkable,  as  Great  Britain  had  not  lor  thirty  yeare 
previous  lost  a  frigate  in  any  conflict  with  a  similar  equality  of  force. 
Congress  voted  fifteen  thousand  dollars  to  the  crew  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, as  a  recompense  for  the  loss  of  their  prize,  and  the  officers  were 
promoted. 


478  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

This  was  only  the  first  of  a  series  of  naval  victories.  On  the  1 8th  of 
October,  Captain  Jones,  in  the  Wasp,  of  eighteen  guns,  captured  the  Frolic, 
of  twenty-two,  after  a  bloody  conflict  of  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  In 
this  action,  the  Americans  obtained  a  victory  over  a  force  decidedly  su- 
perior. On  their  part,  but  eight  were  killed  and  wounded;  on  that  of  tho 
enemy,  about  eighty ;  the  Frolic  fired  as  she  rose  upon  the  water,  so  that 
her  shot  was  either  thrown  away  or  but  touched  the  rigging  of  the  Amer 
ican  ;  the  Wasp,  on  the  contrary,  fired  as  she  descended  ;  and  thus,  at  every 
discharge,  struck  the  hull  of  her  antagonist.  On  boarding  the  British  ves- 
sel, the  surprise  of  the  Americans  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  They  beheld 
only  three  officers,  and  the  seaman  at  the  helm.  The  deck  was  slippery 
with  blood,  presenting  a  most  awful  scene  of  havoc  and  distress.  The 
colours  were  still  flying — there  being  no  one  left  to  haul  them  down. 
Neither  of  the  vessels,  however,  arrived  in  the  United  States.  They 
were  both  captured,  before  evening,  by  a  British  ship  of  the  line. 

On  the  25th,  the  frigate  United  States,  commanded  by  Captain  Decatur, 
encountered  and  captured  the  British  frigate  Macedonian.  The  former 
carried  a  few  guns  the  most,  but  the  disparity  of  loss  was  astonishingly 
great.  Ou  ihe  part  of  the  enemy,  a  hundred  and  four  were  killed  and 
wounded  ;  on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  but  eleven !  The  United  States 
brought  her  prize  safely  to  New-York.  The  conduct  of  the  American 
seamen  on  this  occasion,  drew  forth  a  species  of  praise  from  the  enemy, 
not  less  grateful  than  that  experienced  from  their  friends.  All  the  private 
property  belonging  to  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  Macedonian  was  re- 
stored, with  the  most  perfect  exactness,  and  they  were  treated  with  the 
greatest  humanity  and  politeness. 

A  fourth  naval  battle  was  fought,  and  a  fourth  victory  gained,  on  the 
29th  of  December.  On  that  day,  the  Constitution,  of  forty-four  guns, 
then  commanded  by  Captain  Bainbridge,  captured  the  British  frigate  Java, 
of  thirty-eight.  The  combat  was  continued  with  the  utmost  obstinacy, 
for  more  than  three  hours.  The  Java  was  reduced  to  a  wrj^k ;  of  her 
crew  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  were  killed  and  wounded ;  oTthat  of.  the 
Constitution  thirty-four.  General  Hislop,  governor  of  Bombay,  having  in 
charge  a  body  of  trpops,  was  passenger  on  board  the  Java  ;  that  officer 
presented  Captain  Bainbridge  with  an  elegant  sword,  as  a  slight  testimo^ 
nial  for  his  gentlemanly  conduct  after  the  action. 

On  the  lakes,  some   small  operations  were  this  season  successfC 
conducted  by  the   Americans.     One  in  particular,  .^ay  be  mention^ 
Lieutenant  Elliott,  on  Lake  Erie,-^'ith  ^reat  credit  to  himself  projectec 
undertaking  by  which  he  capturejpPwo  Brittsh  armed  vessels — the  De 
and  the  Caledonia.     This  wa^^rerely  the  precursor  of  other  and  li 
brilliant  affairs,  shortly  to  coni^off  upon  that  and  the  adjacent  int 
seas. 

The  exertions  of  Commodore  Chauncey,  in  creating  a  fleet  upon^he 
northern  lakes,  produced  the  n>ost  beneficial  results.  In  the  beginnwg  of 
October,  the  Americans  had  not  a  single  armed  vessel  on  Lake  Enaf  and 
their  whole  force  on  Lake  Ontario  was  a  brig  carrying  sixteen  g^^^^  On 
the  first  of  November,  tWe  commodore  had  under  his  comniand^^vessfels, 
mounting  altogether  thirty-two  guns  ;  and  although  not  equann  strength 
to  their  opponents,  they  managed  to  capture  the  Prince  Regent  schooner 
of  eighteen  guns,  and  put  to  flight  the  Royal  George  of  twenty-six. 

These  successive  victorips  were  peculiarly  gratifying  to  the  nation, 
^ey  were  gained  in  the  midst  of  disasters  on  land,  and  by  that  class  of 
-■^izens  whose  rights  had  been  more  specially  violated ;  and  they  were 
gained  over  a  people  claiming  to  be  lords  of  the  sea,  whom  long-continued 
success  had  rendered  hauglity  and  insolent,  and  who  had  confidently 
boasted  that  the  whole  American  navy  would  soon  be  swept  from  the 
ocean.     A  number  of  British  merchantmen  were  likewise  captured  by  the 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  479 

American  navy  :  and  privateers  issuing  from  almost  every  port,  many  of 
them  bearing  flags  inscribed  "  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights,"  were 
remarkably  successful.  The  number  of  prizes  made  during  the  first 
seven  months  of  the  war  exceeded  five  hundred;  upwards  of  fifty  of  them 
were  armed,  carrying  nearly  six  hundred  guns.  More  than  three  thou- 
sand prisoners  were  taken. 

Various  reasons  have  been  assigned  for  the  continued  success  of  the 
American  arms  upon  the  water.  The  British  themselves  assert  it  to  be 
owing  to  the  superior  dimensions  of  their  enemy's  vessels  ;  but  this  cause 
is  not  by  any  means  sufficient  to  prove  the  fact,  as  all  historical  evidence 
contradicts  it.  The  British  were  formerly  almost  everywhere  victorious, 
in  spite  of  the  superior  force  of  a  few  guns.  Perhaps  the  truth  may  he 
arr.!ved  at,  when  we  consider  the  manner  in  which  different  navies  are  isi 
the  habit  of  aiming  their  war-missiles.  The  French  throw  all  their  shot 
among  the  enemy's  rigging,  thus  hopiijg  to  disable  him  :  the  English  aim 
directly  for  the  decks,  with  the  intention  to  destroy  life  ;  but  the  Ameri- 
^^cans  pursue  a  system  diffe  refit -from  either — pouring  all  their  fury  against 
the  hull  of  their  antagonist,  -^hus  a  single  broadside  frequently  opens 
iheir  enemy's  sides  to  the  torretits  of  the  ocean,  and  compels  the  drown- 
ing foe  to  strike  his  colours. 

In  the* autumn  of  this  year  (1812),  the  quadrennial  period  for  the  elec- 
lion  of  president  and  vice-president  again  r^purred.  The  candidates  were, 
on  one  side,  the  incumbent  .Tames  Madison-»V)f  Virginia,  and  Elbridge 
Gerry,  of  Massachusetts:  on  the  other,  De  Wiit  Clinton,  of-New-York, 
and  Jared  Inger^oll,  of  Pennsylvania.  Those  wjio  opposjgd  tlj^^ar,  were 
in  favour  of  the  latter  candidates  :  those  who^ef^  called'derr™|i,t«,  sup- 
ported the  former.  Great  exertions  were  njiade |by.th^.p:ic(izans  of  the 
opposing  candidates,  and  the  passioits^|^l;>fiJ|'opfc^pecia"n\iin  the  raid- 
die  and  nomern  states,  were  hiffhlvjrf^fle^.-*  Of  irfS|J|ctoral  votes  given, 
^Ir.  Madison  received  one  hunarecl|and  tTCen^y-eigJiyJ^id  Mr.  Gerry  one 
hundred  and  tfeirty-one,  and  were  elecj^dV*  Mr.  Cliittm/repcived  eighty- 
nine,  and  Mr  Ingersoll  eighty-six.  fj       .iV   '  /^     ».'  |i*f' 

At  the  comnreiicement  of  the  sessiMLofjGonffress  f!ear  thfeclose  of  |^2, 
the  president,  in  his  message,  stated  tlm  Tie,h*i  receivecf  cfeqial  in^ma- 
tion  of  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council ; ' ani  tha9it,wo  mppositimBfoi 
i^Ain  armistice  had.  been  made  to  him,  both  of  v^BchMfhadxej^Gited^Hrhev 
ould  not  have  been  accepted  without  coilaBdi^rto  Great.  Bri^mi  the 
ight.of  impressment.  The  rejection  of  theaplpr1)^sitiQns  was  approved 
by  the  national  representatives,  who,  insteadPwf  abandoning  the  ground  they 
had  taken,  a-dopted  more  vigorous  measiroPs  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
war.  The 'bounty  and  the  wages  of  the  gcldio's  were  increased.  The 
president  wf^  authorized  to  raise  twenty, aidditicwial  regiments  of  infantry, 
10  issue  treaaH^iotes,  and  to  borrow  m'oney.  provision  was  also  made 
for  buildingj^^  ships^of  the  line,  six  frigates,  and.^s  many  vessels  of  war 
Mm  the  great^^'es  as  the  public  servic^might  require* 
r^So  great  was  the  desire  of  the  citizws  of  the  western  country  to  regain 
possession  of  the  territory  of  Michigan,  that  in  order  to  effect  it,  General 
Harrison  resolved  to  undertake  a  winter  campaign.  Information  was  re- 
ceived that  a  small  body  of  British  and  Indians  wei-e  stationed  atVFrench- 
town,  a  village  on  the  river  Raisin,  not  far  from  Detroit.  ..  General  Win- 
chester proceeded  in  advance,  with  a  portion  of  tlie^jv^estern  army,  and 
attacked  and  entirely  dispersed  the  enemy.  The  Aj^eriicans  encamped 
near  the  field  of  battle,  a  part  of  them  being  ppQl^ecte'd  hyi  close  garden 
pickets :  yet,  althoi^gh  near  an  enemy's  fort,  but'dittle  pj^caution  was 
taken  to  prevent  a  -sWprise.  Early  in  the  morning  o*^the  22nd  of 
January,  they  were  attacked  by  a  large  force  of  British  apd  Indians,  the 
former  commanded  by  Colonel  Proctor,  the  latter  by  the  chiefs  Round- 
head and  Split-log.     The  troops  in  the  open  field  weiievthrown  into  disor- 


480  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

tier,  and  General  Winchester  and  other  ofTiccrs  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
rally  ihoni.  They  turned  and  fled,  but  in  attempting  to  escape  were 
niosily  killed  by  tlie  Indians.  The  General  and  (Colonel  Lewis  were  made 
prisoners.  The  troops  behind  the  pickets  maintained  the  contest  with 
undaunted  bravery.  At  length  (.'oloncl  Proctor  assured  General  Win- 
chester, that  if  the  remainder  of  the  Aniericans  would  imni(;diaicly  sur- 
render, they  should  be  protected  from  massacre  ;  but  otiierwise  he  would 
set  fire  to  the  village,  and  would  not  be  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the 
savages.  Intimidated  by  this  threat,  General  Winchester  sent  an  order  to 
the  troops  to  surrender,  which  lluiy  obeyed.  Colonel  Proctor,  leaving 
the  wounded  wiihouta  guard,  marched  back  immc'diatcly  to  Maiden.  The 
Indians  accompanied  them  a  few  miles,  but  returned  early  the  next  morn- 
ing. Then  followed  deeds  of  horror.  'I'he  wounded  officers  were 
dragged  from  the  houses,  and  killed  and  scalped  in  the  streets.  The 
buildings  were  set  on  fire,  and  many  who  attempted  to  escape  from  them 
were  forced  back  into  the  llames.  Others  were  put  to  death  by  the  toma- 
hawk, and  left  shockingly  mangled  in  the  highway.  But  the  infamy  of 
this  butclicry  should  not  fall  upon  the  perpetrators  alone — it  must  rest 
equally  upon  those  who  instigated  them  to  hostility — those  by  wdiose  side 
they  fought,  and  who  were  able,  and  who  were  bound  by  a  solemn  engage- 
ment, to  restrain  them. 

The  battle  aad  massacre  at  Frenchtown  clothed  Kentucky  and  Ohio  in 
mourning.  Otlier  volunteers,  indignant  at  the  treachery  and  cruelty  of 
their  foes,  hastened  to  the  aid  of  Harrison.  Having  twelve  hundred  men, 
he  marched  to  the  rapids  of^the  Miami,  where  he  erected  a  f(jrt  which  was 
called  FH^fej.  Meigs,  in  honour  of  the  governor  of  Ohio.  On  the  first  of  May, 
it  was  invested  by  a  large  n^umbt^r  of  Indians,  and  by  a  party  of  British 
troops  from  Maiden, .the  whole  coptmanded  by  Col.  Proctor.  Five  days 
afterwards,  General/^Clay,  at  me  ,hj^ad  yf  twelve  hundred  Kentuckians, 
made  an  attempt  to  raise  the  siege.  .Dividing  his  force  into  several  par- 
ties, and  making  an  impetuous  onset,  he  drove  the  besiegers  from  their 
works.  His  troops  supposing  the  victory  complete,  and  disregarding  the 
orders  of  their  commander,  dispersed  into  the  woods;  which  the  enemy 
observing,  returned  from  their  flight,  and  obtained  an  easy  victory.  Of 
the  Americans,  two  or  three  hundred  escaped  into  the  fort;  about  three 
hundred  were  killed  or  made  prisoners — and  the  remainder  fled  to  the 
nearest  settlements.     The  loss  of  the  enemy,  w^as  very  considerable. 

The  fort  continued  to  be  defended  with  bravery  and  skill.  The  Indians, 
unaccustomed  to  seiges,  became  weary  and  discontented  ;  and  on  the  8th 
of  May,  notwithstanding  the  entreaties  of  their  chief,  Tccumseh,  they  de- 
serted their  allies.  On  the  9th,  the  enemy,  despairing  of  success,  made  a 
precipitate  retreat.  General  Harrison,  leaving  General  Clay  in  command, 
returned  to  Ohio  for  reinforceme^its  ;  but  in  this  quarter  aelive  operations 
were  not  resumed  until  a  squadron  had  been  built  and  preoa^ed  for  action 
on  Lake  Erie.  At  Sackett's  Harbour,  on  the  northern  frontier,  a  body  ol» 
troops  had  been  assembled  under  the  command  of  General  Dearborn  ;  and' 
great  exertions  were  made,  by  Commodore  Chauncey,  to  build  and  equip 
a  squadron  on  Lake  Ontario,  sufficiently  powerful  to  contend  with  that  ot 
the  enemy.  By  the  25th  of  April,  the  naval  preparations  were  so  far  com- 
pleted that  the  general,  and  seventeen  hundred  troops,  were  conveyed 
across  the  lake  to  the  attack,  of  York  (now  Toronto),  the  capital  of  Upper 
Canada. 

On  the  27th,  an  advanced  party,  led  on  by  Br'gadier-general  Pike,  who 
was  born  in  a  camp  and  bred  a  soldier  from  his  birth,  landed,  although 
opposed  at  the  water's  edge  by  a  superior  force.  After  a  short  but  se- 
vere conflict,  the  enemy  were  driven  to  their  fortifications.  The  rest  of 
the  troops  having  landed,  the  whole  party  pressed  forward — carried  the 
first  battery  by  assault,  and  were  moving  towards  the  main  works,  when 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  481 

the  enemy's  magazine,  containing  five  hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder,  blew 
up,  with  a  tremendous  explosion,  hurling  upon  the  advancing  troops  im- 
mense quantities  of  stone  and  timber.  Upwards  of  three  hundred  men 
were  killed  and  wounded  ;  their  leader,  the  brave  General  Pike,  was  mor- 
tally wounded.  He  retained  to  the  last,  however,  the  spirit  of  a  soldier 
and  commander ;  "  Move  on,  my  brave  fellows,"  was  his  first  exclamation, 
*'  and  avenge  your  general."  With  three  cheers,  in  the  midst  of  the 
carnage,  they  pressed  forward,  and  speedily  drove  the  enemy  from  all  their 
intrenchmen'ts,  and  gained  possession  of  the  town.  The  British  loss  in 
men,  amounted  to  seven  hundred  and  eighty.  The  public  property  de- 
stroyed was  very  considerable  ;  and  that  which  was  transferred  unin- 
jured to  the  Americans,  was  considered  worth  at  least  half  a  million  of 
dollars.  When  the  flag  that  had  waved  over  the  fort  was  brought  to  the 
dying  General  Pike,  with  an  expression  of  triumph  on  his  countenance  he 
made  signs  for  it  to  be  placed  under  his  head,  and  contentedly  expired. 

An  attack  on  Fort  George,  and  Fort  Erie,  unsuccessfully  attempted  the 
year  before,  was  the  next  thing  to  be  undertaken.  Accordingly,  on  the 
morning  of  the  28th,  generals  Dearborn  and  Lewis  embarked  with  their 
whole  force,  amounting  to  four  thousand  men.  The  advance,  under  Col. 
Scott,  consisting  of  five  hundred,  were  exposed  in  approaching  the  shore 
to  incessant  volleys  of  musketry,  from  a  large  body  of  regulars  stationed 
in  a  ravine  ;  yet  they  faltered  not,  and  no  sooner  were  they  formed  on 
the  beach,  than  they  were  led  to  the  charge  and  dispersed  the  enemy. 
Meanwhile  the  works  on  each  side  of  the  river  were  furiously  engaged. 
Fort  George  being  in  a  short  time  rendered  untenable,  the  British  laid 
trains  to  their  magazines  and  hastily  retired.  The  American  light  com- 
panies instantly  took  possession  of  the  abandoned  works — captains  Hynd- 
man  and  Stockton  entering  first,  and  extinguishing  the  fire  intended  to 
create  the  explosion.  The  former  withdrew  a  match  at  the  imminent 
hazard  of  his  life.  Before  twelve  o'clock,  the  whole  of  tlie  fortifications 
in  that  quarter  were  surmounted  by  the  American  flag  ;  the  enemy  having 
lost,  in  killed  and  vvouuded,  above  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  besides  six 
hundred  prisoners.  Their  antagonists  had  only  thirty-nine  killed,  and  a 
hundred  and  eight  wounded. 

A  few  days  afterwards,  it  became  known  that  a  body  of  fifteen  hundred 
English,  under  General  Vincent,  had  encamped  on  the  heights  at  the  head 
of  Burlington  bay.  A  superior  force  was  therefore  dispatched,  under 
generals  Chandler  and  Winder,  to  reconnoitre,  and  to  cut  off"  the  escape 
of  the  enemy.  Strangely  enough,  this  force  was  surprised  in  the  night 
with  an  onset  from  the  British,  the  sentinels  being  bayonetted  on  their 
posts  without  giving  an  alarm.  A  complete  rout  ensued,  in  which  both 
the  American  generals  were  taken  prisoners.  The  British  findmg  two 
pieces  of  artillery  limbered,  drove  them  oflT,  hastily  overturned  the  others, 
and  made  good  their  retreat  with  but  little  loss.  This  misfortune  to  the 
republicans  was  soon  followed  by  another.  Lieutenant-colonel  Boerstler, 
having  been  sent  with  five  hundred  men  to  disperse  a  body  of  the  enemy 
collected  at  the  Beaver  Dams,  was  surrounded,  and  the  whole  detachment 
made  prisoners. 

General  Dearborn  having  for  some  time  laboured  under  a  severe  indis- 
position, now  retired  from  service,  assigning  Fort  George  to  the  care  of 
Col.  Boyd.  The  American  army  soon  afterwards  experienced  a  severe 
reverse,  by  an  irrational  attack  on  a  British  party  stationed  at  Le  Cosse's 
House,  aboui  seventeen  miles  from  the  fort;  and  on  the  8th  of  July,  a  gen- 
eral skirmish  ensued,  without  any  advantage  remaining  on  either  side. 
From  the  peculiar  character  of  Indian  warfare,  and  the  constant  iiarassing 
sustained  by  the  Americans,  Col.  Boyd  deemed  it  prudent  to  adopt  meas- 
ures for  guarding  against  it :  the  services  of  the  Seneca  nation  werj 
31 


482  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

therefore  accepted,  and  about  four  hundred  warriors,  commanded  by  tne 
chief  Corn-planter,  were  put  under  arms. 

While  the  greater  part  of  the  American  army  was  thus  employed  in 
Canada,  the  British  made  an  attack  upon  the  important  post  of  Sackett's 
Harbour.  On  the  27ih  of  May,  their  squadron  appeared  before  the  town. 
Alarm  guns  instantly  assembled  the  citizens  of  the  neighbourhood. 
General  Brown,  of  the  New-York  militia,  commanded  in  chief,  his  whole 
force  amounting  to  about  one  thousand  men.  By  his  orders  a  slight 
breastwork  was  hastily  thrown  up,  at  the  only  place  where  the  enemy 
could  land.  Behind  this  he  placed  the  militia,  and  the  regulars  under 
Colonel  Backus  formed  the  second  line.  On  the  morning  of  the  29th,  one 
thousand  British  troops  landed  from  the  squadron,  and  advanced  towards 
the  breastwork.  The  militia,  seized  with  a  sudden  panic,  fled  in  confusion, 
Colonel  Mills,  in  a  vain  attempt  to  rally  them,  bemg  mortally  wounded. 
The  regulars,  after  a  spirited  resistance,  were  compelled  to  jetire  towards 
the  town  ;  but  in  their  retreat  they  took  possession  of  the  houses  on  the 
road,  and  from  these  coverts  they  poured  so  destructive  a  fire  upon  the 
British  column,  that  it  halted  and  fell  back.  General  Brown,  by  a  strata- 
gem, converted  this  slight  check  into  a  precipitate  flight :  collecting  the 
panic-struck  militia,  he  directed  their  course  along  a  road  which,  while 
It  led  from  the  village,  appeared  to  the  British  commander  to  lead  to  the 
place  of  landing.  Perceiving  them  marching  with  great  speed,  he  suppo- 
sed that  their  object  was  to  cut  off"  his  retreat,  and  he  re-embarked  so  has- 
tily as  to  leave  behind  most  of  his  wounded.  General  Brown,  in  recom- 
oense  for  his  services,  was  appointed  a  brigadier  in  the  regular  army. 

Meanwhile,  upon  the  coast,  a  distressing  and  predatory  war  was  car- 
■ied  on,  by  large  detachments  from  the  powerful  navy  of  Great  Britain. 
>!)ne  squadron,  stationed  in  Delaware  Bay,  captured  and  burned  every 
■iierchant  vessel  which  came  within  its  reach.  The  inhabitants  of 
Lewistown,  in  the  slate  of  Delaware,  having  refused  to  sell  provisions  to 
5he  enemy,  the  village  was  bombarded,  and  several  attempts  were  made 
to  land — but  they  were  defeated  by  the  militia.  In  Chesapeake  Bay,  an- 
other and  more  powerful  squadron  had  arrived,  early  in  the  spring.  It 
was  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Cockburn — a  notorious  and  disgrace- 
ful person,  whose  name  will  ever  be  considered  a  stain  among  the  officers 
of  his  country.  He,  disregarding  the  honourable  modes  of  warfare,  di- 
rected his  efforts  principally  against  unoffending  citizens  and  peaceful 
villages.  Instead  of  seeking  to  advance  the  interests  of  Great  Britain  in 
any  manner,  he  sought  simply  to  stir  up  enmity  and  hatred  wherever  ne 
went,  and  planted  a  spirit  of  revenge  which  in  many  sections  rankles 
still.  The  farm  houses  and  'gentlemen's  seats  near  the  shore  were  plun 
dered,  and  the  cattle  driven  away  or  in  mere  wantonness  slaughtered. 
Frenchtown,  Havre  de  Grace,  Fredericktown,  and  Georgetown,  were 
sacked  and  burned.  Norfolk  was  only  saved  from  a  similar  fate,  by  the 
determined  bravery  of  a  small  force  stationed  on  Craney  Island,  in  the 
harbour.  A  furious  attack  was  made  upon  Hampton,  which,  notwith- 
standing the  gallant  resistance  of  its  small  garrison,  was  captured,  and 
the  unfortunate  inhabitants  suffered  all  which  a  brutal  and  unrestrained 
soldiery  could  inflict. 

The  ocean,  in  the  meantime,  had  been  the  theatre  of  sanguinary  conflicts, 
ui  which  the  victors  gained  untarnished  laurels.  Captain  Lawrence,  in 
the  sloop  of  war  Hornet,  discovering  in  the  neutral  port  of  San  Salvador 
a  British  sloop  of  war  of  superior  force,  challenged  her  commander  to 
meet  him  at  sea.  The  challenge  being  declined,  Captain  Lawrence  block- 
aded the  port,  until  forced  by  a  ship  of  the  line  to  retire.  Soon  after, 
meeting  an  English  brig  of  ten  guns,  he  captured  her,  and  with  her  above 
S-20,000  in  specie.  The  next  day  the  Hornet  steered  for  Demerara,  and 
shortly  encountered  a  large  Briti.sh  national  armed  brig,  the  Peacock. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  483 

Captain  Lawrence  instantly  engaged  her,  and  the  combat  continued  for 
fifteen  minutes  with  great  fury — when  the  enemy  struck  her  colours,  and 
displayed  at  the  same  time  a  signal  of  distress.  The  Americans  instantly 
endeavoured  now  to  save  the  vanquished ;  but  such  was  the  shattered 
condition  of  the  Peacock,  that  m  spite  of  all  their  efforts  to  rescue  her 
seamen,  it  could  be  but  partially  effected — she  went  down,  carrying  with 
her  nine  British  sailors  and  three  of  the  brave  Americans  who  were  en- 
deavouring to  assist  them.  In  the  battle,  the  loss  of  the  Hornet  was  but 
one  killed  and  two  wounded — that  of  the  Peacock  was  never  ascertained. 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States,  Captain  Lawrence  was  promoted  to 
the  command  of  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  then  in  the  harbour  of  Boston. 
For  several  weeks  the  British  frigate  Shannon,  of  equal  force  but  having 
a  selected  crew,  had  been  cruizing  before  the  port ;  and  Captain  Brooke, 
her  commander,  had  announced  his  wish  to  meet,  in  single  combat,  an 
American  frigate.  Inflamed  by  this  challenge,  Captain  Lawrence,  although 
his  crew  were  just  enlisted,  and  his  officers  were  strangers  to  him  and  to 
each  other,  set  sail,  on  the  first  of  June,  in  pursuit  of  the  Shannon.  To- 
ward evening  on  the  same  day,  they  met,  and  engaged  instantly,  with 
unexampled  fury.  In  a  very  few  minutes,  and  in  quick  succession,  the 
sailing-master  of  the  Chesapeake  was  killed,  and  Captain  Lawrence  and 
three  lieutenants  were  severely  wounded  ;  her  rigging  was  so  cut  to  pieces 
that  she  fell  on  board  the  Shannon,  her  chest  of  arms  blew  up,  and  Cap- 
tain Lawrence,  receiving  a  second  and  mortal  wound,  was  carried  below. 
At  this  instant,  the  position  of  the  ships  being  favourable.  Captain  Brooke, 
at  the  head  of  his  marines,  gallantly  boarded  the  Chesapeake;  when, 
every  officer  who  could  take  command  being  killed  or  wounded,  resistance 
ceased,  and  the  American  flag  was  struck  by  the  enemy. 

The  victory,  however,  was  not  achieved  without  loss.  Of  the  crew  of 
the  Shannon,  twenty-four  were  killed  and  fifty-six  wounded.  Of  that  of 
the  Chesapeake,  forty-eight  were  killed  and  nearly  one  hundred  wounded. 
When  the  intrepid  Lawrence  learned  the  fate  of  his  ship,  he  became  de- 
lirious with  excess  of  mental  and  bodily  suffering.  His  proud  spirit  was 
broken ;  and  during  the  four  days  he  continued  to  live,  almost  the  only 
words  he  uttered,  were,  "  Don't  give  up  the  ship  !" — an  expression  which 
has  since  been  consecrated  by  his  countrymen.  Captain  Lawrence  and 
Lieutenant  Ludlow  were  both  interred  by  the  British  at  Halifax,  with 
every  honour — civil,  naval,  and  military.  Subsequently,  a  passport  being 
obtained  from  the  gentlemanly  commander  on  that  station.  Commodore 
Hardy,  the  remains  of  the  two  officers  were  brought  to  the  United  States, 
by  Mr.  Crowninshield,  of  Salem,  in  his  own  barge,  manned  by  twelve 
masters  of  vessels. 

Great  were  the  exultations  of  the  government  party  in  London,  on  the 
news  of  this  action.  Victories  over  the  frigates  of  other  nations  were 
occurrences  too  common  to  excite  emotion;  but  the  capture  of  an  Ameri- 
can frigate  was  considered  a  glorious  epoch  in  the  naval  history  of  Great 
Britain.  Captain  Brooke  received  the  honour  of  knighthood,  and  alto- 
gether the  rewards  and  honours  bestowed  upon  him  were  such  as  had 
never  before  been  received  t^ut  by  the  conqueror  of  a  squadron.  These 
demonstrations  of  triumph  were  inadvertent  confessions  of  American 
superiority;  and  they  were,  to  the  vanquished  themselves,  a  species  of 
triumph,  and  a  source  of  consolation. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  another  American  vessel  was  captured  by  the 
British.  The  Argus  sloop  of  war  had  that  misfortune ;  she  was  cruizing 
in  the  British  channel,  committing  depredations  upon  the  enemy's  ship- 
ping, when  several  men-of-war  were  sent  in  quest  of  her.  The  Pelican, 
a  vessel  of  her  own  class,  but  of  slightly  superior  force,  descried  and 
encountered  her;  at  the  first  broadside,  Captain  Allen,  of  the  Argus,  fell, 
severely  wounded  ;  Lieutenant  Watson,  on  whom  the  command  devolved, 


484  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

was  next  renaered  unfit  for  service  ;  midshipmen  Delphy  and  Edwards, 
both  died  of  their  wounds — and  after  a  severe  and  proionged  action  of 
above  till  60  liours,  tlie  vessel  surrendered. 

Shortl)'  after  tliis,  victory  turned  agai>i  in  favour  of  the  republicans. 
The  American  brig  Enterprize,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Burroughs, 
met,  when  a  fevvdaysout  on  a  cruize,  the  British  brig  Boxer,  of  the  same 
or  a  more  available  force.  Here,  again,  tlie  superior  manoeuvring  of  the 
Americans  was  made  manifest:  the  P^nterprizc  lost  but  one  man  killed 
and  thirteen  wounded  ;  while  the  loss  of  the  Boxer  was  much  greater. 
Both  commanders,  however,  were  slain ;  Captain  Blythe,  of  the  Boxer, 
being  killed,  while  Lieutenant  Burroughs  was  the  one  lost  by  the  Ameri- 
cans. They  were  buried  side  by  side,  due  honours  being  rendered,  in 
Portland,  Maine. 

The  events  of  the  war  again  call  our  attention  to  the  northwestern 
frontier.  While  each  nation  was  busily  employed  in  equipping  a  squad- 
ron on  Lake  Erie,  General  Clay  remained  inactive  at  Fort  Meigs.  About 
the  last  of  July,  a  large  number  of  British  and  Indians  appeared  before 
the  fort,  hoping  to  entice  the  garrison  to  a  general  action  in  the  field. 
After  waiting  a  few  days  without  succeeding,  they  decamped,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Fort  Stephenson,  on  the  river  Sandusky.  This  fort  was  little 
more  than  a  picketing  surrounded  by  a  dilch  ;  and  the  garrison  consisted 
of  but  one  hundred  and  sixty  men,  who  were  commanded  by  Major  Cro- 
ghan,  a  youth  of  twenty-one.  On  the  1st  of  August,  it  was  invested  by 
five  liundred  regulars  and  eight  hundred  Indians.  After  a  cannonade, 
which  continued  two  days,  the  enemy,  in  the  evening,  supposing  a  breach 
had  been  made,  advanced  to  assault  the  works.  Anticipating  this.  Major 
Croghan  had  planted  a  six  pounder,  the  only  piece  of  cannon  in  the  fort, 
in  a  position  to  enfilade  the  ditch.  It  was  loaded  with  grape  shot  and 
slugs,  and  was  discharged  the  instant  the  assailants  arrived  before  it. 
The  British  commander  and  many  of  his  men  were  killed,  and  many 
others  severely  wounded.  The  attack  was  again  renewed,  and  they  were 
again  as  fatally  repulsed  ;  when  the  remainder  retreated  in  haste  and  dis- 
order to  their  former  position,  and  at  dawn  of  day  retired  to  Maiden. 
The  youthful  Croghan,  for  his  valour  and  good  conduct,  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel ;  and  he  and  his  brave  companions  received 
the  thanks  of  Congress.  To  complete  the  triumph  of  the  victor,  the 
ladies  of  Chilicothe  presented  him  with  an  elegant  sword. 

In  the  meantime,  by  the  exertions  of  Commodore  Perry,  an  American 
squadron  had  been  prepared  for  service  on  Lake  Erie.  It  consisted  of 
nine  small  vessels,  carrying  in  all  fifty-four  guns.  A  British  squadron 
had  also  been  built  and  equipped,  under  the  superintendence  of  Commodore 
Barclay  ;  this  fleet  consisted  of  six  vessels,  mounting  sixty-three  guns. 
Commodore  Perry,  immediately  sailing,  offered  battle  to  his  adversary. 
On  the  10th  of  September,  the  British  commander,  having  wind  in  favour, 
left  the  harbour  of  Maiden  to  accept  that  offer.  In  a  few  hours  the  wind 
shifted,  giving  the  Americans  the  advantage.  Perry,  forming  the  line  of 
battle,  hoisted  his  flag,  on  which  were  inscribed  the  words  of  the  dying 
Lawrence,  "  Don't  give  up  the  ship  !"  Loud  huzzas  from  all  the  vessels, 
proclaimed  the  animation  with  which  this  motto  inspired  their  patriotic 
crews.  About  noon  the  firing  commenced  ;  but  the  wind  being  light,  the 
Lawrence,  the  commodore's  flag  ship,  was  the  only  American  vessel  that 
could,  at  first,  engage  in  close  action.  For  two  hours  she  contended 
alone  with  two  vessels,  each  nearly  her  equal  in  force.  All  but  seven  of 
her  crew  were  either  killed  or  wounded,  and  she,  by  the  damage  she  had 
received,  was  rendered  wholly  unmanageable.  The  wind  springing  up, 
Captain  Elliott  was  enabled  to  bring  his  vessel,  the  Niagara,  into  action. 
To  this  ship  Commodore  Perry,  sailing  in  an  open  boat  through  the  thick- 
est of  the  fire,  transferred  his  flasr.     Again  the  combat  raged  with  undb 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  485 

minished  fury.  In  a  short  time,  one  of  the  British  vessels  surrendered, 
and  soon  after  another ;  and  the  rest  of  the  American  squadron  now  join- 
ing in  the  action,  the  victory  was  rendered  decisive  and  complete.  At 
four  o'clock,  the  brave  and  fortunate  commander  despatched  to  General 
Harrison,  at  Fori  Meigs,  this  laconic  epistle  :  "  We  have  met  the  enemy 
and  they  are  ours." 

Great  was  the  joy  which  this  brilliant  victory  occasioned  throughout  the 
Union.  That  it  was  achieved  over  a  superior  force — that  it  was  the  first 
over  gained  over  a  squadiron — that  it  was  entirely  decisive — and  that  it 
opened  a  way  to  the  recovery  of  all  that  had  been  lost  by  the  defeat  of  the 
imbecile  General  Hull — were  circumstances  which  threw  every  other 
victory  into  the  shade,  and  cast  the  brightest  lustre  upon  the  characters  of 
the  heroes  who  had  gained  it.  At  every  place  which  he  visited,  the 
gallant  Perry  received  the  most  flattering  proofs  of  a  nation's  gratitude 
and  love. 

The  Americans  were  now  masters  of  the  lake;  but  a  part  of  their  ter- 
ritory was  yet  in  possession  of  the  British,  which  General  Harrison  im- 
mediately set  about  recovering.  The  vessels  conveyed  him  and  his  troops 
(amounting  to  about  seven  thousand  men)  across  the  lake  to  Amherstburgh, 
from  whence  they  proceeded  to  occupy  Detroit  and  Fort  Maiden,  which 
they  did  without  opposition,  the  British  general  having  evacuated  the  lat- 
ter place  and  destroyed  the  stores.  The  enemy  had  passed  Detroit  on 
their  retreat,  and  ascended  the  river  Thames  to  the  Moravian  villages, 
where  they  encamped.  They  were  pursued  by  General  Harrison  with 
three  thousand  five  hundred  picked  troops,  consisting  of  Colonel  John- 
son's mounted  regiment,  Colonel  Ball's  dragoons,  and  Governor  Shelby's 
Kentucky  volunteers.  On  the  5th  of  October  they  were  overtaken  and 
forced  into  battle  ;  when  the  Americans,  greatly  outnumbering  the  enemy, 
were  perfectly  triumphant.  But  the  death  on  this  occasion  of  the  chief 
Tecumseh,  who  was  the  most  subtle,  brave,  eloquent,  and  formidable  of 
Indian  warriors,  was  without  doubt  a  more  completely  irreparable  loss 
that  the  British  had  yet  sustained.  He  was  better  able  to  concentrate, 
command,  and  guide  sagaciously  the  savage  forces,  than  any  warrior  who 
had  preceded  him.  It  is  said  that  he  met  his  fate  under  the  following 
circumstances  :  Colonel  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  had  resolved  if  possible 
to  engage  him ;  dressed,  therefore,  in  a  showy  uniform,  and  mounted 
upon  a  large  white  horse,  he  cut  his  way  through  the  melee  directly  to 
where  the  chief  was  encouraging  his  people — who  were  then  fighting  with 
more  indomitable  and  obstinate  courage  than  had  yet  been  witnessed  in 
them — and  endeavoured  to  attract  his  attention.  The  chief  turning,  dis- 
charged his  rifle  at  the  approaching  foe,  and  drew  his  tomahawk  with  the 
intention  to  dispatch  him  at  once.  Covered  with  wounds  and  blood,  the 
colonel  still  approached — when  Tecumseh  paused  a  moment,  seeming 
surprized  at  the  appearance  of  his  adversary,  'i'hat  pause  proved  fatal — 
for  in  it  Colonel  Johnson  drew  a  pistol  and  discharged  its  contents  through 
his  body.  The  Indians  no  longer  hearing  the  stentorian  voice  of  their 
leader,  fled  in  confusion,  and  the  rout  was  complete.  The  American  loss 
was  but  fifty  ;  that  of  the  British  seventy,  besides  six  hundred  prisoners  : 
the  Indians  left  one  hundred  and  twenty  dead  on  the  field,  and  those  who 
escaped  could  not  be  gathered  together  again  in  battle. 

Stationing  General  Cass  with  a  thousand  men  at  Detroit,  Harrison  now 
returned  to  Buff'alo,  intending  according  to  his  instructions,  to  co-operate 
with  the  army  of  the  centre  in  efl'ecting  what  appeared  to  be  the  grand 
object  of  the  American  government,  the  conquest  of  Canada.  Reeent 
victory  had  increased  the  confidence  of  the  administration,  and  revived 
the  martial  spirit  of  the  people.  A  larger  force  than  at  any  former  period 
was  collected  along  the  northern  frontier,  and  placed  under  the  command 
of  generals  Wilkinson  and  Hampton,  officers  then  highly  esteemed  for 


486  THE  TREASURl    OF  HISTORY. 

their  military  iiiforniation,  as  well  as  warlike  taste  and  abilities,  lii 
charge  of  the  war  olHce,  was  General  Armstrong,  a  man  held  in  distin- 
guished consideration  for  his  courtly  experience,  his  familiarity  with  arms 
and  tactics,  and  his  thoroughly  American  spirit.  Strangely,  indeed,  does 
it  sound,  when  we  are  told  that  witlj  all  these  advantages  just  nothing coald 
be  accomplished.  Eiglit  thousand  men  stood  upon  their  arms  on  the 
northern  frontier,  exclusive  of  Harrison's  four  thousand,  v/ho  were  or- 
dered to  rendezvous  at  Flattsburgh,  all  waiting  for  the  word  of  command 
to  march  upon  Montreal.  At  length,  after  a  very  tedious  course  of  pre- 
parations, it  came  :  the  secretary  of  war  himself  arrived  and  reviewed 
the  troops,  delivering  his  instructions.  At  Grenadier  Island,  on  Lake 
Ontario,  the  flotilla  was  prepared  which  was  intended  to  transport  the 
armed  array  to  the  capture  of  Montreal,  and  every  thing  was  in  motion 
directly. 

On  the  5th  of  November,  they  were  finally  got  under  way.  But  now 
it  appeared  that  bodies  of  the  enemy  had  been  gathered  together  at  every 
convenient  point  upon  their  route,  well  prepared  to  harass  and  dispute 
with  them  their  passage.  To  disperse  them,  a  body  of  troops  under  the 
command  of  General  Brown  was  landed,  and  directed  to  march  in  advance 
of  the  boats.  At  Chrystler's  Fields,  on  the  11th  of  November,  a  body 
of  the  enemy  of  about  the  same  force,  was  encountered,  and  the  battle 
which  ensued  was  fought  with  resolute  bravery  on  both  sides.  Both  par- 
ties claimed  the  victory.  The  American  loss  was  greatest,  but  as  they 
drove  the  enemy  from  their  position,  and  enabled  the  flotilla  to  pass  un- 
molested, it  is  but  fair  to  allow  that  they  accomplished  all  they  intended. 

The  next  day  the  troops  arrived  at  St.  Regis.  At  this  place  Gen- 
eral Hampton  had  been  ordered  to  join  the  main  army,  and  no  doubt  had 
been  entertained  of  his  disposition  and  ability  to  comply  with  the  order. 
But  here  General  Wilkinson  learned,  with  surprise  and  mortification,  that 
the  contemplated  junction  would  not  take  place.  The  project  of  attack- 
ing Montreal  was  consequently  abandoned,  and  the  army  under  Wilkin- 
son marched  to  Frenchtown  Mills,  and  there  encamped  for  the  winter. 
Great  indignation  followed  this  abortive  issue  of  the  campaign ;  the  se- 
verest censure  fell  upon  General  Armstrong,  for  having  associated  two 
such  officers  as  Wilkinson  and  Hampton,  between  whom  there  was  a 
well  known  spirit  of  animosity  existing.  The  latter  soon  after  resigned 
his  commission  in  the  army,  and  General  Izard  was  selected  in  his  stead, 
to  command  the  post  at  Flattsburgh. 

The  injury  suffered  by  the  United  States  on  account  of  this  trifling,  did 
not  end  altogether  in  disappointment.  Failing  in  the  extension  of  their 
territory,  they  were  dispossessed  of  their  former  acquisitions  on  the  Ca- 
nadian shore.  Fort  George  was  abandoned — but  before  leaving  it,  the 
officer  in  charge  was  guilty  of  an  act  which  provoked  a  lamentable  retal- 
iation from  the  British.  He  crossed  over  to  the  handsome  village  of 
Newark,  and  sacked  and  left  it  in  flames.  Sir  George  Prevost,  in  return, 
surprised  Fort  Niagara,  with  its  garrison  of  about  three  hundred,  and  put 
nearly  every  man  of  them  to  the  sword.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  his 
myrmidons  forthwith  began  to  ravage  and  lay  waste  the  country,  burning 
in  their  course  Lewistown,  Manchester,  Youngstown,  the  Indian  village  ol 
.he  Tuscaroras,  and  Bufl'alo. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  1813,  the  emperor  of  Russia  had  offered 
lis  mediation  to  the  two  powers  at  war.  On  the  part  of  the  United  States 
ihe  off"er  was  promptly  accepted,  and  Messrs.  Adams,  Gallatin,  and  Ba- 
yard, were  appointed  commissioners  to  negotiate,  at  St.  Petersburgh,  a 
i)eace  under  the  proffered  mediation.  On  the  24th  of  May,  Congress  was 
.convened  by  proclamation  of  the  president.  Laws  were  enacted  impos- 
ng  a  direct  tax  of  three  millions  of  dollars  ;  authorizing  the  collection  of 
arious  internal  duties  ;  providing  for  a  loan  of  seven  and  a  half  millions 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  48? 

of  dollars ;  and  prohibiting  the  merchant  vessels  of  the  United  States 
from  sailing  under  British  licenses.  Near  the  close  of  the  session,  a  com- 
mittee appointed  to  inquire  into  the  subject,  made  a  long  report  upon  the 
spirit  and  manner  in  which  the  war  had  been  commenced  and  conducted 
by  the  enemy.  Many  proofs  were  presented  of  shameful  departures  from 
the  rules  of  warfare  observed  by  civilized  nations. 

In  September,  Commodore  Chauncey  made  two  cruizes  upon  Lake 
Ontario,  and  repeatedly  offered  battle  to  the  enemy's  squadron,  which  was 
of  superior  force  ;  but  Sir  James  Yeo,  the  commander,  intimidated  by  the 
result  of  the  battle  on  Lake  Erie,  retired  before  him.  On  one  occasion, 
however,  in  a  running  fight,  the  British  ships  sustained  considerable  in- 
jury :  but  the  inconsiderable  breadth  of  the  passage  which  separates  the 
frontiers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  several  forts,  allowed  the  British 
to  cross  over  in  their  small  boats,  and  therefore  rendered  naval  superiority 
in  a  great  measure  unavailing. 

After  the  failure  of  the  campaign  against  the  British  provinces,  the 
northern  army  remained  in  winter  quarters  until  the  latter  end  of  Febru- 
ary. The  troops  were  then  divided,  two  thousand  men  being  ordered  with 
General  Brown  to  Sackett's  Harbour,  and  the  remainder  returning  to 
Plattsburgh  with  General  Wilkinson.  The  latter  officer,  not  feeling  sat 
isfied  with  his  exploits  in  Canada,  on  the  15th  of  March  ensuing,  at  the 
head  of  four  thousand  men,  re-crossed  the  Canadian  lines,  and  attacked 
a  fortified  stone  house  known  as  La  CoUe  Mill,  which  was  garrisoned  by 
about  two  thousand.  After  a  persevering  assault,  in  which  the  besiegers 
suffered  severely,  they  were  obliged  to  retire.  This  event,  in  connection 
with  other  unfortunate  operations,  caused  the  administration  to  suspend 
General  Wilkinson  from  any  further  command. 

The  impolicy  of  carrying  on  offensive  war,  for  the  purpose  of  conquer 
inga  British  province,  was  becoming  every  day  more  and  more  apparent. 
Militia  and  volunteers  could  be  assembled  for  defence  ;  but  regulars  onl}^ 
were  suitable  for  purposes  of  invasion — and  recruits  for  the  regular  service 
came  forward  with  reluctance,  because  the  name  of  an  enlisted  soldier 
was  held  in  disrepute.  Inexperience  in  commissarial  affairs,  also,  had 
promoted  waste  and  disappointment :  at  one  time  the  soldiers  were  fur- 
nished with  exuberance,  at  another  left  destitute  of  a  sufficiency.  The 
expenditure  was  thus  three  times  larger  than  the  ministerial  estim.ates, 
and  the  consumption  of  regular  soldiers  greater  than  could  be  balanced 
by  recruiting.  No  expedient  was  left  untried,  however,  to  keep  up  the 
establishment :  the  enormous  bounty  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
dollars  was  offered  to  recruits,  the  regular  pay  was  increased,  and  future 
benefits  in  lands  tendered :  millions  of  acres  were  for  this  purpose  sur- 
veyed in  Illinois  and  Missouri,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  being  appor- 
tioned to  each  private,  with  a  corresponding  increase  to  subordinate 
officers. 

At  sea,  no  event  of  importance  had  lately  transpired.  Captain  Rogers, 
who  commanded  the  frigate  President,  returned  from  a  long  cruize,  hav- 
ing captured  eleven  merchantmen ;  but  he  met  no  armed  vessels,  the  cap- 
lure  of  which  could  enhance  his  reputation.  Captain  Porter,  in  the  Es- 
sex, rode  triumphant  over  the  Pacific  ocean,  annoying  the  trade  of  the 
enemy,  and  protecting  that  of  the  republic. 

In  the  southwestern  extremity  of  the  Union,  troubles  of  a  serious  na- 
ture were  demanding  the  attention  of  government.  The  influence  of 
Tecumsehhad  been  felt  among  the  Indians  there,  and  many  of  them  were 
persuaded  that  the  Great  Spirit  required  of  them  to  attempt  the  e.Ktirpa  - 
tiou  of  the  whites  on  their  borders.  The  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  in  par- 
ticular, were  carrying  on  a  cruel  war  against  the  frontier  inhabitants  of 
Georgia  General  Jackson,  therefore,  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  volunteers  from  Tennessee,  marched  into  the  country  of  the  h\- 


433  THIi;  TllEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

(lians.  Overawed  by  his  presence,  Ihey  for  a  time  desisted  from  hostili- 
ties ;  but  immediately  after  his  return,  their  animosity  burst  forth  with 
increased  and  fatal  violence.  To  escape  their  cruelty,  about  three  hun- 
dred men,  women,  and  children,  sought  safety  at  Kort  Mimms,  in  the 
Tensaw  settlement.  Yet,  notwithstanding  they  had  received  frequent 
warnings  of  an  intended  attack,  on  the  30lh  of  August,  at  noonday,  they 
were  surprised  by  a  party  of  six  hundred  Indians,  who  with  axes  cut  their 
way  into  the  fort,  and  drove  the  peojie  into  the  houses  which  it  enclosed. 
These  they  set  on  fire.  Many  persons  were  burned,  and  many  killed  by 
the  tomaliawk.  Only  seventeen  escaped  to  carry  the  horrid  tidings  to  the 
neighbouring  stations. 

The  whites  resolved  on  vengeance.  Again  General  Jackson,  at  the 
head  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  miliiia  of  Tennessee,  marched  into 
the  southern  wilderness.  A  detachment  under  General  Coffee  encoun- 
tered, at  Tallushatchie,  a  body  of  Indians,  and  a  sanguinary  conflict  en- 
sued. The  latter  fought  with  desperation,  neither  giving  nor  receiving 
([uarter,  until  nearly  every  warrior  had  perished.  At  Talladega,  another 
battle  was  fought,  in  which  three  hundred  Indians  were  killed,  and  the 
rest  of  the  parly,  exceeding  seven  hundred,  fled.  General  Jackson's 
provisions  being  exhausted,  he  was  unable  to  pursue  them.  While  on 
ills  return  to  the  settlements  to  obtain  a  supply,  his  troops  became  refrac- 
tory, and  even  mutinous:  nearly  all  returned  to  their  homes;  but  to  thf 
small  number  that  remained,  were  soon  added  a  reinforcement  of  one 
thousand  mounted  volunteers. 

With  this  force  he  marched  to  Emuckfaw,  within  a  bend  of  the  Talla- 
poosa, where  a  body  of  the  enemy  were  posted.  To  several  skirmishes 
succeeded  a  general  battle,  in  which  the  whites  were  victorious,  but  sus- 
tained considerable  loss.  For  the  relief  of  the  wounded,  Jackson  returned 
to  Fort  Strother,  where  the  volunteers  were  discharged.  General  White, 
from  East  Tennessee,  and  General  Floyd,  from  Georgia,  led  separate  ex- 
peditions against  the  Indians,  and  were  victorious  in  every  combat.  So 
enraged  were  the  savages,  that  but  few  would  accept  of  quarter  or  seek 
safety  in  retreat.  Yet  still  was  the  spirit  of  the  Creeks  unsubdued,  and 
their  faith  in  victory  unshaken.  With  no  little  sagacity  and  skill,  they 
selected  and  fortified  another  position  on  the  Tallapoosa,  called  by  them- 
selves Tohopeka,  and  by  the  whites  Horse-shoe  Bend.  Here  nearly  a 
thousand  warriors,  animated  with  a  fierce  and  determined  resolution,  were 
collected.  Three  thousand  men,  commanded  by  General  Jackson, 
marched  to  attack  this  post.  To  prevent  escape,  a  detachment  under 
General  Coffee,  encircled  the  Bend.  The  main  body,  keeping  within  it, 
advanced  to  the  fortress.  For  a  few  minutes,  the  opposing  forces  were 
engaged,  muzzle  to  muzzle,  at  the  port  holes.  Soon  the  troops,  leaping 
over  the  walls,  mingled  with  the  savages,  and  the  combat  became  furious 
and  sanguinary.  The  Indians,  fleeing  at  length  to  the  river,  beheld  the 
troops  on  the  opposite  bank.  Returning,  they  fought  with  increased  fury 
and  desperation,  and  continued  to  resist  until  night.  Six  hundred  war- 
riors were  killed ;  four  only  yielded  themselves  prisoners  ;  the  remaining 
three  hundred  escaped.  Of  the  whites,  fifty-five  were  killed,  and  one 
hundred  and  forty-six  wounded.  '  .. ' 

It  was  expected  that  another  stand  would  be  made,  by  the  Indians,  at  a 
place  called  the  Hickory  Ground,  and  thither  General  Jackson  marched, 
in  April.  The  principal  chiefs  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  among  them 
was  Wetherford,  a  half-blood,  distinguished  equally  for  his  talents  and 
his  cruelty.  "I  am  in  your  power,"  said  he,  "do  with  me  what  you 
please.  I  commanded  at  Fort  Mimms.  I  have  done  the  white  people  all 
I  he  harm  I  could.  I  have  fought  them,  and  fought  them  bravely.  There 
vvas  a  time  when  I  had  a  choice;  I  have  none  now — even  hope  is  ended. 
V)nce  I  could  animate  my  warriors  ;  but  I  cannot  animate  the  dead.     They 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  439 

can  no  longer  hear  my  voice ;  their  bones  are  at  Tallushatchie,  Talladega, 
Eniuckfaw,  and  Tohopeka.  While  there  was  a  chance  of  success,  I 
never  supplicated  peace  ;  but  my  people  are  gone,  and  I  now  ask  it  for 
my  nation  and  myself."  Peace  was  concluded,  and  the  successful  gen- 
eral and  his  brave  troops  enjoyed  an  honourable  though  a  short  repose. 

In  the  winter  of  1813-14,  the  fifteenth  Congress  held  a  second  session. 
Warlike  measures  were  of  course  the  only  ones  of  consequence  adopted , 
and  to  enforce  their  vigorous  prosecution,  the  president  was  authorized 
to  borrow  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  and  to  issue  treasury  notes  to 
tha  amount  of  five  millions.  Before  the  close  of  the  session,  a  communi- 
cation was  received  from  the  British  government  announcing  its  readiness 
to  treat  for  peace,  although  declining  the  mediation  of  Russia.  A  direct 
negotiation  at  London  or  Gottenburgh  was  proposed  instead,  which  the 
American  government  frankly  accepted,  and  chose  the  latter  place,  for 
which,  however,  Ghent  was  afterwards  substituted.  Henry  Clay,  and 
lonatban  Russell,  Esqrs.,  were  named  as  commissioners  additional  to 
Uiose  already  in  Europe.  Mr.  Clay  was  at  that  time  the  popular  speaker 
3f  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  station  he  relinquished  in  conse- 
quence of  this  appointment,  and  the  vacant  chair  was  filled  by  Langdon 
Cheves,  of  South  Carolina. 

Meantime,  information  was  received  of  the  stupendous  events  which 
had  recently  occurred  in  Europe.  The  Emperor  of  France  had  been  ar- 
rested in  his  victorious  career,  his  armies  being  expelled  from  Spain,  and 
lefeated  at  Leipsic,  and  himself  compelled  to  abdicate  the  throne  and 
•etire  to  the  island  of  Elba.  Louis  the  XVIII.  was  proclaimed  king  01 
France  :  and  Great  Britain,  at  peace  with  all  the  world  except  tlie  United 
States,  was  enabled  to  direct  against  them  alone  the  immense  force  which 
had  been  employed  to  crush  her  rival.  She  delayed  not  to  use  the  advan 
tages  afforded  by  her  good  fortune.  From  the  ports  of  conquered  France, 
ships  of  war  and  transports  bearing  veteran  and  victorious  troops,  sailed 
to  the  American  continent,  some  destined  to  the  Niagara  frontier,  and 
some  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  These  events  could  not  be  viewed  with  in 
difference  by  the  American  people.  The  friends  of  the  administration 
anticipated  a  severer  conflict  and  prepared  for  greater  sacrifices  and 
greater  sufferings.  Its  opposers  were  encouraged  to  make  more  vigorous 
efforts  to  wrest  the  reins  of  authority  from  men  who,  they  asserted,  had 
shown  themselves  incompetent  to  hold  them.  Their  efforts,  although 
condemned  by  a  great  majority  of  the  people,  diminished  in  no  slight  de- 
gree the  strength  of  the  Republic. 

In  the  beginning  of  July,  General  Brown,  who  had  been  assiduously 
employed  in  disciphning  his  troops,  crossed  the  Niagara  with  about  three 
thousand  men,  and  without  being  opposed  took  possession  of  Fort  Erie. 
In  a  strong  position  a  few  miles  distant,  at  Chippewa,  was  intrenched  an 
equal  number  of  British  troops,  commanded  by  General  Riall.  On  the  4th, 
General  Brown  approached  their  works.  The  next  day  the  two  armies 
met,  in  the  open  field,  and  obstinate  and  bloody  was  the  conflict.  The 
Americans  were  finally  victorious  :  the  enemy  having  sustained  the  loss 
of  five  hundred  men,  sought  safety  behind  their  intrenchments.  This  de- 
cisive victory,  achieved  after  so  many  reverses,  was  hailed  as  an  omen  of 
future  success.  Soon  afterwards  General  Riall  abandoned  his  works,  and 
retired  to  the  heights  of  Burlington.  Here  Lieutenant-general  Drum- 
mond,  with  a  large  reinforcement  joined  him,  and  assuming  the  command, 
led  back  the  army  towards  the  Am.erican  camp.  On  the  25th,  was  fought 
the  battle  of  Bridgewater,  which  began  before  sun-set  and  continued  until 
midnight. 

This  battle  was  fought  near  the  cataract  of  Niagara,  whose  roar  was 
rivalled  by  the  thunder  of  cannon  and  the  din  of  arms,  but  was  distinctly 
heard  during  the  pauses  of  the  fight.   At  intervals  the  moon  shone  brightly, 


490  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

but  often  her  light  was  obscured.  Against  a  superior  force,  the  Ameri- 
cans for  several  hours  contended  with  various  success.  During  the  first 
part  of  the  cn^'ageincnt,  they  were  sorely  ainioyed,  into  whatever  part  ol 
the  field  they  might  drive  the  enemy  or  be  driven,  by  the  british  artillery, 
which  was  stationed  on  a  commanding  eminence.  "  Can  you  storm  that 
battery  ]'"  said  G'cneral  liipley  to  Colonel  Miller.  "  I'll  try,  sir,"  was  the 
laconic  answer — which  afterwards  became  the  motto  of  his  regiment.  A» 
the  word  of  command,  his  men  with  steady  courage  ascended  the  hill, 
advanced  to  the  muzzles  of  the  cannon,  killed  with  tiie  bayonet  several 
artillery-men  on  the  point  of  firing  their  pieces,  and  drove  the  remainder 
before  them.  Both  parties  were  instantly  reinforced,  and  the  enemy 
made  a  daring  attempt  to  refrain  their  cannon.  They  were  repulsed,  but 
quickly  repeated  the  attempt.  Nearly  all  the  opposing  forces  were  gatii- 
ered  around  this  position,  and  to  possess  it  was  the  sole  object  of  both 
armies.  Again  the  enemy  were  repulsed — but  again  they  renewed  the 
effort :  after  a  violent  contliet  they  were  a  third  time  driven  from  the  hill. 
The  firing  then  ceased ;  the  British  troops  were  withdrawn  ;  and  the 
Americans  were  left  in  quiet  possession  of  the  field. 

Generals  Brown  and  Scott  having  both  been  severely  wounded,  the 
command  devolved  upon  General  Ripley.  He  remained  a  few  hours  upon 
the  hill,  collected  the  wounded,  and  then  returned  unmolested  to  hia 
camp.  The  number  of  the  killed  and  wounded  proves  the  bravery  of  the 
combatants,  and  the  severity  of  the  struggle.  On  the  American  side  it 
was  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight ;  on  the  liritish,  one  hundred  more,  and 
of  the  latter  one  hundred  and  seventeen  more  were  missing  than  of  the 
former.  The  British,  therefore,  besides  losing  their  position,  sustained 
the  greater  loss  of  men. 

During  this  battle,  in  the  evening,  Captain  Ambrose  Spencer,  son  of  the 
chief-justice  of  New-York,  and  aid  to  General  Brown,  was  dispatched 
with  orders  to  one  of  the  regiments  ;  when  about  to  deliver  them,  he  sud- 
denly found  himself  in  contact  with  a  British  corps  ;  with  consummate 
coolness,  and  a  firm  air,  he  enquired  "  What  regiment  is  this  V  On  beinf 
answered,  the  Royal  Scots,  he  immediately  replied,  "  Royal  Scots,  remain  a' 
you  arey  The  commandant  of  the  corps,  supposing  the  orders  came 
from  the  British  general,  instantly  halted  his  regiment,  and  Captain  Spen- 
cer rode  off.  This  brave  officer  was  afterwards  mortally  wounded,  and 
taken  prisoner.  Captain  Loring,  the  aid  of  General  Drummond,  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Americans — and  was  exchanged  for  the  corpse  of  Captaitv 
Spencer. 

Here,  to  show  how  diametrically  opposite  were  the  dispositions  of  the 
British  and  American  commanding  officers,  we  beg  leave  to  subjoin  the 
substance  of  a  brief  correspondence  held  between  them  on  this  occasion  : 

Camp,  before  Chippewa,     > 
July  27th,  1814.  ] 
Sm.— 

Your  wounded  aid,  Mr.  ijpeucer,  is  in  my  possession.  Send  Captain  Loring.  and 
you  can  have  him. 

Gordon  Dhummo.nd,  Maj.  Gen.,  H.  B.  M.  S 


Fort  Erif,     } 
Sia:—  July^Wi,  1814.  \ 

Your  aid,  Captain  Loring,  is  here,  quite  well  and  comfortable.  If  Captain  Spencer 
is  able  to  be  removed,  I  will  gladly  make  the  exchange.  The  bearer  of  this  is  the 
brother  of  my  aid ;  I  pray  you  to  let  him  superintend  the  removal  of  the  wounded 
man  to  the  American  lines,  as  his  life  is  very  dear  to  me.  Any  kindness  you  can 
render  him  wiU  be  thankfully  acknowledged  by  me;  and  your  aid  returned, 
whether  mine  shall  arrive  dead  or  alive. 

Jac.  Bbown,  Maj,  Gen.,  ^'.   S.  A. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  491 

Captain  Spencer  died  about  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  his  brother — not 
having  been  at  all  able  to  bear  reniovaf.  General  Drummond,  however,  con- 
sidered the  arrangement  for  an  exchange  complete,  and  General  Brown, 
soliciting  permission  from  the  secretary  at  war,  was  authorized  to  make  it. 

General  Ripley  found  his  force  so  much  weakened,  that  he  deemed  it 
prudent  again  to  occupy  Fort  Erie.  On  the  4th  of  August,  it  was  invest- 
ed by  General  Drummond  with  five  thousand  troops.  In  defending  it,  no 
less  bravery  and  skill  were  requisite,  and  no  less  were  displayed,  than  in 
contending  in  the  field.  In  the  night  between  the  14ih  and  15th,  the  be- 
siegers made  an  assault  upon  the  fort,  which  was  repelled  with  conspicu- 
ous gallantry  by  the  garrison,  the  former  losing  more  than  nine  hundred 
men,  the  latter  but  eighty-four.  The  siege  was  still  continued.  On  the 
2nd  of  September,  General  Brown,  having  recovered  from  his  wounds, 
threw  himself  into  the  fort,  and  took  command  of  the  garrison.  For  their 
fate  great  anxiety  was  felt  by  the  nation,  which  was,  however,  in  some 
degree  removed,  by  the  march  from  Plattsburgh  of  five  thousand  men  to 
their  relief.  On  the  17th,  a  sortie  was  made  by  the  besieged,  General 
Porter  of  the  New- York  militia,  and  General  Miller  of  the  regular  army, 
commanding  divisions.  The  bravery  of  the  troops  equalled  that  which 
they  had  displayed  in  the  recent  contests.  After  an  hour  of  close  fighting, 
tliey  returned  to  the  fort,  having  killed,  wounded,  and  taken  prisoners,  one 
thousand  of  the  enemy.  The  American  loss  was  also  severe,  amounting 
to  near  five  hundred. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  the  forty- ninth  day  of  the  siege,  General 
Drummond  withdrew  his  forces,  relieving  the  garrison  from  their  toil, 
which  had  been  incessant,  and  from  their  danger,  which  had  been  encoun- 
tered without  fear.  Seldom  have  troops  deserved  higher  praise  of  their 
country.  On  the  9th  of  October,  General  Izard  arrived  with  the  reinforce- 
ment from  Plattsburgh,  and  being  the  senior  officer,  took  command.  On 
the  18lh,  he  marched,  with  his  whole  force,  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  whom 
he  found  at  Chippewa,  strongly  posted  in  a  fortified  camp.  After  making- 
several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  entice  them  into  the  field,  he  evacuated 
Canada,  and  placed  his  troops  in  winter  quarters  at  Buffalo,  Black  Rock 
and  Batavia. 

The  march  of  the  troops  from  Plattsburgh  having  left  that  post  almost 
defenceless,  the  enemy  determined  to  attack  it  by  land,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  attempt  the  destruction  of  the  American  flotilla  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  On  the  3d  of  September,  Sir  George  Prevost,  the  governor-general 
of  Canada,  with  an  army  of  fourteen  thousand  men,  most  of  whom  had 
served  in  the  wars  of  Europe,  entered  the  territories  of  the  United  Slates. 
As  soon  as  his  object  was  ascertained,  Brigadier-general  Macomb,  the 
commander  at  Plattsburgh,  called  to  his  aid  the  militia  of  New- York  and 
Vermont,  who,  with  alacrity  and  without  distinction  of  party,  obeyed  the 
call.  On  the  6th,  the  enemy  arrived  at  Plattsburgh,  which  is  situated  near 
Lake  Champlaiii,  on  the  northerly  bank  of  the  small  river  Saranac.  On 
their  approach,  the  American  troops,  who  were  posted  on  the  opposite 
bank,  tore  up  the  planks  of  the  bridges,  with  which  they  formed  slight 
breastworks,  and  prepared  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  stream.  Several 
attempts  to  cross  it  were  made  by  the  enemy,  but  tliey  were  uniformly 
defeated.  From  this  time  until  the  llth,  the  British  army  were  employed 
in  erecting  batteries,  while  the  American  forces  were  every  hour  aug- 
mented by  the  arrival  of  volunteers  and  militia.  Early  in  the  morning  of 
that  day,  the  British  squadron,  commanded  by  Commodore  Dovvnie,  ap- 
peared off  the  harbour  of  Plattsburgh,  where  that  of  the  United  States, 
commanded  by  Commodore  McDonough,  lay  at  anchor,  prepared  for  bat- 
tle. The  American  squadron  consisted  of  fourteen  vessels,  carrying 
eighty-six  guns  and  eight  hundred  and  twenty-six  men.  The  British  con- 
sisted of  seventeen  vessels,  with  ninety-five  guns  and  one  thousand  and 


492  THi:  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

fifty  men.  At  nine  o'cl.)ck  the  bailie  commenced — and  seldom  lias  ii.e 
ocean  witnessed  a  niore  furious  encounter  than  now  took  place  on  tlie 
bosom  of  this  transparent  and  peaceful  lake.  At  the  same  moment  the 
enemy  on  land  hegan  a  lieavy  cannonade  upon  the  American  lines,  and 
attempted,  at  diffcrtuit  places,  to  cross  the  Saranac  At  a  ford  above  the 
village  tlie  strife  was  hot  and  deadly.  As  often  as  the  enemy  advanced 
into  the  water  they  received  a  destru(;tive  fire  from  the  militia,  and  their 
dead  bodies  (loated  down  the  stream  literally  crimsoned  with  blood. 

At  half  [)asl  eleven,  a  shout  of  victory  was  heard  along  the  American 
lines,  announcing  the  result  of  the  battle  on  the  lake.  A  second  iJrilish 
squadron  had  yielded  to  the  prowess  of  American  seamen.  The  cry  ani- 
mated to  braver  deeds  their  brethren  on  the  land.  Fainter  and  fainter  be- 
came the  efforts  of  the  enemy ;  and  in  the  afternoon  they  withdrew  to 
their  intreiichments.  In  the  night  they  began  a  pi'ecipitate  retreat,  and 
had  tied  eight  miles  before  their  departure  was  known  in  the  American 
camp.  Upon  land,  the  American  loss  was  one  hundred  and  nineteen 
tliat  of  the  IJrilish  was  estimated  at  two  thousand  five  hundred.  In  this 
latter  number,  however,  are  included  five  hundred  Ikltish  soldiers  who 
deserted  from  the  retreating  army,  preferring  a  residence  in  this  country 
to  service  in  the  Hritish  line.  On  the  water,  the  American  loss  was  one 
hundred  and  ten  :  that  of  the  British  one  hundred  and  ninety-four,  besides 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-six  made  prisoners.  With  these  splendid  victo- 
ries closed  the  campaign  on  the  northern  frontier. 

In  the  meantime,  on  the  ocean,  the  republican  flag  maintained  its  high 
reputation.  Victory  was  not  always  won — but  defeat  never  occurred  at- 
tended with  dishonour.  The  Essex,  commanded  by  Captain  Porter,  after 
a  bloody  combat,  prolonged  longer  than  was  necessary  to  vindicate  his 
fame,  struck  to  a  liriiish  frigate  and  sloop  of  war,  whose  united  force  was 
much  superior.  The  American  sloop  Peacock  captured  the  Epervier,  of 
equal  force.  The  sloop  Wasp,  commanded  by  Captain  Blakely.  captured 
the  liein-deer,  and  afterwards,  in  the  same  cruize,  sunk  the  Avon,  each  of 
superior  force.  She  made  several  other  prizes — but  never  returned  into 
port.  Darkness  rests  upon  her  fate.  She  probably  foundered  at  sea. 
The  republic,  with  deep  and  sincere  grief,  mourned  the  loss  of  her  gallant 
crew. 

In  the  beginning  of  August,  many  vessels  of  war,  and  a  large  number 
of  troops,  arrived  in  Chesapeake  Bay  from  Europe.  Of  this  force,  several 
frigates  and  bomb  vessels  were  ordered  to  ascend  the  Potomac ;  another 
division,  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  was  directed  to  threaten  Baltimore ; 
while  the  main  body,  under  Admiral  Cochrane,  ascended  the  Patuxenl  as 
far  as  Benedict,  where,  on  the  19th  of  August,  five  thousand  men,  com- 
manded by  General  Ross,  were  landed.  During  this  time.  General  Win- 
der had  busied  himself  in  calling  together  his  forces,  who,  however,  were 
very  remiss  in  complying  with  the  call.  Not  more  than  two  thousand 
militia,  with  one  thousand  regulars,  could  be  collected  ;  though  even  these, 
it  would  appear,  might  have  made  some  resistance,  as  they  possessed 
above  twenty  pieces  of  cannon,  while  the  British  had  only  three.  They 
continued  to  retreat,  however,  as  far  as  Bladensburgh,  where  a  stand  was 
ordered  ;  on  the  first  approach  of  danger,  the  militia  fled  in  confusion,  the 
enemy  holly  pursuing ;  whence  the  field  has  since  retained  the  name  of 
•'  Bladensburgh  race-ground,"  over  which  the  Americans  greatly  outran 
the  British. 

No  opposition  was  off'ered  to  the  progress  of  the  enemy,  except  by  a 
body  of  sailors  and  marines,  under  Commodore  Barney  and  Captain  Mil- 
ler; t^ese  were  stationed  advantageously,  and  could  no  doubt  have  effect- 
ual'/ impeded  the  advancing  foe,  if  the  assistance  which  they  had  aright 
!o  expect  from  General  Winder  had  been  afforded.  As  it  was,  they  were 
outflanked  and  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  cut  in  pieces  and  taken  prison- 


THE  TREASUHY  OF  HISTORY.  493 

ers.  Thus  the  fate  of  Washington  was  decided.  General  Ross,  with  a 
thousand  men,  slowly  approached  the  city,  where  he  arrived  on  the  24th, 
at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  At  nine,  the  capitol,  containing  the  Con- 
gressional library,  senate,  supreme  court,  and  representative  chambers, 
public  records,  See,  (Sec,  was  set  on  fire,  as  was  also  the  president's  house, 
the  treasury,  war,  and  navy  offices,  and  all  the  public  establishments,  with 
the  single  exception  of  the  post  and  patent  office  building,  which  was  only 
saved  by  the  personal  intercession  of  its  superintendent. 

In  the  sanguinary  wars  which  grew  out  of  the  French  revolution,  the 
capitals  of  Europe  were  successively  in  the  hands  of  conquerors—  but  they 
waged  no  such  Vandal  war  against  specimens  of  art,  public  libraries,  and 
public  papers.  All  civilized  nations  exclaimed  against  this  violation  of 
the  rules  of  honourable  warfare — and  the  indignation  of  the  republic  was 
fully  aroused.  All  ages  and  all  classes  turned  out  to  defend  Baltimore, 
and  volunteers  flocked  in  from  the  neighbouring  states  of  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  squadron  which  had  ascended  the  Potomac, 
met  with  even  less  resistance  than  that  which  had  passed  up  the  Patux- 
ent.  As  soon  as  it  arrived  at  Alexandria,  the  citizens  proposed  a  capitu- 
lation ;  the  British  commander  stated  his  terms,  and  allowed  one  hour's 
time  to  determine  upon  them.  To  purchase  safety,  they  delivered  up  all 
their  shipping,  all  the  merchandize  in  the  city  (including  sixteen  thousand 
barrels  of  flour),  and  all  the  naval  and  ordinance  stores,  public  and  private- 
With  a  fleet  of  prizes,  loaded  with  rich  booty,  the  enemy  returned  imme- 
diately to  the  ocean. 

The  success  of  the  attack  on  Washington  having  encouraged  General 
Ross  to  proceed  against  Baltimore,  on  the  12th  of  September  he  landed 
five  thousand  men  on  North  Point,  about  fourteen  miles  from  the  city,  for 
which  he  took  up  his  line  of  march.  Preparations  for  defence  had  already 
been  made.  General  Smith,  who  commanded  the  American  forces,  de- 
tached General  Strieker  with  three  thousand  men,  to  retard  the  progress 
of  the  enemy.  At  about  eight  miles  from  the  city  the  advanced  parties 
met,  and  in  the  skirmish  which  ensued,  General  Ross  was  killed.  The 
invaders,  however,  continued  slowly  to  advance,  under  command  of  Colo- 
nel Brooke — and  the  Americans  gradually  retreated  to  within  half  a  mile 
of  their  intrenchments.  The  British  then  paused,  choosing  to  await  the 
result  of  a  bombardment  of  the  American  batteries,  which  had  been  com- 
menced by  their  fleet. 

Not  less  than  fifty  sail  were  drawn  together  in  view  of  forts  M'Henry 
and  Covington,  which  stand  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbour ;  and  for  twen- 
ty-four hours  an  assault  was  continued,  without  success,  against  these 
posts.  They  were  commanded,  the  first  by  Major  Armistead,  and  the 
latter  by  Lieutenant  Newcomb,  of  the  navy  ;  and  the  defence  was  allowed 
in  every  respect  to  have  been  conducted  with  signal  ability.  The  com- 
mander of  the  British  forces  upon  land,  finding  he  was  to  receive  no  as- 
sistance from  the  fleet,  held  a  conference  with  Admiral  Cochrane  during 
the  night,  in  which  it  was  determined  to  abandon  the  project  of  taking 
Baltimore,  and  attempt  some  more  feasible  operation.  Accordingly  on 
the  14th,  they  retreated  to  North  Point,  and  the  next  day  re-embarked. 
Shortly  after,  the  fleet  left  Chesapeake  Bay,  a  part  of  it  proceeding  south- 
ward, to  convey  troops  to  the  theatre  of  a  future  undertaking,  and  an  un- 
precedented slaughter. 

In  the  autumn  of  1814,  information  was  received  that  the  British  and 
American  commissioners  had  met  and  held  conferences  at  Ghent.  Great 
Britain,  rendered  arrogant  by  her  recent  triumphs  in  Europe,  and  by  the 
capture  of  Washington,  demanded  terms  which  extinguished  all  hope  of 
a  speedy  reconciliation.  Still  Congress  shrunk  not  from  the  duties  which 
the  crisis  imposed.     General  Armstrong  not  having  manifested  sufficient 


494  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

energy,  was  rpmoved  from  offic.e,  and  Colonel  Monroe  appointed  Secre- 
tary at  War  in  his  stead.  Mr.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  assigned  to 
the  Treasurj''  department — and  vij^orous  measures  were  adopted  Cor  sus- 
taining the  national  honour,  increusing  the  finances,  and  placing  upon  a 
firm  footing  the  credit  of  the  country. 

Tlie  repose  of  General  .lat^kson,  and  the  troops  whom  he  commanded, 
was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  at  Pcnsacola,  in  August,  of  three  British 
ships  of  war,  bringing  three  humlred  soldieri?,  and  arms  and  ammunition 
to  be  distributed  among  tin!  Indians  of  Florida.  The  troops  were  permit- 
ted, by  the  Spaniards,  to  take  possession  of  the  fort,  and  the  commander 
issued  a  proclamation,  indicating  an  intention  of  carrying  on  war  against 
the  adjacent  parts  of  the  Republic.  General  Jackson,  with  characteristic 
promptness,  took  instant  and  efficient  measures  for  calling  to  his  aid  the 
patriotic  militia,  who  liad  before  been  victorious  under  iiis  banners.  Hav- 
ing remonstrated  in  vain  with  the  governor  of  Pensacola  for  affording 
slielter  and  protection  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States,  he,  near  the 
end  of  October,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  regulars  and  two  thousand  mount- 
ed volunteers,  marched  against  that  place.  A  flag,  sent  to  demand  re- 
<lress,  was  fired  on  from  the  batteries.  He  immediately  marched  into  the 
I'ity,  stormed  the  fort,  obtained  entire  possession,  and  compelled  the  Brit- 
ish to  evacuate  Florida. 

Returning  to  his  head-quarters  at  Mobile,  he  there  received  intelligence 
that  a  powerful  expedition  was  on  the  way  to  attack  New  Orleans.  With- 
out delay  he  marched  with  his  troops  to  that  city,  and  found  it  in  a  state 
of  confusion  and  alarm.  The  militia,  composed  of  men  of  all  nations,  was 
imperfectly  organized;  many,  feeling  no  attachment  to  the  Republic,  had 
refused  to  enter  the  ranks.  No  fortifications  existed  on  the  various  routes 
by  which  the  place  could  be  approached ;  and  fears  were  entertained  that 
the  reinforcements  of  militia  which  were  expected  from  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  could  not  arrive  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  contest.  Undis- 
mayed by  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  him,  General  .Jackson  adopted 
the  most  decided  and  efficient  means  for  the  safety  of  this  rich  and  im- 
portant city.  He  visited  in  person  every  exposed  point,  and  designated 
the  positions  to  be  fortified.  He  mingled  with  the  citizens,  and  infused 
into  the  greater  part  his  own  spirit  and  energy.  By  his  presence  and  ex 
liortations,  they  were  animated  to  exertions  of  which  before  they  were 
not  supposed  to  be  capable.  All  who  could  wield  a  spade,  or  carry  a  mus- 
ket, were  put  to  work  upon  the  fortifications,  or  trained  in  the  art  of  de- 
fending them. 

On  the  21st  of  December,  four  thousand  well-arrayed  militia  arrived 
from  Tennessee.  On  the  22d,  the  enemy,  having  previously  landed,  took 
a  position  near  the  main  channel  of  the  river,  about  eight  miles  below  the 
city.  They  numbered  not  far  from  eight  thousand  men.  In  the  evening 
of  the  23d,  General  Jackson  made  a  sudden  and  furious  attack  upon  their 
camp.  They  were  thrown  into  disorder,  but  soon  rallied,  and  fought  with 
a  bravery  equal  to  that  of  their  assailants.  Satisfied  with  the  advantages 
first  gained,  he  withdrew  his  troops,  fortified  a  strong  position  four  miles 
below  New  Orleans,  and  supported  it  by  batteries  erected  on  the  west 
hank  of  the  river.  On  the  23th  of  December,  and  1st  of  January,  vigorous 
but  unsuccessful  attacks  were  made  upon  these  fortifications  by  the  enemy. 
In  the  meantime,  both  armies  had  received  reinforcements;  and  General 
Packenham,  the  British  commander,  resolved  to  exert  all  his  strength  in 
a  combined  attack  upon  the  American  positions  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 
With  almost  incredible  industry,  he  caused  a  canal  to  be  made,  leading 
from  a  creek  emptying  into  Lake  Borgne  to  the  main  channel  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  that  he  might  remove  a  part  of  his  boats  and  artillery  to  the  latter. 
All  things  beinr?  prepared,  the  8th  of  January  was  assigned  for  the  division 
of  the  "booty  and  beauty"  which  the  city  of  New  Orleans  might  have 
contained. 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY,  495 

In  the  night,  a  regiment  was  transported  across  the  river,  to  storm  the 
works  on  the  western  bank,  and  turn  the  guns  on  the  American  troops  on 
the  eastern.  Early  in  the  morning,  the  main  body  of  the  enemy,  consist- 
ing of  more  than  eiglit  thousand  men,  marched^froni  their  camp  to  the  as- 
sault. While  approaching,  fearless  and  undaunted,  showers  of  grape-shot 
thinned  their  ranks.  When  they  came  within  musket-shot,  a  vivid  stream 
of  fire  burst  from  the  American  lines.  General  Jackson  having  placed  his 
troops  in  two  ranks,  those  in  the  rear  loaded  for  those  in  front,  enabling 
them  to  fire  with  scarcely  a  moment's  intermission.  The  militia  of  the 
west,  trained  from  infancy  to  the  use  of  the  rifle,  seldom  took  unsteady  or 
uncertain  aim.  The  plain  was  soon  covered  with  dead  and  wounded  ; 
some  British  regiments  faltered  and  fell  back;  but  others  advanced  and 
presented  new  victims.  While  bravely  leading  to  the  walls  the  regiment 
which  bore  the  ladders.  General  Packenham  was  killed.  In  attempting 
to  restore  order  and  to  rally  the  fugitives,  General  Gibbs,  the  second  in 
command,  was  wounded  mortally,  and  General  Keanc  severely.  Without 
officers  to  direct  them,  the  troops  first  halted,  then  fell  back,  and  soon  fled 
in  disorder  to  their  camp.  In  little  more  than  an  hour,  two  thousand  of 
the  enemy  were  laid  prostrate  upon  the  field;  while  of  the  Americans  but 
seven  were  killed  and  six  wounded — a  disproportion  of  loss  without  a  par- 
allel in  the  annals  of  warfare. 

General  Lambert,  upon  whom  the  command  of  the  British  army  de- 
volved, despairing  of  success,  prepared  to  return  to  his  shipping.  In  his 
retreat  he  was  not  molested  :  General  Jackson  wisely  resolving  to  hazard 
nothing  that  he  had  gained  in  attempting  to  gam  still  more.  The  events 
of  the  day  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  present  a  striking  contrast  to 
those  which  occurred  opposite  them.  The  Americans  were  thrice  the 
number  of  their  assailants,  and  were  well  protected  by  intrenchments — 
yet  they  ingloriously  fled.  The  British  closely  pursued,  until  they  learned 
the  defeat  of  the  main  aimy,  when  they  returned. 

Rejoicings  for  the  splendid  preservation  of  New  Orleans  had  hardly 
ceased,  when  a  special  messenger  arrived  from  I]urope  bringing  with  him 
a  treaty  of  peace.  Affairs  had  taken  a  new  turn  in  Ghent,  it  seems,  so 
that  the  treaty  was  signed  at  that  place  on  the  24th  of  December,  1814, 
and  in  London,  by  the  Prince  Regent,  four  days  later.  The  British  gov- 
ernment had  receded  from  all  its  former  exorbitant  demands;  and  as  the 
orders  in  council  had  been  repealed,  and  all  motive  for  the  impressment 
of  seamen  had  ceased  with  the  war  in  Europe,  no  stipulation  in  regard  to 
those  subjects  was  inserted  in  the  treaty — which  provided  merely  for  the 
restoration  of  peace  and  the  revision  of  boundaries.  The  treaty  was 
immediately  ratified  by  the  president  and  senate. 

The  war,  however,  did  not  cease  on  the  ocean,  until  additional  victories 
had  imparted  a  brighter  lustre  to  the  republican  flag.  In  February,  the 
Constitution,  then  cruizing  under  the  command  of  Captain  Stewart,  cap- 
tured the  Cyane  and  the  Levant,  whose  forces  united  were  superior  to  hers  : 
and  in  March,  the  sloop  Hornet  captured  the  brig  Penguin,  stronger  in 
guns  and  men  than  the  victor. 

Details  of  battles  can  hardly  be  considered  appropriate  in  a  work  like 
this;  yet  in  order  to  render  complete  the  chain  of  events  which  leada  from 
one  prominent  point  in  history  to  another,  it  is  due  that  allusion  should  be 
made  to  them. 

With  reference  to  authorities  consulted  in  the  compilation  of  these  pa- 
ges, it  is  proper  to  observe,  also  that  none  but  the  best  have  been  conaid 
ered  worthy  of  attention. 


496 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


The  annexed  summary,  we  liave  been  at  some  pains  to  procure,  for  the 
purpose  of  sliowing  the  reader  at  a  glance,  the  total  amount  of  life  de- 
stroyed in  the  course  of  this  conflict : 

BATTLKS  ON  LAND, 

Fought  betwrcn  the  Americans  awl  British  diiriiifr  the  war  o/  1812-14, — with  dates, 

names  of  coiKmanding  officers,  and  their  respective  losses. 
Brownstown,  August  4th,  1812,  American,  Major  Van  Honi,  loss  47;  British  and 

Indians,  loss  unknown. 
Maguago,  Aug.  9tli,  1812,  American,  Colonel  Miller,  loss  76;  British,  Major  Muir, 

loss  12!). 
Detroit,  August  IGth,  1812,  American,  General  Hull,  Burrendered  2340;  British, 

Gennral  Brock,  loss  0. 
PicoLATA,  Sept.  27,  1812,  American,  Colonel  Newman,  loss  12;  CreelcB  and  Semi- 

noles,  loss  70. 
QUEENSTOWN,  Oct.  13ih,  1812,  American,  General  Van  Rensselaer, loss  950;  British, 

General  Brock,  loss  150. 
Tf  I'PECANOE,  Nov.  7th,  18 1 1,  American, General  Harrison,  loss  188 ;  Indians,  Tecum 

'  sch,  loss  301. 
Massasinewa,  Dec.  18th,  1812,  American,  Colonel  Campbell,  loss  30,  Indians,  Pro- 
phet, loss  77. 
Frenchtown,  Jan.  18th,  1813,   American,  Colonel  Lewis,  loss  67;  British,  Major 

Reynolds,  loss  83. 
Fkenchtown,  .Tan.  22,  1813,  American,  General  Winchester,  loss  958;  British,  Col. 

Proctor,  loss  305. 
York,  (U.  C.)  April  27th,  1813,  American,  General  Pike,  loss  2CU,  British,  General 

SheaHe,  loss  695. 
Fort    Meigs,  May  5th,  18J3,  American,  General  Harrison,  loss  188;  Indians,  43 

prisoners. 
Rapids  of  Miami,  May  5th,  1813,  American,  Colonel  Dudley,  loss 750;  British,  Gen- 
eral Proctor,  loss  60. 
Fort  George,  May  27th,  1813,  American,  General  Dearbcm,  loss  160;  British,  Gen 

cral  Vincent,  loss  557. 
Sackett's  Harbour,  Mav  27th,  1813,  American,  General  BI•o^vn,  loss  131;  British 

Sir  George  I'revost,  loss  164. 
Stont  Creek,  June  6th,  1813,  Ainencan,  General  Chandler,  loss  155;  British,  Gen- 
eral Vincent,  loss  50. 
Cranet  Island,  June  22d,  1813,  American,  Colonel  Beatty,  loss  0  ;  British,  Admi 

ral  Warren,  loss  222. 
Beaver  Dams,  June  24th,  1813,  American,  Colonel Boerstler,  loss  535;  British,  CoL 

Bishop,  loss  65 
Fort  Sandusky,  Aug.  2d,  1813,  American,  Major  Croghan,  loss  8  ;  British,  Genera.' 

Proctor,  loss  176. 
Moravian  Town,  Oct.  5th,  1813,  American,  General  Harrison,  loss  29 ;  British  anr 

Indians,  loss  635. 
Williamsburg,  Oct.  11,  1813,  American,  General  Boyd,  loss  339;  British,  Colons 

Mon-ison,  loss  1 80. 
Tallushatchie,  Nov.  3d,  1813,  American,  General  Coffee,  loss  46;  Cteek  Indians 

loss  270. 
Talladega,  Nov.  8th,  1313,  American,  General  Jackson,  loss  30;  Creek  Indians, 

loss  290. 
Hillibee  Towns,  Nov.  18th,  1813,  American,  General  White,  loss  5  ;  Creek  Indians, 

loss  250. 
AuTossEE,  November  29th,  1813,  American,  General  Floyd,  loss  65;  Autossee  King, 

loss  200. 
EccANOCHOo,  Dec.  23d,  1813,  American,  General  Claiborne,  loss  7 ;  Wetherford. 

loss  30. 
Camp  Defiance,  Januarv27th,  1814,  American,  General  Floyd,  loss  149;  Indians, 

loss  87. 
Knotachopco  Creek,  Jan.  23d,  1814,  American,  General  Jackson,  loss  95  ;  Indians, 

loss  189. 
Tallapoosa  Bend,  March  27th,  1814,  American,  General  Jackson,  loss  132;  Indians, 
loss  850 


THE  rREASLTRY  OF  HISTORY.  ^97 

La  Collk  Mill,  March  30th,  1814,  American,  General  Wilkmsou,  loss  74  ;  British, 

Major  Handcock,  loss  58. 
OawEGO,  May  6th,    1814,  American,  Colonel  Mitchell,  loss  69  ;  British,  General 

Dnimmond,  loss  235. 
Sandy  Creek,  May  30th,  1814,  American,  Major  Appling,  loss  4  ;  British,  Captain 

Popham,  loss  200. 
Chippewa,  July  5th,  1814,  American,  General  Brown,  loss  323;  British,  General 

Riall,  Loss  §38. 
Niagara,  July  25th,  1314,  American,  Generals  Brown  and  Scott,  loss  858;  British, 

Generals  Riall  and  Drummond,  loss  878. 
Fort  Erie,  August  15th,  1814,  American,  General  Ripley,  loss  84;  British,  General 

Drummond,  loss  990. 
CoNJOCTA  Creek,  Aug.  18th,  1814,  American,  Colonel  Morgan,  loss  10;  British,  Col. 

Tucker,  loss  30. 
Bladexsburg,  Aug.  24th,  1814,  American,  General  Winder,  lo.<!s  190  ;  British,  Gen- 
eral Ross,  loss  130. 
Moork's  Fields,  Aug.  30th,  1814,  American,  Colonel  Reed,  loss  3;  British,  Sir  P. 

Parker,  loss  33. 
North  Point,  Sept.  13th,  1814,  American,  General  Smith,  loss  212  ;  British,  General 

Ross,  loss  380. 
Plattsburgh,  Sept.  11th,  1814,  American,  General  Macomb,  loss  119;  British,  Sir 

George  Provost,  loss  2500. 
Fort  Bowyer,  Sept.  15th,  1814,  American,  Major  Lawrence,  loss  9;  British.,  Hon. 

W.  H.  Percy,  loss  250. 
Fort  Erie,  Sept.  17th,  1814,  American,  General  Brown,  loss  395;  British,  General 

Drummond,  loss  985. 
Cook's  Mills,  Oct.  19th,  1814,  American,  General  Bissell,  loss  60;  British,  Marquis 

Tweedale,  loss — stores  and  position. 
Near  New-Orleans,  Dec.  23d,  1814,  American,  General  Jackson,  loss  223  ;  British, 

General  Keane,  loss  400. 
New-Orleans,  Jan.  8th,  1815,  American,  General  Jackson,  loss  13;  British,  General 

Packenliam,  loss  2600. 
Total,  American  loss  10,229— British  loss  19,729. 

On  the  following  page  will  be  found  a  table  of  the  principal  battles  at 
sea  during  the  war.  The  details  of  a  majority  of  them  are  familiar  to 
our  readers,  and  will  be  found  briefly  related  in  the  foregoing  pages. 
Many  minor  engagements  have  been  omitted,  m  which  signal  ability  and 
bravery  were  displayed,  because  of  their  having  taken  place  irregularly, 
or  between  privateers  and  merchantmen.  The  Saratoga,  for  instance, 
was  an  American  private-armed  crulzer,  and  the  Morgiana  a  British 
packet.  The  first,  being  chased  by  one  of  the  enemy's  frigates,  was 
obliged  to  throw  overboard  nearly  all  her  guns  to  efl'ect  an  escape ;  after 
which,  falling  unexpectedly  in  with  the  latter,  she  determined  to  grapple 
and  trust  to  boarding,  when,  after  a  brief  but  fierce  and  bloody  struggle, 
the  Briton  v/as  forced  to  yield.  The  Chasseur  was  also  a  privateer,  an 
armed  clipper  belonging  to  Baltimore,  whose  commander  facetiously  issued 
his  proclamation  "  for  the  blockade  of  all  the  bays,  rivers,  outlets,  and 
inlets  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  in  imitation  of 
British  officers  cruizing  near  the  American  coast.  On  his  first  expedition 
he  made  18  valuable  prizes,  which  were  successively  sent  into  New- York. 
Subsequently  he  gave  chase  to  a  "  whity-brown  schooner,  no  men  or  ports," 
which  proved  a  disguised  man-of-war  of  15  guns,  but  he  captured  him  by  clo- 
sing in.  A  fresh  enemy  heaving  in  sight,  Capt.  Boyle  was  forced  to  send  his 
prize  a  cartel  into  Havana,  while  he  made  for  Martinique  to  refit.  The  GenL 
Armstrong  was  a  New- York  privateer,  attacked  while  at  anchor  in  a  neutral 
port,  at  midnight,  by  12  British  boats  manned  with  near  400  men.  Timely 
notice  being  given  of  their  approach,  a  deadly  fire  was  opened  on  them,  sink- 
ing, and  putting  them  to  flight.  The  Decatur  was  a  private-armed  vessel — 
the  Dominica  belonged  to  the  British  navy. 
32 


THE  tiieasuhy  op  history. 


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THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  499 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  THE  TREATY  OF  GHENT  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

Wk  come  now  to  consider,  not  a  series  of  victories  springing  out  of 
bloodshed,  but  some  of  the  more  truly  ennobling  and  substantial  triumphi* 
which  arise  from  an  uninterrupted  season  of  peace.  One  of  the  most  lib- 
eral and  enlighted  of  monarchs  [Louis  Philippe]  has  declared  it  his  deliber- 
ate conviction  that  no  serious  collision  between  civilized  nations  can 
ever  again  occur.  Looking  abroad  upon  the  world  with  a  serene  eye  an(> 
mature  judgment,  he  cannot  but  feel  persuaded  that  the  present  mental 
superiority  of  mankind  over  former  ages,  will  forbid  the  toleration  here- 
after of  anything  like  the  barbarism  called  war.  We  may  at  least  be  al- 
.owed  to  hope  that  he  is  right. 

At  the  close  of  the  struggle  of  1812,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
"ound  that,  if  they  had  accomplished  all  for  which  they  began  the  contest, 
they  had  also  materially  crippled  themselves  ;  that  although  their  bravery 
in  battle  and  moderation  in  victory  was  now  more  firmly  than  ever  estab- 
lished, those  laurels  constituted  all  that  they  had  won.  In  return  for  which, 
they  had  increased  their  public  debt  an  hundred  millions  of  dollars ;  had 
completely  deranged  the  monetary  affairs  of  the  country,  overturned  their 
general  credit,  and  destroyed  entirely  the  banking  system  of  tiie  nation. 
Innumerable  failures  had  taken  place  in  the  eastern  and  middle  states; 
and  great  dissatisfaction  among  the  people  resulted  from  certain  swindling; 
operations  which  had  taken  place  by  means  of  private  banks  and  specu- 
lating brokers.  Without  a  reliable  currency,  the  circulation  of  specie 
being  of  course  very  limited,  the  commerce  of  the  nation  was  in  a  fair 
way  to  experience  a  perfect  paralyzation. 

To  remedy  these  evils,  Congress  deemed  it  expedient  and  necessary  to 
provide  for  the  establishment  of  a  new  national  bank,  the  old  one  having 
expired  wiih  the  year  1810,  by  limitation  of  its  charter.  It  was  therefore 
enacted,  after  a  most  strenuous  opposition,  that  a  bank  should  be  organ- 
ized, to  continue  twenty-one  years  from  the  1st  of  July,  181G,  having  for 
its  capital  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars.  The  labours  of  this  great  monied 
corporation  were  in  the  beginning,  doubtless,  highly  beneficial  to  the  coun- 
try ;  but  that  it  subsequently  became  a  very  dangerous  monopoly,  whose 
workings  were  at  the  least  not  boneficial  to  society,  is  strenuously 
maintained  by  the  party  now  holding  the  reins  of  government,  while  the 
contrary  is  as  strongly  maintained  by  its  opponents. 

The  next  subject  that  engrossed  the  attention  of  Congress,  was  a  re- 
vision of  the  duties  on  goods  imported.  In  forming  the  new  tariff,  a  ju- 
dicious attention  was  given  to  protect  domestic  manufactures,  without  at 
the  same  time  injuring  the  national  revenue,  or  lessening,  by  over-indul- 
gence, the  industry  and  economy  requisite  to  their  full  success.  The 
double  war  imposts  were,  with  few  exceptions,  reduced  ;  but  a  large  in- 
crease was  made  to  the  duties  on  some  fabrics,  particularly  cotton  cloths 
of  a  coarse  description,  especially  when  imported  from  the  East  Indies, 
where  those  articles  are  manufactured  by  persons  contented  with  daily 
wages  not  exceeding  a  few  cents,  and  from  a  material  not  grown  in  the 
United  Stales.  It  is  but  justice  here  to  state,  that  the  regulation  of  the 
tariff  would  probably  never  have  been  quite  as  favourable  as  it  is  to  the 
interests  of  the  home  manufactu^rs  of  this  country,  were  it  not  for  an 
untiring  vigilance  in  their  behalf,  on  the  part  of  tlie  Hon.  H.  Clay,  of 
Keniucky,  which  has  won  for  him  the  distinguished  title  of  "Champion  ol 
the  American  system."  This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  he  is  from  a  sec- 
tion of  country  not  likely  to  engage  extensively  in  manufactures,  and  not 
generally  allowed' much  credit  as  being  particularly  favourable  to  the 
eastern  interests.     If  this  truly  great  man  is  for  his  patriotism  immolated 


{,00  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

upon  the  altar  of  sectional  partizanship,  as  at  present  seems  most  probable 
he  will  be,  posterity,  at  least,  will  do  his  memory  justice. 

In  the  autumn  of  1816,  another  election  for  president  took  place.  James 
Monroe,  of  Virginia,  was  chosen  without  much  opposition ;  and  at  the 
same  time  with  him,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  of  New  York,  to  fill  the  second 
office.  Very  few  political  changes  occurred  to  disturb  the  quiet  course 
of  his  administration  :  the  same  vice-president  served  with  him  eight  years 
— and  his  official  advisers  were  continued,  with  scarce  an  interruption,  for 
a  like  length  of  time.  John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary 
of  State  ;  William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury; 
John  C  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  Secretary  of  War;  Smith  Thompson, 
of  New-York,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  John  M'Lean,  of  Ohio,  Post-Master 
General ;  Pilchard  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania,  Attorney  General. 

For  some  years  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  the  foreign  and  domes- 
tic trade  of  the  United  States  continued  to  be  variable  and  unprofitable. 
The  channels  of  consumption  at  home  became  gradually  filled  to  repletion  : 
while  the  universal  peace  of  Europe  enabled  its  producers  to  raise  their 
own  supplies,  instead  of  calling  upon  the  American  market.  Peace  also 
allowed  the  ships  of  every  nation  to  be  its  own  carriers,  and  foreign  mer- 
chants to  do  their  own  trading :  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  no  longer 
an  agent  between  belligerents,  nor  were  American  ports  now,  as  hereto- 
fore, the  general  entrepots  of  the  world.  The  terms  of  freight  rapidly  de- 
clined, vessels  rotted  in  their  harbours,  and  warehouses  groaned  under  the 
stagnant  pressure  of  accumulating  merchandize.  Internal  traffic  was  not 
sufficient  to  employ  the  numerous  individuals  formerly  engaged  in  the 
different  pursuits  of  trade.  Competition  became  excessive ;  and  disap- 
pointment and  distress  very  prevalent. 

The  public  revenue  could  not  escape  being  impaired  by  such  multifa- 
rious embarrassments  :  it  became  every  day  more  inadequate  to  meet  the 
usual  expenditures — in  addition  to  which,  moreover,  calls  for  an  enormous 
amount,  from  a  new  source,  had  lately  been  made.  By  an  act  of  Con- 
gress, in  1818,  a  yearly  pension  sufficient  for  their  decent  maintenance 
had  been  granted  to  those  officers  and  privates  who  had  served  for  three 
successive  years  in  the  war  of  the  revolution.  More  than  thirty  thousand 
of  that  venerable  army  made  application  for  relief — and  several  millions  of 
dollars  were  required  annually  to  satisfy  their  claims.  Money,  in  conse- 
quence, had  to  be  obtained  by  loans ;  and  various  public  expenses  were 
necessarily  curtailed,  and  the  army  and  navy  reduced.  This  state  of 
things  of  course  could  not  last ;  and  we  shall  have  presently  occasion  to 
turn  over  a  new  leaf,  and  consider  a  more  encouraging  picture  of  Ameri- 
can affairs. 

In  the  winter  of  1819,  the  country  was  deprived  of  the  services  of  Com- 
modore Perry,  who  fell  a  victim  to  the  climate  of  Trinidad,  while  on  a 
cruize :  and  in  the  following  spring,  Decatur  was  killed  in  a  duel,  near 
Washington,  by  Commodore  Barron.  In  the  year  1820,  under  the  favour- 
ing auspices  of  President  Monroe,  a  society  for  colonizing  free  people  of 
colour  began  a  settlement  at  Sierra  Leone,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  with  a 
view  to  the  final  extinguishment  of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  The 
tract  has  a  good  harbour,  is  high,  fertile,  and  the  healthiest  in  that  region. 
It  has  since  been  called  Liberia.  No  pains  have  been  spared  by  the  com- 
pany to  induce  immigration  to  their  colony,  to  render  it  thriving  and  suc- 
cessful, or  to  forward  the  laudable  ultimate  object  with  which  they  begaa 
the  enterprize. 

In  1821,  the  territory  of  Florida  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  by 
Spain,  in  compensation  for  spoliations  upon  American  commerce  to  the 
amount  of  five  millions  of  dollars.  General  Jackson  was  appointed  first 
governor  of  Florida,  and  the  unsettled,  semi-savage  state  of  the  population 
was  such  as  to  require  the  greatest  energy  and  decision  to  enforce  respect 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  501 

!or  the  laws  among  them.  A  tedious  and  distressing  predatory  warfare 
was  for  years  waged  against  the  new  settlers  by  savages  inhabiting  its 
inaccessible  swamps  and  secure  fastnesses.  The  U.  S.  troops  seemed  to 
be  set  at  defiance,  until  the  hostile  tribes  came  out  from  their  conceal- 
ments in  the  everglades,  and  consented  to  remove  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
A  deputation*  of  the  Seminoles  has  lately  returned  from  their  new  place  of 
abode  in  the  far  west  with  such  flattering  accounts  of  the  desirable  nature 
of  their  possessions,  that  they  will  doubtless  persuade  the  few  straggling 
bands   remaining  in  Florida  to  accompany  them  on  their  return  home. 

In  the  spring  of  1822,  the  independence  of  the  South  American  repub- 
lics, and  also  that  of  the  state  of  Mexico,  was  recognized  by  the  U.  S. 
Congress,  and  an  appropriation  made  to  defray  the  expenses  of  establish- 
ing with  them  a  diplomatic  intercourse.  The  European  powers  at  length, 
very  slowly  and  cautiously,  adopted  a  similar  course  :  and  the  several 
small  republics  are  still  existing,  though  their  governments  are  unsettled, 
and  internal  discord,  attended  with  effusion  of  blood,  appears  to  prevail 
among  them.  Spanish  influence,  subjugation  to  a  tyrannous  priesthood: 
or  other  causes,  may  induce  this  sad  state  of  their  affairs. 

About  this  time  the  U.  S.  government  signalized  itself  by  a  series  of 
vigorous  and  successful  efforts  against  certain  bands  of  lawless  piratical 
marauders  ;  these  had  for  a  long  time  infested  the  numerous  shallow  bays 
and  inlets  which  indent  the  different  West  India  islands,  and  were  fre- 
quently guilty  of  cruel  and  cold-blooded  murder,  besides  destroying  mucb 
property  and  causing  otherwise  great  annoyance  and  distress.  All  at- 
tempts to  crush  them  were  at  the  first  futile,  owing  to  their  extensive  and 
well-disposed  arrangements  for  self-protection  ;  none  of  the  cutters  con- 
structed for  war  service  were  sufficiently  light  or  swift  to  chase  them 
with  any  success,  and  an  ordinary  craft  of  any  description  could  not  be 
made  to  penetrate  into  their  recesses.  The  government  accordingly  had 
prepared  ten  small  vessels,  which,  together  with  a  sloop  of  war,  a  steam 
galliot,  and  the  frigate  Congress,  were  dispatched  into  the  neighbourhood 
of  their  haunts.  So  actively  was  this  matter  then  prosecuted,  that  in  less 
than  six  months  not  a  freebooter  could  be  heard  of  on  the  coast  of  either 
Cuba  or  St.  Dommgo,  or  about  the  Keys  of  Florida,  where  formerly 
they  had  swarmed. 

In  August,  1824,  General  La  Fayette  arrived  in  the  city  of  New-York, 
on  a  visit  to  the  United  States.  In  returning  to  America,  near  half  a  cen- 
tury from  the  period  of  his  military  career,  and  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 
La  Fayette  could  hope  to  meet  but  few  of  his  former  associates  in  arms. 
Most  of  them  had  certainly  found  rest  in  the  grave.  A  new  generation 
had  risen  to  manhood,  a  new  army  had  re-crimsoned  with  their  blood  the 
soil  which  he  had  assisted  to  set  free,  and  a  third  generation  were  spring- 
ing up  before  him.  On  approaching  the  American  shores  he  was  equally 
surprised  and  delighted.  History  furnishes  no  record  of  an  individual 
receiving  so  unusual  and  spontaneous  a  demonstration  of  respect.  At  the 
entrance  of  New- York  bay,  he  was  received  by  Governor  Tompkins,  who 
conveyed  him  to  his  private  residence  on  Staten  Island  ;  the  day  follow 
ing,  business  was  suspended  in  the  city,  and  the  illustrious  guest  was 
welcomed  with  the  roar  of  cannon,  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  parade  of  the 
military,  and  every  demonstration  of  joy.  It  was  estimated  that  not  less 
than  fifty  thousand  persons  were  assembled  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Battery 
to  witness  his  arrival.  Nor  did  these  flattering  manifestations  then  cease ; 
they  accompanied  him  in  all  his  extended  journeyings  through  the  Union. 
And  when  at  length  his  tour  of  observation  ended,  in  the  city  of  Washing- 
ton, on  the  10th  of  December  following,  the  president  in  his  message  re- 
ferred to  the  services  of  the  distinguished  stranger,  and  his  present  some- 
what dependent  circumstances  in  life,  at  the  same  time  recommending 
Congress  to  take  in  consideration  the  matter,  and  make  some  provisioD 


502  'TH^  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

to  be  tendered  the  hero  which  would  be  worthy  his  acceptance  and  the 
character  of  the  American  people.  A  committee  of  the  senate,  to  whom 
the  subject  was  referred,  reported  two  resolutions;  the  first  granting  him 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  money ;  the  oilier,  a  township  of  six 
miles  square,  of  any  of  the  unappropriated  lands  which  the  president 
should  direct.  These  resolutions  encountered  considerable  opposition, 
but  were  both  finally  passed  by  very  respectable  majorities,  and  were 
presented  to  the  general  by  a  joint  committee,  accompanied  with  a  com- 
plimentary address. 

Since  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  1815,  the  state  of  New- York  has  been 
busily  engaged  with  her  favourite  designs  of  internal  improvement.  Ca- 
nals were  early  proposed  from  the  Hudson  river  to  Lake  Cham  plain,  and 
from  Albany  to  Lake  Erie;  the  attention  of  scientific  and  public-spirited 
men  was  occupied  with  the  subject,  and  commissioners  were  appointed 
by  the  legislature  to  investigate  carefully  the  propositions.  It  was  re- 
ported, that  the  objects  were  calculated  to  be  of  the  greatest  utility,  but 
that  the  estimated  expense  was  too  great  for  individuals  or  private  corpo- 
rations to  undertake  ;  and  that  the  national  government  or  state  legislatures 
ought  only  to  attempt  them.  De  Wilt  Clinton,  the  giant  mover  of  the 
principal  enterprise,  it  is  said,  consulted  Ex-president  Jefferson  with  a 
view  to  obtain  his  weighty  opinion  in  favour  of  the  project.  The  vener- 
able statesman  could  not  then  see  things  in  the  same  light  with  Governor 
Clinton  :  he  replied,  "  Your  plan  is  a  noble  one — magnificent — and  may 
be  carried  into  effect  a  hundred  years  hence.'''  Nevertheless,  the  Clinto- 
nians  persevered,  and  in  October,  1825,  was  completed  the  grandest  work 
of  internal  improvement  then  anywhere,  perhaps,  projected.  The  Erie 
Canal  is  of  itself  three  hundred  and  sixty -three  miles  in  length,  and  con- 
nects the  great  lakes  with  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  cost  upwards  of  seven 
millions  of  dollars,  and  was  constructed  by  the  state  alone  ;  yet  its  annual 
revenues  have  long  since  extinguished  the  debt,  and  it  is  now  referred  to 
as  a  most  splendid  and  perfectly  successful  operation. 

At  the  commencement  of  1825,  closed  the  very  successful  and  prosper- 
ous, because  peaceful,  eight  years'  presidency  of  James  Monroe.  He  had 
paid  off  sixty  millions  of  the  national  debt — had  peaceably  acquired  the 
important  territory  of  Florida — and  had  seen  established  our  national 
limits  toward  the  west,  on  the  Pacific  ocean.  Internal  taxes  were  repeal- 
ed, the  military  establishment  reduced  to  its  narrowest  limits  of  eflaciency, 
the  organization  of  the  army  improved,  the  independence  of  the  South 
American  republics  recognized,  progress  made  in  the  suppression  of  the 
slave  trade,  and  the  civilization  of  the  Indians  advanced  as  far  as  practi- 
cable. Four  candidates  were  set  up  to  succeed  Mr.  Monroe  in  the  presi- 
dential chair ;  they  were  John  Quincy  Adams,  Andrew  Jackson,  Henry 
Clay,  and  Wm.  H.  Crawford.  These  were  severally  voted  for  by  their  par 
tizans,  and  the  election  was  warmly  contested  ;  but  no  one  candidate  re- 
ceiving a  legal  majority  of  votes,  the  power  of  choice  passed  from  the 
college  of  electors  into  the  House  of  Representatives.  Here,  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  chosen. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  his  inaugural  address,  declared  that  he  should  endeavour 
to  exercise  something  like  magnanimity  in  his  public  acts,  discarding 
every  remnant  of  political  rancour,  and  yielding  only  to  talents  and  virtue 
that  confidence  which  is  too  often  bestowed  upon  those  whose  greatest 
claim  is  their  subserviency  to  party  purposes.  We  believe  his  pledge  was 
well  redeemed.  The  gentlemen  composing  his  cabinet  were  the  following 
named:— John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  Vice  President.  Henry 
Clay,  of  Kentucky,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Richard  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  James  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  War ; 
Samuel  L.  Southard,  of  New  Jersey.  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  William  Wirt 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  50» 

of  Maryland,  Attorney  General ;  John  M'Lean^  of  Ohio,  Post-Master 
General. 

In  the  year  1826,  an  unparalleled  excitement  sprung  up  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  Union,  on  account  of  the  abduction  and  alleged  murder  of  a 
man  named  William  Morgan.  It  was  asserted  that  he  had  been  sacrificed 
solely  for  opinion's  sake,  in  this,  a  country  most  notoriously  recognizing 
the  right  of  all  men  to  cherish  whatsoever  opinions  may  appear  unto  them 
prof)er,  unless  openly  inimical  to  the  welfare  of  others.  It  seems  he  was 
a  member  of  the  fraternity  of  free  masons,  and  had  progressed  as  far  in  the 
order  as  the  royal  arch  degree.  The  obligations  of  the  society  require 
each  member  of  said  degree  to  consent  that  death  may  be  inflicted  upon 
him  if  he  divulge  the  manner  of  initiation  into  a  lodge,  or  proceedings 
thereafter.  This  man,  however,  becoming  distressed  in  circumstances, 
and  not  having  the  fear  of  death  or  power  of  his  brethren  before  his 
eyes,  proceeded  to  publish  to  the  world  the  history  of  their  illuminations. 
Hereupon  certain  leaders  of  the  fraternity,  who  were  possessed  of  much 
zeal  and  very  little  judgment,  became  exceedingly  wroth  with  the  aforesaid 
derelict  brother,  and,  it  was  said,  did  him  from  his  family  and  friends  abduct, 
so  that  he  returned  not.  A  year  afterwards  the  mutilated  body  of  a  man 
was  found  washed  upon  the  shores  df  Lake  Ontario,  which  the  widow  of 
the  missing  Morgan  testified  before  a  coroner's  jury  to  be  that  of  her 
husband.  Governor  Clinton,  though  himself  at  the  time  grand  high  priest 
of  the  free  masons,  promptly  offered  a  reward  of  two  thousand  dollars 
for  proof  to  convict  the  authors  of  the  assassination,  and  minute  and 
lengthy  trials  of  suspected  individuals  were  had  ;  but  after  every  investi- 
gation, for  want  of  sufficient  evidence,  no  person  could  be  punished.  A 
curious  episode  occurs — the  bereaved  widow,  seemingly  unwarned  or  un- 
discouraged  by  her  sad  experience,  very  shortly  after  married  another  of 
the  royal  arch  brethren. 

In  1827,  Henry  Clay,  then  Secretary  of  State  for  the  United  States,  ar- 
ranged satisfactorily  with  M.  Rebello,  "knight  of  the  holy  crozier,"  and 
charge  d'affaires  near  the  United  States'  government  for  his  majesty  the 
emperor  of  the  Brazils,  a  dispute  which  had  grown  out  of  the  Brazilian 
seizure  of  certain  American  vessels  engaged  in  the  carrying  trade  between 
Rio  de  Janeiro  and  the  revolted  Buenos  Ayrean  province.  A  serious  col- 
lision had  been  threatened,  owing  to  the  too  abrupt  demand  of  passports, 
and  precipitate  departure  of  the  American  minister  from  his  imperial 
highness'  dominions.  New  treaties  of  amity,  navigation  and  commerce, 
were  also  concluded  with  Austria,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Guatemala  and  the 
Hanseatic  League. 

Towards  the  close  of  1828,  the  tariff  question  was  again  agitated  in  Con- 
gress, and  considerable  asperity  manifested.  Eventually,  however,  the 
debates  terminated  in  the  passage  of  a  law  laying  further  protective  duties 
on  such  articles  of  import  as  particularly  competed  with  the  manufactured 
and  agricultural  productions  of  the  United  States.  By  this  tariff  bill  ad- 
ditional duties  were  laid  on  wool  and  woollens,  iron,  hemp  and  its  fabrics, 
lead,  distilled  spirits,  silk  stuffs,  window  glass  and  cottons.  The  manu- 
facturing states  consequently  received  the  law  with  warm  approbation, 
while  the  southern  stales  regarded  it  as  highly  prejudicial  to  the  interests 
of  the  cotton  planters ;  and  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  the  flags  of  the 
shipping  were  displayed  at  half  mast,  and  a  state  convention  was  demand- 
ed.— Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  of  New- York,  died,  suddenly,  this  year. 
Also,  General  Jacob  Brown,  U.  S.  Army.  And,  early  in  the  following 
year,  John  Jay  departed. 

General  Jackson  having  been  elected  president  and  John  C  Calhoun 
re-elected  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  they  were  formally  installed 
in  office  on  the  4lh  of  March,  1829.  The  names  of  the  new  cabinet  ran  as 
CoUows :  Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New- York,  Secretary  of  State ;  Samue* 


g04  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

D.  Ingham,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  John  H.  Eaton 
of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  War;  John  Ikanch,  of  North  Carolina 
Secretary  of  the  Navy.  John  M.  Ik-rrien,  of  Georgia,  Attorney  General- 
William  T.  Barry,  of  Kentucky,  Post  Master  General.  Directly  after  the 
organization  of  the  new  government,  a  small  party  at  the  south  then 
termed  "state-rights"  men,  but  subsequently  "  nullifiers,"  commenced 
working  themselves  up  into  a  high  state  of  exasperation,  on  account  of 
the  alluded-to  obnoxious  provisions  of  the  last  year's  tariff.  In  Congress, 
the  exponent  of  the  views  of  these  new-lights  was  no  less  a  man  than 
Colonel  Hayne,  of  the  Senate.  Indeed,  all  parties  seemed  now  suddenly 
resolved  into  two  great  antagonistic  elements,  alike  confident  in  their 
strength,  and  e:iger  only  for  the  fray.  Nothing  appeared  to  merit  or  meet 
with  attention  in  either  house,  unless  it  could  be  made  in  some  way  sub- 
servient to  the  great  subject  matter  in  hand  :  and  the  probable  reason 
why  the  eventual  struggle  was  not  earlier  brought  to  bear,  may  be  seen  in 
the  revolutionary  changing  of  government  officers,  both  great  and  small, 
which  immediately  succeeded  the  elevation  of  the  Jackson  party. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1830,  upon  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Foot's  resolu- 
tion relative  to  the  public  lands  being  brought  forward,  Mr.  Webster  and 
Mr.  Benton  respectively  advanced  the  views  of  their  constituents,  in  a 
brief,  discursive  manner,  with  their  usual  uniqueness  and  ability  :  but  the 
storm  was  about  to  commence  in  earnest.  Colonel  Hayne  directly  fol- 
lowed the  honourable  senators,  in  a  speech  of  two  days'  length,  in  which 
was  set  forth  with  no  little  ability  and  a  deal  of  logic,  the  same  "disor- 
ganizing" state-rights  principles  which,  he  contended,  had  been  at  least 
once  within  the  memory  of  man  advocated  by  the  sons  of  the  puritan- 
dwellers  near  Hartford,  when  in  convention  deliberately  assembled.  Noth- 
ing- could  avail  the  gentlenrian  from  the  south,  however,  in  a  contest  with 
the  dark-browed  champion  of  the  east.  This  was  too  late  a  day  to  advo- 
cate principles  with  so  slight  a  foundation.  Mr.  Webster  disclaimed  in 
behalf  of  New-England,  all  approach  towards,  or  sympathy  with,  such 
strange  delusions  as  the  gentleman  and  his  clique  seemed  subject  to.  He 
replied  at  length  to  all  the  assumptions  of  his  distiguished  opponent,  and 
in  conclusion,  indulged  in  one  of  the  loftiest  flights  of  eloquence  ever, 
perhaps,  listened  to  upon  any  occasion.  Men's  minds  were  taken  captive, 
their  understandings  chained,  convinced — while  all  American  hearts  must 
have  glowed  with  mingled  pride  and  satisfaction,  to  know  that  their  coun- 
try possessed  such  unalloyed  and  profound  patriotism. 

In  his  first  message  to  Congress  this  year,  the  president  manifested  to- 
wards the  United  States'  Bank  that  spirit  of  opposition  which  was  a  few 
years  later  to  break  forth  into  open  hostility,  and  create  in  certain  sec- 
tions such  a  strong  feeling  against  him. 

But  the  grand  subject  of  consideration  at  this  time,  was  the  position 
of  the  Indians.  These  people  were  averse  to  removing  from  the  borders 
of  the  states  where  they  were  located,  while  it  would  seem  no  power  could 
effectually  check  the  rapidly-encroaching  sway  of  the  masses  of  white 
population  towards  them.  Collision  of  interests  must  necessarily  follow 
their  proximity,  and  consequent  cruel  and  bloody  personal  encounters  re- 
sult therefrom.  Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  subjecting  the  aborigines 
to  the  usages  of  civilized  society,  as  well  as  their  peculiar  and  subtle  sys- 
tem of  warfare  provoking  inveterate  enmity  from  their  neighbouring  set- 
tlers, nothing  appeared  in  prospect  for  the  tribes  but  ultimate  extinction, 
without  speedy  and  imperative  measures  from  the  general  government 
were  interposed  in  their  behalf.  To  devise  some  expedient,  therefore,  by 
which  to  preserve  the  tribes  and  at  the  same  time  protect  their  own  peo- 
ple, was  the  difficult  task  presented  to  statesmen.  General  Jackson,  in 
commending  this  subject  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  remarked,  that  the 
fate  of  the  Mohegan,  the  Narragansett,  and  the  Delaware,  was  fast  and 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY,  605 

inevitably  approaching  the  Choctaw,  the  Cherokee,  and  the  Creek,  if  they 
remained  within  the  limits  of  the  states.  He  said  that  regard  to  our  na- 
tional honour  brought  forward  the  question  whether  something  could  not 
be  done  to  preserve  the  race.  As  a  means,  to  this  end,  he  suggested  that 
an  ample  district  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  without  the  limits  of  any 
stale  or  territory,  might  be  set  apart  and  guaranteed  to  the  Indian  tribes, 
each  to  have  distinct  jurisdiction  over  the  part  designated  for  its  use,  and 
free  from  any  control  of  the  United  States,  other  than  might  be  necessary 
to  preserve  peace  on  the  frontier.  There  the  benevolent  might  teach  them  ; 
and  there  they  might  form  a  nation  which  would  perpetuate  their  race,  and 
attest  the  humanity  of  the  American  government. 

The  grand  difficulty  of  the  project,  and  one  which  would  have  appalled 
a  timid  mind,  was  met  by  the  president  in  a  characteristic  manner.  "The 
emigration,"  said  he,  "should  be  voluntary,  for  it  would  be  as  cruel  as  un- 
just to  compel  the  aborigines  to  abandon  the  graves  of  their  fathers,  and 
seek  a  home  in  a  distant  land."  Congress  sanctioned  the  undertaking, 
and  empowered  the  president  to  carry  it  out ;  and  he  fearlessly  com- 
menced, what,  perhaps,  no  human  ruler  ever  did  before,  to  combine  free- 
will with  necessity.  To  cause  the  Indians  to  emigrate  voluntarily,  for 
their  own  good,  became  thenceforth  his  settled  policy. 

In  1831,  on  the  4lh  day  of  July,  died  James  Monroe,  fifth  president  of 
the  United  States.  It  has  been  considered  a  little  remarkable,  that  no  less 
than  three  Ameiican  ex-presidents  have  died  on  the  same  day,  and  that  the 
anniversary  of  their  national  independence.  First,  John  Adams  and 
Thomas  Jefferson,  men  who  had  probably  contributed  as  largely  as  any 
others  towards  the  elevation  of  their  country  in  the  scale  of  nations,  sim- 
ultaneously departed  this  life,  amid  the  thunder  of  cannon  and  ringing  of 
bells  which  announced  the  commencement  of  The  second  half-century  of 
their  well-loved  country's  existence :  and  next,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the 
same  day  of  the  fifth  year  following,  Mr.  Monroe  was  called  also  to  join 
the  glorious  company  of  his  patriot  predecessors  in  the  spirit-land. 

About  this  time,  under  the  auspices  of  John  C.  Spencer,  Richard  Rush, 
and  others,  sprang  into  notice  a  new  political  party — the  anti-masonic. 
Immediately  subsequent  to  the  conclusion  of  the  Morgan  trials,  which  en- 
ded in  the  release  of  supposed  culprits,  the  excitement  of  the  public  ran 
very  high  against  an  institution  seeming  to  possess  such  unwarrantable  and 
unlimited  influence  over  life  and  law.  The  opportunity  was  of  course 
seized,  by  demagogues  or  enthusiasts,  to  attempt  the  erection  of  a  novel 
and  attractive  hobby  for  "the  people,"  whereon  they  might  ride  themselves 
at  least  into  temporary  authority.  In  this  case,  indeed,  the  capital 
seemed  unusually  good,  and  the  prospects  very  fair;  various  and  talented 
statesmen  had  openly  affirmed  their  belief  in  the  unconstitutionality  of  the 
denounced  institution :  and,  with  the  most  commendable  judgment,  no 
less  a  man  than  William  Wirt,  of  Maryland,  was  chosen  and  persuaded  to 
run  as  the  candidate  of  the  new  party  in  the  approaching  contest  for  the 
presidential  chair.  Alas  !  a  chilling  frost  was  destined  suddenly  to  blight 
the  rising  hopes  of  the  aspirants  ;  notwithstanding  the  ardency  of  their 
converts  and  the  availability  of  candidates — in  the  election  which  pres- 
ently succeeded,  their  really  estimable  ticket  received  but  the  vote  of  one 
state  in  the  union — that  being  Vermont.  Upon  the  ruins  of  this  air-castle 
a  new  fabric  was  shortly  to  be  founded,  eventually  to  attract  some  atten- 
tion, under  the  name  and  style  of  the  anti-slavery  party. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1831,  a  slave-insurrection  of  considerable  local 
nnportance  broke  out  in  Southampton  county,  Virginia.  It  was  originated 
by  a  crazy  sort  of  vagrant  nick-named  "Nat.,"  who  had  passed  among 
the  negroes  for  some  time  as  a  Baptist  preacher.  His  reputation  for  piety, 
or  fanaticism,  had  so  imposed  upon  the  planters,  that  the  wonder  only  was 
his  influence  had  not  been  greater,  and  the  struggle  consequently  more 


506  THE  TREASUIIY  OF  HISTORY. 

fierce  and  bloody.  The  number  of  whiles  massacred  on  rising,  was  fifty- 
eight — consisliiif^  principally  of  decrepid  men,  women  and  children.  The 
blacks  then  fled  to  tiic  swamps,  apparently  terrified  at  their  own  atroci- 
ties ;  and  were  presently  subdued  with  but  little  difliculty,  yielding  up  their 
leaders  to  the  gallows. 

Abroad,  the  American  minister  at  the  French  court,  William  C.  Rives, 
this  year  eff'ected  a  treaty  with  that  nation,  by  the  terms  of  which  twenty- 
five  millions  of  francs  were  agreed  to  be  paid  to  the  American  government, 
in  appropriate  instalments,  for  spoliations  upon  commerce  during  the 
turbulent  sway  of  the  emperor  Napoleon. 

With  the  Neapolitan  government  we  had  negotiated  in  vain  previous  lo 
this  year,  for  an  amicable  adjustment  of  claims  against  it  for  the  seques- 
tration and  plunder  of  American  property  during  the  ephemeral  reign  of 
Joacliiin  Murat.  The  sudden  appearance  in  the  bay  of  Naples  of  a  re- 
spectable number  of  armed  United  iSlates'  vessels,  however,  together  with 
a  peremptory  demand  from  (ieneral  Jackson's  minister,  Mr.  Nelson,  of 
Maryland,  seemed  to  bring  liis  majesty  of  the  Two  Sicilies  to  reason.  An 
order  was  directly  given  upon  his  treasurer,  for  the  payment  of  2,115,000 
ducats,  or  $l,7i!0,o6o,  to  be  paid  in  nine  equal  instalments,  with  interest 
at  the  rate  of  1  per  centum  until  paid. 

Stephen  Girard,  the  great  Philadelphia  banker,  died  in  December  of  this 
year.  At  the  time  of  liis  death  he  was  supposed  to  be  the  richest  man  in 
the  nation — possessing  about  ten  millions  of  dollars  in  available  funds. 
In  the  war  of  1812-14  he  loaned  the  United  States' government  $5,000,000; 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  with  a  praiseworthy  liberality  but  little  emu- 
lated by  his  trustees  since,  devised  the  great  mass  of  his  property  to  va- 
rious charitable  institution  and  purposes  in  and  near  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia. Early  in  life  he  commenced  a  small  trading  business  in  that 
city,  and  by  frugality  and  persevernig  industry  there  acquired  his  wealth. 

February  1st,  1832,  Commodore  Downes,  in  the  United  States'  frigate 
Potomac,  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Sumatra,  being  principally  on  an  expe- 
dition to  chastise  a  horde  of  Malay  savages  for  certain  outrages  upon 
Americans  and  their  commerce.  Among  other  charges  against  them,  was 
one  on  account  of  the  ship  Friendship,  of  Salem;  it  appears  this  vessel 
had  formerly  traded  with  them  for  spices,  &c.,  when,  on  a  convenient 
occasion  occurring,  the  barbarians  determnied  upon  appropriating  to  them- 
selves the  ship  and  its  contcnis,  after  an  indiscriminate  massacre  of  the 
crew,  by  which  they  vainly  hoped  to  hide  their  crime.  When  the  chiefs 
were  applied  to  for  restitution  in  this  case,  and  the  delivery  of  the  mur- 
derers, they  with  characteristic  cupidity  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  mat- 
ter and  refused  to  give  any  kind  of  satisfaction.  Commodore  Downes 
took  prompt  and  efficient  steps  directly ;  in  the  night  of  the  6th,  his  frigate 
was  quietly  worked  in  towards  shore,  and  at  dawn  of  day,  m  the  mist, 
two  hundred  and  sixty  men  were  landed  in  detachments,  without  disturb- 
ing the  natives.  A  simultaneous  attack  was  made  upon  their  five  forts, 
which  were  in  about  three  hours  reduced,  with  much  slaughter  on  the 
part  of  the  Malays ;  while  a  heavy  cannonade  from  the  ship  at  the  same 
time,  soon  laid  their  town  of  Quallah  Battoo  in  ashes.  The  loss  of  the 
Americans  was  but  two  killed,  and  eight  or  ten  wounded.  A  few  moun- 
taineers visited  the  frigate  shortly  after,  when  the  commodore  left  word 
that  he  should  call  there  again — if  necessary. 

Nearer  home,  this  year,  disturbances  with  savage  tribes  embroiled  the 
public  peace.  In  the  month  of  April,  the  Winnebagoes,  Sacs  and  Foxes, 
with  a  few  Pottowatomies,  Indians  inhabiting  the  country  of  the  Upper 
Mississippi,  re-crossed  that  river  under  the  chief  Black  Hav/k,  his  son, 
and  the  so-called  "Prophet" — the  last  being  a  shrewd,  designing  knave 
always  accompanying  or  concerned  in  the  war  and  massacre  undertakings 
of  the  red  men.     Being  well  armed  and  active,  they  soon  scattered  them 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  507 

■eives  through  Illinois,  where  formerly  they  had  dwelt,  and  burned  and 
murdered  all  before  them  which  bore  any  marks  of  civilization.  Generals 
Atkinson  and  Scott  were  despatched  against  them.  The  several  garrisons 
on  the  seaboard,  from  Fort  Monroe,  in  Virginia,  to  New- York  harbour, 
were  directly  ordered  to  Buffalo ;  and  there  were  embarked  upon  steam- 
boats with  all  haste  for  the  scene  of  action.  Now,  most  unhappily,  from 
the  heated  and  crowded  manner  in  which  the  troops  under  Scott's  com- 
mand were  obliged  to  travel  (having  been  hurried  through  the  country 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  miles  in  eighteen  days),  the  cholera,  which 
had  just  made  its  appearance  in  the  country,  broke  out  among  them,  and 
began  to  rage  terribly.  Language  cannot  depict  the  distress  which  en- 
sued, both  before  and  after  the  troops  were  landed.  Many  died,  many 
deserted ;  and  many  perished  in  the  woods  from  absolute  starvation.  At 
length  the  panic  and  distress  partially  subsided;  and  a  iew  of  the  men 
were  by  forced  marches  enabled  to  reach  General  Atkinson's  encampment. 
But  the  first  action  of  consequence  was  fought  by  the  mounted  volunteer's 
under  generals  Dodge  and  Henry,  who  came  upon  Black  Hawk's  warriors 
on  the  banks  of  the  Winconsin,  July  21st.  A  sharp  contest  ensued,  in 
which  the  Indians  were  worsted  and  put  to  flight,  leaving  nearly  one  hun- 
dred of  their  people  on  the  field — the  victors  returning  to  General  Atkinson 
for  provisions. 

An  incident  is  related  as  occurring  in  a  skirmish  called  by  the  Indians 
the  battle  of  the  Bad  Axe.  They  were  surprised  by  the  whites  at  day- 
light in  their  huts,  when  women  and  children  were  unavoidably  killed, 
from  being  indiscriminately  mingled  with  the  men.  Among  the  rest,  a 
young  squaw,  with  her  papoose,  was  flying  for  the  river's  bank,  when  a 
rifle  ball  pierced  her  breast,  causing  instant  death  to  her,  and  breaking  an 
arm  of  the  infant.  Her  body  fell  upon  that  of  the  child  so  as  to  prevent 
its  releasing  itself — and  for  two  hours  and  a  half  its  cries  were  heard  at 
intervals  by  the  attacking  party.  At  length,  when  the  firing  had  abated, 
an  ofllcer  of  the  assailants  made  his  way  to  the  little  complainer,  and  had 
it  as  soon  as  possible  conveyed  to  the  garrison  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and 
confided  to  the  best  offices  of  the  surgeon.  It  has  since  grown  into  a 
sprightly  girl — the  pet  of  the  company. 

In  a  general  engagement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Upper  Iowa,  on  the  2d  of 
August,  the  Indians  were  completely  routed  and  dispersed ;  the  chiefs 
shortly  after  were  delivered  up,  and  the  fugitives  consented  to  return  at 
once  to  their  appointed  quarters  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Black  Hawk, 
his  son,  and  several  warriors  of  note  were  conveyed  to  Fortress  Mon:Je, 
where  they  were  detained  a  few  months;  and  then  carried  through  the 
principal  cities  of  the  United  states,  and  the  civilization  and  works  of  de- 
fence of  the  nation  exhibited  to  them.  They  were  then  sent  home  to  their 
people,  convinced  of  the  folly  of  attempting  to  contend  against  the  power 
and  discipline  of  the  whites,  with  the  unmanageable  fury  of  their  wild 
bands.  In  consideration  of  the  lands  which  they  left  to  the  states  upon 
taking  possession  of  their  new  territories,  the  federal  government  pays  to 
the  Winnebagoes  $10,000  per  annum  for  twenty-seven  years  from  the 
date  of  their  leaving.  To  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  it  pays  $20,000  annually 
for  th:r»y  years  from  the  same  time. 

The  Cholera  pestilence  this  year  ravaged  the  entire  Union.  It  appears 
to  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  a  company  of  emigrants  in  ships  bound 
to  Quebec  and  Montreal,  from  thence  spreading  quickly  in  every  direc- 
tion, though  mainly  and  with  most  severity  pursuing  the  great  courses  of 
travel.  It  broke  out  in  several  cities  of  the  United  States  about  the  same 
time,  in  the  month  of  July,  and  raged  until  autumn  set  in.  In  the  city  of 
New- York,  four  thousand  persons  are  computrd  to  have  fallen  its  vic- 
tims. Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Charleston,  and  New-Orleans,  suffered  in 
nearly  the  same  ratio,  in  defiance  of  all  the  usual  precautionary  measures. 


508  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Boston,  and  the  New-England  states,  were  scourged  less  severely.  On 
the  American  continent,  nothing  but  the  frosts  of  winter  appeared  effect- 
ually to  arrest  its  progress:  yet,  amid  the  everlasting  snows  of  Russia,  it 
had  manifested  itself  with  true  Asiatic  virulence.  Climate  seemed  to  be 
no  safeguard,  nor  ocean-wide  barriers  any  defence.  In  mild  southern 
France,  the  number  of  its  victims  was  frightfully  enormous  ;  in  the  cities 
of  Mexico,  one-fourth  of  the  population  was  destroyed  ;  and  on  the  island 
of  Cuba,  Si  00,000,000  worth  of  slaves  are  said  to  have  perished  in  less  than 
ninety  days.  It  is  stated,  that  on  this  island  the  coffee-planters  mostly 
escaped  the  affliction,  while  the  neighbouring  sugar  plantations  were  com- 
pletely depopulated. 

Death,  in  various  forms,  visited  the  great  names  of  the  earth,  in  the 
course  of  1832.  In  New- York,  of  the  prevailing  epidemic,  died  William 
H.  Maynard,  eminent  as  a  state  senator,  who  left  by  his  will  the  sum  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  to  establish  a  law  professorship  in  Hamilton  col- 
lege. In  Boston,  the  celebrated  Doctor  Spurzheim,  founder,  in  connection 
with  Doctor  Gall,  of  the  science  of  phrenology.  In  Ohio,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  Fenwick.  In  Georgia,  Thomas  Cobb,  a  revolu- 
tionary character,  aged  120.  In  Maryland,  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton, 
the  last  surviving  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  m  96.  In 
New-Hampshire,  Captain  Joseph  Pratt,  a  naval  commander  of  much  es-  ■ 
teem  in  the  annals  of  revolutionary  coasting.  In  Rhode  Island,  Captain 
Stephen  Olney,  of  whom  it  is  said,  he  was  the  first  to  scale  the  enemy's 
fortifications,  and  then  shout  the  command,  "  Captain  Olney's  company 
will  form  here  !"  In  New-Jersey,  Philip  Freneau,  an  early  and  prolific 
writer  of  American  fugitive  poetry.  In  Connecticut,  Judge  Hillhouse,  a 
distinguished  statesman  and  lawyer.  At  Abbottsford,  Great  Britain,  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  "  the  wizard  of  the  north."  In  London,  Baron  Tenterden, 
chief-justice  of  the  king's  bench.  In  France,  General  Lamarque,  one  oi 
Napoleon's  officers.  Also,  Champollion,  the  renowned  French  tourist — 
and,  Casimir  Perier,  a  statesman  of  celebrity  in  Paris.  In  Rome,  Ma- 
dame Letitia,  mother  of  Bonaparte,  e.  82.  At  the  palace  of  Schoenbrunn, 
near  Vienna,  te  21,  Napoleon  Francis  Charles  Joseph,  duke  Reichstadt, 
only  son  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

A.  D.  1833. — It  is  proper  now  to  take  a  farewell  glance  at  that  monster- 
spirit  of  the  South,  known  as  nullification,  which  once  stalked  with  fear- 
ful mien  among  us.  The  electioneering  campaign  of  '32  had  merged  all 
minor  considerations,  in  the  unusual  exacerbation  with  which  it  was  con- 
ducted. But  when  the  result  became  known,  and  General  Jackson,  a 
southern  man,  was  declared  re-elected  with  increased  majorities,  together 
with  Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New-York,  "  a  northern  man  with  southern 
principles,"  as  his  opponents  termed  him  in  derision  for  his  lack  of  politi- 
cal bitterness.  When  this  ticket  was  found  to  be  triumphant,  we  say, 
southern  agitators  grev/  rampant.  They  looked  upon  such  men  as  a  god- 
send for  their  especial  purposes  :  and  in  full  confidence  a  legislative  con- 
vention was  called  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  where  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress imposing  duties  for  protection,  were  pronounced  unconstitutional, 
and  of  no  binding  force  in  that  state.  Governor  Hamilton  in  his  message 
recommended  the  legislature  to  pass  laws  for  preventing  the  enforcement 
of  the  revenue  statutes  by  United  States'  collectors,  and  advised  immedi- 
ate preparati(»ns  of  a  warlike  nature  to  be  made,  placing  the  state  in  the 
best  posture  of  defence.  To  the  astonishment  of  these  ultras.  General 
Jackson  at  once,  and  in  the  most  admirable  spirit,  issued  a  proclamation, 
calling  on  them  to  beware  lest  they  should  incur  the  penalties  of  such 
rashness  and  treason,  while  he  set  forth  in  a  tone  of  candor  and  decision 
the  principles  and  powers  of  the  general  government,  and  his  firm  deter- 
nnnation  m  any  event  to  maintain  the  laws.  This  seemed  only  to  increase 
lilt!  exasperation  in  South  Carolina;  the  governor  of  the  state,  by  authoi 


THE  TREASUUY  OF  HISTORY.  509 

ity  of  the  legislature,  issued  a  counter-proclamation,  urging  the  people  to 
be  faithful  to  their  primary  allegiance  to  the  state,  and  to  resist  to  tlie  last 
any  efforts  of  the  United  States'  authorities  to  collect  the  tariff  dues.  A 
purchase  was  made  of  ten  thousand  stand  of  small  arms,  with  appropriate 
munitions,  «fec.,  and  general  orders  issued  to  raise  volunteers  for  repelling 
invasion  ;  messengers  were  also  dispatched  to  neighbouring  states,  solic- 
iting their  co-operation  and  support.  General  Jackson  hereupon  addressed 
a  message  to  Congress,  recommending  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as 
Avould  enable  the  executive  to  suppress  this  spirit  of  insubordination,  and 
maintain  inviolate  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  Castle  Pinckney  and 
Fort  Moultrie  were  accordingly  reinforced  with  government  troops,  and 
Commodore  Elliott  ordered  to  rendezvous  in  Charleston  bay  with  a  fleet. 
John  C.  Calhoun  had  resigned  the  vice-presidency  at  the  close  of  1832, 
in  order  to  take  a  seat  in  the  United  States'  Senate  for  the  purpose  of  lend- 
ing his  elficient  aid  to  the  support  of  the  measures  of  his  state.  Thus 
everything  betokened  a  civil  war:  but  a  timely  appeal  from  the  general 
assembly  of  Virginia,  deprecatory  of  haste  and  passion,  together  with  a 
momentary  gleam  from  the  better  judgment  of  the  leading  men  of  South 
Carolina,  produced  a  suspension  of  aggressive  measures  for  a  short  time  ; 
when  Henry  Clay's  celebrated  "compromise  bill"  being  at  this  precise 
juncture  introduced  in  Congress,  was  passed  rapidly  through  both  houses, 
and  had  the  effect  of  most  happily  dispelling,  at  once  and  forever,  it  is  to 
be  hoped,  the  dark  and  portentous  storm  which  lowered  around. 

Hardly  had  the  ferment  consequent  upon  a  disorganizing  movement 
among  the  states  been  allayed,  when  a  new  source  of  excitement  came 
into  public  view.  The  United  States'  bank  had  from  the  first  been  the 
depositary  of  a  large  amount  of  government  funds ;  and  as  the  bank's 
charter  was  now  about  to  expire,  without  a  hope  of  renewal  (the  president 
having  already  vetoed  a  bill  "for  its  continuance).  Congress  was  in  his 
message  recommended  to  remove  the  deposits  to  some  more  safe  place 
of  keeping.  This  was  refused,  in  the  representatives,  by  the  unusually 
strong  vote  of  109  to  46.  Nothing  daunted,  the  executive  began  to  plan 
his  measures  (or  rescuing  the  public  funds  in  spite  of  Congress.  By  the 
act  creating  the  United  States'  Bank,  it  was  provided  that  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  might  remove  the  public  deposits,  but  he  was  required  to 
lay  his  reasons  upon  so  doing  directly  before  Congress.  W.  J.  Duane, 
of  Pennsylvania,  being  then  at  the  head  of  the  treasury  department,  im- 
mediately upon  the  recess  of  Congress  was  desired  by  General  Jackson 
to  issue  an  order  for  the  transfer  of  the  public  monies,  on  account  of  the 
following-named  reasons  :  first,  a  general  unsafeness  of  the  bank  ;  second, 
the  bank's  improper  conduct  in  postponing  the  redemption  of  the  govern- 
ment three  per  cents.,  and  thereby  delaying  the  liquidation  of  the  public 
debt,  which  was  a  favourite  measure  of  the  administration  ;  third,  its  ex- 
action of  damages  ($170,041),  for  dishonour  of  the  government's  draft  on 
France  for  four  millions  of  francs,  being  the  first  instalment  due  under  a 
recent  treaty  with  the  French ;  and  fourth,  interference  with  politics. 
Mr.  Duane  not  deeming  these  reasons  sufficient,  refused  either  to  give  the 
desired  order,  or  to  resign  his  office.  Not  to  be  thwarted  thus,  the  pres- 
ident summarily  dismissed  the  refractory  officer,  and  appointed  in  his 
stead  Roger  B.  Taney,  of  Maryland,  who  immediately  complied  with  the 
wishes  of  the  executive,  and  the  deposits  were  removed.  They  were 
transferred  to  the  care  of  several  state  banks  ;  the  opposition  choosing  to 
consider  such  institutions  equally  unsafe  as  the  "mother  bank,"  the  whole 
matter  presently  became  a  subject  of  fierce  recrimination  and  debate, 
both  in  and  out  of  Congress.  The  bank  party  were  strongly  in  majority  ; 
yet  they  sufl"cred  the  government  funds  to  remain  where  they  had  been 
confided  by  the  new  secretary,  contenting  themselves  with  placing  upon 
record  in  the  senate  a  resolution  denouncing  in  the  strongest  terms  tlio 


510  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

conduct  of  the  executive.  This  was,  however,  subsequently  "expunged," 
through  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Benton  and  his  associates,  when  the  "de- 
mocracy" came  into  power. 

General  Jacl<son's  cabinet,  on  the  commencement  of  his  second  term, 
underwent  a  considerable  modification.  Altogether,  he  seems  to  have  ex- 
perienced a  deal  of  difficulty  in  the  selection  of  his  constitutional  advisers ; 
none  of  them  appeared  to  view  things  exactly  in  the  light  he  did.  The 
gentleman  he  now  called  around  him,  were  the  following:  Edward  Liv- 
ingston, of  New- York,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Louis  M'Lane,  of  Delaware, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  Secretary  of  War; 
Mahlon  Dickerson,  of  New-Jersey,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Roger  B. 
Taney,  of  Maryland,  Attorney  General ;  William  T.  Barry,  of  Kentucky, 
Post- Master  General. 

This  year  was  promulgated  the  particulars  of  a  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  Russia,  which  was  negotiated  at  St.  Petersburgh  be- 
tween Count  Nesselrode  on  the  part  of  the  emperor,  and  James  Buchanan 
in  behalf  of  the  States.  By  its  provisions,  the  present  liberal  system  of 
commerce  carried  on  between  the  two  nations  was  put  upon  a  permanent 
basis. 

Some  have  a  curious  fancy  for  noticing  the  departure,  from  among  men, 
of  distinguished  characters :  we  observe,  in  the  year's  obituary,  several 
names  of  note.  Commodore  Bainbridge  died  at  Philadelphia,  jE  57.  Gen- 
eral Coffee,  at  Florence,  Alabama,  je  62.  Governor  Scott,  of  Mississippi. 
Ex-governors  Wolcott,  of  Connecticut,  Skinner,  of  Vermont,  and  Ed- 
wards, of  Illinois.  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  in  Philadelphia,  je  61. 
Judge  Hall,  of  North- Carolina,  a  distinguished  jurist.  Colonel  Amos 
Binney,  of  Massachusetts,  je  65.  Colonel  John  Neilson,  of  New-Jersey, 
a  revolutionary  hero.  Colonel  Nicholas  Fish,  of  New- York,  the  same 
Near  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  by  explosion  on  the  steamboat  Lioness, 
Senator  Johnson,  of  Louisiana,  and  fourteen  others :  strange  to  relate, 
this  sad  occurrence  did  not  take  place  on  account  of  a  race,  but  was  owing 
to  a  quantity  of  gunpowder  being  stowed  carelessly.  In  England,  Lieu 
tenant-colonel  Tarleton,  the  indefatigable  tory  opponent  of  Sumpier  and 
Marion,  at  the  South.  Also,  Hannah  More,  the  authoress;  Wilberforce, 
the  humanitist ;  Keane,  the  actor;  and  Ramniohun  Roy,  the  philosopher. 
In  Paris,  Marshal  Jourdan,  and  Savary,  duke  of  Rovigo,  noted  once  as 
Bonapartists.     In  Germany,  Goethe.     In  Spain,  Ferdinand  VII. 

A.  D.  1834. — We  observe  in  the  chronicles  of  this  epoch,  an  unusual 
tendency  to  rioting.  Small  matters  seem  in  various  sections  to  have  been 
magnified  into  importance,  and  the  populace  incited  to  acts  which  resulted 
in  the  destruction  of  life  and  property.  At  New-Orleans,  a  canal  riot 
broke  out  between  adverse  parties  of  Irish  labourers ;  a  body  of  gens 
d'armes  being  sent  to  quell  the  disturbance,  were  fired  upon  by  the  mob, 
which  was  in  turn  charged  on  by  the  police,  when  much  bloodshed  and 
distress  ensued.  In  New- York,  the  abolition  riots  prevailed  for  several 
days  ;  a  number  of  churches  and  private  dwellings  were  destroyed,  with 
a  large  amount  of  property.  In  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  the  Ursu- 
line  convent  was  barbarously  demolished,  its  lady  abbess  being  thrown 
into  hysterics,  and  its  young  lady-inmates  considerably  frightened. 

That  a  better  spirit  was  about  that  time  pervading  the  higher  class  of 
citizens,  we  have  much  satisfaction  in  knowing :  the  evidence  of  this  is 
particularly  apparent  in  an  energetic  movement  to  suppress  the  prevalent 
pernicious  practice  of  lottery-gambling.  In  New-York  and  Pensylvania, 
more  especially,  popular  feeling  had  been  manifested  in  favour  of  the 
nuisance,  to  a  very  discreditable  degree;  but  the  good  sense  of  the  law- 
makers triumphed,  and,  maiigre  the  infatuation  of  the  brawlers,  effectual 
penal  prohibitory  statutes  were  enacted. 

A  treaty  rather  favourable  tha*n  otherwise  to  our  commercial  interests. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  51 1 

was  this  year  concluded  in  the  city  of  Madrid,  between  C.  P.  Van  Ness, 
minister  of  the  U.  S.  and  Don  Jose  de  Heredia,  commissioner  for  the 
acting  government  of  her  youthful  Majesty  Dona  Ysabel  II.,  of  Spain. — 
Also,  another  commercial  arrangement,  promising  well  for  the  trade  of 
the  two  countries,  was  about  the  same  time  negotiated,  between  the  North 
American  envoy  at  Valparaiso  and  the  authorities  of  the  republic  of  Chili, 
South  America. 

The  savans  of  this  hemisphere  were  subject  to  an  unusual  excitement, 
about  the  month  of  November.  In  the  previous  autumn,  an  astronomical 
phenomenon  of  an  astonishing  and  singularly  beautiful  character  had  been 
witnessed  :  the  "shower  of  stars,"  as  it  was  termed,  had  been  seen  along 
the  whole  line  of  the  American  continent,  and  afforded  ample  food  for 
much  curious  conjecture  with  the  learned  both  of  this  country  and  Eu- 
rope. A  recurrence  of  the  phenomenon  was  now  looked  for,  and  there 
were  nightly  watchers  on  many  house-tops,  anxious  either  for  the  sake  of 
philosophy  in  particular,  or  an  indefinite  desire  for  "  enlightenment"  in  gen- 
eral, ihe  professors  at  New  Haven  were  applied  to,  and  after  devoting 
a  reasonable  share  of  attention  to  the  probabilities  of  the  case,  consented 
to  deputize  a  proper  individual  to  make  observations ;  but  in  this  instance 
we  believe,  their  assiduity  was  of  no  avail,  as  it  did  not  result  in  any  pe- 
culiarly valuable  scientific  elucidations. 

In  the  obituary  for  this  year,  appears  a  name  which  still  shines  brilliant 
in  American  annals  :  that  of  General  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  deceased  at 
Paris,  May  20th,  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age.  In  England,  Prince  Hoare, 
G.  Lamb,  and  S!  T.  Coleridge,  each  of  celebrity  for  literary  attainments. — 
Also,  in  London,  George  Clymer,  of  Pa.,  and  Earl  Spencer,  Earl  Bath- 
urst,  Lord  Breadalbane,  and  the  duke  of  Sutherland.  In  the  United 
States,  lion.  Jonas  Piatt,  of  N.  Y. ;  Cadwallader  D.  Colden,  do. ;  gov- 
ernors. Porter  of  Mich.  :  Breathitt,  of  Ky.  ;  Ex-governors,  Jennings,  of 
la. ;  Lloyd,  of  Md. :  Col.  William  Polk,  je  76,  at  Raleigh,  N.  C.  ;  General 
Brodnax,  of  Va.  :  General  Leavenworth,  U.  S.  Army,  near  Fort  Tow- 
son.  In  Georgia,  William  H.  Crawford,  celebrated  in  the  political  antag- 
onism between  Clay,  Calhoun,  Jackson,  and  Adams.  At  Washington 
city,  Hon.  J.  Blair,  of  S.  C,  in  a  fit  of  insanity  committed  suicide;  also, 
Hon.  Mr.  Bouldin,  of  Va.,in  the  house  of  representatives  fell  dead  in  his 
place,  while  speaking  in  memory  of  Randolph,  his  predecessor;  in  the 
same  city,  William  Wirt,  je  62  ;  in  Georgetown,  D.  C,  Lorenzo  Dow,  the 
eccentric  itinerant  preacher,  who  had  travelled  throughout  this  country 
and  Europe,  and  probably  addressed  a  greater  variety  of  persons  than  any 
other  divine  since  the  days  of  Whitfield. 

A.  D.  1835. — From  first  to  last  of  this  year,  the  public  mind  was  kept 
in  agitation  respecting  the  near  prospect  of  a  collision  with  France.  Our 
readers  have  been  apprized  of  the  origin  of  this  difRcnlty,  i.  e.,  a  non-com- 
pliance with  the  terms  of  the  Rives  treaty  of  '31,  completed  in  good  faith 
between  that  minister  and  the  government  of  the  French  monarch.  The 
Chambers  of  France  had  in  this  case  certainly  exhibited  an  extremely 
dilatory  and  unusual  spirit,  in  neglecting  to  make  provision  for  the  pay- 
ment of  their  just  dues;  whereupon  the  hot  blood  of  his  warlike  excel- 
lency, Andrew  Jackson,  began  to  boil,  and  he  was  betrayed  by  his  indig- 
nation forthwith  into  an  assumption  of  the  extreme  prerogatives  of  his 
magisterial  office — to  the  surprise  of  his  own  people,  and  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  French.  His  message  to  Congress  in  December,  '34,  was 
replete  with  belligerent  breathings;  immediate  attention  to  the  defences 
of  the  nation  was  demanded,  appropriations  for  increase  of  the  navy,  &c., 
recommended,  and  reprisals  upon  the  commerce  of  France,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  strongly  advised.  Fortunately,  the  senate  at  once  and  unan- 
imously refused  to  act  upon  the  executive  suggestions ;  and  the  house, 
wherein  the  president  was  slightly  in  majority,  handled  the  matter  so 


512  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

delicately,  that  tlm  utmost  the  war-agitating  party  could  force  through 
was  the  following  declaration:  "  1.  That  tlie  treaty  with  France  of  the 
4th  of  July,  '31,  should  be  maintained,  and  its  execution  insisted  upon.  2. 
That  the  committee  on  foreign  affairs  should  be  discharged  from  the  fur- 
ther consideration  of  so  much  of  the  message  as  relates  to  commercial 
restrictions,  or  to  reprisals  on  the  commerce  of  France."  Here,  then, 
for  a  while  the  subject  rested  :  but  no  sooner  had  M.  Serrurier,  the  French 
ambassador  near  General  Jackson,  laid  an  expose  of  these  things,  as  ir 
duty  bound,  before  his  government,  than  he  was  abruptly  recalled  home 
Again  it  appears,  that  the  French  chambers,  emboldened  by  what  they 
fancied  to  be  a  spirit  of  opposition  in  the  American  people  to  the  meas 
ures  of  their  president,  resolved  that  he  should  apologize,  at  the  least,  for 
his  hauteur  of  manner  towards  them.  Our  minister  in  France,  Mr.  Liv 
ingston,  had  been  instructed,  in  the  event  of  the  French  chambers  refu- 
sing to  adjust  the  claims,  to  return  home  immediately,  in  a  ship  of  war 
which  would  be  dispatched  for  that  purpose.  The  money  was  not  re- 
fused ;  but  the  bill  granting  it  was  passed  with  a  clause  which  suspended 
payment  till  satisfactory  explanations  should  be  given  to  France  of  the 
President's  language.  Mr.  Livingston  consequently  returned  to  Wash- 
ington. The  president  met  Congress  in  December,  again,  and  of  course 
devoted  a  large  share  of  his  opening  address  to  these  things ;  after  a  due 
recapitulation,  the  general,  instead  of  abating  in  his  usual  candour  or  pe- 
culiar decisiveness,  wound  up  with  a  flourish  something  after  the  fashion 
following:  Proposition  1.  That  there  was  nothing  in  his  former  message 
that  required  explanation :  Proposition  2.  That  if  there  was,  he  should 
not  allow  a  foreign  power  to  require  it  ;  or  to  take  notice  of,  or  found 
demands  upon,  the  tenor  of  an  interior  communication  of  one  department 
of  the  American  government  with  another.  Here,  then,  affairs  were  ta- 
king a  new  posture ;  here,  again,  was  matter  for  a  supplementary  action 
in  the  French  chambers  :  and  we  were  once  more  in  the  way  to  be 
plunged  in  all  the  probabilities  of  a  prolonged  and  unavailing  warfare, 
equally  as  senseless  on  the  one  hand  as  the  other.  Now,  however,  at 
this  critical  juncture,  the  better  genius  of  both  countries  interposed,  and 
saved  them  from  themselves.  Thanks  to  the  immediate  interference 
of  bluff  William  IV.,  the  sailor-king  of  England,  who,  brave  and  humane 
alike,  now  proffered  to  the  mock-heroic  governments  his  mediation  be- 
tween them  ;  it  was  accepted,  and  everything  was  presently  arranged  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  parties  ;  long,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  so  to  continue. 

Amid  the  political  jarrings  and  discord  of  this  era,  an  occasional  bright 
relief  appears  upon  the  clouded  horizon.  Among  other  causes  of  congrat- 
ulation which  may  be  named,  we  find  a  statement  embodied  in  the  report 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  the  effect  that  the  government  of  the 
*'  great  and  prosperous  nation"  whose  financial  concerns  he  had  the  hon- 
our to  take  charge  of,  was  now  entirely  relieved  from  all  manner  of  co- 
ordinate liabilities :  "  and  the  United  States  now,"  said  the  honourable 
secretary,  "  presents  the  happy,  and,  probably,  in  modern  times  the  unpre- 
cedented spectacle,  of  a  people  substantially  free  from  the  smallest  por 
tion  of  public  debt." 

Both  the  tribes  of  the  Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  Indians  had  now  re- 
moved entirely  from  the  confines  of  the  states  of  Georgia  and  Alabama, 
and  their  yielded  territories  were  accordingly  offered  at  the  different  land- 
offices  for  sale.  Treaties  in  the  highest  degree  favourable,  alike  to  them 
and  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  were  in  process  of  fulfilment :  the 
chiefs  had  become  persuaded  as  well  of  the  superior  value  of  their  new 
territories,  as  of  other  advantages  derived  by  them  from  the  exchange. 
Thus  a  general  satisfaction  was  apparent,  which  was  considered  the  more 
remarkable  at  that  time,  as  it  was  directly  in  despite  of  the  loud  lamen 
tations  and  bewailments  of  the  party  of  those  unfortunate  gentlemen 


THE  TREJASURY  OF  HISTORY.  5I3 

Rev'd.  Messrs.  Butler  and  Worcester :  and  now  that  we  have  touched 
upon  the  subject,  it  may  be  as  well  to  mention,  that  these  men  were  mis- 
sionaries among  the  afore-named  tribes,  from  among  whom  they  were 
some  lime  previously  taken  by  the  authorities  of  the  state  of  Georgia,  on 
a  charge  of  indirectly  fomenting  disturbances,  and  creating  a  spirit  of  re- 
sistance particularly  hostile  to  the  constituted  authorities  of  that  state ; 
upon  this  accusation  they  were  tried,  found  guilty,  and  thrown  into  the 
state  penitentiary  ;  but  after  a  brief  incarceration,  they  were  released  by 
virtue  of  a  pardon  from  Governor  Lumpkin  ;  and  the  red  men  having  now 
peaceably  removed,  the  missionaries  were  permitted  to  return  to  their  for 
mer  field  of  labours,  where  we  presume  they  endeavoured,  with  accustom- 
ed and  very  commendable  assiduity,  to  instil  into  the  untutored  Indian's 
pliant  mind  an  admiration  for  the  astonishing  virtues  of  "civilized" 
people. 

Near  the  close  of  the  year,  an  unparalleled  conflagration  visited  the 
city  of  New-York,  the  effects  of  which  were  so  extensive  as  to  be  felt 
more  or  less  in  every  direction  throughout  the  land.  It  is  computed  that 
nearly  twenty  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  property  was  destroyed,  without 
estimating  the  injury  and  loss  from  individual  failures  and  suspension  of 
business.  The  fire  broke  out  early  on  the  night  of  the  16th  of  Decem- 
ber, the  thermometer  at  the  time  standing  at  zero  ;  of  course,  the  intensity 
of  cold  rendered  engines  and  hydrants  of  but  little  use,  though  the  devo- 
tion of  firemen  to  their  duties  still  shone  conspicuous  and  bright  as  ever. 
At  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  17th,  Lieutenant  Reynolds,  with  a 
detachment  of  marines  from  the  navy-yard  at  Brooklyn,  and  shortly  after 
Captain  Mix,  with  a  body  of  sailors  under  arms,  arrived  on  the  ground  ; 
they  rendered  very  essential  service,  in  guarding  property,  and  taking 
charge  of  a  quantity  of  gunpowder  brought  from  the  magazine  at  Red 
Hook  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  the  ravages  of  the  flames  by  explosion. 
After  the  devouring  element  had  swept  away  between  thirty  and  forty 
acres  of  substantial  buildings,  mostly  stores  filled  with  rich  merchandize, 
a  stop  was  put  to  the  further  spread  of  the  desolation,  by  making  use  of 
the  powder  and  exploding  certain  buildings.  As  an  instance  of  one  of 
the  uses  of  law,  it  may  be  mentioned,  that  the  owners  of  said  exploded 
buildings  subsequently  brought  suit  against  the  city  for  ;jllowing  their 
property  to  be  thus  destroyed,  and  damages  in  full  were  recovered. 

Among  the  names  of  the  dead  for  this  cycle  of  time,  are  to  be  seen  sev- 
eral that  have  filled  the  trumpet  of  fame.  In  Philadelphia,  Chief-justice 
John  Marshall,  of  Va.,  aged  80  ;  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  General  Wade  Hamp- 
ton, aged  81 ;  in  Connecticut,  Senator  Nathan  Smith,  aged  6G  ;  in  Tennes- 
see, Bishop  M'Kendree,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  aged  78;  in  N.  Y.,  Enoch 
Crosby,  the  original  of  Cooper's  "  Spy,"  aged  88 ;  at  Havana,  Commodore 
Henley,  U.  S.  N. ;  en  route  to  Spain,  William  T.  Barry,  American  minis- 
ter. In  Paris,  Admiral  de  Rigny ;  Bellini,  the  composer;  and  barons 
Dupuytren  and  Humboldt.  In  England,  William  Cobbett,  author ;  C 
Matthews,  comedian;  James  Hogg,  the  "  Ettrick  shepherd;"  Professor 
Malthus,  political  economist;  n\  Edinburgh,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers;  at 
Dublin,  Mrs.  Felicia  Hemans.  At  Vienna,  ^  67,  "his  imperial  majesty, 
Francis  II.,  emperor  of  Austria,  king  of  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Lombardy  and 
Venice,  and  president  of  the  German  confederation." 

A.  D.  1836. — Occasionally  the  annalist  finds  it  necessary  to  reach  alike 
backward  and  forward  into  the  mists  of  time,  in  order  to  trace  cor- 
rectly the  history  of  events  from  cause  to  consummation :  and  in  some 
instances,  though  rarely,  "the  intelligent  public"  may  justly  consider  it 
requisite  in  us  to  hazard  an  opinion  respecting  the  peculiar  merit  or 
blame-wortlnness  attached  by  diff'erent  schools  of  judges  to  difficult  acts 
or  actors.  Perhaps,  about  this  period  of  time,  there  was  no  more  fruit- 
ful iiource  of  angry  disputation,  than  the  war  in  Florida  ■  and,  indeed,  all 
33 


514  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 

things  considered,  there  could  scarcely  arise  a  more  painful  yet  uncertain 
theme,  or  one  presenting  any  similarly  strange  variety  of  aspects,  as  it 
whirled  scathing  and  bloodily  along. 

Years  elapsed,  yet  still  the  cruel  contest  raged  ;  the  silent  knife,  the 
midnight  flame,  and  the  indiscriminate  massacre  still  went  on  as  ever,  in 
defiance  of  the  power  of  a  mighty  nation,  with  men  of  much  renown  to 
head  her  armies.  Truly,  an  unbiassed  reader  is  half  tempted  to  believe, 
with  some  of  the  general  officers  who  failed  to  gather  laurels  in  that  dis- 
astrous region,  that  a  kind  of  dark  fatality  controlled  their  best  planned 
movements.  For  even  when,  by  some  intermission  in  their  usual  fate, 
officers  and  men  survived  the  war  and  pestilence  of  two  campaigns,  star- 
vation and  madness,  with  consequent  self-murder,  was  sure  to  sweep 
them  down  in  the  third.  And,  to  complete  the  picture,  when  the  Indians 
finally  threw  down  their  arms,  an  unexampled  mortality  destroyed  them  ; 
death  first  appearing  in  the  terrible  and  dreaded  form  of  small-pox,  and 
next  in  that  oi  steamboat  explosions. 

As  early  as  the  beginning  of  '34,  the  storm  of  war  began  to  brew  ;  and 
it  appears  but  too  plain,  that  its  seeds  were  sown  under  the  very  eyes  of 
men  sent  to  prevent  such  a  catastrophe,  and  who,  previously,  had  won  a 
name  for  vigilance  and  conduct.  General  Wiley  Thompson,  and  others, 
composed  the  agency  to  superintend  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from 
Florida,  in  conformity  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Payne's  Landing; 
they  had  already  experienced  much  difficulty,  a  majority  of  the  tribe  being 
stubbornly  opposed  to  removing,  and  several  of  the  more  influential  chiefs 
openly  denying  the  validity  of  their  former  agreement.  Osceola,  a  half- 
breed,  the  son  of  an  Englsh  man  and  Indian  woman,  now  came  into 
notice ;  he  was  already  distinguished  as  a  proud,  gloomy,  and  ambitious 
person,  and  he  now  keenly  judged  the  prevailing  dissatisfaction  in  his 
tribe  afforded  a  rare  opportunity  for  the  further  elevation  of  his  fortunes. 
Accordingly,  at  "  a  tallc"  in  the  camp  of  General  Thompson,  he  ventured 
liaugluily  to  assume,  upon  a  sudden,  that  the  red  men  were  the  only 
rightful  owners  of  the  soil,  and  the  whites  had  no  business  whatever  upon 
it.  For  this  "burst  of  eloquence"  he  was  put  in  irons,  and  suffered  a 
('ay's  imprisonment ;  at  the  end  of  which  he  was  released,  making  much 
profession  of  humility,  and  an  entire  acquiescence  in  the  existing  state  of 
things.  But,*  with  genuine  aboriginal  duplicity,  he  had  determined  upon 
deep  and  thorough  vengeance.  After  a  sufficient  delay  to  cover  his  inten- 
tions, the  warrior  set  out  upon  a  tour  among  the  neighbouring  tribes, 
(•irculating  the  war-belt  with  great  assiduity,  and  endeavouring  in  his  so- 
norous and  really  eloquent  style,  to  incite  a  general  rising  for  the  exter- 
mination of  the  whites  from  their  borders. 

la  '35,  he  passed  some  time  among  the  restless  and  quarrelsome  Creeks, 
wlio  were  easily  persuaded  to  join  in  the  promising  scheme.  And  it  was 
owing  altogether  to  the  machinations  of  this  wily  individual,  that  General 
!:;cott  was  forced,  in  April  of  this  year,  to  make  all  speed  to  their  terri- 
tory, when  the  battle  of  the  Chattahoochie  river,  in  Georgia  and  Alabama, 
was  the  result.  Much  praise  is  due  the  prudence  and  conciliating  tact  of 
vScott  on  this  occasion,  as  well  as  his  warlike  capabilities,  for,  by  ma- 
king various  trifling  concessions,  and  promising  more,  the  tribe  was 
pacified.  Thus  a  grand  link  in  Osceola's  chain  of  war  was  broken  ;  alas, 
tliat  no  power  was  found  sufficient  to  accomplish  as  much  elsewhere. 

The  first  act  of  the  endless  tragedy  opened  as  follows :  Major  Dade,  with 
a  detachment  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  men,  was  ordered,  on  the 
■23rd  Dec, '35,  from  head-quarters  at  Tampa  Bay  (Fort  Brooke^  to  join 
(General  Clinch  at  Camp  King,  a  station  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  on  the  route  towards  St.  Augustine.  The  general  was  urgently 
requiring  to  be  reinforced,  as  his  foes  were  daily  increasing  in  numbers 
and  audacity,  and  steadily  closing  around  him.     Major  Dade's  men  forced 


THE  treasuhy  of  history.  515 

their  way  over  two-thirds  of  the  distance,  experiencing  unexampled  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers,  the  roads  being  obstructed,  and  bridges  burned  by 
hostile  bands  before  them ;  but  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day,  and 
when  fondly  looking  for  their  journey's  end,  they  were  unexpectedly  am- 
bushed, and  volley  after  volley  from  unerring  ritles  poured  in  upon  them 
before  an  enemy  could  be  discovered.  A  solitary  man,  after  being  se- 
verely wounded,  by  feigning  death  escaped.  Thence  the  savages  pro- 
ceeded to  Camp  King,  and  a  like  scene  was  enacted  there,  at  the  sutlery, 
within  gunshot  of  the  blockhouse.  General  Thompson,  Lieut.  C.  Smith, 
Hogers,  the  sutler,  and  others,  were  at  dinner,  when  Osceola  and  his 
party  quietly  walked  in  and  shot  them  down,  and  after  leisurely  securing 
those  highly-prized  evidences  of  their  brutality,  the  scalps  of  the  victims, 
they  as  coolly,  and  without  molestation,  departed. 

A  more  even-handed  part  of  the  play  was  shortly  to  be  performed  :  and 
the  truth  of  that  portion  of  prophetic  lore  which  declares  "  they  who  kill 
with  the  sword  shall  themselves  likewise  perish,"  was  to  be  practically 
illustrated.  The  Indians  gaining  confidence  from  their  late  unchecked 
operations,  assembled  in  force  on  the  banks  of  the  Withlacoochee,  near 
Clinch's  position.  Aware  how  important  it  was  to  clear  the  communica- 
tion for  receival  of  his  supplies,  the  general  instantly  sallied  forth  to  dis- 
lodge the  menacing-  enemy.  After  a  hard  day's  fight  the  Indians  retreated, 
carrying  with  them  their  dead ;  the  loss  on  the  part  of  the  whites  was 
between  fifty  and  sixty,  killed  and  wounded.  An  incident  having  an  air 
of  romance,  is  stated  to  have  transpired  here :  Osceola,  who  commanded 
the  savage  array,  had  formerly  received  some  trifling  kindnesses  at  the 
hands  of  an  American  lieutenant,  who  was  now  observed  among  the  fore- 
most of  the  pale-faces,  leading  his  men  to  battle  ;  the  chief,  it  is  said,  at 
once  gave  orders  that  this  man  should  be  spared — but  that  every  other  offi- 
cer should  be  cut  down,  if  possible,  without  mercy.  At  all  events,  the 
friend  of  Osceola  escaped  unharmed  from  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  while  his 
compatriots,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  could  boast  no  such  immunity. 

Though  forced  to  retire,  the  Indians  were  by  no  means  discouraged 
yet ;  and  though  Clinch  had  come  off  victor  for  the  day,  his  triuniph  was 
dearly  bought,  and  he  was  still  in  danger  of  starvation.  Surrounded  by  a 
foe  the  most  implacable,  and  without  sufficient  means  to  attempt  cutting 
his  way  through  them,  messengers  were  dispatched  in  every  direction  for 
aid.  The  enlightened  and  useful  chief,  Charley  Omathla,  with  his  band 
of  friendly  Indians,  were  next  attacked  by  Osceola  and  murdered  :  so  that 
now  the  Americans  found  it  nearly  impossible  to  communicate  from  post 
to  post,  or  procure  an  emissary  able  to  thread  his  way  at  all  through  the 
beset  paths  of  the  forest.  At  the  end  of  a  month,  however,  assistance 
arrived.  General  Scott  landed  at  St.  Augustine  on  the  7th  of  February, 
and  was  approaching  Fort  Drane,  when  he  received  information  that  Gen- 
eral Gaines  had  also  landed,  upon  a  part  of  the  peninsula  nearer  Clinch, 
with  a  reinforcement  sufficient  for  every  purpose.  Scott  was  himself  or- 
dered to  proceed  forthwith  to  the  Creek  country,  which  he  did,  and  in  a 
short  time  quelled  the  disturbances  there,  as  before  mentioned.  Mean- 
while, the  second  battle  of  the  Withlacoochee  was  fought  between  Gaines 
and  the  savages,  when  the  former  proved  victorious,  and  relieved  Clinch. 
Immediately  thereafter,  disliking  Florida  service,  or  deeming  the  troubles 
ended,  General  Gaines  look  up  his  line  of  march  for  New  Orleans,  his 
former  quarters. 

General  Clinch,  unambitious  of  further  laurels,  about  the  same  time 
resigned  his  commission  and  went  into  retiracy.  General  R-  K.  Call, 
governor  of  the  territory,  then  assumed  command-in-chief,  and  proposed 
vigorously  to  prosecute  the  v/arfare  to  conclusion.  For  some  cause, 
however,  an  order  was  early  received  by  the  governor,  from  General  Ma- 
comb, at  head-quarters,  announcing  a  further  change  in  the  command- 


516  THE  TREASURY  OF  HIBTORY. 

Adjutant-general  Jesup  was  nominated  in  Iiis  stead,  much  to  the  dissatia 
faction  of  General  Call,  and  the  complete  discomfiture  of  his  extensively - 
made  arrangements.  Burning  with  zeal,.and  fdled  with  confidence  in  hi; 
own  abilities,  General  Jesup  determined  by  a  series  of  swift  and  brilliani 
movements  to  rid  fair,  fated  Florida  at  once  of  all  her  foes.  Judiciously 
planned  and  well  carried  into  execution,  were  his  first  measures:  bodies 
of  troops  were  thrown  among  the  Indian  villages,  and  kept  close  upon  the 
trail  of  the  war-parties.  The  result  of  this,  was  a  speedy  report  of  sev- 
eral battles,  almost  simultaneously,  in  difl'erent  quarters  of  the  country. 
First,  Col.  Henderson,  commanding  marines,  came  upon  the  enemy  sud- 
denly, near  the  head  waters  of  the  Ocklawaha,  when  a  severe  action  en- 
sued, in  which  the  chief  Osuchee,  or  Cooper,  fell,  his  warriors  being 
routed,  and  their  camp  equipage  taken.  A  few  days  later  the  same  corps 
encountered  a  party  of  the  enemy  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Hatchee-Lus- 
kee,  when  a  severe  masked  fight  took  place,  in  which  the  Indians  had  tlie 
worst  of  it,  though  they  managed  finally  to  escape  into  the  everglades, 
bearing  with  them  their  dead.  The  next  battle  of  the  season  (8th  Febru- 
ary, '37)  was  that  of  Lake  Monroe,  when  the  Indians  were  the  attacking 
party,  and  came  well  prepared.  They  assaulted  the  command  of  Col.  Fan- 
ning at  break  of  day,  on  all  points,  and  fought  with  the  greatest  intrepidity  ; 
but  were  eventually  repulsed,  though  not  until  they  had  wounded  many, 
and  killed  Captain  Mellon,  of  the  2d  artillery,  a  meritorious  officer,  who 
held  his  position  bravely  to  the  last. 

General  Jesup,  in  his  report  of  proceedings  about  this  date,  mentions 
coming  upon  the  Thlau-hatkee  (White  Mountains),  an  elevated  range  of 
hills  not  mentioned  by  any  geographer,  nor  described  in  any  account  of 
Florida  hitherto  published.  The  passage  of  his  scouring  parties  over 
these  ridges  was  exceedingly  difiicult,  rendering  the  transportation  of  bag- 
gage-wagons almost  impossible. 

Up  to  the  beginning  of  March,  '37,  the  contest  was  waged  with  much 
vigour  on  both  sides ;  but  the  chiefs  then  found  they  were  fas<  getting 
worsted,  and  they  therefore  proposed,  unitedly,  to  capitulate.  Jesup  at 
once  offered  them  favourable  terms,  when,  without  hesitation,  a  majority 
of  them  came  into  camp.  In  the  short  space  of  thirty  days  from  that 
time,  nearly  the  whole  disposable  force  of  the  savages,  with  their  women, 
chidren,  and  negroes,  were  comfortably  housed  in  the  different  forts, 
harmless,  and  apparently  contented,  awaiting  the  action  of  authorities  in 
regard  to  their  removal.  The  principal  chief,  Holatechee,  son  of  Mican- 
opy,  king  of  the  Seminoles,  came  in  ;  his  father  being  detained  at  home  by 
sickness,  sent  a  promise  that  he  would  also  soon  come.  At  the  same 
time  arrived  from  their  war-paths.  Cloud,  Jumper,  Jim  Boy,  and  Tuste- 
nuggee,  with  Abraham,  a  negro,  the  Talleyrand  of  the  savage  court ;  they 
all  and  severally  agreed  that  the  people  under  their  command  should  re- 
move as  soon  as  the  necessary  preparations  could  be  made.  Our  com- 
mander-in-chief, therefore,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  simplicity,  or  beguile- 
ment,  pronounced  the  war  ended  ;  and  he  began  at  once  the  arrangements 
which  were,  no  doubt,  kindly  intended  to  separate  for  ever  the  sons  of 
the  forest  from  the  scenes  of  all  their  earlier  joys  and  sorrows — as  well 
as  to  relieve  his  own  men  for  a  season  from  their  arduous  but  well-per- 
formed duties.  Transports  were  ordered  in  readiness,  the  commissary's 
department  largely  drawn  upon,  and  everything  appeared  in  a  fair  train  of 
completion,  when,  alas  !  a  most  unfortunate  mterruption  put  a  period  to 
these  promising  plans. 

Jesup  certainly  did  much,  perhaps  more  than  any  one  else,  towards 
quelling  the  storm  which  was  desolating  Florida  when  he  landed  upon 
its  shores  ;  but  he  had  evidently  yet  to  learn  what  a  hydra-headed  descrip- 
tion of  monster  "  the  war"  in  reality  was.  No  sooner  had  the  sickh' 
season  commenced,  and  the  unacclimated  soldiers  begun  to  fall  victims 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  5I7 

to  it — than  the  Indians,  with  their  accustomed  cool  and  keen  perception  of 
matters  and  things,  began  themselves  to  make  preparations  for  leaving — 
though  not  exactly  for  the  "far-west."  Thus,  be  it  understood,  after 
having  for  three  months  been  housed,  clothed,  and  provisioned  in  the  dif- 
ferent garrisons,  besides  receiving  various  flattering  compliments  on  ac- 
count of  their  submissive  and  proper  spirit,  these  gentlemanly  savages, 
unconquered  as  ever,  took  occasion  one  morning  in  a  quiet  and  unobtru- 
sive manner  to  decamp  back  into  their  native  woods  again.  And  it  is, 
perhaps,  vastly  to  be  regretted  that  the  parties  did  not  here  cry  quits,  and 
let  the  matter  drop.  It  would  seem,  instead  of  this,  that  the  red-men,  ia 
spite  of  their  characteristic  gravity  and  their  boasted  equanimity  of  tem- 
per, were  considerably  elated  with  the  idea  of  their  own  successful  shrewd- 
ness, and  fully  determined  upon  doing  something  else  which  would  ap- 
pear smart.  On  the  other  hand,  their  innocent-hearted  entertainers  were 
not  all  pleased  with  their  own  reflections  ;  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they 
were  a  little  vexed  at  being  in  this  unmitigated  manner  outwitte.d — and 
were  unanimously  resolved  upon  revenging  themselves — if  an  opportunity 
occurred.  As  for  the  general-in-chief,  he  felt  unreasonably  chagrined ; 
and,  regardless  of  all  the  honours  previously  achieved  in  that  redoubtable 
campaign,  he  directly  wrote  home  for  permission  to  resign  both  the  glory 
and  his  baton  of  command.  This  was  cruelly  refused  him  :  whereupon, 
in  defiance  of  circumstances  and  the  season,  he  commenced  with  renewed 
energy  to  wage  war  against  the  savages.  Bands  were  equipped  and  sent 
forth  with  the  severest  intentions — being  ordered  to  ferret  out  the  foe 
from  his  recesses,  and  force  an  instant  combat.  Simultaneously,  hostile 
movements  were  made  on  the  other  side;  troops  of  Indians  were  seen 
hovering  about  Picolata  and  Volusia,  and  the  inhabitants  were  in  hourly 
expectation  of  an  attack.  The  impending  danger  was  deemed  great,  and 
volunteers  were  solicited  from  the  neighbouring  states,  which  solicitation 
was  promptly  complied  with,  so  that  everything  again  betokened  blood- 
shed and  devastation. 

While  these  spirited  scenes  were  being  enacted,  a  runner  from  the  aged 
chief  Micanopy  arrived  before  General  Jesup,  bringing  the  information 
that  his  men  were  not  hostile,  but  had  been  compelled  to  the  course  they 
had  adopted,  of  quietly  leaving  the  garrisons,  by  threats  from  Osceola's 
powerful  gang,  which  was  now  moving  in  company  with  the  fierce  and 
numerous  bands  of  Micasukies  under  Sam  Jones,  none  of  which  had  as 
yet  been  persuaded  to  "come  in."  It  was  further  stated  that  a  dissension 
had  arisen  among  the  adverse  Indians,  and  that  various  chiefs  and  sub- 
chiefs  had  been  cut  to  pieces  in  the  fray,  the  shrewd  leader  Wild  Cat,  with 
Tigertail,  Black  Dirt,  and  AlHgator,  being  named  as  the  principal  sufferers. 
This,  however,  was  found  subsequently  to  be  merely  a  ruse  of  the  red 
diplomatists,  for  the  purpose  of  lulling  the  pale-faces  into  a  false  security. 

About  this  time  an  additional  interest  was  added  to  the  entire  question, 
by  an  unexpected  outbreaking  of  jealousies  and  recrimination  between 
illustrious  ex-commanders.  Certain  of  those  potent  and  grave  generals 
so  far  forgot  themselves,  indeed,  as  to  appeal  in  moving  epistles  of  six 
columns'  length,  through  the  public  papers,  to  the  favourable  feelings  and 
sympathising  judgment  of  that  long-iniie-hallowed  and  magniloquent  tri- 
bunal, "  the  people."  Most  of  the  ofiicers  concerned  in  Florida  affairs 
appeared,  successively,  on  the  arena,  in  his  own  defence,  whether  accused 
or  not;  and  even  General  Cass,  being  at  the  time  absent  in  France  as 
American  minister,  thought  the  subject  of  sufficient  moment  to  call  for  the 
production  of  an  elaborate  paper  from  himself,  in  vindication  of  his  course 
while  secretary  at  war.  General  Clinch,  considering  his  conduct  im- 
pugned by  this  document  of  the  ex-secretary,  replied  to  it  with  much  as- 
perity ;  and  other  appeals,  equally  interesting,  followed  in  rotation.  Per- 
haps, however,  the  most  readable  matter  in  this  connection  was  a  corres- 


518  THE  TEEASURY  OF  HISTOIiY. 

pondence  which  was  published  derisively  in  juxtaposition,  intending  to 
throw  ridicule  upon  General  Jesup,  the  cream  of  which  is  here  given  : 

"  To  the  commander-in-chief,  at  Washington  : 

"  The  Florida  war  ought  to  liave  been  ended  a  week  ago  :  I  was  in  full  march 
with  a  force  sufficient  to  have  terminated  the  war  in  five  days,  when  my  progress 
was  arrested  by  an  order  from  General  Scott." 

General  Jesup,  June  20,  133 

President  Jackson. 


'  Let  General  Jesup  assume  the  command 


"  To  the  Honourable,  the  Secretary  at  War  : 

"  The  prosj^ect  of  terminating  this  war  in  any  reasonable  time,  is  anything  but 
flattering." 

General  Jesup,  again,  Feb.  11,  1838. 

Justice  to  this  extra-sanguine  officer,  demands  a  further  exposition  of 
his  views  and  feelings.  Hear  him,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  1837, 
hold  the  following  language-explanatory,  in  a  report  to  Mr.  Secretary 
Poinsett:  "If  I  have  at  any  time,"  he  commences, "said  aught  in  dispar- 
agement of  the  operations  of  others  in  Florida,  either  verbally  or  in  writ- 
ing, official  or  unofficial,  knowing  the  country  as  I  now  know  it,  I  consider 
myself  bound,  as  a  man  of  honour,  solemnly  to  retract  it."  This  is  cer- 
tainly frank  and  above-board :  experience  is  the  mother  of  wisdom — and 
the  general  was  not  ashamed  to  admit  he  had  profited  by  her  teachings. 
The  skirmishes  which  followed  his  new  assaults  upon  the  enemy  were 
numerous ;  but  nothing  of  a  decisive  character  occurred  up  to  the  battle 
of  Mosquito,  which  took  place  in  August,  1837,  General  Hernandez  com- 
manding. The  American  forces  came  upon  the  Indians  in  their  camp, 
and  by  the  impetuosity  of  their  attack  succeeded  in  capturing  both  the 
chiefs  Philip  and  Euchee  Billy,  and  entirely  dispersing  their  associates. 
This  was  not  accomplished,  however,  without  the  loss  of  the  brave  lieu- 
tenant M'Niel,  of  the  dragoons,  who  fell,  with  others  of  conspicious  merit, 
in  the  heat  of  the  action. 

Pity  that  people  can  be  so  often  misled  as  they  are,  in  estimating  the 
deeds  of  men.  Perhaps  the  most  important  and  really  praiseworthy  event 
which  has  been  brought  about  in  Florida,  was  the  capture  of  Osceola ; 
advantageous  alike  to  himself  and  people,  the  settlers  upon  the  blood- 
stained soil,  and  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Yet  no  men  were 
ever  more  completely  victimized,  than  those  who  projected,  or  permitted 
the  completion  of  this  fine  stroke  of  policy.  The  denunciatory  invectives 
which  were  incontinently  showered  down  upon  them,  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  must  have  been  regarded  with  no  little  wonder  by  the  reasoning 
part  of  community.  Without  doubt,  no  positively  dishonourable  act  would 
have  provoked  the  same  vituperation  and  blame  from  the  same  quarters ; 
for  that  class  of  pseudo-philanthropists  who  are  so  fond  of  attempting  to 
regulate  the  public  conduct  always  confine  their  fault-finding  to  extremely 
doubtful  cases.  Here,  now,  was  the  prime  mover  of  all  the  murder  and 
massacre  which  had  reigned  in  the  land,  the  spiller  of  torrents  of  innocent 
blood,  the  breaker  of  treaties,  the  violater  of  his  own  flag  of  truce,  peace- 
ably apprehended  and  held,  for  his  own  as  well  as  others'  safety :  here 
was  a  man  uniting  in  his  own  person  extraordinary  duplicity  and  deter- 
mination, a  combination  of  valour  and  villainy  dangerous  in  the  extreme 
to  society,  who  was  taken  in  custody  without  a  blow  being  struck,  or  any 
conflict  with  or  infringment  upon  the  conventional  rules  of  right.  There 
can  be  no  cause  whatever  assigned,  why  this  man  and  his  desperadoes 
should  not  have  been  taken  precisely  as  they  were  taken,  and  held  as  they 
were  held.  No  injury  or  insult  was  offered,  nnr  any  manner  of  injustice 
practised.      No  object  was  desired  by  their  captors  save  lo  place  u  bar  to 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  519 

the  escape  of  the  lawless  to  their  former  haunts  and  former  habits  of  pil- 
lage and  defiance;  this  was  accomplished — nothing  more. 

Osceola,  then,  with  eighty  of  his  most  distinguished  followers,  were 
together  captured,  on  the  22d  of  October,  '37.  General  Hernandez  and 
Major  Plimpton  were  the  active  agents  on  this  occasion,  and  by  the  ce- 
lerity of  their  movements,  and  cool  and  decided  action,  rendered  them- 
selves conspicuous.  They  proved  themselves  efficient  men.  The  In- 
dians had  been  gathered  together  for  council — armed  to  the  teeth,  how- 
ever— when  a  large  body  of  dragoons  appeared  from  every  quarter  around 
them,  and  without  a  word  proceeded  to  relieve  the  warriors  of  their 
weapons ;  the  sudden  and  unexpected  nature  of  the  operation  of  course 
precluding  the  possibility  of  resistance.  To  prevent  mishaps,  General 
Jesup  directly  transferred  the  majority  of  them  on  board  such  vessels  as 
could  be  obtained,  and  Osceola  and  his  party  were  conveyed  to  Charles- 
ton harbour;  here,  for  safe  keeping,  they  were  deposited  within  the  com- 
fortable precincts  of  Fort  Moultrie,  where  all  their  wants  were  daily  at- 
tended to.  Most  unfortunately,  however,  a  few  months  after  their  arri- 
val, in  February,  '38,  Osceol  died.  His  complaint  was  inflammation  of 
the  throat,  resembling  quinzy  ;  but  his  death  was  undoubtedly  hastened 
by  his  stubbornly  rejecting  all  proper  medical  treatment  in  favour  of  the 
mummeries  of  his  own  medicine-man  or  prophet.  Now,  again,  was  seen 
fresh  cause  for  striking  up  a  new  alarum  in  the  various  sympathizing 
partisan  papers  of  the  day  : 

Directly  subsequent  to  the  taking  of  Osceola  and  his  company,  an  ener- 
getic demonstration  was  made  by  General  Jesup,  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing to  a  speedy  close  this  tedious  war.  But  its  cameleon-like  character 
was  now  more  apparent  than  ever  ;  for,  after  chasing  the  hostiles  through 
fen  and  morass,  thicket  and  glade,  while  their  only  aim  seemed  escape, 
ihey  suddenly  changed  their  evolutions  and  the  aspect  of  affairs.  They 
presented  themselves  in  number  on  the  banks  of  the  lake  Okee-Chobee. 
and  yelling  their  war-cry,  sprang  like  mountain-cats  fiercely  into  the 
midst  of  their  assailants.  Certain  of  them  being  in  ambush,  managed  at 
the  very  commencement  of  the  action  to  pick  off  several  important  offi- 
cers, hoping  thus,  probably,  to  disarrange  the  plans  of  the  whites  and 
create  a  panic.  Colonels  Thompson  and  Gentry,  of  the  1st  regulars,  and 
2d  Mississippi  volunteers,  as  well  as  Captain  Sumner  and  Lieutenants 
Brooke  and  Center,  were  alike  the  victims.  They  were  good  men  and 
true,  and  held  in  high  esteem  by  all  to  whom  they  were  known,  and  their 
early  loss,  instead  of  quenching  the  ardour  of  their  troops,  added  fuel  to 
the  flame  of  their  resentment,  and  the  yrushed  on  determinedly  to  victory. 
The  ground  was  disputed  foot  by  foot,  and  the  contest  raged  incessantly 
for  hours  ;  but  the  Indians  were  at  length  completely  routed — tliough  not 
without  an  expense  to  the  whites  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  of  their 
number  killed  and  wounded.  This  was  on  the  25th  of  December,  '37. 
Colonel  Taylor  being  principal  in  command. 

Another  affair  occurred  shortly  after  this,  in  January,  '38,  when  a  body 
of  men  under  Jesup  in  person  attacked  an  Indian  encampment  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Locha  Hatchee.  The  fight  which  ensued  was  severe, 
a  considerable  number  of  warriors  being  gathered  together,  who  resisted 
desperately  ;  but  they  were  at  length  compelled  to  give  way,  with  mate- 
rial loss.  On  the  side  of  the  assailants,  from  thirty  to  forty  were  killed 
and  wounded,  among  the  latter  of  whom  was  General  Jesup  himself,  v/ho 
received  a  severe  flesh  wound  in  the  face.  In  the  sam.e  month,  a  contest 
resulting  disadvantageously  to  the  whites  took  place  on  Jupiter  river. 
Lieutenant  Powell,  of  the  navy,  with  a  small  force  of  sailors  and  marinee, 
had  been  ordered  to  proceed  from  Fort  Pierce  and  examine  the  south  la- 
goon of  Indian  river  as  far  as  Jupiter  inlet ;  and  while  accomplishing  this 
task,  he  discovered  marks  of  receii*  Indian  occupation,  and  immediatelv 


520  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

went  in  pursuit.  Tlie  foe  was  soon  overtaken,  and,  turning-  upon  their  pur- 
suers, proved  to  be  far  superior,  both  in  numbers  and  supply  of  ammu- 
nition ;  a  retreat  was  of  course  ordered,  and  the  late  sanguine  attackers 
found  safety  in  their  boats. 

General  Jesup  now  transferred  his  command  to  Colonel  Taylor,  Ist 
infantry,  and  liimself  returned  to  Washington.  His  closing  report  was 
called  for,  and  laid  before  Congress  in  its  session  of  '38,  and  after  a  proper 
consideration  of  circumstances  voted  satisfactory.  The  general  had  been 
actively  engaged  in  that  unmanageable  and  thankless  Florida  service  for 
nearly  two  years ;  had  captured  and  secured  some  seven  thousand  of  the 
irreconcilables — his  policy  being  to  avoid  as  much  as  possible  the  destruc- 
tion of  life  ;  his  field  of  operations  had  extended  over  more  than  five  de- 
grees of  latitude,  and  to  cover  a  country  so  vast  he  had  found  it  neces- 
sary to  establish  no  less  than  forty  forts,  working  from  a  base  at  Char- 
lotte's harbour  by  way  of  the  Suwannee  to  St.  Augustine,  upwards  of 
three  hundred  miles.  The  concluding  paragraph  of  the  report  is  partic- 
ularly terse  :  "  If"  says  the  general,  "  our  operations  have  fallen  short  of 
public  expectation,  it  should  be  remembered  that  we  were  attempting  that 
which  no  other  army  of  our  country  had  ever  before  been  required  to  do. 
1  and  my  predecessors  in  command  were  not  only  required  to  fight,  beat, 
and  drive  the  enemy  before  us,  but  to  go  into  an  unexplored  wilderness 
and  catch  them.  Neither  Wayne,  Harrison,  nor  Jackson  was  required  to 
do  this ;  and  unless  the  objects  to  be  accomplished  resemble  each  other, 
there  can  be  no  just  comparison  as  to  the  results.'' 

Nothing  of  interest  occurred  in  Florida  for  some  time  after  the  leaving 
of  Jesup.  Oflicers  busied  themselves  with  the  minutiae  of  affairs,  awaiting 
the  action  of  government  in  regard  to  important  proceedings.  On  the  5th 
of"  April,  1839,  General  Macomb  himself  appeared  on  the  scene  of  action, 
and  visited  successively  the  head-quarters  of  Colonel  Taylor  and  other 
principal  posts.  The  object  of  the  commander  was  not,  however,  to  sug- 
gest alterations  or  supplant  authorities  ;  his  aim  was  altogether  of  a  pa- 
cificatory character,  he  having  sagaciously  determined  to  eschew  fighting 
and  conquer  by  treaties.  Or,  rather,  in  the  expressive  phraseology  of  the 
newspapers,  "he  went  there  to  be  'humbugged'  in  behalf  of  the  United 
States,"  by  a  few  shrewd  individuals  claiming  to  act  for  the  Seminole 
tribe;  but  who,  eventually,  proved  to  be  persons  entirely  unauthorized, 
and  who  were,  probably,  instigated  to  the  agreement  only  on  account  of 
their  latent  preference  for  the  comfortable  provisioning  and  "hell-water" 
which  they  knew  would  be  dealt  out  to  them  at  the  garrisons,  to  sharing 
in  the  precarious  subsistence  of  their  more  patriotic  brethren.  At  all 
events,  the  general  was  induced  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  Chitto 
Tustennuggee  and  Blue  Snake,  by  which  they  concluded  the  war,  and 
agreed  the  Indians  should  remove  at  their  earliest  convenience,  certainly, 
to  that  dreaded  new  home  of  theirs  west  of  the  Mississippi.  General 
Macomb  seems  to  have  placed  implicit  confidence  in  the  good  faith  and 
ability  of  these  new  negotiators ;  for  he  soon  left  the  peninsula  for 
Washington,  and  added  one  more  to  the  list  of  reports  that  the  war  was 
finally  ended. 

Sad  to  say,  the  first  fruits  of  this  arrangement,  by  which  the  general-in- 
chief  seems  to  have  been  completely  beguiled,  was  a  most  lamentable  dis- 
aster. On  the  23d  of  July,  1839,  a  company  of  Colonel  Harney's  dragoons, 
being  deceived  by  the  plausible  character  of  the  treaty,  encamped  them- 
selves carelessly  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  Coleosahatchee.  At  mid- 
night, in  a  storm,  they  were  surprised  and  cut  to  pieces,  nearly  all  being 
either  killed  or  driven  into  the  river.  Directly  subsequent  to  this  new  act 
in  the  tragedy,  a  proposition  was  made  to  import  bloodhounds  from  Cuba, 
to  assist  in  conquering  the  invincible  handful  of  savages.  Now  he  it  un- 
derstood, this  project  was  an  emanation  entirely  from  the  brains  o/f  ar  few 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  521 

Floridians,  and  was  by  them  attempted  to  be  carried  into  effect ;  although 
at  the  time,  so  favourable  an  opportunity  for  getting  up  an  exhibition  of 
fictitious  amaze  and^nimadversion  could  not  be  let  pass  by  that  portion 
of  the  public  press  opposed  to  the  existing  administration  of  government. 

About  the  1st  of  January,  1840,  a  schooner  chartered  for  the  "horrible 
purpose"  was  despatched  to  Cuba  by  order  of  the  governor  of  Florida, 
without  the  consent  or  knowledge  of  any  acting  United  States'  authorities  ; 
and  presently  returned,  having  on  board  thirty-eight  bloodhounds,  full- 
grown  and  well-conditioned.  They  were  speedily  put  upon  scent  of  di- 
vers Indian  scouting-parties,  but,  strange  to  tell,  from  some  cause  or  other 
disliking  the  service,  they  refused  to  answer  the  expectations  of  their  im- 
porters, and  proved  utterly  inefficient.  Not  a  dog  could  be  induced  to  op- 
erate at  all  against  the  Indians ;  the  Seminoles  in  particular  appeared  to 
be  a  species  of  game  the  Cuban  hounds  were  altogether  unaccustomed  to  ; 
and  it  would  seem  they  had  no  desire  to  make  rare  additions  to  their  pre- 
vious knowledge  in  hunting,  or  form  discursive  acquaintances  with  new  and 
strange  objects— or  lend  their  countenance  in  any  way  to  such  unusual 
speculations  as  they  were  now  called  upon  to  engage  in. 

Few  instances  are  recorded  of  Indians  exhibiting  the  tenderer  feelings  ; 
but  that  they  do  sometimes  so  far  forget  themselves  as  to  appear  human, 
would  seem  to  be  evidenced  in  the  following  case,  related  in  an  extract  of 
a  letter  from  an  officer  serving  in  Florida  about  these  days : — "We  lately 
played  the  grab  game  with  another  Indian  encampment,  coming  upon  them 
silently,  in  the  night,  with  a  superior  force.  Leaving  Fort  Jupiter  about 
2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  we  arrived  at  their  village  just  previous  to  the 
breaking  of  day,  and  took,  without  the  slightest  difficulty,  five  hundred 
and  twelve  of  the  banditti.  Colonel  Bankhead  is  now  in  pursuit  of  another 
body  of  them  under  Sam  Jones,  and  will,  without  doubt,  sljorlly  overtake, 
surround,  and  capture  the  whole  of  them.  Colonel  Twiggs  is  in  command 
towards  the  Atlantic,  and  has  his  head-quarters  at  Garey's  Ferry,  from 
whence,  we  understand,  he  is  sending  out  forces  sufficient  to  clear  that 
section  of  country  in  the  shortest  space  of  time.  But  I  must  not  forget 
to  mention  to  you  a  singular,  though  perhaps  trifling,  circumstance,  which 
surprised  us  a  great  deal — being  nothing  less  than  an  Indian  exhibiting 
feeling ! — and  a  chief  and  great  "brave"  at  that.  You  might  have  learned, 
heretofore,  that  the  renowned  "Alligator"  and  his  band  delivered  them- 
selves up  at  Fort  Bassinger  on  the  4th  of  last  April ;  well,  the  peculiarities 
of  the  case  were  as  follows  :  Some  six  weeks  previous  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  that  event,  a  scouting  party  of  ours  chanced  to  overtake  a  small 
body  of  flying  Indians,  consisting  mostly  of  squaws  and  children — which 
were  of  course  captured  and  brought  in — when  one  of  the  children,  a 
sprightly  little  girl  of  six  years,  proved  to  be  the  "papoose,"  and  only 
child,  it  was  said,  of  Alligator.  This  chief  had  latterly  so  chosen  his  po- 
sition, and  disposed  his  force,  as  to  be  for  the  time  unapproachable ;  occu- 
pying with  light  canoes  the  miry,  shallow  creeks,  and  matted  brakes  upon 
their  borders  :  a  flag  was  sent  him  by  our  general,  which  he  fired  upon, 
and  refused  to  recognize ;  but  it  seems  he  afterwards  relented,  for  he 
came  in  alone  and  requested  a  talk.  No  accommodation  of  difllculties 
appeared  likely  to  be  arrived  at,  when,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  argument 
his  little  daughter  was  shown  in  and  given  up  to  him.  Instantly  the  fierce 
savage  was  unmanned;  he  took  the  child  up  in  his  arms,  and  embraced 
her  with  tears;  and  in  less  than  an  hour  after,  had  despatched  messengers 
with  a  command  to  his  troop  to  come  indiscriminately  in  and  surrender, 
which  they  did,  though  with  manifest  reluctance,  and  no  little  misgiving.'' 

In  fine,  this  war  lingered  along  for  nearly  six  years ;  it  was  only  dis- 
posed of  hardly,  and  by  piecemeal,  with  an  expense  of  much  suffering  and 
sorrow  to  all  in  any  way  therewith  connected  ;  it  cost  the  United  States 
upwards  of  fifty  millions  of  money,  besides  the  lives  of  a  vast  number  of 


522  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

men,  as  well  as  some  of  her  ablest  officers  and  most  valuable  citizens. 
We  can  now  only  regret  the  past,  and  prepare  to  guard  against  anything 
of  a  like  nature  for  the  future.  Lieutenant  Reynolds,  of  Marines,  was 
despatched  by  government  from  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  the  21si 
of  April,  having  in  charge  the  principal  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Sem- 
inoles,  with  their  families,  all  at  length  gatliered  together  on  that  dreaded 
and  sc  long  delayed  voyage  to  the  distant  west.  In  the  same  month  the 
House  of  Representatives  voted  a  sword  to  Colonel  Henderson,  com- 
mandant U.  S.  M.  C,  for  the  able  manner  in  which  he  had  conducted  the 
operations  of  his  corps,  whose  services  he  had  volunteered,  and  headed 
in  person  through  an  arduous  campaign  in  Florida.  Colonel  Worth,  an 
officer  already  somewhat  honourably  distinguished  in  the  history  of  his 
country's  struggles,  was  deputed  to  wind  up  the  details  of  this  painful  and 
unprecedented  affair.  In  his  hands  Florida  again  resumed  her  course  of 
improvement ;  and  under  his  superintendence  her  soil  was  finally  relieved 
of  those  terrible  bands  of  misguided  red-men,  who  had  so  long  and  so 
fearfully  scourged,  without  discrimination,  the  innocent  and  the  guilty 
within  her  borders. 

In  this  year  Congress  adopted  several  important  measures ;  some  of 
■which,  being  considered  of  a  political  character,  bade  fair  to  set  adverse 
schools  of  politicians  together  by  the  ears.  The  "  Distribution  of  the  sur- 
plus revenue  among  the  states,"  for  instance,  became  a  law;  and  while 
many  citizens  were  warmly  in  favour  of  such  a  disposition  of  the  public 
money,  and  fully  convinced  of  the  entire  correctness  and  utility  of  the  act, 
others  were  as  completely  persuaded  to  the  contrary.  Some  states  by 
their  legislatures  went  so  far,  even,  as  to  refuse  to  accept  of  their  portion 
of  the  public  funds;  while  the  little  but  spirited  commonwealth  of  New- 
Hampshire  sneeringly  made  a  present  to  the  general  government  of  the 
amount  falling  to  her. 

Another  cause  of  complaint  was  the  celebrated  "specie  circular." 
Owing  to  large  losses  incurred  in  the  land  office,  from  the  depreciated 
character  of  western  and  southern  paper  currency  (which,  by  the  way, 
was  daily  growing  worse,  and  spreading  a  panic  in  every  direction),  the  gov- 
ernment thought  it  necessary  in  self-defence  to  adopt  some  such  measure. 
Accordingly,  on  the  11th  of  July,  1836,  the  receivers  of  public  money 
were  instructed  by  a  circular  from  the  Treasury  Department,  to  receive 
nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  or  that  which  was  immediately  convertible, 
in  payment  for  public  lands.  No  sales  were  allowed  to  be  made,  either, 
except  in  a  limited  degree,  and  to  those  who  should  become,  within  a  given 
period,  actual  settlers.  This  was  considered  by  many  an  arbitrary  in 
fringement  upon  the  customary  way  of  doing  things  ;  a  bold  violation  ol 
an  established  practice — and  therefore  in  the  highest  degree  reprehensible. 
Indeed,  so  great  was  the  clamour  for  repeal  of  this  obnoxious  regulation, 
that  it  was  presently  found  necessary  to  be  very  greatly  modified. 

"The  removal  of  the  deposits"  was  another  political  firebrand  now  finally 
disposed  of.  Congress,  after  long  agony,  concluded  to  sanction  the  formerly 
much-reprobated  procedure ;  and  thus  was  General  Jackson,  who  "as- 
sumed the  responsibility"  of  the  act — regardless  alike  of  remonstrances 
and  threats,  and  they  were  certainly  bestowed  upon  him  with  a  plentiful 
ness  the  most  remarkable — finally  exonerated  from  all  weight  of  blame. 

In  December,  a  disastrous  fire  broke  out  in  Washington,  which  con 
sumed  a  number  of  public  as  well  as  private  buildings.  The  United  States 
general  post-office,  and  that  of  Washington  city,  with  the  greater  part  oi 
tneir  contents,  were  destroyed,  as  also  the  patent  office,  with  the  whok 
of  its  invaluable  collection  of  rare  and  curious  models  of  every  description 

One  thought  for  the  departed. — In  Florida,  this  year,  of  massacre,  pes 
jilence,  and  famine,  a  thousand  men  were  slain,  with  proportionate  v/omer 
and  children.     At  his  seat  near  Montpelicr,  Virginia,  June  28th,  ex-pres 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  523 

idenl  James  Madison  died,  ^  85.     At  Red-Hook,  near  New- York,  Edward 
Livingston,  late  Secretary  of  State  for  the  United  States,  minister  to^ 
France,  etc.    In  New-York,  General  Jacob  Morton.    In  Brooklyn,  New-' 
York,  Colonel  J.  M.  Gamble,  of  the  Marine  Corps.     At  Sandy  Hill,  New 
York,  Lieutenant-governor  Nathaniel  Pitcher.     In  Pennsylvania,  m  8S, 
Bishop  White,  of  the  Episcopal  Church.      On  Staten  Island,  Septenibei 
I3th,  at  the  age  of  81,  Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  celebrated  as  a  politician.     In 
Indiana,  Colonel  Francis  Vigo,  celebrated  as  a  patriot.     In  Texas,  at  the 
massacre  of  the  Alamo,  March  1st,  colonels  Bowie,  Travis,  and  Crockett, 
In  Delaware,  Governor  Bennett.     Of  the  United  States'  Senate,  R.  H 
Goldsborough,  from  Maryland.     Of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Messrs, 
Dickson,  of  Mississippi ;    Coflee,  of  Georgia  ;    and  Kinnard,  of  Indiana 
In  London,  George  Coleman  the  younger,  aged  74.     In  Manchester,  Eng 
land,  Madame  Malibran,  vocalist,  je  28.     In  Edinburgh,  Sir  J.  Sinclair 
In  Germany,  Baron  N.  M.  Rothschild,  tnillionaire,  of  London.     In  Rome, 
"the  holy  city,"  Cardinal  Cheverus,  formerly  of  Boston.     In  Paris,  I'Abbe 
Sieyes,  m  88.     In  France,  during  the  month  of  November,  sixty-six  per- 
sons by  suicide.     At  lllyria,  in  exile,  Charles  X.,  formerly  king  of  France. 

A.  D.  1837. — On  the  4th  of  March,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  of  New-York,  and 
Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  became  president  and  vice-president 
of  the  United  States.  This  result,  although  the  election  was  narrowly 
contested,  was  looked  upon  as  a  triumph  of  the  Jackson-democracy  ;  and, 
indeed,  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration  was,  in  its  general  policy,  a  con- 
tinuation of  that  of  his  predecessor.  His  cabinet  consisted  of  John  For- 
syth, of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New-Hampshire, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  of  South-Carolina,  Secretary 
of  War;  James  K.  Paulding,  of  New-York,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Amos 
Kendall,  of  Kentucky,  Postmaster  General ;  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  New- 
York,  Attorney  General.  The  great  aim  of  the  •'  favourite  son  of  New- 
York,"  seemed  unquestionably  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  "old 
hero  ;"  and  to  an  undue  and  determined  pressure  upon  the  people  of  a  cer- 
tain democratic  measure,  having  in  view  a  further  "  reform  of  the  cur- 
rency," Mr.  Van  Buren  owes  his  subsequent  political  overthrow.  The 
whole  strength  of  the  party  proved  insufficient  to  sustain  the  weight  of 
his  fatal  sub-treasury  scheme. 

As  if  to  add  to  the  confusion  of  the  times,  no  sooner  had  this  adminis- 
tration assumed  the  reins,  than  the  country  was  overwhelmed  by  one  of 
the  most  seveie  commercial  revulsions  ever  known.  Everywhere  in 
the  nation  a  fictitious  enlargement  of  business  had  been  permitted,  and 
now  the  reaction,  which  in  all  such  cases,  sooner  or  later  must  come, 
took  place  with  fearful  force.  As  early  as  1833  a  derangement  had 
been  felt,  and  a  further  extension  of  business  upon  an  uncertain  founda- 
tion was  then  by  all  men  of  moderation  deprecated ;  but  the  operations 
were  nevertheless  continued — immense  importations  of  foreign  goods 
were  made — and  real  estate,  especially  lots  in  cities  and  towns,  went  up 
a  hundred  fold,  not  to  say  in  many  cases  a  thousand  fold,  beyond  its  in- 
trinsic value.  A  multitude  of  state  banks,  which  had  been  created  upon 
the  winding  up  of  the  mammoth  United  States'  institution,  wese  likewise 
involved  in  the  manifold  speculations,  and  a  consequent  excessive  expan- 
sion of  their  currency  ensued,  contributing  to  make  matters  much  worse. 
Operations  of  great  magnitude  were  undertaken  by  companies  of  various 
discriptions,  chartered  and  unchartered ;  enormous  public  works  were 
commenced,  and  states  as  well  as  smaller  compacts  were  involved.  Even 
staid  and  sober  individuals — men  holding  offices  of  trust  and  large  amounts 
of  government  funds — were  deluded  into  the  mad  vortex  of  the  day,  and 
all  committed  to  their  charge  was  speedily  dissipated. 

On  the  10th  of  May,  the  banks  of  the  city  of  New- York  suspended 
specie  payments ;  and  those  in  the  country  on  every  side  soon  after  fol- 


524  THE  TilEASUllY  OF  HISTORY. 

lowed  the  example.  The  fever  of  speculation  had  reached  its  crisis  ;  and 
the  immense  and  unprecedented  "  panic  of  '37  "  was  inevitably  the  result 
So  vast  and  unusual  were  its  ramifications,  that  the  interposition  of  Con- 
gress was  considered  alone  sufficient  to  save  the  country  from  indiscrimi- 
nate bankruptcy.  As  it  was,  during  the  short  space  of  three  weelis,  in 
the  city  of  New-York,  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  houses  stopped 
payment;  and  a  list  of  failures,  including  only  the  more  considerable,  and 
omitting  a  multitude  of  lesser  note,  exhibits  a  total  amount  of  more  than 
sixty  millions  of  dollars.     "  All  credit,  all  confidence,  was  at  an  end." 

The  general  government  became  entangled  in  the  unusual  embarrass- 
ment, as  its  own  funds  were  for  the  most  part  parcelled  out  among  the 
repudiating  banks.  In  this  state  of  things,  the  president  summoned  an 
extra  session  of  Congress,  which  commenced  on  the  4th  of  September  ;  and 
liere  the  first  trial  of  strength  between  parties  took  place,  in  the  House  of 
Ilepresentatives,  on  the  occasion  of  electing  a  speaker — the  administration 
proving  victorious  by  a  small  majority,  in  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Polk,  of 
Tennessee.  The  president,  in  his  message,  confined  himself  strictly  to 
the  proposition  of  measures  for  relief  of  the  country.  In  accordance  with 
his  recommendation,  and  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  against  any  disagree- 
able contingency,  Congress  passed  laws  immediately  for  preserving  invio- 
late the  integrity  of  government.  The  finance  committee  of  the  senate 
reported  four  bills,  viz  : 

1.  To  suspend  payment  to  the  states  of  the  fourth  instalment  of  surplus 
revenue,  until  the  1st  of  January,  1839. 

2.  To  provide  for  the  issue  of  ten  millions  of  treasury  notes,  to  be  re- 
ceivable in  payment  of  public  dues. 

3.  To  authorize  the  warehousing  in  bond  of  imported  goods,  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  three  years. 

4.  To  effect  a  separation  of  the  fiscal  opeiations  of  government  from 
those  of  corporations  or  individuals. 

These  measures  were  readily  sanctioned  by  the  senate — but  in  th< 
house,  the  last-mentioned  one  failed. 

The  extra  session  concluded  its  labours  and  adjourned  on  the  16th  & 
October.  Six  weeks  thereafter,  on  the  1st  Monday  in  December,  as  usual 
the  members  reassembled,  and  commenced  their  regular  session.  The 
president,  in  his  opening  message,  still  dwelt  upon  the  currency,  and 
pressed  with  some  considerable  pertinacity  his  favourite  measure  "to 
regulate  the  keeping  and  disbursement  of  the  public  funds."  The  gentle- 
men of  the  house,  as  if  to  relieve  the  sad  and  monotonous  character  of 
their  proceedings,  presently  broke  into  an  entirely  novel  and  exhileratmg 
course  of  action.  At  the  commencement  of  its  session,  the  House  had 
passed  a  resolution  that  all  petitions  relative  to  the  subject  of  slavery 
should  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being  read,  and  without  further  notice 
of  any  kind.  During  one  of  the  sittings  of  the  House,  Mr.  Adams,  who 
had  teen  very  much  opposed  to  that  resolution,  thus  addressed  the 
chair: 

"  I  hold  in  my  hand,  sir,  a  paper  purporting  to  be  signed  by  slaves  ; 
will  it  be  in  order,  under  the  rules  of  the  House,  to  present  it  ?" 

The  effect  produced  by  this  question  upon  the  members  from  the  slave- 
holding  states,  needs  not  to  be  described.  A  tumult  arose ;  some  were 
for  expelling  Mr.  Adams  outright ;  others  were  satisfied  with  the  milder 
expedient  of  a  vote  of  censure.  Many  were  the  resolutions  tendered  to 
the  House,  some  with  and  some  without  preambles,  but  all  denouncing 
the  man  who  would  dare  to  present  a  petition  from  slaves,  or  one  praying 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  debate  grew  warmer  and  warmer,  the 
resolutions  fell  fast  one  upon  the  other,  and  several  hours  already  had 
elapsed,  when  Mr.  A.,  a  tranquil  listener  all  this  time,  and  as  if  in  nowise 
concerned  in  the  matter,  rose  quietly  and  observed. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  H1;ST0RY.  525 

"  That  he  had  only  asked  i-f  it  would  be  in  order  to  present  the  paper- 
that  so  far  from  being  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  it  prayed  for  its  con- 
tinuance—and that,  in  addition,  it  prayed  that  he,  Mr.  Adams,  and  all  the 
other  abolitionists  in  Congress,  might  be  expelled  therefrom." 

Upon  this  statement,  the  uproar  was  increased  tenfold;  the  defenders 
of  the  twenty-first  rule  became  sensible  of  the  ludicrous  nature  of  the 
whole  affair,  and  endeavoured  to  quiet  the  storm,  and  turn  the  tables,  by 
insisting  upon  "  the  dignity  of  Congress"  and  so  forth. 

Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  debate  arising  out  of  this  affair  lasted  three 
days  longer,  and  at  last  ended  in  a  compromise,  when  it  was  voted  by  a 
large  majority,  that  slaves  had  no  right  to  petition,  and  that  any  attempt 
to  present  such  a  petition  would  be  deemed  disorderly,  and  a  direct  viola- 
tion of  the  constitution.  It  appeared  subsequently,  that  the  paper  creating 
this  disturbance  had  been  got  up  in  Virginia,  and  was  signed  by  some 
free  blacks,  and  transmitted  to  J.  Q.  Adams  for  the  purpose  merely  of 
insulting  him. 

Washington,  this  season,  was  all  astir  with  novelties.  Early  in  the 
^year,  a  deputation  of  "  braves  "  from  the  Sioux,  and  other  tribes  of  the 
Far  West,  arrived,  as  well  on  a  visit  to  the  seat  of  government  as  for  the 
purpose  of  concluding  a  treaty  of  peace  and  amity  with  the  United  States. 
They  of  course  attracted  no  little  attention  in  the  city  of  "  magnificent 
distances  ;"  indeed,  they  were  altogether  as  remarkable  a  collection  of 
the  sons  of  the  forest,  as  had  perhaps  ever  before  been  seen  there  together 
at  one  time.  They  partook  in  an  unusual  degree  of  the  character  of 
"  lions ;"  being  represented  as  thinking  themselves  of  very  considerable 
consequence,  if  not  in  a  mental,  certainly  in  a  physical  point  of  view. 
At  all  events,  they  bestowed  an  extraordinary  degree  of  pains  upon  their 
personal  appearance,  whenever  about  to  attend  one  of  the  many  levees 
to  which  they  were  invited.  Paint,  of  the  most  glaring  colors,  was  pro- 
fusely bestowed  upon  their  herculean  frames  and  brawny  faces — the  for- 
mer being  about  as  nearly  denuded  as  that  of  a  fashionable  belle  at  a 
ball — and  particular  care  being  taken,  usually,  to  mark  a  ferocious  black 
ring  around  either  their  mouth  or  one  eye.  The  names  of  these  dandy- 
savages,  as,  indeed,  those  of  others,  are  considered  among  themselves 
indicative  of  character  :  they  are  at  least  curious,  and  are  here  appended, 
as  copiud  from  the  treaty  with  our  government  which  they  signed  in 
Washington  prior  to  leaving  : 

his 

The  Upsetting  Wind  x  ;  Grey  Iron  X  ;  Big  Thunder  x  ;  Walking  Buf- 

mark. 

falo  X  ;  Good  Road  x  ;  Standing  Cloud  X  ;  Afloat  x  ;  White  Man  X; 
Iron  Cloud  X  ;  He  that  comes  last  X  ;  He  that  shakes  the  earth  X  ; 
The  Son  of  Handsome  Voice  X  ;  The  Dancer  X  ;  The  Big  Iron  X  ; 
He  that  runs  after  the  clouds  x  ;  The  Red  Road  X  ;  The  Bad  Hail  X  / 
The  Eagle  Head  X  ;  He  that  stands  on  both  sides  X  ;  The  Walking 
Circle  x  ;  The  Red  Lodge  x . 

At  the  same  time  were  visiting  the  Union,  under  the  charge  of  Major 
Pilcher,  of  the  war  department,  a  number  of  motley  groups  of  the  Win- 
nebago and  other  tribes  of  that  same  once  important  red  race  which  is 
now  so  fast  dwindling  down  from  former  blood-stained  pre-eminence, 
never  to  rise  again.  A  list  of  the  principal  chiefs,  with  the  name  of  each 
in  his  native  tongue,  as  well  as  its  translation,  has  been  deemed  a  philo- 
logical rarity  of  sufficient  merit  to  be  preserved  from  that  oblivion  which 
waits  upon  its  originals  : 

YANKTON   SIOUX. 

Ha-.sa-za,  "  The  Elk  Horn ;"  Ah-zha-li,  "  The  Forked  Horn  ;"  Mon-to- 
he,  "  The  Crane  ;"  Zer-ya-sa,  "  The  Warrior  ;"  Ta-ka-o,  "  He  that  in- 
flicted the  first  wound  ;"  Pal-a-ni-a-pa-pi,  "  Struck  by  a  Riccara;"  E-mun- 
ui,  "  lie  that  comes  for  something." 


526  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

lOWAS. 

Nan-che-hing-ga,  "  The  No  Heart ;"  Ne-o-mun-ne,  "  The  Walking 
Rain ;"  Wah-che-mon-ne,  "  The  Tartizan ;"  "  Tah-ro-hon,  "  Plenty  of 
Meat.'" 

SACS  OF  MISSOURI. 

Ar-ga-qm,  "  The  Porcupine ;"  Cha-ca-pe-wa,  "  The  Standing  Day  ;" 
Po-ca-ma,  "  The  Plumb  ;"  No-po-cah-wa,  "  The  Wolf;"  Am-mo-ni,  "  The 
Swallow  ;"  Haw-che-ke-sog-e,  "  He  who  strikes  in  war." 

GRAND  PAWNEE  BAND. 

Shouk-ka-ke-he-gah,  "The  Horse  Chief;"  La-char-ce-tau-rooks,  "The 
Fearless;"  La-doo-kee-ah,  "Buffalo  Bull;"  Ah-shaw-wah-rooks-te,  "The 
Medicine  Horse." 

PAWNEE  TAPAGE  BAND. 

La-kee-too-we-ra-sha,  "  The  Little  Chief;"  La-pa-koo-ra-cha,  "  Principal 
Partizan  ;"  Loo-ra-rve-re-cgo,  "  Bird  that  goes  to  war  ;"  Sa-ta-coosh-ca-roo- 
mah-ah,  "  Partizan  that  sings." 

REPUBLICAN  PAWNEE  BAND. 

Ah-shaw-la-coots-ah,  "Mole  in  the  forehead;"  La-shaw-le-staiv-hichs, 
"The  Man  Chief;"  La-we-re-coo-re-shaw-ive,  "The  War  Chief;"  Ye-ak- 
ke-ra-le-re-coo,  "  The  Cheyenne." 

PAWNEE  LOUPS. 

Le  6haio-loo-la-lc-hoo,  "The  Big  Chief;"  So-loc-to-hoo-la,  "Handsome 
Pipe  in  his  hand  ;"  La-wa-he-coots-ta-shaw-no,  "  The  Brave  Chief;"  Shar 
e-tar-rush,  "  The  Ill-natured  Man." 

OTTOK  TRIBE. 

Waw-eo-ne-sah,  "  He  who  surrounds  ;"  No-way-ke-sog-e, "  He  who  strikes 
two  at  once;"  Kaw-no-way-waw-nap,  "Loose  pipe  stem  ;"  We-kee-roo-taw 
'  He  who  exchanges." 

OMAHAW  TRIBE. 

Ki-kee-gak-wa-shu-she,  "  The  Brave  Chief;"  Om-pa-tong-gah,  '•  The  Big 
Elk;"  Sha-da-nou-ne,  "There  he  goes;"  Nombah-mon-ne,  "He  who 
walks  double." 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  injustice  and  rapacity  of  the  United  States' 
government  in  wresting  from  the  aborigines  their  lands,  and  forcing  the 
rerroval  of  the  "unfortunate  people"  beyond  the  IMississippi.  Fault- 
finders are  generally  wrong  ;  those  who  have  grumbled  upon  this  subject 
particularly  so.  By  reference  to  state  papers,  at  Washington,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  utmost  value  has  always  been  paid  the  savages  for  the  re- 
linquishment of  their  possessions  east  of  the  great  river — and  their  com- 
fortable establishment  upon  the  w^estern  side  in  all  cases  guaranteed  them. 
The  Sioux,  on  this  occasion,  proposed  to  transfer  to  the  United  States 
what  claim  they  had  to  about  five  millions  of  acres  east  of  the  "  father 
of  waters  ;"  and  in  consideration  therefor,  received,  in  proper  instalments, 
81,000,000.  The  Winnebagoes,  shortly  after,  disposed  also  of  their  right 
-.^nd  title,  except  for  hunting  purposes,  to  a  strip  running  back  twenty 
miles  from  the  river,  and  received  for  the  same,  the  very  comfortable  bo- 
nus of  $1,500,000.  A  few  years  previous  to  this,  the  general  government 
paid  to  the  Cherokees,  upon  their  leaving  the  state  of  Georgia,  $5,000,000 1 
The  tribe  at  that  time  numbering  so  few  that  the  average  for  each  man 
was  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars — besides  a  free  transportation  to  an 
equally  rich  and  extensive  domain  farther  west,  in  the  v%'hich  they  were 
comfortably  established  ;  and  their  freedom  from  interference  or  aggres- 
sion at  the  hands  of  hostile  or  more  powerful  tribes  was  made  doubly 
certain,  by  their  being  still  publicly  recognized  as  under  the  protection  ol 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  537 

the  United  States.  Yet,  what  an  uproar  was  there  raised  on  that  occa- 
sion !  Scarcely  an  opponent  of  the  president  or  his  party,  but  at  once 
denounced,  in  terms  the  most  unquahfied,  the  cruelty,  barbarism  and 
injustice  of  the  administration,  in  inducing  in  those  unsophisticated  and 
simple  Indians  a  determination,  for  filthy  lucre's  sake,  to  "  desert  their 
father's  bones !" 

Michigan  was  at  this  session  of  Congress  admitted  a  state  ;  making  the 
twenty-sixth,  and  twice  the  original  number  declaring  for  independence 
in  the  year  '76— doubling  the  number  in  half  a  century,  and  trebling  the 
population.  Messrs.  Lyon  and  Norvell  appeared  as  senators  from  the 
new  state,  and  being  duly  qualified,  took  their  seats.  Mr.  Crary  washer 
first  member  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

In  the  pleasant  town  of  Alton,  Illinois,  on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  a  riot, 
resulting  m  bloodshed,  unhappily  occurred  in  the  month  of  November. 
It  appears,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lovejoy,  an  abolitionist,  with  a  few  others 
holding  similar  opinions,  had  resolved  upon  establishing  a  paper  in  this 
place,  for  the  dissemination  of  religious  principles  and  their  peculiar  views. 
The  majority  of  citizens  being  opposed  to  such  a  measure,  duly  notified 
the  reverend  gentleman  and  his  friends,  that  they  would  not  be  allowed 
to  carry  into  effect  their  intentions.  Instead  of  regarding  this  expression  of 
•'  public  opinion,"  they  inconsiderately  determined  to  continue  their  ope- 
rations. The  press  and  printing  materials  were  landed,  and  carefully  stored 
in  a  large  stone  warehouse  near  the  wharf,  in  which  it  was  understood 
Mr.  L.  and  his  friends  had  determined  to  make  a  stand,  and  were  prepared 
with  arms  and  ammunition,  to  defend  their  property.  Night  had  no  sooner 
arrived,  than  the  populace,  with  shouts  and  missiles,  made  their  appear- 
ance before  the  stronghold  of  the  misguided  religionists ;  here  they  de- 
manded entrance  and  a  parley  ;  which  being  of  course  refused,  they  com- 
menced, in  some  sort,  an  assault  upon  the  building.  Now,  to  complete 
the  folly  of  its  inmates,  a  shot  was  fired  from  an  upper  window,  which 
look  effect  in  the  mob,  mortally  wounding  one  said  to  be  merely  a  specta- 
tor. Fireballs  were  thereupon  furnished  to  the  assailants,  who  hurled 
them  from  every  direction  upon  the  roof  of  the  store-house,  and  a  fire  was 
speedily  kindled  in  several  places.  Fire-arms  were  also  procured,  and 
the  slaying  of  the  stranger  was  soon  to  be  avenged.  Perceiving  too 
late  that  his  fortress  was  untenable,  Mr.  L.  attempted  to  escape — but  fell, 
before  taking  many  steps,  pierced  with  bullets.  His  associates  yielded 
themselves  up,  and  were  suffered  to  depart  unharmed  ;  but  the  mischiev- 
ous press  and  types,  which  had  mainly  caused  the  trouble,  were  instantly 
carted  down  to  the  river's  bank,  and,  being  broken  in  pieces,  were  sunk, 
some  forty  fathoms  deep. 

Treaties  were  this  year  concluded  with  a  number  of  half-civilized  and 
barbarous  nations ;  i.  e.,  the  American  Indians,  modern  Greece,  Siam, 
and  Muscat.  By  the  very  liberal  and  enlightened  interference  of  the 
ruling  European  powers,  Greece  had  lately  been  rescued  frem  the  unwar- 
rantable usurpation  and  galling  thraldom  of  the  Turks.  A  government 
had  been  organized  for  the  Greeks,  and  King  Otho  set  upon  the  throne. 
An  accredited  agent  of  the  United  States  had  been  established  in  Athens, 
near  the  court  of  his  majesty ;  and  a  commercial  arrangement  was  now 
negotiated  between  the  two  countries,  reflecting  honour  in  a  high  degree 
upon  the  liberal  policy  which  dictated  it. 

At  the  royal  city  of  Bankok,  in  the  kingdom  of  Siam,  a  treaty  of 
amity  and  commerce  was  concluded,  between  Edmund  Roberts  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  Chau  Phaya  Phraklang,  first 
minister  of  state  for  his  magnificent  majesty  of  the  kingdom  aforesaid. 
It  was  there  done  on  the  last  day  of  the  fourth  month  of  the  year  Pi- 
marong-chakara-sok  ("of  the  dragon"),  and  here  finally  ratified  by  his 
excellency  Martin  Van  Buren,  on  the  24th  of  June.. 


528  THE  TiLEASUaY  OF  HISTORY. 

With  the  sublime  Sultan  of  Muscat,  Seyed  Syeed  Bin,  another  equahy 
important  negotiation  was  entered  into,  at  the  royal  palace,  on  the  sixth 
day  of  the  Moon  Saniada  Alaured,  in  the  year  AUhajra  ;  and  an  agree- 
ment was  finally  elTected,  alTordnig  much  satisfaction  to  all  parties.  Va- 
rious presents  of  importance  were  transmitted  by  his  aflable  majesty 
Seyed  Syeed  Bin,  to  his  excellency  Martin  Van  Buren  :  but  as  they  could 
not  in  consonance  with  the  principles  of  this  government  be  accepted  by 
him,  they  were  partly  placed  in  the  National  Institute  at  Washington,  and 
otherwise  properly  disposed  of,  A  due  acknowledgment  being  rendered 
in  form,  the  friendly  feeling  existing  between  the  respective  nations  may 
now  be  considered  firmly  established. 

Obituary. — The  ordeal  of  death  by  water  prevailed  to  a  fearful  extent, 
about  the  close  of  ttie  last  and  beginning  of  this  year.  The  ships  Bristol 
and  Mexico  were  wrecked  upon  Far  Rockaway  and  Hempstead  beach, 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  lives  lost,  though  the  vessels  were  within  a 
cable's  length  of  land.  In  the  case  of  the  latter  vessel,  the  unfortnnate 
passengers  were  mostly /ro^en  to  death  before  yielding  themselves  to  the 
raging  surf.  Men  fell  from  the  rigging  stiff,  into  the  waves,  and  were 
washed  upon  shore  with  their  eyes  open,  staring  frightfully  into  the  coun- 
tenance of  the  beholder.  Women  lay  upon  the  sand  hardened  into  ice, 
with  their  infants  frozen  to  their  breasts  ;  the  faces  of  the  children  being 
drawn  awry,  with  tear-drops  still  upon  their  cheeks,  as  if  they  perished 
in  the  act  of  crying.  One  little  girl  was  picked  up  liolding  a  half-eaten 
cake  to  her  lips — another  with  her  knees  bent,  and  hands  clasped  up- 
ward. A  stalwart  negro,  apparently  a  sailor,  was  found  with  a  most 
agonized  and  terrible  expression  of  countenance — as  if  his  soul  had  fled 
with  cursing  and  defiance.  The  steamship  Home,  from  New-York  to 
Charleston,  South-Carolina,  was  wrecked  on  Cape  Hatteras,  in  July,  and 
ninety  lives  were  sacrificed — an  extremely  limited  number  escaping.  The 
ship  was  entirely  new,  but  so  slightly  made,  that  in  the  short  space  of  an 
hour  from  the  time  of  her  striking,  not  a  vestige  of  the  vesssel  remained 
visible.  Died,  in  June,  Hon.  Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North-Carolina,  le.  83. 
At  Schenectady,  Ex-Governor  Yates,  of  New-York.  Also,  Hon.  Henry 
R.  Storrs,  of  New-York.  In  Maryland,  Governor  Kent,  .e  58.  At  Bos- 
ton, T.  G.  Fessenden,  editor.  In  Paris,  IMajor  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia. 
In  Windsor  Castle,  20th  June,  William  IV.  of  England,  s.  73.  In  London, 
Lord  William  Seymour;  General  Sir  John  Smith,  and  Admiral  Dacres. 
Also,  Joseph  Grimaldi,  Esq.,  "  the  clown."  In  Sweden,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  IV.,  ex-king. 

A.  D.  1838. — In  the  executive  message  to  Congress  at  the  beginning  of 
this  year,  alluding  to  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  the  nation  the  year 
previous,  the  president  remarked :  "  The  industry  and  prudence  of  the 
citizens,  are  gradually  relieving  them  from  the  disabilities  under  which  so 
many  of  them  have  laboured ;  judicious  legislation,  and  the  natural  and 
boundless  resources  of  the  countr}^  have  afforded  wise  and  timely  aid  to 
private  enterprise ;  and,  together  with  the  activity  always  characteristic 
of  the  people,  have  already,  in  a  great  degree,  caused  the  business  of  the 
land  to  resume  its  usual  and  profitable  channel." 

In  relation  further  to  financial  aflTairs,  his  excellency  took  occasion 
again  warmly  to  urge  upon  public  attention  that  celebrated  Sub-Treasury 
system,  which  was  intended  to  provide  so  effectually  for  the  collection, 
safe-keeping,  transfer,  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenue.  By  this 
favourite  measure,  the  president  designed  the  public  money  should  be 
withdrawn  altogether  from  the  keeping  of  banks,  and  placed  in  the  hands 
of  certain  receivers-general,  to  be  appointed  in  various  quarters  of  the 
Union,  and  subject  to  the  order  and  control  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States.  On  the  29th  of  March,  the  Senate  again  passed  the  bill,  by  a  vote 
of  twenty-seven  to  twenty-five,  this  being  a  lesser  majority  by  four  votes 


thb:  treasury  of  history.  629 

than  it  received  on  the  previous  test.  In  the  House,  after  a  long;  and 
stormy  debate,  on  the  22d  of  April  the  bill  was  again  negatived,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  nays  against  one  hundred  and  eleven  yeas  declaring 
it  for  this  session  hopelessly  lost. 

On  the  13th  of  August,  the  banks  throughout  the  country  concluded, 
generally,  to  resume  specie  payments  ;  but  in  the  course  of  sixty  days 
thereafter,  the  moneyed  institutions  of  Philadelphia  resolved  again  to  sus- 
pend, and  their  example  was  followed  by  the  interior  banks  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, as  well  as  those  of  most  of  the  states  south  and  west.  The 
banks  of  New-York,  however,  and  New-England,  continued  to  pay  specie, 
and  fulfil  all  demands  against  them. 

A  special  messenger  was  despatched  by  government  this  year,  to  Lon 
don,  for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  into  and  settling  up  a  somewhat  curious 
affair.  James  Smithson,  an  Englishman,  wealthy  and  eccentric,  or  rather 
philanthropic,  dying  without  near  kin,  it  was  found  upon  examination  of 
his  will  that  he  had  bequeathed  the  great  balance  of  his  property,  c£lOO,000, 
to  the  American  government,  for  the  purpose  of  foundmg  in  the  United 
States  an  institution  "  for  the  increase  and  diftusion  of  useful  knowledge 
among  men."  Although  difficulty  was  apprehended  with  the  courts  of 
law  in  England  relative  to  this  bequest,  none  was  experienced.  Distant 
connexions  of  the  very  liberal  and  worthy  testator  raised  objections,  it  is 
true,  and  attempted  to  contest  the  validity  of  the  will  by  asserting  a  want 
of  sane  mind  in  its  maker ;  but  the  British  probate  judges,  as  well  as  the 
master  of  the  rolls  refused  to  entertain  their  complaints,  and  an  order 
was  finally  given  for  the  transfer  of  funds  to  the  American  agent,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  wishes  of  the  deceased  philanthropist.  It  may  appear 
strange,  that  nothing  has  yet  been  done  to  carry  into  effect  the  grand  ob- 
ject of  this  munificent  donation ;  many  years  have  elapsed  since  the  re- 
ceival  of  the  money,  yet  the  combined  wisdom  and  discrimination  of  the 
great  body  of  gentlemen  composing  both  houses  of  Congress,  has  only 
been  able  to  place  the  cash  at  interest.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  during  his  ad- 
ministration, called  upon  the  learned  of  the  nation  for  their  written  opin- 
ions and  advice  in  this  matter,  but  no  one  was  able  to  submit  a  satisfactory 
plan  for  the  proper  fulfilment  of  the  specifications  and  desires  of  the  truly 
great  Mr.  Smithson. 

)  Troubles  on  the  Canadian  frontier  now  began  to  attract  considerable 
attention.  For  some  years  previous  to  this,  the  Lower  Canada  legisla- 
ture had  been  annually  embroiled  by  means  of  a  close  and  acrid  division 
between  the  ancient  French,  or  liberal,  and  modern  English,  or  royalist 
parties.  Monsieur  Papineau,  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  was  at  the  same 
time  editor  of  a  violent  anti-government  newspaper  ;  and  his  friends  being 
latterly  in  majority,  had  refused  to  vote  the  usual  supplies  for  support 
of  her  majesty's  appointed  officers.  This  state  of  things  could  not  last. 
An  outbreak  occurred  in  the  city  of  Montreal  in  November,  1837,  between 
two  parties  of  the  rival  populace,  in  which  blood  was  shed ;  the  military 
attempted  to  quell  the  disturbance,  and  were  resisted  with  violence; 
drums  beat  to  arms  in  every  French  quartier  directly,  and  the  liberalists 
marshalled  themselves  to  the  number  of  near  three  thousand,  under  Papi- 
neau and  oneT.  S.  Brown,  abrawling  sort  of  person,  an  American,  who  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  original  street  affray.  They  commenced  forti- 
fying themsleves  in  an  old  French  fort  near  St.  Denis ;  but  presently  sus- 
tained a  vigorous  attack  from  the  queen's  forces,  which,  however,  were 
speedily  compelled  to  retreat  with  considerable  loss.  The  next  affair  re- 
sulted very  differently;  Colonel  Wetherall  attacked  the  insurgents  at  St. 
Charles,  and  completely  routed  them  ;  his  own  loss  was  but  trifling,  while 
that  of  the  adverse  party  was  two  hundred  killed,  many  wounded  and 
prisoners,  and  the  town  which  harboured  them  destroyed.  The  "  rebel" 
leaders,  including  Doctors  Wolfred  Nelson,  and  Cote,  escaped,  and  a 
34 


530  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

reward  was  set  upon  their  heads.  The  fearful  close  of  the  rebellion  in 
that  region,  was  at  St.  Eustache — wliere  the  houses  in  which  the  de- 
luded liberahsts  had  taken  refuge  were  surrounded  in  the  night  and  burn- 
ed over  them,  wiiile  tliose  who  attempted  to  escape  from  the  flames  were 
shot  down,  or  bayonetted  without  mercy. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  the  Lower  Province,  the  lurid 
glare  of  similar  scenes  was  bursting  forth  in  the  Upper.  William  L. 
Maclcenzie,  for  a  number  of  years  editor  of  a  factious  paper  in  Toronto, 
was  ordered  to  be  arrested  on  behalf  of  the  government.  Receiving 
timely  information  of  this  proceeding,  he  made  his  escape,  and  at  once 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  It  is  said  a  majority  of  the  citizens  of  that 
place  and  neighbourhood  were  decidedly  in  favour  of  remodelling  the  sys- 
tem by  whicli  they  were  controlled  ;  and  as  there  was  at  that  time  but  a 
handful  of  British  troops  in  the  garrison  or  at  the  nearest  posts,  the  city 
might  in  all  probability  have  been  seized  without  the  least  difficulty,  and 
Governor  Head  himself  made  a  prisoner.  But  alas,  for  the  insurnction- 
ists  and  all  their  new-blown  hopes  !  although  a  thousand  men  at  once  re- 
sponded to  the  call  of  the  agitator,  and  spiritedly  marched  to  his  camp,  a 
short  distance  back  of  the  city,  the  all-important  time  was  spent  in  idle 
braggadocio  and  dallying,  and  the  cause  forever  ruined.  There  lagged  the 
"rebels"  and  their  coward  leader,  within  sight,  almost,  of  a  well-supplied 
arsenal  and  the  most  admirable  fortifications,  until  a  fresh  body  of  troops, 
with  an  active  commander,  had  time  to  arrive  from  below.  Thencefor- 
ward the  history  of  their  operations  presents  nothing  but  a  "  stale,  un- 
profitable" account.  Colonel  Moodie  was  shot,  it  is  true,  in  a  sort  of 
running  fight ;  and  this  event,  perhaps,  so  frightened  or  so  satisfied  the 
riotous  revolters,  that  they  threw  down  their  arms  and  opposition  and 
quietly  submitted  to  their  former  masters. 

The  subsequent  attempts  of  the  few  who  had  refused  the  proffbred 
amnesty,  or  were  inimicable  to  it,  are  only  characterized  by  the  extrem- 
ities of  imprudence  and  folly  :  but  as  the  American  government  was 
nearly  involved  in  a  war  with  Great  Britain  thereby,  a  passing  review  ot 
the  events,  may  be  considered  worth  while.  At  the  outset,  we  may  re- 
mark that,  perhaps,  no  misfortune  so  great  as  success  could  by  any  pos- 
sibility have  waited  upon  the  motley  company  of  enthusiasts  who  now, 
for  a  short  period,  so  often  attempted  the  invasion  of  the  Canadas.  The 
game  was  in  reality  not  worth  the  waste  of  powder. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  1837,  twenty-eight  men,  principally  Ca- 
nadians, with  one  Rensellaer  Van  Rensellaer,  an  American,  and  William 
Lyon  Mackenzie,  the  afore-mentioned  leader,  went  upon  Navy  Island  and 
established  anew  a  camp.  Here  they  issued  their  manifestoes,  calling 
upon  the  patriots  of  Canada,  and  all  others  who  might  be  friendly  to  their 
cause,  to  join  them.  In  the  space  of  three  weeks,  between  three  and  four 
hundred  volunteers  appeared ;  some  coming  from  the  United  States  and 
some  from  Canada,  while  all  brought  with  them  a  greater  or  lesser  supply 
of  arms  and  ammunition.  On  the  29th  of  December,  the  steamboat  Car- 
oline was  transferred  from  Buffalo  to  Schlosser  landing,  the  design  beia^ 
to  ply  her  between  that  point  and  Navy  Island  as  a  ferry-boat.  For  one 
day  she  passed  back  and  forth,  and  was  moored  at  night  before  the  ware- 
house at  Schlosser;  but  about  midnight  the  watch  on  board  was  alarmed 
by  the  approach  of  a  boat  with  muffled  oars,  apparently  full  of  men.  The 
Caroline  was  boarded  and  her  crew  quickly  overpowered,  one  or  two 
being  killed  and  several  wounded  ;  she  was  then  cut  from  her  fastenings 
and  towed  out  into  the  stream,  where  she  was  set  on  fire  and  deserted 
by  her  captors.  The  boat  drifted  slowly  down  towards  the  rapids,  while 
the  increasing  light  of  its  conflagration  shot  up  in  flaming  streams,  until 
all  was  finally  lost  in  the  fearful  plunge  over  the  Niagara.  Twelve  per- 
ions  connected  with  the  boat  were  reported  missing ;  supposed  to  have 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  531 

been  killed  or  wounded  in  the  attack  and  lost  with  the  boat  iii  going  over 
the  falls.  The  next  morning,  but  a  few  burnt  and  charred  remains  of 
the  vessel  were  discernible  floating  with  the  eddies  beneath  the  cataract. 

This  affair  was  the  instant  cause  of  difficulty  between  chief  authorities 
at  Washington  and  the  English  charge  d'affaires.  Colonel  M'Nab,  com- 
manding her  Britannic  majesty's  forces  at  Chippewa,  had  avowed  his 
responsibility  for  the  cutting  out  of  the  Caroline — and  a  public  meeting 
at  Buffalo  thereupon  demanded  reparation  for  the  injury  at  the  hands  of 
government.  Mr.  Secretary  Forsyth  without  delay  intimated  to  Mr.  Fox, 
the  British  envoy,  that  redress,  and  a  discountenance  of  the  proceeding, 
would  be  necessary.  The  royal  minister  at  first  stammered  a  little  in  at- 
tempting justification  :  but  it  was  soon  made  plain  that  the  "  rebels"  had 
in  possession  a  quantity  of  arms  belonging  to  the  American  government — 
and  then  it  became  his  turn  to  assume  the  style  dictatorial,  and  tell  what 
would  be  necessary  for  Mr.  Forsyth  to  do.  President  Van  Buren  then 
issued  a  proclamation,  denouncing  altogether  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment, and  calling  upon  all  good  citizens  in  the  United  States  strictly  to  pre- 
serve their  neutrality.  Generals  Scott  and  Wool,  with  United  States'  mar- 
shal Garrow,  and  a  body  of  regulars,  were  sent  to  guard  the  frontier  and 
preserve  the  integrity  of  the  United  States.  The  public  properly  which 
had  been  abstracted  was  speedily  recovered,  and  important  arrests  of  the 
insurgents  made — thougli  this  last  measure  was  rendered  of  little  effect  by 
their  being  all  bailed  out  of  durance  by  their  infatuated  friends,  what- 
ever the  amount  of  security  demanded. 

The  patriot  encampment  upon  Navy  Island  was  sustained  just  a  month, 
and  then  broken  up.  It  was  reported  a  large  force  of  British  was  sta- 
tioned at  the  village  opposite,  and  batteries  upon  both  sides  of  the  river 
were  erected,  balls  and  shells  being  at  intervals  cast  idly  back  and  forth. 
No  attack,  however,  was  made,  and  nothing  accomplished  by  either  party. 
The  patriot  commanders  in  the  middle  of  January  went  into  retiracy,  hav- 
ing with  much  judgment  commended  the  forces  under  them  to  their  own 
discretion.  But  the  excitement  was  not  by  any  means  allayed,  or  the  sub- 
ject allowed  to  rest.  A  Mr.  T.  J.  Sutherland  assumed  the  vacant  general- 
ship, and  forthwith  embarked  largely  in  the  proclamation  business  ;  his 
documents  were  published  from  no  particular  head-quarters,  but  all  the 
world  was  notified,  in  the  loudest  possible  manner,  that  the  downfall  of 
British  rule  in  Canada  was  at  hand  ;  and  all  those  whose  hearts  were  now 
burning  to  participate  in  the  glorious  enterprise  of  effecting  the  same, 
were  called  upon  to  come  and  join  his  standard,  or  the  golden  opportu- 
nity would  be  forever  lost. 

Some  hundreds  of  individuals  were  found  ready  to  volunteer  for  the  new 
army,  and  we  next  hear  of  their  pitching  upon  a  small  island  for  rendez- 
vouz,  which  was  situated  in  the  river  near  Detroit,  and  known  by  the  im- 
posing name  of  Gibraltar.  Names  are  not  things,  however,  and  this  island 
was  quite  unlike  its  dignified  patronymic ;  for,  although  from  five  hun- 
dred to  one  thousand  fighting  men,  with  three  hundred  and  ninety  stand  of 
arms,  were  stationed  upon  it,  they  thought  proper  to  evacuate  the  premises 
without  striking  a  blow.  They  made  use  of  their  boats  to  escape  to 
the  American  main-land,  upon  hearing  that  a  large  force  of  British  regulars 
was  about  to  attack  them  from  the  other  side.  Colonel  Worth,  with  his 
command,  stood  ready  upon  the  shore  to  receive  them,  and  in  the  coolest 
and  most  gentlemanly  manner  possible,  deprived  them  of  their  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  then  permitted  their  departure,  in  perfect  freedom, 
whithersoever  they  listed.  This  interesting  occurrence  took  place  about 
the  24th  of  January. 

About  the  1st  of  February,  it  was  reported  in  Detroit  that  the  patriots 
bad  re-organized  anew,  and  were  now  about  to  make  a  sudden  and  over- 


532  "iWE  TllEASUILY  OF  HISTORY. 

whelming  attack  upon  Fort  Maiden.  All  the  border  from  Mxhilimacki* 
nac  to  Buffalo  on  one  side,  and  from  Sandwich  to  Lake  Memphremagog 
on  the  other,  was  consequently  in  a  slate  of  uproar  and  rising.  A  British 
colonel,  Prince,  becoming  highly  excited  by  the  tliousand  rumours  that 
reached  him  from  every  side,  marched  with  hot  haste,  first  from  Sandwich 
down  to  Amherstsburg,  and  then  from  Amherslsburg  back  again  to  Sand- 
wich. At  this  latter  place,  most  sad  to  relate,  he  encountered  and  cap- 
tured a  number  of  Canadian  citizens  under  arms,  without  his  command. 
Instantly  they  were  seized,  non-resisting,  and  the  perfection  of  brutality 
was  by  him  upon  them  exercised — happily  for  human  nature,  without 
being  countenanced,  eventually,  by  his  superior  officers.  The  helpless 
wretches  whom  he  had  taken,  were  ordered,  without  a  show  of  trial  or  in- 
quiry, to  "  run  for  their  lives"  between  his  columns  of  grenadiers — and  of 
course  they  fell,  before  proceeding  many  yards,  riddled  with  wounds. 
While  such  disgraceful  events  were  permitted  to  transpire  in  Canada, 
we  are  happy  to  stale  that  very  different  scenes  were  being  enacted  on 
the  opposite  shore,  though  having  precisely  the  same  end  in  view,  viz., 
the  quelling  of  the  "rebellion."  The  American  general,  Brady,  had  ap- 
prehended a  considerable  body  of  tiie  infatuated  people  under  arms,  in  ♦.ho 
excited  neighbourhood,  and,  after  depriving  them  of  their  warlike  wea- 
pons, in  which  certainly  consisted  their  power  of  doing  harm,  sent  them 
quietly  about  their  business.  General  Wool,  also,  without  the  spilling  of 
blood,  in  the  month  of  March,  as  far  down  as  Alliurgh  Springs,  in  Ver- 
mont, captured  the  celebrated  leaders,  Drs.  Nelson  and  Cote,  with  six 
hundred  well  equipped  men-at-arms.  In  the  vicinity  of  Detroit  the  pa- 
triot leaders.  Dr.  Duncombe  and  General  Alexander  M'Leod,  with  Col- 
onels Theller  and  Dodge,  had  either  been  taken  and  held  strongly  to  bail 
for  good  behaviour,  or  forced  to  a  constant  flight  for  safety. 

The  thirsters  after  glory  were  in  reality  in  a  sad  predicament.  Theii 
quondam  general,  Sutherland,  having  the  largest  share  of  bravery,  will' 
the  merest  modicum  of  wisdom,  was  twice  apprehended — the  second  tim( 
in  violation  of  his  bonds^and  he  was  consequently  transferred  to  a  To 
ronto  prison,  to  await  there  for  a  brief  space,  a  trial  with  but  one  appar 
ently  possible  termination — the  gallows.  He  was,  with  a  few  others 
tried  summarily  for  invasion,  treason,  etc.,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to 
be  hung.  The  apparition  of  death  in  such  a  shocking  form,  staring  him 
so  closely  in  the  face,  was  too  much  for  even  his  quintescent  bravery : 
and  so  he  attempted  to  escape  the  dreadful  doom  by  a  resort  to  suicide. 
Alas,  for  even  that  most  pitiable  of  priviliges !  it  was  denied  him;  he 
was  discovered  in  a  state  of  syncope  in  his  cell,  after  having  opened  his 
veins  with  a  bit  of  rusty  iron.  Neither  the  grim  monster  death,  nor  the 
grim  British  lion,  were  yet  to  be  thus  foiled  and  cheated.  The  soi-dis- 
ant  general  was  immediately  placed  under  the  most  careful  medical  atten- 
dance, and  all  his  wants  with  the  utmost  kindness  seen  to,  in  order  that 
he  might  at  an  early  day  be  brought  back  into  a  proper  condition  for  hang- 
ing. His  associates  in  crime  and  at  trial,  Lount,  Matthews,  &c.,  suffered 
in  pursuance  with  sentence,  on  the  12th  day  of  April.  The  execution  of 
Mr.  Sutherland  being  necessarily  postponed,  and  his  drooping  spirits  re- 
infused  with  new  life  by  means  of  the  cordials  and  attention  received  in 
her  majesty's  hospital,  a  furtive  hope  supplanted  his  despair.  He  pro- 
posed to  himself  an  escape,  and  to  his  captors  a  negotiation :  and  in  this 
connexion  he  really  exhibited,  for  the  first  time,  some  considerable  traits 
of  generalship.  He  most  earnestly  and  vigorously  asserted  the  existence 
of  a  vastly  ramified  and  astonishing  plot  for  the  entire  and  complete  sub- 
version of  the  then  order  of  things  in  Canada;  of  the  details  of  this  won 
derful  plan  he  proclaimed  himself  a  sort  of  sole  depositar}'^ — and  prom 
ised,  on  the  honour  of  a  gentleman,  if  he  should  be  speedily  reprieved,  to 
reveal  the  whole  matter  to  the  queen's  government.     This  chef  (Cceuvre  in 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  533 

tactics  proved  sufficient ;  he  was  first  respited,  and  then  released.  But  of 
what  particular  description  were  the  extraordinary  developements  made 
on  the  important  occasion,  or  whom  they  implicated,  remains  to  this  day 
a  profound  secret ;  probably  his  statements  componently  embraced  some- 
thing unique — if  not  alarming. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  and  we  are  pained  to  record  it,  a  most  shameful 
piracy  grew  out  of  this  excitement.  The  Robert  Peel,  a  new  and  valu 
able  steamer  mostly  owned  in  Canada,  and  plying  between  Kingston  and 
Ogdensburgh,  or  other  ports  on  the  lake  or  river,  was  robbed  and  burnt. 
The  boat  was  taking  in  wood,  in  the  night,  at  a  small  island  in  the  St. 
Lawrence,  near  French  creek,  when  she  was  attacked  and  boarded  by  a 
gang  of  vagabonds  supposed  to  be  under  the  command  of  one  Bill  John- 
son, who  aspired  to  the  title  of  "  Buccaneer  of  the  Lakes,"  and  opposer  of 
the  power  of  the  British  crown.  The  steamer  had  on  board  this  trip  a 
considerable  amount  of  money,  in  charge  of  her  captain,  though  but  a 
email  crew  and  few  passengers  ;  the  number  of  the  attacking  party  being 
greatly  superior,  rendered  resistance  of  no  avail,  so  the  vessel  was  quietly 
rifled  of  its  moveables  of  value  and  then  set  on  fire  and  abandoned.  It  is 
true  that  the  United  States'  authorities  exerted  themselves  with  commen- 
dable vigour  to  ferret  out  the  active  agents  in  this  disgraceful  outrage  :  and 
they  were  finally  taken,  and  tried  at  length  and  with  much  tedium,  at  Wa- 
tertown,  in  New- York,  from  which  place  they  were  sentenced  to  the  state 
prison  for  different  terms  of  years. 

Fortunately  for  appearances,  on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  the  next  af- 
fair between  the  British  and  the  "  patriots"  took  place  entirely  within  the 
Canadian  limits.  About  the  12th  of  June,  in  a  neighbourhood  known  by 
the  name  of  Short  Hills,  some  twelve  miles  back  of  Chippewa,  there 
•chanced  to  be  assembled  the  unprecedented  number  of  two  thousand  ol 
the  individuals  declaring  for  a  new  constitution.  Between  some  few  blus- 
tering members  of  this  goodly  company  as  to  numbers,  and  one  or  two 
drunken  soldiers  of  the  other  side  of  the  question,  at  a  tavern,  a  dispute 
waxed  warm,  and  presently  from  words  broke  out  into  a  hot  affray  at  fis- 
ticuffs. Strange  as  it  may  appear,  although  this  body  of  two  thousand 
were  in  shocking  bad  plight  as  regards  arms  and  accoutrements  (owing 
principally  to  the  so-often  unkind  interference  of  the  United  States'  gov- 
ernmental forces),  they  really  did  manage  to  capture  and  hold  one  hun- 
dred well  armed  and  equipped  and  mounted  English  lancers.  This  tri- 
umph of  the  insurgents,  however,  so  pricked  up  the  indignation  and 
aroused  the  wrath  of  the  lion  of  St.  George,  that  he  sprang  with  ireful 
bounds  all  suddenly  upon  the  necks  of  his  heroic  disturbers,  to  their  utter 
discomfiture.  Some  were  destroyed,  some  taken,  and  a  great  many  put 
to  flight.  General  John  J.  Parker,  formerly  of  Utica,  New- York,  was 
one  of  the  captives  ;  he,  together  with  a  number  of  "  privates"  lately  ac- 
knowledging his  authority,  was  without  delay  placed  at  the  criminals' 
bar,  there  all  undergoing  alike  the  trial  for  their  lives  ;  no  distinction 
for  officers  was  at  this  time  made,  either  in  the  flattering  way  of  extra 
trial  or  extra  punishment.  Owing  to  the  intercession  of  several  highly 
respectable  citizens  of  the  United  States  with  the  British  government  in 
behalf  of  some  of  these  individuals,  they  were  kindly  allowed  to  retain 
their  forfeited  heads,  and  were  only  sentenced  to  transportation  for  life  to 
Botany  Bay. 

This  bootless  business  now  approaches  rapidly  its  conclusion.  Papi- 
.leau,  Viger,  O'Callaghan,  and  others,  in  the  Lower  Province,  where  the  in- 
surrection was  of  a  more  respectable  character,  had  been  taken  and  ban- 
ished to  France,  or  heavily  fined  and  imprisoned — so  that  all  was  in  that 
region  settled  and  quiet.  In  the  Upper  Province,  however,  one  more  out- 
break— a  final  and  bloody  flare-up — was  yet  to  take  place.  Messrs.  Thel- 
ier  and  Dodge  had  escaped,  almost  miraculously,  from  the  impregnable 


534  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

British  castle  at  Quebec,  in  which  they  were  imprisoned.     They  arrived, 

in  the  month  of  October,  at  Boston  ;  but  passing  hastily  thence  they  set 
their  faces  towards  New- York,  as  a  less  "  calculating"  and  more  excitable 
and  proper  neiglibourhood  for  tiie  commencement  of  their  operatione. 
They  were  at  the  latter  place  joined  by  the  notable  Mr.  M'Kenzie,  then 
lately  liberated  from  an  incarceration  at  Rochester  for  his  political  mis- 
demeanours, and  they  together  procuring  the  old  Richmond  Hill  Theatre 
building,  commenced  illumining  the  populace  who  could  be  drawn  in  as- 
sociation there  for  a  few  nights,  as  to  the  remarkable  and  peculiar  and 
unwarrantable  state  of  things  in  Canada.  Somehow,  even  in  the  "  great 
metropolis"  of  America,  they  failed  to  excite  a  popular  feeling — and  so 
passed  farther  north.  In  Albany,  and  in  Troy  the  subject  attracted  more 
attention  ;  also  in  Utica,  Syracuse,  and  Salina.  In  the  beginning  of  No- 
vember, therefore,  the  patriots  again  rallied,  for  a  grand  and  finishing 
stroke — a  farewell  demonstration. 

It  seems  they  had  already  been  secretly  formed  into  clubs,  called  Hun- 
ters' Lodges,  along  the  American  line ;  and  they  now  in  concert  resolved 
upon  Prescott,  Upper  Canada,  not  far  from  Ogdensburgh,  as  a  proper  place 
of  union  for  their  forces.  On  the  10th  of  the  month,  two  schooners  were 
freighted  with  arms  and  men  at  Oswego,  and  dispatched  for  Sacketts' 
Harbour;  at  the  latter  place  two  hundred  and  fifty  patriots  went  on  board 
the  lake  steamer  United  States,  bound  thence  for  Ogdensburgh  ;  and,  on 
getting  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  Captain  Van  Cleve  was  induced,  by 
a  false  representation  of  some  of  the  chief  "  patriots,"'  to  take  in  tow  the 
aforesaid  schooners,  which  were  there  lying  at  anchor.  No  sooner  had 
they  been  lashed  alongside,  than  it  became  apparent  they  were  filled  with 
men  and  munitions  of  war,  instead  of  merchandize  as  stated,  and  the  cap- 
tain refused  to  convoy  them  to  Ogdensburglj.  Their  fastenings  were  cut 
loose,  and  the  steamer  put  out  her  fires  and  lay  by  for  the  night.  After 
much  shuffling  and  irregular  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  warlike  schoo- 
ners, one  of  them  being  stranded  and  fought  for  by  adverse  parties,  some 
two  hundred  men  were  landed  near  Prescott,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
occupy  a  strong  position  known  as  Windmill  Point,  about  a  mile  further 
down  the  river.  On  the  arrival  of  Captain  Van  Cleve's  steamboat  at  Og- 
densburgh the  next  morning,  she  was  taken  possession  of,  first  by  the  in- 
surgents for  their  own  purposes,  and  subsequently  by  the  marshal  and 
military  officers  of  the  American  government  for  an  infringement  upon 
the  rights  of  the  British  and  the  neutral  policy  of  the  United  States. 

The  notorious  Bill  Johnson,  now  become  "the  hero  of  the  lakes,"  was, 
with  his  boats,  had  in  immediate  requisition ;  he  crossed  the  river  back  and 
forth  a  number  of  times,  with  volunteers  for  the  new  service,  and  was  ad- 
dressing a  crowd  of  idlers  on  the  American  shore  with  considerable  suc- 
cess, when  Colonel  Worth,  with  a  body  of  troops,  put  a  stop  to  further  pro- 
ceedings of  that  sort.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  13lh,  two  British 
steamers  arrived  at  Prescott  with  a  reinforcement  of  men  for  Fort  Wel- 
lington, as  well  as  a  supply  of  cannon  and  bombs,  with  which  they  com- 
menced an  attack  upon  the  patriot  camp.  It  is  said  the  assailants  were 
on  this  occasion  repulsed,  with  the  loss  of  a  hundred  men.  On  the  14th, 
they  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  patriots,  for  permission  to  bury  their  dead, 
which  was  granted;  subsequently,  it  is  also  said,  a  like  request  was  re- 
fused the  patriots  by  the  British,  and  the  bearer  of  the  "rebel"  flag  shot 
down. 

On  the  15th,  an  additional  force  of  loyalists  arriving  at  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, they  were  able  completely  to  surround  the  men  at  the  Windmill ; 
when,  after  a  hard  day's  battle,  the  ammunition  of  the  patriots  failing,  they 
were  compelled  to  surrender.  On  this  day,  accordmg  to  the  account  of 
Dr.  Theller  (who  was  there,  again  embarked  in  search  of  glory,  though 
one  would  suppose  his  ardour  must  have  been  a  trifle  chilled  by  the  ex- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  535 

treraely  near  and  uncomfortable  prospect  of  a  halter  swingino;  for  his 
neck),  thirty-six  patriots  were  killed,  two  escaped,  and  ninety  were  made 
prisoners.  Of  the  British,  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  twenty  officers 
fell,  including-  Captain  Drummond.  Tiie  patriots  were  commanded  by 
one  Van  Schoultz,  a  brave  but  unfortunate  Polander,  who  had  fought  for 
the  freedom  of  his  native  land,  and  witnessed  her  expiring-  agonies  at  ill- 
fated  Warsaw.  When  driven  to  desperation,  he  opposed  the  offering  to 
the  enemy  the  flag  of  truce,  and  besought  his  men  to  rush  forth  with  him 
and  die  in  the  contest ;  but  five  days'  fatigue  had  broken  their  courage, 
and  made  them  indifl"erent  to  their  fate.  They  yielded,  and  their  brave 
leader  was  hung ;  thus  perishing  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-one  years. 
Twenty-three  of  the  more  prominent  offenders  w^ere  sent  to  England,  and 
from  there,  after  trial,  were  transported  to  Van  Dieman's  land.  The  re- 
/lainder  of  the  captives,  after  a  trial  and  imprisonment  in  Canada,  were 
released. 

Thus  was  this  wild  "rebellion"  finally  crushed.  On  all  points  it  had 
failed,  signally  failed  ;  though  perhaps,  in  the  first  instance,  its  failure  was 
owing  altogether  to  a  want  of  that  energy  and  ability  which  might,  under 
the  circumstances,  have  been  reasonably  expected  from  its  original  mov- 
ers. The  result  of  all  the  bloodshed  and  turmoil,  however,  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course,  has  smce  been  an  effective  and  healthful  re-organization 
of  the  Canadian  government.  Most  of  the  abuses  which  were  with  reason 
complained  of  by  the  French  have  been  abated,  and  the  British  authority 
in  both  provinces  much  strengthened ;  or,  perhaps,  as  we  are  rather  war- 
ranted in  saying,  firmly  established. 

The  queen's  government  has,  within  a  short  time  past,  exercised  ex- 
treme liberality  towards  the  American  prisoners  condemned  to  New-Hol- 
land for  participation  in  this  most  unwise  attempt  to  revolutionize  the 
Canadas.  The  great  majority,  if  not  all,  of  the  convicts,  have  been  par- 
doned and  returned  to  their  homes.  The  French  gentlemen  of  the  lower 
provice  who  were  apprehended  for  being  so  deeply  concerned  in  the  mat- 
ter, have  also  been  recalled  from  banishment,  and  had  their  confiscated 
estates  and  rank  in  society  restored  to  them.  M.  Papineau,  upon  his  re- 
call from  the  island  of  Barbadoes,  was  paid  a  considerable  amount  of  money, 
in  liquidation  of  a  claim  of  his  of  some  years'  standing,  against  the  gov- 
ernment of  Lower  Canada,  as  speaker  of  the  Assembly. 

In  this  year  were  at  length  disposed  of,  the  cases  of  the  brothers  R.  and 
H.  White,  indicted  in  1833  for  setting  on  fire  the  United  States'  treasury 
buildings.  The  first-mentioned  person  was  acquitted— the  other  sentenced 
to  hard  labour  for  a  term  of  ten  years  in  the  District  penitentiary. 

About  the  same  time  was  brought  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  a  suit  commenced  by  the  heirs  of  the  late  Stephen  Girard, 
of  Philadelphia,  versus  his  trustees  and  executors.  The  complainants  as- 
serted, and  with  something  of  plausibility,  a  misapplication  and  waste  of 
the  funds  of  the  illustrious  testator;  but,  after  a  very  patient  hearing  of 
lengthy  arguments  pro  and  con,  their  honours  concluded  upon  the  exer- 
cise of  no  particular  interference. 

The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  time  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  were 
as  follows  :  Chief  Justice,  Roger  B.  Taney,  of  Maryland  ;  Associate  Jus- 
tices, Joseph  Story,  of  Massachusetts;  Smith  Thompson,  of  New- York ; 
John  M'Lean,  of  Ohio  ;  Henry  Baldwin,  of  Pennsylvania ;  James  M. 
Wayne,  of  Georgia;  Philip  P.  Barbour,  of  Virginia;  John  Catron  of 
Tennessee  ;  John  M'Kinley,  of  Alabama. 

Fain  would  we  now  pass  in  silence  to  another  page ;  but  justice  de^ 
mands  the  record  of  an  event  which  was  allowed  to  take  place  near  the 
seat  of  government  of  this  "enlightened"  land,  which  would  scarcely  have 
been  tolerated  in  a  society  of  New-Zealanders.  We  allude  to  the  death 
of  Jonathan  Cilley :  and  verily  the  dog-star  must  have  raged,  from  the 


536  THE  TREASUaY  OF  HI3T011Y. 

opening  sfe<!nc  of  the  tragic  act,  to  the  hour  when  its  principal  perpe- 
trators were  decided  still  fit  to  hold  seats  m  the  nation^il  council.     It  oc- 
curred as  follows  :     The   unfortunate  Cilley  (a  newly  elected  member 
from  Maine),  soun  after  assuming  his  seat,  took  occasion  in  a  spe(;ch  of 
some  lengtli  and  spirit,  to  reflect  with  great  severity  upon  the  character 
of  many  of  his  associates  who  were  politically  opposed  to  him.     James 
Watson  Webb,  of  New- York,  feeling  particularly  aggrieved,  took  upon 
himself  the  task  of  calling  the  oirendcr  to  account.     The  Hon.  Mr.  W. 
J.  Graves,  of  Kentucky,  consented  to  act  as  bearer  of  Mr.  Webb's  let- 
ter;  but  even  this  was  not  sufficient  to  induce  Mr.  Cilley  to  accept  of  the 
note  from  Mr.  Webb.     Indignant  thereat,  Mr.  Graves  assumed  to  be  very 
much  ortended  himself,  and  demanded  of  Mr.    Cilley  whether  he,  Mr. 
Graves,  was  not  a  gentleman  1     The   member  from  Maine   instantly  re- 
plied that  he  had  always  considered  him  such,  and  should  still  so  con- 
sider him — but  that  it  did  not  necessarily  follow  he  should  have  any  dis- 
pute with  Mr.  Webb.     Mr.  Graves  said  he  thought  differently — and  per- 
emptorily  required  Mr.  Cilley  to  accept   a   challenge   from  either    Mr. 
Webb  or  himself — or,  to  retract  what  he  had  said  in  debate.     Mr.  Cilley 
very  naturally  refused,  at  first,  to  do  anything  of  the  kind  ;  but  he  was 
at  length  weak  enough  to  accept  of  a  challenge  from  Graves.     The  duel 
was  fought  with  rifles,  at  eighty  paces,  the  minultcB  being  arranged  by 
Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise,  and  George  W.  Jones.     Two  shots  were  exchanged 
without  effect,  when  Mr.   Wise  (second  to  Mr.  Graves),  announced  that 
he  should  propose  to  ''shorten  the  distance"  if  no  one   was   killed   or 
maimed  by  the  next  exchange.     He  also  "announced"  to  the  parties,  that 
a  select  few,  for  whose  honour  he  could  vouch,  stood  at  a  distance  taking  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  sport — but  that,  as  this  was  contrary  to  the  rules 
of  etiquette  acknowledged  among  duellists,  if  the  principals  in  this  gen- 
tlemanly affair  desired  it,  he  would  go  and  drive  the  intruders  off.     No 
obection  being  made,  the  third  shots  were  exchanged — and  Mr.  Cilley  fell 
dead.     But,  though  these  events,  so  disgraceful  to  all  concerned,  were  al- 
lowed to  go  unpunished  at  the  seat  of  government,  it  was  far  otherwise 
throughout  the  country.     A  storm  of  indignation  was  poured  upon  the 
heads  of  the  offenders  from  the  great  mass  of  the  community. 

Death  swept  away  this  year — by  explosion  on  board  the  steam  packet 
Pulaski,  of  Charleston,  one  hundred  and  sixty  persons ;  by  explosion  on 
board  the  Mississippi  steamer  Moselle,  near  the  wharf  at  Cincinnatti,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  ;  by  fire,  on  board  the  lake  steamer  Washington,  near 
Buffalo,  fifty  more.  In  April,  at  Baltimore,  Hon.  Isaac  M'Kim,  of  Mary- 
land;  at  the  same  place,  Captain  J.  L.  Nicholson,  U.  S.  N. ;  same  place, 
Hon.  T.  J.  Carter,  of  Maine.  In  New-York,  £.  90,  Lorenzo  Daponte,  the 
"friend  of  Mozart."  In  Boston,  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  L.  L.  D.  At  Platts- 
burgh,  New-Y'ork,  s.  80,  Major-general  Mooers.  In  New-Hampshire, 
Judge  Wlngate,  m  99.  In  Alabama,  Hon.  J.  Lawier.  In  Kentucky,  Cap- 
tain Gatliff,  a  pioneer — the  "companion  of  Boone."  In  Texas,  by  sui- 
cide, Colonel  Grayson.  At  Sing-Sing,  New- York,  Commodore  Creigh- 
ton,  U.  S.  N.  At  Hudson,  New- York,  Captain  Coffin,  je  99,  of  Nan- 
tucket. At  Huntsville,  Alabama,  Colonel  Lindsay,  U.  S.  A.  At  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  General  William  H.  Ashley  ;  same  place,  by  murder,  Judge 
Dougherty.  At  Philadelphia.  Commodore  Rodgers,  senior  officer  U.  S.  N. 
In  New-Y'ork,  Commodore  Woolsey ;  of  whom  it  is  said,  in  the  late  war 
he  induced  a  British  parly  by  stratagem  to  go  up  an  American  creek,  for- 
aging— and  then  suddenly  rushed  upon  them  with  a  small  body  of  rifle- 
men, crying  fiercely  "Charge  !  charge!" — whereupon  the  Britons  threw 
down  their  arms  and  yielded  at  discretion,  Woolsey  niarching  up  to  their 
chief  (whom  he  had  seen  before)  with  "Why,  INIajor  Popham,  what  on 
earth  brought  you  here  !"  and  he  replying,  "  Well,  Woolsey,  this  is  the 
first  time  I  ever  heard  of  a  rifle  corps  charging  !"     In  New-Orleans,  Alex- 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  537 

ander  Milne,  m  60,  leaving  $200,000  to  benevolent  institutions.  In  Charles- 
ton, South-Carolina,  M,  Kohne,  leaving  $730,000  in  charitable  bequests. 
In  the  Arkansas  house  of  representatives,  Major  Anthony,  a  member,  being 
killed  by  Colonel  Wilson,  the  speaker — for  an  implied  insult.  On  passage 
from  Havana  to  Philadelphia,  M.  Maelzel,  inventor  of  the  automaton  chess- 
player. In  Peru,  J.  B.  Thornton,  American  charg6  d'affaires.  On  the 
island  of  Cuba,  Dr.  Antomarchi,  the  favourite  and  last  physician  of  Napo- 
leon. In  Paris,  17th  May,  at  the  age  of  84,  M.  Talleyrand,  the  consummate 
diplomatist,  but  recusant  bishop,  married  priest,  and  renegade  catholic ; 
the  pope,  however,  by  intercession  of  King  Philippe,  consented  to  receive 
him  back  into  the  arms  of  the  church,  and  allowed  the  administration  of 
extreme  unction.  In  London,  John  Reeve,  an  actor;  Lieutent-colonel 
Balfour,  82d  regiment ;  Philip  Molyneaux,  Lord  Sefton ;  Sir  Gerard  Noel 
Noel,  M.  P.  At  Madeira,  Arthur  Baring,  son  of  Lord  Ashburton.  At 
Cape  Coast,  Africa,  Mrs.  George  M'Lean,  better  known  as  "L.  £.  L.," 
the  poetess.  In  Paris,  Marshal  Count  Lobau,  m  68,  an  officer  of  Napo- 
leon, taken  by  the  British  at  Waterloo.  In  Rome,  "  the  sacred  city,"  at 
the  age  of  68,  his  holiness,  Annibal  della  Genga,  Pope  Leo  XII. ;  he  was 
elevated  to  the  papal  chair  in  1823,  on  the  death  of  Pius  VII.,  and  now 
made  way  for  Castiglione,  Pius  VIII. 

A.  D.  1839. — Close  upon  the  heels  of  the  Canadian  rebellion,  came  the 
vexed  North-Eastern  Boundary  question.  In  this  was  involved  not  merely 
the  ownership  of  seven  millions  of  acres  of  land,  or  a  tract  about  twice 
the  size  of  the  state  of  Connecticut — but  what  was  deemed  of  much  more 
moment  by  Great  Britain,  the  right  of  a  direct  way  across  from  the  prov- 
ince of  New-Brunswick,  either  by  or  south  of  the  St.  Johns  river,  to  Que- 
bec on  the  St.  Lawrence. 

As  early  as  the  beginning  of  1837,  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  Maine 
lassed,  unanimousljs  the  following  among  other  resolutions  bearing 
rtrongly  upon  the  subject : — 

"Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  authorized  and  requested  to  call  on  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  cause  the  North-Eastern  Boundary  of 
this  state  to  be  explored  and  surveyed,  and  monuments  erected,  accord- 
ing to  the  treaty  of  1783. 

"  Resolved,  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed,  and  our  repre- 
sentatives requested,  to  endeavour  to  obtain  a  speedy  adjustment  of  the 
controversy." 

As  a  preparatory  step  towards  forcing  a  settlement  of  the  matter,  the 
state  of  Maine  authorized  an  agent,  Mr.  E.  S.  Greeley,  to  take  the  census 
of  the  Madawaska  district  as  a  part  of  the  state  of  Maine  ;  the  town  of 
Madawaska  being  included  in  the  disputed  territory,  the  British  authorities 
had  him  arrested,  and  sent  to  Woodstock,  New-Brunswick,  for  trial,  on  a 
charge  of  interference  with  the  affairs  of  a  foreign  dominion.  He  was 
there  examined  by  justices,  and  ordered  into  custody  of  the  sheriff;  that 
officer  refusing  to  hold  him,  however,  he  was  set  at  liberty.  Upon  man- 
ifesting a  very  decided  disposition  to  repeat  the  offence  for  which  he  had 
been  taken,  Mr.  Greeley  was  again  appiehended,  and  sent  to  Frederickton 
for  confinement  until  his  case  could  be  submitted  to  Sir  John  Harvey. 
Tiiat  officer,  upon  consideratior^  caused  Mr.  Greeley  to  be  offered  his  dis- 
charge from  durance,  provided  he  would  agree  to  go  and  offend  no  more. 
Being  filled  with  patriotism,  the  citizen  of  Maine  refused  to  do  so,  and 
was  therefore  remanded  to  prison,  from  whence  he  did  not  make  his 
egress  for  nearly  three  months — being  committed  23d  May,  and  released 
12th  August — and  then  only  on  the  intercession  of  Mr.  Stevenson,  Amer- 
ican minister  at  the  court  of  St.  James. 

In  the  interim,  Mr.  Evans,  United  States'  senator  from  Maine,  having 
moved  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject,  $20,000  were  appropriated, 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  commission  to  make  a  survey  and  run  the 


538  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

boundary  line — from  the  mount  at  the  head  of  the  Schoodic  to  the  north- 
west angle  of  Nova-Scotia — the  British  commissioners  having  refused 
to  go  due  north,  according  to  the  treaty,  any  farther  than  Mars'  Hill. 

While  the  case  stood  thus,  about  the  beginning  of  October,  Governor 
Kent  addressed  a  letter  to  Sir  John  Harvey,  of  New-Brunswick,  with  the 
information  that  he  had  just  appointed  a  body  of  twelve  men  as  commis- 
sioners of  Maine  to  explore  the  disputed  territory,  for  geological  and 
other  purposes,  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  state  legislature 
requiring  the  same  to  be  done.  Governor  Harvey  replied,  in  effect,  that 
lie  could  see  no  great  utility  in  the  measure,  particularly  at  that  time, 
pending  the  action  of  Congress;  nevertheless,  he  should  offer  no  impedi- 
ment to  their  proceedings,  so  long  as  they  confined  their  observations 
strictly  to  the  debatable  territory. 

The  next  flourish  of  trumpets  originated  with  Governor  Fairfield,  the 
newly-elected  successor  of  Edward  Kent,  in  the  gubernatorial  chair  of 
Maine.  Rightly  judging  that  he  could  not  better  oblige  his  constituents 
than  by  chiming  in  Avith  their  views  relative  to  the  New-Brunswick  con- 
troversy, he  addressed,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1839,  a  confidential  message 
to  the  legislature  of  his  state,  recommending  the  passage  of  a  resolution 
empowering  the  Maine  land-agent  to  proceed  to  the  Aroostook  river,  with 
a  sufficient  force  to  disperse  certain  trespassers,  who,  it  was  said,  were 
from  the  adjoining  British  province,  and  at  that  time  extensively  engaged 
in  cutting  timber  on  the  lands  claimed  by  the  state  of  Maine.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  day  following  the  reception  of  this  message,  the  annexed 
resolution  passed  both  houses : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  land-agent  be  and  is  hereby  authorized  and  required 
to  employ  forthwitli  sufficient  force  to  arrest,  detain,  and  imprison  all  per- 
sons found  trespassing  on  the  territory  of  this  State,  as  bounded  and  estab- 
lished by  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  that  the  land-agent  be  and  is  hereby 
empowered  to  dispose  of  all  the  teams,  lumber  and  other  materials  in 
the  hands  and  possession  of  said  trespassers,  in  such  way  and  manner  as 
he  may  deem  necessary  and  expedient  at  the  time,  by  destroying  the  same 
or  otherwise.  And  that  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  be  and  hereby  is 
appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  this  resolve  into  effect,  and  that 
the  governor,  with  the  advice  of  the  council,  be  and  is  hereby  authorized 
to  draw  his  warrant  from  time  to  time,  for  such  sums  as  may  be  required 
for  the  purposes  aforesaid. 

"  Approved  : 

''January  24,  1839.  JOHN  FAIRFIELD." 

Thus  authorized  to  act,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Mclntire,  land-agent,  accompa- 
nied by  the  sheriff  of  Penobscot  county,  and  a  force  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men,  which  was  deemed  sufficient  for  any  probable  emergency,  made 
their  preparations  and  departed.  On  the  12th  of  February  these  men 
encamped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Madawaska,  Mr.  Mclntire  and  the 
other  leaders  of  the  party  passing  along  a  short  distance  further,  and  put- 
ting up  for  the  night  at  a  house  about  three  miles  within  the  acknowledged 
American  border.  Here,  about  midnight,  they  were  seized  by  a  consider- 
able body  of  armed  men,  and  conveyed  across  the  line  ;  and  the  next  day 
sent,  strongly  guarded,  to  Frederickton,  New-Brunswick,  and  there  im- 
prisoned. The  next  steps  taken,  were  by  a  portion  of  the  people  of 
Maine,  unauthorized,  who  in  retaliation  for  the  abducting  of  their  land- 
agent,  seized  upon  the  British  warden  of  the  disputed  territory,  Mr. 
McLaughlin  ;  and  also  broke  into  her  majesty's  arsenal  at  Woodstock, 
and  abstracted  therefrom  a  quantity  of  arms,  military  stores,  &c. 

This  matter  was  duly  set  forth  in  a  proclamation,  on  the  13th  of  Febru- 
ary, by  "Sir  John  Harvey,  K.  C.  S,  and  K.  C.  H.,"  who  by  the  same 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  639 

document  orJered  out  the  1st  and  2d  battalions  of  the  militia  of  the  county 
of  Carleton,  for  the  purposes  of  repelling  foreign  invasion  and  preventing 
the  illegal  assumption  of  arms  by  her  majesty's  subjects.  On  the  15th, 
Governor  Fairfield  sent  his  message  to  the  legislature,  complaining  of  the 
capture  of  his  land-agent  as  a  "  most  extraordinary  and  outrageous  pro- 
ceeding," which  demanded  instant  attention.  He  also  announced  that  he 
had  despatched  a  special  messenger  to  New-Brunswick,  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  whether  the  provincial  government  countenanced  in  any 
way  this  ''kidnapping"  of  American  citizens. 

The  reply  of  the  governor  of  New-Brunswick  to  the  executive  of 
Maine,  upon  his  requisition  for  the  release  of  Mr.  Mclntire,  was  courteous 
but  firm.  He  stated  to  Governor  Fairfield,  that  the  attorney-general  of 
the  province,  upon  an  examination  of  the  affair,  was  of  opinion  that  the 
offence  committed,  or  contemplated,  was  rather  against  the  law  of  nations 
than  against  the  laws  of  New-Brunswick;  and  therefore  it  was  a  matter 
to  be  decided  upon  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  to  which  the 
case  would  be  referred  In  the  meantime,  however,  Mr.  Mclntire  was 
allowed  his  liberty  on  parole  that  he  would  appear  to  answer,  in  New- 
Brunswick,  whenever  called  upon  to  do  so. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  letter.  Governor  Fairfield  ordered  immediately 
the  release  of  Mr.  McLaughlin,  the  warden  of  the  province,  also  upon 
parole  to  surrender  himself  to  the  authorities  of  Maine,  whenever  required 
so  to  do.  Tiien  followed  a  protest  from  the  solicitor-general  of  New- 
Brunswick,  by  order,  expressing  great  surprise  at  the  action  of  a  legislature 
authorizing  the  occupation,  by  an  armed  force,  of  a  territory  which  it  was 
well  understood  was  by  treaty  to  remain  a  neutral  ground  until  the  gen- 
eral governments  should  definitely  arrange  the  difficulties.  It  was  also 
stated  that  Sir  John  Harvey  had  been  expressly  ordered  by  his  sovereign 
to  hold  the  disputed  territory  inviolate,  and  he  should  do  so. 

That  is  to  say,  by  sending  a  formidable  body  of  his  regulars  to  the 
scene  of  contention,  Governor  Harvey  meant  to  force  all  others  off  the 
premises.  Upon  this,  the  governor  of  Maine  immediately  addressed  an 
epistle  to  his  excellency,  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  whose  state  had 
also  an  interest  in  the  lands  in  debate,  requesting  the  views  of  the  execu- 
tive on  the  controversy,  and  demanding  the  countenance  and  co-operation 
of  that  ancient  and  honourable  commonwealth.  Governor  Everett  replied 
by  addressing  a  communication  to  his  own  state  legislature,  enclosing  the 
documents  of  Governor  Fairfield ;  the  result  of  which  was,  the  speedy 
passage  by  that  body,  of  a  series  of  resolutions  denunciatory  of  the 
course  of  the  province  of  New-Brunswick,  and  declaratory  of  their  fixed 
determination  to  support  the  state  of  Maine  in  any  exigency  which  might 
arise. 

Thus  sustained,  the  people  of  the  extreme  east  set  about  their  bellige- 
rent preparations  with  great  spirit,  drafting  militia,  organizing  volunteers, 
and  purchasing  munitions.  In  the  heat  of  these  proceedings,  however,  news 
reached  them  of  the  arrival  hard  by,  of  a  very  extensive  consignment  of 
troops  for  Governor  Harvey,  which  had  been  early  despatched  him  from 
Halifax,  Cork,  and  elsewhere.  In  view  of  this  activity  on  the  part  of  the 
English  administration,  Congress  deemed  it  high  time  to  begin  also  and 
do  a  little  something.  The  following  act,  therefore,  was  the  next  step  to- 
wards a  concentration  of  the  difficulty  : 

AN  ACT  giving  to  the  •president  of  the  United  States  additional  powers  for 
the  defence  of  the  United  States,  in  certain  cases,  against  invasion  and  for 
other  purposes. 

Be  it  enacted,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  'i'hat  the  president  of  tlie 
United  States  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  authorized  to  resist  any  attempt  on 


540  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  * 

the  part  of  Great  Britain  to  enforce,  by  arms,  her  claims  to  exclusive 
jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  the  state  of  Maine  which  is  in  dispute  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Great  Britau* ;  and  for  that  purpose,  to  em- 
ploy the  naval  and  military  forces  of  the  United  States,  and  such  portions 
of  the  militia  as  he  may  deem  it  advisable  to  call  into  service. 

Sec.  2. — And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  militia  when  called  into  the 
service  of  the  United  States  by  virtue  of  this  act,  or  of  the  act  entitled 
"  An  act  to  provide  for  the  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of 
the  Union,  suppress  msurrections,  repel  invasions,  and  to  repeal  the  act 
now  in  force  for  those  purposes,"  may,  if  in  the  opinion  of  the  president 
of  the  United  States  the  public  interest  requires  it,  be  compelled  to  serve 
for  a  term  not  exceeding  six  months  after  the  arrival  at  their  place  of 
rendezvous,  in  any  one  year,  unless  sooner  discharged. 

Sec  3. — And  be  it  further  enacted.  That,  in  the  event  of  actual  invasion 
of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  by  any  foreign  power,  or  of  immi- 
nent danger  of  such  invasion  discovered,  in  his  opinion,  to  exist,  before 
Congress  can  be  convened  to  act  upon  the  subject,  the  president  be,  and 
he  hereby  is,  authorized,  if  he  deem  the  same  expedient,  to  accept  the 
services  of  any  number  of  volunteers  not  exceeding  fifty  thousand,  in  the 
manner  provided  for  in  the  act  entitled  "  An  act  authorizing  the  president 
of  the  United  States  to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers,  and  to  raise  an 
additional  regiment  of  dragoons  or  mounted  riflemen,"  approved  May 
23,  1836. 

Sec.  4. — And  be  it  further  enacted.  That,  in  the  event  of  either  of  the 
contingencies  provided  for  in  this  act,  the  president  of  the  United  Stales 
shall  be  authorized  to  complete  the  public  armed  vessels  now  authorized 
by  law,  and  to  equip,  man,  and  employ,  in  actual  service,  all  the  naval 
force  of  the  United  States;  and  to  build,  purchase,  charter,  or  arm,  equip, 
and  man  such  vessels  and  steamboats  on  the  northern  lakes  and  rivers 
whose  waters  communicate  with  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  as 
he  shall  deem  necessary  to  protect  the  United  States  from  invasion  from 
that  quarter. 

Sec.  5. — And  be  it  farther  enacted,  That  the  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dol- 
lars is  hereby  appropriated  and  placed  at  his  disposal  for  the  purpose  of 
executing  the  provisions  of  this  act;  to  provide  for  which  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  is  authorized  to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  cause  to  be  issued  certificates  of  stock,  signed  by  the 
register  of  the  treasury,  for  the  sum  to  be  borrowed,  or  any  part  there- 
of; and  the  same  to  be  sold  upon  the  best  terms  that  may  be  ottered  after 
public  notice  for  proposals  for  the  same  :  Provided,  That  no  engagement 
or  contract  shall  be  entered  into  which  shall  preclude  the  United  States 
from  reimbursing  any  sum  or  sums  thus  borrowed  after  the  expiration  of 
five  years  from  the  1st  of  January  next;  and  that  the  rate  of  interest 
shall  not  exceed  five  per  cent.,  payable  semi-annually. 

Sec  6. — And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  sum  of  eighteen  thousand 
dollars  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  appropriated,  out  of  any  money  in  the 
treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  for  outfit  and  salary  of  a  special  min- 
ister to  Great  Britain :  Provided,  The  president  of  the  United  States 
shall  deem  it  expedient  to  appoint  the  same. 

Sec.  7. — And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  in  the  event  of  either  of  the 
contingencies  provided  for  in  the  first  and  third  sections  of  this  act,  the 
president  of  the  United  States  shall  be  authorized  to  apply  a  part  not  ex- 
ceeding one  million  of  the  appropriation  made  in  this  act,  to  repairing  or 
arming  fortifications  along  the  sea-board  and  frontier. 

Sec  8. — And  he  i{  further  enacted.  That  whenever  militia  or  volunteers 
are  called  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  they  shall  h?ve  the  organ- 
ization of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  receive  the  fime  pay 
and  allowances. 


THE  TREAff'^AY  OF  HISTORY.  541 

Stec.  9. — And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  several  provisions  of  this  act 
hall  be  in  force  until  the  end  of  sixt)'  days  after  the  meeting  of  the  first 
ession  of  the  next  Congress,  and  no  longer. 

(Signed)  JAMES  K.  POLK, 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
WILLIAM  R.  KING, 
President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate. 
(Approved)  M.  VAN  BUREN. 

March  3,  1839. 

Upon  the  receival  of  news  of  this  action  of  Congress,  at  Halifax,  ner 
majesty's  government  officers  proceeded  at  once  to  sound  the  notes  of 
warlike  preparation,  deeming  a  collision  between  the  two  countries  inevi- 
table. The  legislature  of  Nova  Scotia  assembled  on  the  26th,  and  at 
once  voted  a  sum  of  c£lOO,000,  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  governor,  to 
raise  men  to  go  to  the  aid  of  New-Brunswicl?,  and  eight  thousand  men 
were  ordered  to  be  immediately  raised. 

Intermediately,  however,  an  arrangement  was  effected  between  Mr. 
P'orsyth,  the  American  Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  H.  S.  Fox,  her  ma- 
jesty's minister  at  Washington,  for  the  temporary  suspension  of  proceed- 
ings on  both  sides,  until  a  communication  could  be  had  from  the  parent 
government  of  th  Canadas.  In  relation  to  this  arrangement,  the  fol- 
lowing very  sensible  note  was  addressed  by  Governor  Harvey  to  Gover- 
nor Fairfield ; 

"  Government  House, 
"Fredericton,  (N.  B.)  March  7,  1839. 

"  Major-General  Sir  John  Harvey  presents  his  compliments  to  Gover- 
nor Fairfield,  and,  with  reference  to  a  communication  which  he  has  just 
received  from  her  majesty's  minister  at  Washington,  transmitting  a 
"memorandum"  under  the  joint  signatures  of  Mr.  Forsyth,  Secretary  of 
State,  and  Mr.  Fox,  containing  terms  of  accommodation,  recommended 
by  the  secretary  of  state  and  her  majesty's  minister  plenipotentiary,  to 
Governor  P^airfield  and  himself  respectively,  begs  to  say,  that  he  will  be 
happy  to  enter  into  such  amicable  communication  with  Governor  Fairfield 
upon  the  subject  as  may  conduce  to  the  attainment  of  the  very  desirable 
and  important  object  thereby  proposed  to  be  effected. 

"  Sir  John  Harvey  has  answered  Mr.  Fox's  communication,  by  express- 
ing his  entire  readiness  to  give  eflfect  to  the  proposed  desirable  arrange- 
ment so  far  as  may  be  dependent  upon  him. 

"  To  His  Excellency,  Governor  Fairfield,"  &c. 

This,  however,  was  not  at  all  satisfactory  to  the  governor  of  the  state 
of  Maine.  His  troops  were  already  assembled,  and  hastening  to  the  dis- 
puted territory,  "all  fierce  for  war ;"  and  he  could  now  have  no  idea  of 
quenching  their  ardour  by  putting  a  stop  to  all  the  stirring  clamours,  sim- 
ply for  the  purpose  of  quietly  settling  down  into  an  amicable  and  cooJ 
negotiation,  which  could,  in  his  apprehension  of  the  case,  only  result  in 
their  falling  back  into  the  same  old  and  objectionable  paths  of  procedure 
which  had  been  so  long  and  so  fruitlessly  complained  of. 

The  president  of  the  United  States  upon  this  ordered  General  Scott, 
peremptorily,  to  take  command  of  the  military  operations  to  be  conducted 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  excited  border;  and  he  was  charged,  by  all 
means  to  preserve  peace.  This  judicious  instruction  was  propably  the 
means  of  preventing  bloodshed  and  destruction  from  running  riot  to  an 
untold  extent,  as  well  as  two  great  nations  from  being  embroiled  in  a 
fearful  war,  by  the  mad  collision  of  those  heated  borderers. 


542  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

The  executive  of  the  state  of  New- York  at  this  time,  William  H. 
Seward,  thought  the  north-eastern  boundary  question  a  sufficiently  national 
one  to  demand  from  him  an  opinion  respecting  the  propriet}'  of  an  action 
with  reference  thereto  by  the  state  legislature.  His  remarks  were  as 
follows  ;  and,  we  may  as  well  add,  his  views  seemed  to  be  fully  concurred 
in,  not  by  the  legislature  merely,  but  by  the  people  generally. 

"  While  the  several  state  governments  should  carefully  abstain  from 
any  act,  that  might  in  any  degree  interfere  with  the  constitutional 
duties  of  the  federal  government,  it  is  obvious  that  occasions  may  arise 
in  which  they  ought  to  make  known  to  that  government,  to  foreign  na- 
tions, and  to  any  aggrieved  sister  state,  that  we  are  an  united  people, 
jealous  of  our  sovereignty,  and  determined  to  resist  aggression  upon  the 
rights  or  territory  of  the  Union.  The  passage  of  the  act  of  Congress 
above  referred  to,  provisionally  contemplates  that  the  country  may,  during 
the  lecess  of  that  body,  be  compelled  to  assume  an  attitude  of  defence 
against  a  foreign  power,  and  seems  therefore  to  present  one  of  those 
occasions  which  call  for  such  an  expression  on  the  part  of  the  several 
States. 

"  The  measures  adopted  by  Congress  seem  to  me  to  have  been  wisely 
designed  to  preserve  the  existing  inestimable  relations  of  peace  between 
this  country  and  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the 
state  of  Maine,  and  to  maintain  the  honour  and  dignity  of  the  nation.  It 
can  scarcely  be  believed  that  enlightened  Christian  nations,  bound  to  each 
other  in  peculiar  relations  of  feeling  and  of  interest,  will  unnecessarily 
suffer  the  harmony  existing  between  them  to  be  interrupted.  The  govern- 
ments of  both,  as  well  as  their  individual  citizens,  are  under  the  strongest 
obligations  to  cultivate  every  disposition  to  amity,  and  to  repress  all  ten- 
dencies to  hostile  action.  At  the  same  time,  peace  is  seldom  the  lot  of 
any  nation  which  does  not  on  all  proper  occasions,  manifest  that  it  knows 
its  rights,  and  will  at  all  hazards  maintain  them.  I  respectfully  call  your 
attention  to  the  subject,  under  the  expectation  that  an  expression  on  our 
part  of  concurrence  in  the  policy  of  the  general  government,  will  contri- 
bute to  avert  the  calamity  of  war,  and  secure  the  speedy  and  honourable 
adjustment  of  the  existing  difficulties  between  this  country  and  Great 
Britain." 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  his  annual  message  to 
Congress,  held  the  following  language  with  relation  to  the  progress  of 
negotiations  for  the  settlement  of  the  dispute : 

"  For  the  settlement  of  our  north-eastern  boundary,  the  proposition 
provided  by  Great  Britain  for  a  commission  of  exploration  and  survey, 
has  been  received — and  a  counter  project,  including  also  a  provision  for 
the  certain  and  final  adjustment  of  the  limits  in  dispute,  is  now  before  the 
British  government  for  its  consideration.  A  just  regard  to  the  delicate 
state  of  this  question,  and  a  proper  respect  for  the  natural  impatience  of 
the  state  of  Maine,  not  less  than  a  conviction  that  the  negotiation  has 
been  already  protracted  longer  than  is  prudent  on  the  part  of  either  govern 
ment,  have  led  me  to  believe  that  the  present  favourable  moment  should 
on  no  account  be  suffered  to  pass  without  putting  the  question  forever  at 
rest.  I  feel  confident  that  tne  government  of  her  Britannic  majesty  will 
take  the  same  view  of  this  subject,  as  I  am  persuaded  it  is  governed  by 
desires  equally  strong  and  sincere  for  the  amicable  termination  of  the 
controversy. 

"  To  the  intrinsic  difficulties  of  questions  of  boundary  lines,  especially 
those  described  in  regions  unoccupied,  and  but  partially  known,  is  to  be 
added  in  our  country  the  embarrassment  necessarily  arising  out  of  our 
constitution,  by  which  the  general  government  is  made  the  organ  of  nego- 
tiating, and  deciding  upon  the  particular  interests  of  the  states  on  whose 
frontiers  these  lines  are  to  be  traced.     To  avoid  another  controversy  in 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  543 

which  a  state  government  might  rightfully  claim  to  have  her  wishes  con- 
sulted, previously  to  the  conclusion  of  conventional  arrangements  con- 
cerning her  rights  of  jurisdiction  or  territory,  I  have  thought  it  necessary 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  government  of  Great  Britain  to  another  por- 
tion of  our  conterminous  dommion,  of  which  the  division  still  remains  to 
be  adjusted.  I  refer  to  the  line  from  the  entrance  of  Lake  Superior  to 
the  most  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  stipulations  for 
the  settlement  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  7th  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent.  The  commissioners  appointed  under  that  article  by  the  two 
governments  having  differed  in  their  opinions,  made  separate  reports,  ac- 
cording to  its  stipulations,  upon  the  points  of  disagreement,  and  these 
differences  are  now  to  be  submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  some  friendly 
sovereign  or  state.  The  disputed  point  should  be  settled,  and  the  line 
designated,  before  the  territorial  government,  of  which  it  is  one  of  the 
boundaries,  takes  its  place  in  the  Union  as  a  State  ;  and  I  rely  upon  the 
cordial  co-operation  of  the  British  government  to  effect  that  object." 

The  proposition  of  the  American  government  to  Great  Britain  appeared 
to  be,  a  mutual  appointment  of  commissioners  with  power  to  negotiate  a 
final  adjustment  of  the  matter,  either  in  London  or  at  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington. The  project  met  with  no  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  British  at  that 
time,  however,  and  was  necessarily  abandoned.  Her  majesty's  govern- 
ment, it  seems,  placed  the  greatest  reliance  upon  a  scheme  of  their  own, 
the  character  of  which  was  presently  made  manifest  in  the  appointment 
of  two  principal  surveyors  and  a  posse,  to  make  a  sort  of  geological  ex- 
amination of  the  country  adjacent  to  their  boundary  in  the  north-east ;  and 
these  surveyors  were  expected,  should  the  thing  prove  humanly  possible, 
io  ascertain  where  the  hne  really  was  "  or  of  right  ought  to  be,"  and  then 
issue  a  declaration  which  would  fully  persuade  the  Americans  of  the 
same.  These  men  were  Col.  Mudge  and  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh,  the  first 
a  valuable  and  gentlemanly  officer  of  Great  Britain,  the  latter  a  renegade 
oflicial  of  the  United  States.  They  arrived  about  the  middle  of  August 
upon  the  scene  of  difficulty,  and  with  commendable  alacrity  commenced 
their  labours.  After  three  months  spent  in  sage  observations  along  the 
rugged  ridges  of  the  northern  wilderness,  winter  setting  in,  they  left  their 
task  unfinished  and  returned  to  England.  Enough,  however,  had  been 
ascertained  by  these  scientific  gentlemen,  to  enable  them  to  make  a  report 
in  some  fifty-odd  pages  folio  to  her  majesty's  government,  in  whict  they 
settled  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt,  as  they  fondly  imagined,  the  ini^u- 
bitable  right  of  Great  Britain  to  all  the  territory  in  question,  and,  if^  anything, 
more  too.  This  sapient  conclusion  of  these  engineers  was  communi- 
cated as  speedily  as  might  be,  in  a  very  dignified  and  decisive  manner,  by 
Lord  Palmerston  on  behalf  of  the  English  ministry,  to  the  American 
government. 

The  next  succeeding  United  States  Congress  thereupon  concluded, 
with  unsurpassable  discrimination  and  the  greatest  unanimity  of  feeling, 
(in  order  not  to  be  too  glaringly  outdone),  to  have  a  survey  and  report 
made  for  themselves.  A  law  was  accordingly  enacted  for  the  purpose, 
and  Captain  Talcott  and  Professor  Renwick,  with  Major  Graham  and 
lieutenants  Lee  and  Thorn,  of  the  United  States'  corps  of  engineers, 
were  ordered  directly  to  proceed  about  making  another  survey,  with  an 
impartiality  which  might  be  worthy  of  emulation  of  course,  but  which 
would  at  the  same  time,  in  some  sort  answer  for  an  offset  to  the  excellent 
and  worthy-to-be-imitated  report  of  the  Messrs.  Mudge  and  Featherston 
haugh. 

In  the  month  of  November,  1841,  the  United  States'  commissioners  com- 
pleted their  counter-survey,  and  arrived  at  the  inevitable  conclusion  that 
it  was  quite  impossible  a  reasoning  individual  could  see  any  other  line 
than  that  of  the  United  States,  as  originally  recognized  and  laid  down  by 


544  THE  TREASUHY  OP  HISTORY. 

the  treaty  of  1783.  The  American  engnieers  upon  this  were  treated  to  a 
public  dinner,  and  their  report  received  and  toasted  with  evident  satisfac- 
tion. There  the  subject  seemed  again  likely  to  rest ;  at  least  with  the 
American  government.  Great  Britain,  on  the  contrary,  in  accordance 
with  a  belief  in  tlie  correctness  of  her  claim,  authorized  the  building  of 
forts  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  military  post  near  Lake  Temiskouta,  within  the  dis- 
puted lines.  This  roused  the  ire  of  Maine  again ;  and  as  it  was  understood 
a  new  governor  was  about  to  succeed  Sir  John  Harvey  in  New-Bruns- 
wick, who  was  known  to  possess  a  more  arbitrary  and  domineering  spirit, 
preparations  were  actively  renewed  for  war. 

Now,  however,  the  fates  interposed  to  preserve  peace.  Some  said  the 
Britons  were  surprised  at  the  stubborness  of  the  North-eastern  men,  and 
hoped  by  the  appointment  of  a  special  minister,  to  show  to  the  other  slates 
how  unreasonable  they  might  prove  in  a  negotiation.  Perhaps  a  more 
just  view  of  the  case  would  point  to  the  ascension  of  that  eminent  states- 
man and  profound  man,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  to  the  primacy  of  Great  Britain. 
His  able  and  conciliatory  course  with  reference  to  other  important  ques- 
tions, would  indicate  that  he  had,  with  accustomed  discrimination,  selected 
in  preference  to  any  from  the  host  of  aspiring  diplomatists  around  him,  the 
worthy  noble  who  accomplished  so  satisfactorily  this  difficult  task.  Lord 
AsHBURTON  was  wcU  known  as  a  principal  in  the  great  mercantile  house 
of  Baring,  Brothers  &  Co.,  which  was  interested  largely  in  American  stocks 
and  securities,  and  therefore  inclined  to  favour,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
continuance  of  peaceful  relations  across  the  water.  The  baron  was  also 
known  to  be  individually  an  extensive  owner  of  real  estate  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, as  well  as  the  husband  of  a  daughter  of  the  former  United  States  sena- 
tor Bingham,  from  that  state,  by  which  means  he  had  of  course  become  still 
closer  attached  to  the  country.  The  war-party  in  Great  Britain  were  very 
much  opposed  to  the  choice  of  such  a  man  to  negotiate  upon  this  point ; 
nevertheless,  he  was  appointed,  in  the  beginning  of  1842,  a  special  envoy 
to  the  city  of  Washington,  with  full  powers  to  finally  settle,  for  good 
or  for  evil,  the  vexatious  dispute. 

Daniel  Webster,  at  that  time  Secretary  of  State,  was  temporarily  de- 
tached from  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  his  sole  attention  directed  to  a 
speedy  and  proper  consideration  and  conclusion  of  the  great  object  of  the 
new  minister's  mission.  To  assist  in  the  negotiation,  were  appointed,  by 
the  state  of  Massachusetts,  Messrs.  Lawrence,  Mills,  and  Allen ;  by  the 
state  of  Maine,  Ex-Governor  Kent,  and  Messrs.  Otis,  Kavanagh,'  and 
Preble.  Those  selected  for  the  same  duty  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain, 
were  Mr.  McLaughlin,  warden  of  the  English  territory,  Mr.  Simmons, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  Mr.  George  Reed,  secretary  to 
the  governor  of  Nova  Scotia.  These  were  all  summoned  to  appear  as 
soon  as  might  be,  in  the  city  of  Washington,  to  aid  in  this  conference, 
and  they  did  so.  The  negotiation  was  commenced  by  the  presentation  of 
propositions  from  the  commissioners  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  which 
were  declined.  Lord  Ashburton  then  made  his  propositions,  which  were 
in  turn  rejected.  Mr.  Webster  then  proposed  his  terms,  as  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  negotiation  assumed  more  the  character  of  a  compromise 
of  difficulties,  which  finally  resulted  in  agreeing  upon  a  conventional  line, 
and  making  stipulations  by  which  each  party  conceded  something  for  the 
cause  of  amity — though  nothing,  it  is  believed,  of  honour  or  character. 

The  line  agreed  upon  corresponds,  in  many  particulars,  with  that  pro- 
posed by  the  king  of  the  Netherlands  when  he  acted  as  arbiter  upon  the 
subject ;  but  as  an  equivalent  for  concessions  of  territories  made  by  Maine 
and  Massachusetts  in  now  acceeding  to  that  line,  the  United  States  were 
guaranteed  to  receive  a  variety  of  valuable  considerations  not  contem- 
plated by  the  award  alluded  to.      The  line  was  ordered  to  be  run  as  fol- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  545 

lows  :  from  the  monument  on  the  Schoodic  to  the  St.  Johns  as  at  present, 
then  along  the  middle  of  the  St,  Johns  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Francis,  and 
up  the  middle  of  that  river  to  Lake  Pohenganiook  ;  thence  southwesterlj^ 
straight  to  the  northwesternmost  head  of  the  Connecticut  river.  The  por- 
tion of  the  ]Mada\vaska  settlement  south  of  the  St.  Johns  to  belong  to 
Maine.  This  point  was  warmly  contested  by  the  British,  but  was  finally 
conceded. 

The  pretensions  of  Great  Britain  agreeably  to  the  famous  survey  of 
Featherstonhaugh  and  his  associates,  came  far  south  of  the  St.  Johns, 
and  included  the  Aroostook ;  all  this  was  of  course  by  the  treaty  relin- 
quished. For  the  sterile  tract  north  of  the  St.  Johns  which  Maine  had 
heretofore  claimed  but  now  relinquishes,  the  United  States  were  to  have 
the  free  navigation  of  the  entire  river  St.  Johns — an  important  acquisition 
to  Maine  particularly — and  other  privileges  in  regard  to  entering  northern 
British  ports. 

Great  Britain  besides  relinquished  to  the  United  States  Rouse's  point, 
the  key  to  Lake  Champlain,  v/hich,  after  partly  fortifying,  in  1816,  the 
American  government  was  obliged  to  give  up  to  the  English,  on  its  being 
ascertained  to  be  within  their  limits.  An  island  of  some  importance  in 
Lake  Superior  was  also  ceded  to  the  United  States ;  and  a  considerable 
strip  of  territory  heretofore  supposed  to  belong  to  New- York,  New-Hamp- 
shire, and  Vermont,  but  which  was  proven  to  lie  north  of  the  45th  degree 
of  latitude,  and  therefore  belonging  to  Canada.  The  line  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  through  the  great  lakes  as  high  as  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  was 
also  adjusted. 

In  consideration  of  these  provisions,  the  United  States  agreed  to  pay  to 
the  states  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts  8150,000  each,  for  the  territory 
they  relinquished.  The  expenses  of  the  Aroostook  war,  as  it  was  termed, 
were  also  assumed  by  the  United  States,  as  indeed  they  would  have  been 
in  case  no  treaty  had  been  accomplished.  The  two  treaties  were  on  the 
11th  of  August  submitted  to  the  United  States'  Senate,  which  immediately 
went  into  secret  session.  After  a  debate  of  four  or  five  days,  the  question 
on  "consenting  to  and  advising"  the  ratification  of  the  projected  arrange- 
ment, was  taken,  and  agreed  to,  the  vote  standing  ayes  39,  nays  9 ;  the 
dissenters  being  certain  ardent  gentlemen  who  were  blessed  with  some- 
thing more  of  patriotism  than  wisdom.  An  agent  of  the  diplomatic  bureau 
at  Washington  proceeded  immediately  to  England  with  the  ratified  treaty. 
Mr.  Webster  left  the  seat  of  government  for  home,  on  a  respite  from  du- 
ties, stopping  in  New-York,*however,  to  partake  of  a  public  dinner  ten- 
dered him  by  the  city.  Lord  Ashburton  also  bade  farewell  to  his  many 
new-made  friends,  for  New- York,  to  embark  on  board  the  Warspite  sloop- 
of-war,  which  was  awaiting  him  in  the  harbour  of  that  city. 

Article  10,  of  the  Webster  and  Ashburton  treaty,  stipulates  that  eacli 
party,  upon  requisition  from  the  other,  shall  deliver  up  to  justice  persons 
charged  with  the  crime  of  murder,  assault  with  intent  to  murder,  piracy, 
arson,  robbery,  or  forgery,  upon  sufficient  proof  of  their  criminality. 

In  the  month  of  August,  the  United  States'  surveying  brig  Washington, 
Captain  Gedney,  while  sounding  between  Montauk  and  Gardner's  points, 
discovered  a  trim-built  schooner  laying  at  anchor,  under  somewhat  ques- 
tionable circumstances.  On  sending  a  boat  alongside,  she  was  ascertained 
to  be  the  Amistad,  Captain  Ramonflues,  bound  last  from  Havana  to  Port 
Principe,  Cuba,  with  a  cargo  consisting  in  part  of  valuable  merchandize, 
fifty-four  slaves,  and  two  passengers,  viz.,  Don  Jose  Ruiz  and  Pedro 
Montez,  who  were  also  owners  of  the  slaves  and  cargo. 

After  being  four  nights  out,  the  blacks  rose  and  murdered  the  captain 
and  three  of  the  crew,  wounded  the  Spaniards,  and  took  possession  of  the 
vessel.  Their  design  was  to  gain  the  African  coast ;  steering  by  the  sun 
themselves  during  the  day,  they  compelled  their  prisoners  to  navigate  the 


546  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

vessel  by  night.  For  this  purpose  only  were  the  lives  of  the  Spaniards 
spared.  They,  however,  had  constantly  reversed  their  course,  so  as  to 
gain  in  the  night  what  was  lost  by  day  ;  and  thus  they  had  kept  the  ves- 
sel beating  about  in  the  Bahama  channel,  with  the  hope  to  meet  some 
friendly  merchantman  or  ship  of  war. 

Four  days  after  the  rising  of  the  negroes,  they  were  providentially  dis- 
covered, as  related;  being  at  the  time  engaged  in  taking  in  a  supply  of 
water  and  fresh  provisions — possibly  beginning  to  suspect  the  trick  that 
was  played  upon  them.  The  leader  in  the  revolt,  who  was  called 
Cinquez,  when  he  saw  that  they  were  likely  to  be  taken,  sprang  over- 
board, and  managed  to  loose  from  his  person,  as  is  said,  a  large  amount 
of  gold  in  doubloons  ;  after  which,  he  quietly  submitted  to  be  taken. 

The  Amistad  was  then  towed  into  New-London  by  the  Washington, 
and  there  left  in  charge  of  the  proper  officers.  The  blacks  were  trans- 
ferred to  Hartford,  and  placed  in  prison  to  await  their  trial  on  the 
charges  of  murder  and  piracy.  Counsel  for  the  prisoners  presently  had 
a  hearing  before  the  United  States'  Circuit  Court,  Judge  Thompson  pre- 
siding, on  a  motion  to  release  from  custody  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus — 
which  was  denied.  After  some  delay,  another  trial  was  held  before  Judge 
Judson,  of  the  District  Court,  at  New-Haven — where  it  was  decided  that  the 
slaves  should  be  returned  to  Africa,  and  set  at  liberty. 

The  judge  ruled  that  if  these  blacks  had  been  lawful  slaves,  they  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  punishable  with  death ;  but  as  they  were  proven 
to  be  true  Bozal  negroes,  scarcely  six  weeks  from  the  coast  of  Africa 
when  their  crime  was  committed,  and  had  been  kidnapped  in  direct  viola- 
tion of  the  laws,  not  merely  of  Spain,  but  of  the  whole  civilized  world, 
they  were  held  justifiable  in  attempting  to  regain  their  liberty,  by  what- 
ever means.  The  president  of  the  United  States  was  called  upon,  there- 
fore, in  conformity  with  the  act  of  March  3,  1819,  still  in  force,  to  have 
them  returned  to  their  country. 

A  requisition  was  made  upon  the  American  government  by  Spain,  for 
ihe  transfer  of  these  negroes  to  Cuba,  instead  of  elsewhere,  that  they 
might  undergo  a  trial  by  Spanish  laws;  while  about  the  same  time  a  pro- 
test was  received  from  England,  couched  in  strong  terms,  calling  in  ques- 
tion the  right  of  the  United  States,  or  any  other  power,  to  try  the  blacks 
at  all.  Congress  then  took  the  matter  in  hand  ;  members  became  excited, 
speeches  were  made,  and  new  laws  proposed ;  but  eventually  nothing  of 
greater  moment  grew  out  of  it. 

Mercury,  the  god  of  thieves,  about  these  days  appears  to  have  held  par- 
ticular sway.  Defalcation,  repudiation,  etc.,  began  to  make  their  appear- 
ance. At  the  close  of  the  last  year  was  discovered,  in  New-York,  the 
enormous  public  frauds  of  Samuel  Swartwout,  while  in  office  as  collector  of 
the  customs.  His  mania  for  speculation  having  led  him  on  somewhat 
ahead  of  his  fellows  in  trust,  it  became  at  length  necessary  that  he  should 
resort  to  self-expatriation,  or  submit  to  a  more  immediate  punishment. 
Upon  his  flight,  an  examination  into  the  affairs  of  his  office  was  of  course 
ordered,  and  the  glaring  results  of  so  long-continued  a  peculation  as  was 
then  made  known,  was  an  astonishment  even  in  Wall-street. 

From  a  message  of  the  president  to  Congress,  enclosing  a  special  re- 
port from  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  communicating  the  astounding 
lengths  to  which  this  new  candidate  for  public  reprobation,  had  been  per- 
mitted to  go,  are  gleaned  the  following  facts : 

Mr.  Swartwout  was  originally  appointed  collector  for  the  port  of  New- 
York  on  the  25th  of  April,  1829,  during  the  recess  of  Congress.  On  the 
29th  INIarch  following',  he  was  re-appointed  for  four  years,  and  the  Senate 
confirmed  the  appointment.  When  his  term  expired,  in  1834,  he  was  re- 
nominated and  again  confirmed  for  a  like  period ;    at  the  expiration  of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  5J7 

which,  Ma^-ch  29,  1838,  he  went  out  of  office,  and  transferred  the  books  to 
Mr.  Jesse  Hoyt,  his  successor. 

During  the  whole  time  of  Mr.  Swartwout's  service  as  collector,  suspi- 
cions do  not  seem  to  have  been  awakened  at  the  head  of  tlie  department 
that  he  was  guilty  of  any  default — unless  it  may  be  that  the  balance  of 
money  in  his  hands,  when  he  was  re-nominated  to  the  Senate,  in  1834, 
appeared  to  be  too  large,  and  caused  some  inquiry  in  relation  to  the  sub- 
ject. The  collector  and  one  of  his  clerks,  however,  went  on  to  Washing- 
ton, and  submitted  explanations  to  a  committee  of  the  Senate,  which  ob- 
viated any  objections  to  his  re-appointment. 

The  first  misuse  of  the  public  money  by  this  officer,  appears  to  have 
commenced  in  1830.  A  series  of  defalcations,  in  various  items  of  his  ac- 
counts, seem  to  have  followed,  and  continued  through  each  successive 
year,  increasing  constantly  in  amount,  till  near  the  close  of  his  official 
term.  They  consisted  in  withholding  a  part  of  the  tonnage  duties,  and  a 
portion  of  the  forfeitures  and  fines ;  m  not  accounting  for  all  the  bonds 
collected,  nor  all  the  moneys  on  hand  held  either  for  office  expenses,  re- 
turn duties,  or  in  advance  of  the  adjustment  of  unascertained  duties ;  and 
in  procuring  from  the  treasury,  under  the  act  of  1834,  and  similar  ones, 
larger  sums  for  the  balance  of  oflTice  salaries  than  the  facts  warranted. 

His  accounts  were  rendered  weekly,  in  a  <!ondensed  form,  to  the  depart- 
ment, and  exhibited  usually  a  balance  in  his  hands  ranging  from  a  mere 
nominal  sum  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  His  last  return  before 
leaving  office  exhibited  a  balance  on  liand  of  Sl22,977,  which  was  near 
S30,000  less  than  the  amount  of  his  official  bond.  The  return  sent  after 
going  out  of  office,  which  included  only  the  last  three  days  of  his  term, 
showed  $201,096  in  his  possession,  which  he  was  requested  forthwith  to 
pay  over.  This  he  refused  to  do,  alledging  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
hold  a  balance  in  order  to  meet  suits  which  had  been  instituted  against 
liim  for  return  duties,  &c. 

Upon  inquiry,  some  additional  particulars  were  elicited  :  On  the  last 
day  of  December,  1830,  Mr.  Swartwuut's  deficit  was  only  8G22.  At  the 
close  of  his  first  term,  $50,370.  At  the  final  expiration  of  his  office,  the 
gross  amount  abstracted  had  swelled  to  the  unprecedented  sum  of  $1,225- 
705.  This  enormous  amount,  it  appeared,  had  been  mainly  dissipated  in 
Wall-street,  in  the  purchase  of  stocks  of  various  descriptions,  for  specula- 
ling  purposes.  The  only  palpable  property  of  the  defaulter  wliich  could 
be  discovered,  seemed  to  be  some  tracts  of  land  in  Texas,  with  an  interest 
in  the  Cumberland  coal  mines,  and  certain  meadow  lots  in  New  Jersey  near 
Hoboken.  His  securities,  Messrs.  Birdsall,  Quackenboss,  and  Livingston, 
were  prosecuted,  but  not  a  moiety  of  the  extraordinary  deficit  recovered. 

Congress  ordered  a  very  minute  examination  into  the  manner  of  con- 
ducting business  in  New- York.  The  House  of  Representatives  appointed 
a  committee  of  inquiry  for  the  purpose,  consisting  of  nine  members,  viz., 
Messrs.  Wise  and  Hopkins,  of  Virginia,  Owens  and  Dawson,  of  Georgia, 
Harlan,  of  Kentucky,  Smith,  of  Maine,  Wagener,  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Foster  and  Curtis,  of  New- York.  These  gentlemen  went  on,  with  full 
powers  to  compel  the  presence  of  persons  and  papers,  and  so  faithfully 
fulfilled  the  duties  of  their  appointment  as  to  occupy  three  months  in  set- 
tling their  minds  upon  a  conclusion.  The  grand  result,  however,  was 
the  enactment  of  very  stringent  regulations  for  the  prevention,  in  future, 
of  anything  so  unparalleled  in  the  line  of  defalcation. 

While  on  the  subject  of  lawsuits,  we  may  mention,  that  the  case  of  Jo- 
seph Bonaparte  etals.,oi  Bordentown,  N.  J.,  t;5.  the  kingdom  of  France, 
was  this  year  decided  in  favour  of  the  defendant.  This  was  the  state  of 
the  case  :  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  upon  his  return  from  Egypt,  neglected 
to  call  upon  the  paymasters  department  for  the  trifling  sum  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  francs,  which  appeared  to  be  just  the  total  due  him  on  the 


548  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

books  of  the  war  office.  Subsequently,  multifarious  engagements  preclu- 
ded any  attention  to  the  matter,  and  tiie  hero  died  without  having 
acted  at  all  in  regard  to  this  claim.  Now,  however,  upon  a  compula- 
tion of  interest,  the  small  amount  was  found  to  have  increased  to  the  re- 
spectable sum  of  15,000,000  francs ;  whereupon  the  Uonaparle  brothers. 
Joseph  and  Jerome,  l)rought  suit,  as  heirs-at-law.  After  due  deliberation, 
the  French  courts  decided  that  the  survivors  could  not  recover,  on  the 
ground  that  by  the  treaty  of  Fontainbleau,  in  1H14,  it  was  understood  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte  made  overall  his  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  m 
France  to  the  new  government. 

In  the  month  of  May,  was  paid  into  the  hands  of  the  bankers  of  the 
United  States  in  London,  the  sum  of  sixty-two  thousand  six  hundred  and 
ninety-two  dollars,  in  liquidation  of  a  claim  against  the  kingdom  of  Hol- 
land, for  its  interference  with  American  commerce  about  the  time  of  the 
recent  collision  with  Great  Britain. 

A  claim  upon  Belgium  was  also  admitted,  by  the  authorities  of  that 
Kingdom,  for  damages  done  to  American  property  during  the  siege  ol 
Antwerp,  and  an  amount  which  was  mutually  satisfactory,  agreed  upon 
and  paid. 

In  the  same  year,  a  treaty  was  negotiated  with  his  majesty,  t"he  king  o( 
Sardinia,  by  which  American  products  were  to  be  admitted  free  of  duty 
in  his  dominions  with  but  one  or  two  exceptions.  It  is  a  singular  fact, 
that  the  first  treaty  ever  made  by  that  Kingdom  with  any  other  nation, 
was  this  with  America — a  country  discovered  to  the  world  by  one  of  its 
own  citizens — Christopher  Columbus,  being  by  birth  a  Genoese. 

The  twenty-sixth  Congress  commenced  its  regular  session  on  the  2d  of 
December.  Among  its  acts,  was  one  authorizing  the  taking  of  the  sixth 
census  of  the  United  States.  Also,  to  sliow  what  a  "rising  people"  we 
are,  it  maybe  casually  remarked,  that,  before  tiie  close  of  this  session, 
new  offices  were  created  by  the  law-makers,  calling  for  immediate  appro- 
riaiions  of  near  $40,000,  as  follows  : 

Special  minister  to  Great  Britain,  salary  and  outfit $18,00o 

Minister  resident  to  Turkey •         6,000 

Commissioner  for  running  the  boundary  between  the  U.  S.  and  Texas  .  2,000 
Commissioner  and  clerk  to  examine  claims  under  the  treaty  of  1837  with 

the  Sioux  Indians Sj.'iOO 

Assistant  examiners  in  the  patent  office 2,.500 

To  the  chief-jusrice  of  the  district  court  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  for  du- 
ties imposed  on  him  by  the  "act  in  addition  to  an  act  to   promote  the 
progi-ess  of  the  useful  arts  "........  100 

Two  additional  clerks  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  United  States,  at  $1,500  each  .         .  ...         3,000 

A  recapitulation  of  the  gross  amounts  required  to  be  set  apart  by  the 
same  Congress  for  the  support  of  the  usual  national  relations  for  the 
space  of  one  year,  may  not  be  unworthy  a  passing  note  : 

Civil  and  diplomatic $9,010,031 

Army,  fortifications,  and  Military  Academy 16,.5.56,253 

Navy 5,130,731 

Revolutionaiy  and  other  pensioners 2,499,020 

Cun-ent  expenses  of  the  Indian  department 1,755,007 

Preventing  and  suppressing  Indian  hostOities 1,856,774 

To  promote  the  progi-ess  of  the  useful  arts 9,259 

I'rivate  claims 45,065 

Total,  $36,362,260. 

Some  considerable  additions  were  made  to  the  United  States'  navy  in  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  549 

course  of  this  year.  Steamers,  and  small  vessels  of  Avar  of  an  improved 
build,  were  launched  at  the  different  naval  stations,  and  sent  on  experi- 
mental trips.  One  at  Philadelphia,  the  "  Dale,"  named  in  honour  of  the 
first  commodore  of  the  infant  navy  of  the  States,  was  christened  by  a  son 
of  that  distinguished  officer,  who  wore,  on  the  occasion  of  the  ceremony, 
a  massive  gold-hilted  sword  which  was  presented  to  his  father  by  the  re- 
nowned Paul  Jones  (who  received  it  from  King  Louis  XVI.  of  France) 
for  his  bravery  as  first  lieutenant  under  him  in  the  fierce  action  between 
the  Bon  Homme  Richard  and  Serapis. 

Requiescat  in  pace  ! — Departed  this  life,  "  full  of  years  and  full  of  hon- 
ours," at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  General  Du  Coudray  Holstein,  formerly  of  Napo- 
leon's staff;  same  place,  General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  the  patroon. 
In  New-York,  Rev.  J.  B.  Seixas,  Rabbi-leader  to  the  Jewish  synagogue 
Shearish-Israel ;  same  place,  «  68,  Joseph  Lancaster,  founder  of  the  Lan- 
casterian  school-system  ;  same  place,  William  Leggett,  editor,  etc.  In 
Charleston,  South-Carolina,  m  89,  Stephen  Thomas,  "  the  last  of  the  Hu- 
guenots." At  Asheville,  North-Carolina,  m  49,  General  Robert  Y.  Hayne. 
In  Florida,  Colonel  J.  M.  White.  In  Texas,  L.  Rathbun,  of  Buffalo;  also 
Hon.  William  Brenan.  At  Utica,  New- York,  Antoine  Latour,  a  soldier  of 
the  revoiuton.  At  Newburgh,  Hon  C  C.  De  Witt,  late  charge  at  Guate- 
mala. In  Massachusetts,  Theodore  Sedgewick.  In  Washington,  Com- 
modore Patterson.  Near  New-York,  Commodore  M'Kinney.  In  Jersey 
City,  Colonel  Aaron  Ogden,  js.  83.  At  Baltimore,  General  Samuel  Smith, 
s.  87  ;  same  place.  Colonel  William  Steuart,  ^e  59.  In  the  Cherokee  na- 
tion, by  murder,  John  Ridge,  a  chief.  At  Oneida  Castle,  .v.  96,  the  chief- 
tain Ondayak.  In  the  Seneca  tribe,  the  chief  Big-Kettle.  In  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  je.  63,  Hezekiah  Niles,  of  the  National  Register.  In  Philadel- 
phia, Matthew  Carey.  At  Newcastle,  Delaware,  Hon.  J.  R.  Black.  In 
Missouri,  Hon.  A.  G.  Harrison.  At  St.  Louis,  Colonel  Keene,  of  New- 
Orleans.  At  New-Orleans,  Baron  Hackett,  of  Holland,  cousin-german  to 
the  comedian.  In  Albany,  Benjamin  Knower,  state-treasurer.  In  New- 
York,  William  Dunlap,  an  author.  In  Connecticut,  Judge  Jesse  Beui. 
On  Long  Island,  King  David,  a  chief,  the  last  of  the  Montauks.  In  Ken- 
tucky, Governor  Clarke.  At  Burlington,  Iowa,  Hon.  W.  B.  Conway.  In 
Indiana,  Senator  Tipton.  In  Louisiana,  General  Fi.  W.  Ripley,  the  defend- 
er of  Fort  Erie.  At  Portsmouth,  New-Hampshire,  m  90,  John  Cochrane, 
the  last  of  the  Boston  "Tea  Party."  In  New-London,  Daniel  Keeney,  a 
pilot  for  the  frigate  "  United  States"  at  the  time  of  her  chase  by  the  Brit- 
ish 74  "  Valiant,"  and  who,  by  mancEuvring  adroitly  about  a  sunken  rock, 
caused  the  enemy  to  strike,  and  with  difficulty  make  his  escape  to  Hali- 
fax. In  Vermont,  x.  3.5,  Zerah  Colburn,  wonderful  in  early  life  as  an 
arithmetical  calculator.  In  New-Hampshire,  Jonathan  Mason,  x.  74  ;  he 
was  taken  prisoner  in  the  revolution  by  General  Burgovne,  and  on  being 
brought  before  that  officer,  was  asked,  "  Well,  my  fine  fellow,  what  do  you 
think  of  yourself  now  V  "  Same  as  I  always  did."  "  But  what  do  you 
think  of  being  a  prisoner  of  war  1"  "  Why,  that  it'll  be  your  turn  next." 
"  Bah  !  all  the  Yankees  in  America  can't  do  it" — but  theydid.  Off  Tam- 
pico,  lost  overboard.  Lieutenant  H.  J.  Paul,  U.  S.  N.  In  Florida,  Captain 
G.  H.  Griffin,  U.  S.  A.  In  Maryland,  Colonel  Gist,  &  94.  At  Montevideo, 
.\lbert  Triplet,  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  France,  General  Count 
Bernard,  for  whom  the  American  army  was  ordered  in  mourning.  In  Lon- 
don, Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  formerly  of  Boston.  At  Toronto,  Upper  Can- 
ada, Duncan  Cameron,  provincial  secretary,  At  Greenock,  Scotland,  John 
(ialt,  author.  At  Bath,  England,  General  Sir  Thomas  Dallas  ;  also,  Sir 
Henry  Trollope.  In  London,  Lady  Flora  Hastings,  je.  33.  At  her  villa 
on  Mount  Lebanon,  near  Sidon,  Syria,  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  k.  G3.  In 
Rome,  Cardinal  Fesch,  uncle  to  Napoleon  ;  he  left  200,000  scudi  ( 1 ,070,000 
francs)  to  build  a  church  in  Ajaccio,  Corsica,  wherein  himself  and  sis- 


550  THE  TREASURY  OF  IILSTORY. 

ter  were  to  be  buried,  and  the  rest  of  tlie  lumily  miglit  have  their  hearts 
deposited  iii  urns,  if  they  wished.  At  Tort  liepublicain,  Prince  Saunders, 
a  colored  gentleman,  native  of  Vermont,  at  time  of  decease  attorney-gen- 
eral for  the  kingdom  of  Hayti.  In  Conslaatinople,  Turkey,  the  grand  sul- 
tan, Mahmoud  II.  In  India,  Rajah  Kunjeet  Singh,  cliief  of  Lahore  and 
Cachemire.  In  Stockholm,  Archbishop  Waller.  In  Copenhagen,  Fred- 
erick VI.  of  Denmark. 

A.  D.  18-10. — VVc  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  those  numerous 
bickerings  which  have  from  time  to  time  arisen  between  the  Amer- 
ican and  Mexican  governments.  In  fact,  about  this  period,  there  does 
not  appear  to  be  much  else  of  a  national  character  to  refer  to.  A 
jealousy  of  long  standing  is  apparent  between  these  two  nations  :  though 
if  it  be  true  that  '"he  who  is  first  to  lose  temper  may  be  put  down  as  gen- 
erally in  the  wrong,"  when  solving  knotty  points,  Mexico  may  be  said  to 
have  had  the  worst  of  it.  Perhaps  the  widely  different  and  irrecon- 
cilable views  of  the  two  nations  upon  religious  matters,  may  be  looked 
upon  as  the  ground-work  of  all  the  heart-burnings  and  envy  which  has 
heretofore  so  incessantly  been  breaking  out  between  them.  The  Romish 
priesthood,  with  its  horror  of  "infidels,"  and  doctrine  of  infallibility,  has 
now  so  strongly  entwined  itself  about  the  body  politic  of  that  ill-fated  na- 
tion, as  to  render  its  menial  elevation  almost  an  impossibility  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, any  approximation  on  the  part  of  that  people  towards  a  true  spirit 
of  friendliness  for  any  nation  without  the  pale  of  "the  church"  a  matter  of 
much  dilliculty.  To  this  cause,  probably,  more  than  any  other,  may  be 
attributed  the  present  unhappy  state  of  the  province,  whose  government, 
even  at  this  day,  is  in  a  state  bordering  upon  anarchy. 

Troubles  have  existed  between  Mexico  and  almost  every  mercantile 
nation  of  the  globe.  Great  Britain  owns  her  valuable  mines  :  France  was 
forced  to  destroy  her  powerful  castle  of  San  Juan  d'Ulloa:  and  Vera  Cruz 
and  Tampico  have  been  bombarded  on  various  occasions.  The  very  fer- 
tility of  soil  and  beauty  of  climate  for  which  the  Spanish  ancestry  of  the 
present  Mexicans  exterminated  the  Aztec  "children  of  the  sun,"  seem  now 
to  be  working  out,  by  means  of  incessant  internal  insurrections,  a  retri- 
butive vengeance  upon  their  own  heads.  The  government,  from  beginning, 
has  been  without  strength;  disturbances  of  every  grade,  revolt  and  blood- 
shed, unhappily  prevail,  and  characterize  the  existence  of  the  state. 

Shortly  after  Mexico  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Spain,  "  while  yet  reel- 
ing to  the  music  of  her  broken  fetters,"  she  issued  a  declaration  that  land, 
in  the  largest  and  most  liberal  grants,  should  be  given  to  whomsoever 
would  emigrate  to,  and  seHle  permanently  in,  the  then  wild  province  of 
Texas.  That  land  was  ar  the  time  almost  entirely  unreclaimed  from  a 
state  of  nature,  though  it  was  represented,  and  with  much  truth,  to  be 
beautiful  and  exceedingly  rich.  Population  flocked  in  rapidly,  and  set- 
tled the  coasts,  and  rolling  lands  adjoining  the  territory  of  the  United  States. 
Perhaps  the  feverish  haste  with  which  the  new  comers  arrived,  prevented 
their  giving  a  due  consideration  to  certain  conditions  which  were  subse- 
quently found  to  be  affixed  to  their  gifts  of  soil.  A  precaution  had  been 
taken,  in  the  first  place,  to  unite  the  dependency  of  Texas  with  that  of 
Coahuila,  in  which  a  Spanish  population  was  comparatively  numerous ; 
this  was  with  a  view  to  secure  a  continuance  of  connexion  of  the  newly- 
peopled  country  with  Mexico.  Also,  according  to  the  forms  prescribeil 
for  the  empresario  grants  of  land,  the  number  and  duties  of  the  new  settlers 
were  distinctly  specified ;  they  were  all  bound  to  profess  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic faith,  and  to  instruct  their  children  in  the  same  ;  to  consider  the  Span- 
ish language  their  national  tongue,  and  have  their  children  early  taught 
it ;  and,  after  the  year  1340,  to  suffer  taxation  in  the  same  manner  as  other 
Mexican  subjects,  for  the  support  of  government. 

So  long  as  these  conditions  were  observed,  affairs  seem  to  have  glided 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  55I 

along  pretty  smoothly;  but  as  nine-tenths  of  the  new  colonists  were 
Anglo-Americans,  they  could  not  but  feel  a  yearning  towards  the  land  of 
their  birth,  with  its  freedom  from  even  such  slight  shackles  as  were  al- 
ready imposed  on  them  in  that  new  home  which  they  fancied  was  to  prove 
altogether  delightful.  With  the  Mexican,  adhering  devoutly  to  the  faith  of 
his  fathers,  not  to  be  Catholic  was  to  be  an  outcast  from  all  religion;  and 
the  union  of  the  colonist  to  the  invisible  church,  was  made  an  indispcnsible 
condition  of  citizenship.  To  claim  baptism  as.  a  convenient  form,  and  then 
sneer  at  its  obligations,  was  in  Mexican  eyes  an  evidence  of  hardened  de- 
pravity. To  the  colonist,  on  the  other  hand,  who  from  his  infancy  had 
been  taught  to  believe  the  union  of  church  and  state  adulterous,  demor- 
alizing, and  in  no  way  binding  on  the  consciences  of  freemen,  the  fcirmai 
demand  of  a  certificate  of  baptism  in  the  Catholic  church  was  a  mockery, 
and  he  met  the  demand  with  a  mock  certificate  (which  was  purchasable, 
regularly  filled  out,  at  $2),  for  he  considered  it  a  mere  form,  and  of  nc 
more  consequence  than  the  colour  of  the  paper  on  which  it  was  written. 

As  the  Texians  became  more  and  more  numerous,  a  desire  to  be  inde- 
pendent grew  among  them ;  and  it  is  said  their  leading  men  had  that  grand 
ulterior  object  in  view,  when  they  demanded  of  the  Mexican  government 
a  separation  of  their  province  from  the  state  of  Coahuila.  Moreover,  the 
settlement  of  Texas  was  principally  by  slaveholders,  each  of  whom  brought 
with  him  a  greater  or  lesser  number  of  slaves,  upon  whom  he  relied  en- 
tirely to  redeem  from  its  wild  state  and  make  serviceable  his  new  acquisi- 
tion. From  this  cause  a  new  difficulty  arose :  Mexico,  possessing  but 
few  slaves,  was  in  1823  so  very  liberal  as  to  pass  a  law,  prohibiting  the 
buying  and  selling  of  bondmen — although  their  introduction  into  the  coun- 
try was  not  prohibited.  In  1830,  the  further  introduction  of  slaves  into 
the  country  was  forbidden;  and  the  children  of  slaves  born  after  the  year 
1823,  it  was  declared,  should  be  free  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  Here,  liien, 
was  impending  ruin,  closely  staring  the  colonists  in  the  face.  The  law, 
indeed,  was  in  itself  equitable,  and  its  intentions  fair,  but  it  created  a 
feeling  of  distrust  and  insecurity  in  the  minds  of  the  Texians.  A  separa- 
tion, therefore,  was  resolved  upon. 

In  Mexico,  about  this  time.  General  Santa  Anna  appeared  to  have  sue 
ceeded  in  establishing  his  own  authority,  and  the  central  system  of  gov- 
ernment, of  which  he  was  the  head,  when  the  first  Texiau  "  rebellion"  un- 
expectedly broke  out,  and  threatened  to  overturn  both  his  newly-promui- 
gaied  "  system"  and  personal  power  together.  It  is  said  the  revolted 
Texians  had  obtained  a  loan  of  $200,000  in  New-Orleans;  and  by 
jneans  of  this,  vessels  were  fitted  out,  aid  invoked  from  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  and,  at  the  close  of  1835,  a  regular  standard  of  revolt 
established  and  rallied  around.  A  formal  declaration  of  indepedence  was 
published.  In  that  document  it  was  proclaimed,  that  they  had  taken  up 
arms  in  defence  of  their  rights  and  liberty,  and  the  republican  principles 
of  the  Mexican  federal  constitution  of  1824. 

Santa  Anna,  m  the  meanwhile,  had  been  collecting  an  army  to  recon- 
quer the  province  by  force.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1836,  he  marched 
from  Santillo.  He  retook  Bexar,  and  advanced  into  the  interior,  where 
he  is  accused  of  hawuig  perpetrated  the  most  inexcusable  barbarities.  It 
was  the  middle  of  April  before  he  reached  the  main  body  of  the  Texian 
army,  which  vv.a&  under  the  command  of  General  Sam.  Houston,  who  had 
prepared  to  receive  him  on  the  banks  of  the  San  Jacinto.  On  the  lOtli, 
some  skirmishing  took  place  between  the  two  armies,  but  nothing  was 
effected  ;  on  the  20ih,  Santa  Anna  fortified  himself  in  a  camp  on  the  bank 
of  the  river.  Early  on  the  21st,  he  was  in  that  position  attacked  by  the 
Texians,  and  in  a  short  time  completely  routed:  the  Mexican  cavalry  was 
at  the  first  put  to  flight,  and  never  even  rallied.  Santa  Anna  was  forced  to 
fly  from  his  breastworks,  and  attempted  to  make  his  escape  in  disguise. 


552  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

He  was  taken  the  day  following,  and  conducted  to  Houston's  camp,  where 
some  captive  soldiers  betrayed  his  rank  by  exclaiming,  with  surprize,  his 
name.  Instead  of  being  instantly  shot,  or  hanged,  as  he  had  every  reason 
to  expect  he  would  be,  Santa  Anna  was  protected  from  the  enraged  rela- 
tives of  those  whom  he  had  but  a  short  time  before  caused  to  be,  in  cold 
blood,  massacred ;  and  he  was  subsequently  (after  a  detention  of  near  a 
year)  conveyed  through  the  country  to  the  United  States,  from  whence, 
by  the  favour  of  General  Jackson,  he  was  despatched  home  to  Vera  Cruz 
in  an  American  national  vessel. 

The  loss  of  the  Mexicans  at  San  Jacinto,  was  six  hundred  and  thirty 
men  killed,  two  hundred  and  eight  wounded,  and  seven  hundred  and  thirt}' 
made  prisoners.  That  of  the  Texians,  six  killed  and  twenty-six  wounded. 
Santa  Anna's  army  was  represented  to  have  numbered  sixteen  hundred 
men,  while  that  of  Houston  consisted  of  but  eight  hundred.  On  the  very 
day  of  the  taking  of  the  ci-dcvant  president  of  Mexico,  while  a  prisoner 
without  possibility  of  rescue,  he  sent  imperative  orders  to  the  generals  of 
other  divisions  of  the  Mexican  army  to  retreat,  and  headed  his  dispatches, 
with  great  7iaiye/<*,  "God  and  liberty!"  "Coast  division  under  my  com- 
mand," &c.,  as  if  he  were  still  generalissimo.  His  first  communication 
from  the  enemy's  camp  began  as  follows  : 

TO    GENERAL    VINCENTE    FILASOLA. 

"  Army  of  Operations,  ( 

"  Coast  Division,  under  my  command,.  ^ 
"  Having  yesterday  had  an  unfortunate  encounter,  I  have  resolved  to  remain  a 
prisoner  of  war  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  After  having  taken  every  precaution, 
I  therefore  hope  that  your  excellency  will  cause  the  division  under  the  command 
of  General  Parza  to  coiuitermarch  to  Bexar,  where  he  will  wait  for  orders.  Your 
excellency  will  also  return  to  the  same  place,  and  order  General  Viesca,  with  his 
division,  to  Guadaloupe  Victoria.  I  have  agreed  on  an  armistice  with  General  Hous 
ton,  ad  interim,  until  we  can  agree  upon  terms  of  lasting  peace. 

"  Your  excellency  will  take  such  measures  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  subsist- 
ence of  the  amiy,  which  will  remain  under  your  command.  The  money  that  has 
arrived  at  Matamoras,  and  the  provisions  of  the  place,  and  those  at  Victoria,  will  be 
distributed,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

"  God  and  Liberty, 

"  AsTo.vio  Lopez  de  Santa  An.va. 
•'  Camp  Jacinto,  April  22,  1836. 

In  the  month  of  May,  183fi,  at  the  city  of  Velasco,  then  seat  of  govern- 
ment for  the  "  Republic  of  Texas,"  a  formal  treaty  was  drawn  up,  stipu- 
lating for  peace,  amity,  commerce,  etcetera,  which  was  duly  witnessed, 
and  signed  by  Santa  Anna,  president  of  Mexico,  and  David  G.  Burnet, 
president  of  Texas.  In  pursuance  with  an  understanding,  Santa  Anna 
was  then  taken  to  Columbia  and  embarked  in  a  vessel  for  Mexico — when. 
a  band  of  volunteers  under  General  Green  arriving,  the  Mexican  chief  was 
forced  to  disembark  and  return  to  captivity.  It  was  only  through  General 
Sam.  Houston  he  at  length  escaped  from  Texas,  and  arrived  in  Vera  Cruz, 
via.  the  United  States,  towardsj  the  last  of  February,  1837.  There  he 
found  his  enemy,  Bustamente  at  the  head  of  the  turbulent  government ; 
Don  Jose  Maria  Tornel  was  secretary  of  war,  and  with  principles  conve- 
niently changeable,  he  had  pronounced  the  sub-generals  of  his  ex-chief, 
Santa  Anna  all  traitors  for  having  obeyed  the  commands  of  their  superior, 
and  paused  in  their  career  of  capture  or  subjugation  in  Texas,  Santa  An- 
na, on  his  return  home  to  Manga  de  Clavo,  published  a  lengthy  appeal  to 
his  fellow-citizens,  detailing  his  adventures,  and  vindicating  his  conduct, 

The  Mexican  government  refusing  to  acknowledge  the  validity  of  the 
treaty  entered  into  between  President  Burnet  of  Texas,  and  General  Santa 
Anna  of  Mexico,  announced  that  it  was  resolved,  at  every  risk,  (if  m.eans 
could  be  procured),  to  re-conquer  the  estranged  province.    About  the  same 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  553 

time,  an  indirect  demonstration  was  made  in  favour  of  the  Texians,  by 
General  Gaines,  at  the  head  of  a  division  of  the  regular  army  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  This  was  not  anticipated  by  either  party  in  the  dispute,  and 
demands  some  explanation.  It  seems,  in  the  end  of  June,  1836,  news  ar- 
rived in  Texas  that  the  Mexicans  were  advancing  in  great  force,  having 
secured  the  co-operation  of  a  large  body  of  Camanche  and  other  savages. 
The  well-known  lawlessness  of  Indian  warfare  induced  General  Gaines, 
whose  powers  were  discretionary,  to  cross  the  Sabine  for  the  protection 
of  his  own  frontier.  He  accordingly  marched  forward  as  far  as  Nacog- 
doches, about  forty  miles  beyond  the  Sabine,  within  the  territory  of  Tex- 
as, and  there  constructed  temporary  barracks,  and  awaited  quietly  the 
results.  A  report  of  two  men  being  murdered  about  the  same  time  near 
the  line,  by  a  party  of  Indians,  gave  colour  to  the  "expediency"  of  his 
march  over  the  border  and  occupation  of  an  exposed  fort.  He  further 
wrote  to  the  governors  of  certain  Southern  and  Western  states,  that  he 
might  possibly  soon  call  upon  them  for  a  few  companies  of  mounted  rifle- 
men, to  join  and  co-operate  with  his  "  corps  of  observation."  President 
Jackson  peremptorily  forbade  this  interference,  and  ordered  that  the  Uni- 
ted States'  troops  should  be  returned  as  soon  as  practicable  to  Fort  Jesup. 

Seiior  Goristiza,  the  envoy  of  Mexico  at  Washington  city,  upon  learn- 
ing the  advance  of  General  Gaines  into  the  disputed  territory,  suspended 
the  further  examination  of  American  claims,  with  which  his  attention 
was  just  then  occupied,  and  determined  to  consider  his  mission  at  an 
end.  He  asserted  in  his  letter  declining  to  act  further  in  a  public  capa- 
city, that  General  Gaines  had  no  right  whatever  to  occupy  any  post  in 
Texas  until  the  then  agitated  question  of  right  to  the  territory  should  be 
finally  disposed  of.  Mr.  Forsyth,  secretary  for  the  American  government, 
replied,  that  the  crossing  of  the  line  had  been  a  mere  matter  of  police,  and 
as  nothing  whatever  had  grown  out  of  it,  he  begged  the  Mexican  minister 
to  be  pacified.  He  pointed,  also,  to  the  fact  that  a  treaty  was  in  exist- 
ence between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  by  which  it  was  stipulated 
that  both  nations  should  endeavour  to  maintain  order  on  the  common 
boundary,  and  use  every  means  to  prevent  the  transpiration  of  Indian  dis- 
turbances and  massacre.  The  Mexican  minister  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
explanation  and  remonstrance,  and  persisted  in  the  declaration  that  his 
embassage,  for  cause  set  forth,  should  cease. 

General  Jackson,  in  his  message  at  the  close  of  1836,  referred  in  terms 
of  severest  animadversion  to  this  act  of  the  late  charge  from  Mexico,  and 
his  government,  in  countenancing  it.  On  the  6th  of  February  following, 
the  president  deemed  our  relations  with  Mexico  in  so  critical  a  condition 
as  to  call  for  a  special  message  to  the  Senate.  "  At  the  beginning  of  the 
session,"  said  he,  "  Congress  was  informed  that  our  claims  upon  Mexico 
had  not  been  adjusted,  but  that  notwithstanding  the  irritating  effect  upon 
her  councils  of  the  movements  in  Texas,  I  hoped,  by  great  forbearance, 
to  avoid  the  necessity  of  again  bringing  them  before  your  notice.  Tkat 
hope  has  been  disappointed.  Having  in  vain  urged  upon  the  government 
the  justice  of  those  claims  and  my  indispensable  obligation  that  there 
should  be  no  further  delay  in  the  acknowledgement,  if  not  in  the  redress 
of  the  injuries  complained  of,  my  duty  requires  that  the  whole  subject 
should  be  presented  and  now  is,  for  the  action  of  Congress,  whose  exclu- 
sive right  it  is  to  decide  on  the  farther  measure  of  redress  to  be  employ- 
ed. The  length  of  time  since  some  of  the  injuries  have  been  committed, 
the  repeated  and  unavailing  applications  for  redress,  the  wanton  character 
of  some  of  the  outrages  upon  the  property  and  persons  of  our  citizens, 
and  upon  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  independent  of  recent  insults  to 
this  government  and  people,  by  the  late  extraordinary  minister,  would 
justify  in  the  eyes  of  all  nations  immediate  war."  In  conclusion,  it  was 
kiubmitted,  whether  it  was  not  advisable,  "  that  an  act  should  be  passed, 


554  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

authorizing  reprisals,  and  the  use  of  the  naval  force  of  the  United  States, 
by  the  executive  against  Mexico,  to  enforce  them,  in  the  event  of  a  re- 
fusal by  the  Mexican  government  to  come  to  an  amicable  adjustment  ol 
the  matter  in  controversy." 

The  message  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  whicli 
iiot  long  afterwards  made  its  report.  After  staling,  among  other  grievan- 
ces, that  tlie  merchant  ships  of  the  United  States  liad  been  fired  into,  her 
citizens  attacked  and  even  put  to  death,  and  her  ships  of  war  treated 
with  disrespect,  even  when  paying  a  friendly  visit  to  a  port,  where  they 
had  a  right  to  expect  hospitality,  the  committee  submitted  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  two  resolutions,  viz. 

1.  '  That  the  indignities  otfered  to  the  American  flag,  and  injuries  com- 
mitted upon  the  persons  and  properly  of  American  citizens,  by  officers  of 
the  Mexican  government,  and  the  refusal,  or  the  neglect  of  that  govern- 
ment, to  make  suitable  atonement,  would  justify  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  in  taking  measures  to  obtain  immediate  redress,  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  its  own  power." 

■2.  "  That,  as  evidence  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  American  govern- 
ment to  preserve  peaceful  relations  with  the  government  of  Mexico,  as 
long  as  is  compatible  with  tliat  dignity,  which  it  is  due  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States  to  preserve  unimpaired,  the  president  be,  and  is  hereby 
respectfully  requested,  to  make  another  solenm  demand,  in  the  most  im- 
pressive form,  upon  the  government  of  Mexico,  for  the  redress  of  the 
grievances,  which  have  heretofore  been  ineffectually  presented  to  its 
notice." 

This  report  was  presented  to  the  House  and  agreed  to,  in  the  month  of 
February.  Not  long  after,  a  new  minister  was  accredited  by  Mexico  to 
the  United  States,  and  negotiations  were  renewed.  A  new  cloud,  hov 
ever,  was  rising  in  the  horizon.  In  July  succeeding,  Mr.  Mason  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  the  House  of  Representatives  from  the  committee  on  foreign  af- 
fairs, to  which  the  subject  had  been  referred,  laid  before  the  house  the 
following  resolutions,  which  were  agreed  to: 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  independence  of  Texas  ought  to  be  acknowledged 
by  the  United  States,  whenever  satisfactory  information  shall  be  received 
that  it  has  in  successful  operation  a  civil  government  capable  of  perform- 
ing the  duties,  and  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  an  independent  power. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  perceive  with  satisfac- 
tion that  the  president  of  the  United  States  has  adopted  means  to  ascer- 
tain the  political,  military,  and  civil  condition  of  Texas. 

The  United  States  representatives  also,  following  the  exajnple  of  Eng- 
land, directed,  "That  the  committee  of  ways  and  means  should  be  in- 
structed to  provide,  in  the  bill  for  tiie  civil  and  diplomatic  expenses  of  the 
government,  a  salary  and  outfit  for  such  public  agent  as  the  president  may 
determine  to  send  to  Texas."  The  Mexican  minister  of  foreign  affairs, 
Don  Jose  Ortiz,  upon  this  put  forth  a  spirited  protest.  He  asked  of  the 
American  government,  indignantly,  what  comparison  could  be  instituted 
between  the  people  of  Mexico  and  those  of  Texas  ?  "  Is  the  position 
of  the  Texians,"  he  continued,  '•  with  regard  to  Mexico,  what  that  of  the 
Mexicans  was  with  regard  to  Spain,  at  the  time  their  independence  was 
recognized  by  the  United  States!  Is  there  any  similarity  between  a  na- 
tion consisting  of  six  millions  of  people,  who,  by  their  own  efforts,  after 
a  bloody  struggle  of  eleven  years'  duration,  cast  off  the  yoke  of  oppression, 
and  repulsed  beyond  the  sea  the  ruling  armies — and  some  thousands  of 
wandering  and  houseless  persons,  without  virtue,  and  without  religion, 
and  threatened  by  a  numerous  army,  marching  full  of  enthusiasm  to"  recov- 
er the  the  laurels  which  the  caprice  of  fortune  refused  them  at  San  Ja- 
cinto ]"  After  this,  the  Texian  agent  at  Washington  was  informed  offi- 
cially} that  no  negotiation  on  the  subject  of  the  formal  recognition  of  t^ 


THE   TREASURY  OF  HISTOE.Y.  555 

independence  of  Texas,  could  be  opened,  so  long  as  war  continued  to 
prevail  between  that  province  and  the  Mexican  republic. 

After  a  lapse  of  eight  years,  we  find  the  independence  of  Texas  still  un- 
acknowledged by  Mexico,  although  her  government  has  been  uninterrupt- 
edly in  operation  and  her  ministers  have  been  received  and  recognized  at 
all  the  principal  courts  of  Europe.  Mexico  still  neglects,  or  is  unable 
to  satisfy  claims  of  the  United  States,  which  she  admits  to  be  just — al- 
though, if  rumour,  with  its  thousand  tongues,  speaks  truly,  an  unusually 
amicable  negotiation  is  now  in  progress  between  the  governments,  which 
will  ere  long  place  the  relation  of  the  two  nations  in  a  mutually  satisfac- 
tory and  friendly  light. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year  arrived  at  New- York  the  Arabian  ship 
Sultanne,  being  freighted  principally  with  presents  from  his  Sultanic  ma- 
jesty, the  Imaum  of  Muscat,  to  the  president  of  the  United  States.  It 
may  not  be  generally  known,  that  a  few  years  previous  to  this  a  United 
States'  vessel  was  accidentally  run  aground  on  his  coast,  in  a  dangerous 
position,  when  he  sent  assistance  by  which  she  was  got  afloat  again  with- 
out much  damage.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Sultanne  in  New-York,  a 
committee  of  five  from  each  board  of  the  common  council  was  appointed 
to  receive  the  captain  of  said  ship,  Achmet  Ben  Aman,  and  extend  to  him 
the  hospitalities  of  the  city.  His  vessel  was  taken  into  the  navy-yard  at 
Brooklyn  and  overhauled,  and  put  in  thorough  repair,  by  order  of  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Van  Buren  being  debarred,  constitutionally,  from  accepting 
the  well-meant  offerings  of  the  Imaum,  they  were  sold,  and  the  proceeds 
placed  in  the  treasury.  In  return,  Congress  appropriated  the  sum  of 
$15,000,  to  be  expended  in  the  purchase  of  such  articles  as  would  probably 
be  most  acceptable  to  the  friendly  Arabian  ruler. 

Monsieur  Alexandre  Vattemare,  a  philosophic  citizen  of  France,  this 
year  laid  before  the  American  Congress  a  memorial,  setting  forth  the  ad- 
vantages to  be  derived  from  a  favourable  consideration  of  his  system  of 
international  exchanges.  It  was  proposed  to  exchange  copies  of  the  du- 
plicate works  usually  to  be  found  in  all  great  national  libraries,  as  well  as 
minerals  from  the  different  museums,  and  rare  geological  specimens,  or 
other  natural  curiosities,  of  whatever  description,  one  nation  with  another. 
Congress  viewed  favourably  the  project  and  decreed,  1.  That  the  United 
States  librarian,  under  the  supervision  of  the  committee  on  the  library, 
be  authorized  to  exchange  such  duplicates  as  may  be  in  the  library,  for 
other  books  or  works.  2.  That  he  be  authorized,  in  the  same  way,  to 
exchange  documents.  3.  That  hereafter  fifty  additional  copies  of  each 
volume  of  documents  printed  by  order  of  either  house,  be  printed  and 
bound,  for  the  purpose  of  exchange  in  foreign  countries.  In  accordance 
with  these  resolutions,  near  one  thousand  volumes  were  selected  and  set 
apart,  as  suitable  for  tlie  purposes  of  exchange  with  foreign  libraries  ;  and 
M.  Vattemare  was  also  furnished  with  many  valuable  specimens  from  the 
private  cabinets  of  the  president  and  several  other  public  officers  at  Wash- 
ington. Different  cities  presented  sets  of  laws  and  ordinances,  and  other 
works ;  so  that  in  this,  as  in  other  countries,  the  plan  of  the  philosopher 
seemed  to  be  favourably  regarded. 

The  president's  message  at  the  close  of  this  year  was  delayed  a  little, 
not  being  delivered  before  the  24th  of  December.  It  proved  a  very  lengthy 
and  elaborate  document,  much  of  which  was  devoted  to  a  review  of  the 
American  banking  system,  which  it  scourged  and  excoriated  most  unmer- 
cifully. Considering  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  charged  his  defeat  in  the  con- 
test for  the  presidency,  which  had  just  been  concluded,  mainly  to  the  in- 
tiuence  of  the  moneyed  institutions  of  the  country,  he  may  be  pardoned,  in 
a  great  measure,  for  his  unsparing  severity. 

This  election  for  president  was  the  great  event  of  the  year.  The  atten- 
tion of  all  parties  and  all  clases  appeared  to  be  fully  eiijrussod  with  the 


556  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

subject ;  and  the  favourers  of  each  side  of  the  question  seemed  alike 
confident  of  their  eventual  success.  General  William  H.  Harrison,  ol 
Ohio,  was  exalted  to  the  presidency  over  Mr.  Van  Buren,  by  the  very 
large  and  unexpected  majority  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  thousand 
four  hundred  and  seventy-five  votes.  General  Harrison  was  a  descend- 
ant of  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  had 
himself  always  sustained  a  high  and  unsullied  character  in  every  relation 
of  life;  he  was  known  to  be  brave  as  a  soldier  and  just  as  a  citizen ;  hti 
was  regarded  wise  as  a  statesman  also;  but  as  he  was  not  generally 
known  as  a  politician,  the  extraordinary  number  of  votes  polled  for  him 
was  viewed  with  surprize. 

A  single  sentence  in  Mr.  Van  Buren's  farewell  message,  deserves  to  be 
chronicled.  He  viewed,  he  said,  with  peculiar  satisfaction  the  benefits 
that  sprung  from  tlie  steady  devotion  of  the  husbandman  to  his  honoura- 
ble pursuit.  "No  means,"  it  was  added,  "of  individual  comfort  is  more 
certain,  and  no  source  of  national  prosperity  is  so  sure.  Nothing  can 
compensate  a  people  for  a  dependance  upon  others  for  the  bread  they  eat ; 
and  that  cheerful  abundance  on  which  the  happiness  of  everyone  so  much 
depends  is  to  be  looked  for  nowhere  with  such  sure  reliance  as  in  the 
industry  of  the  agriculturist  and  the  Ijounties  of  the  earth." 

In  glancing  at  the  names  of  those  who  have  departed,  it  becomes  our 
painful  duty  to  record  another  appalling  calamity.  The  steamboat  Lex- 
ington, plying  between  New-York  and  Stonington,  was  burnt  in  January, 
and  near  two  hundred  lives  lost.  The  magnitude  of  this  loss  was  owing, 
in  some  degree,  to  the  imprudence  of  passengers,  who  attempted  leaving 
the  vessel  in  boats  while  she  was  still  under  way.  The  fire  originated 
in  carelessness,  as  usual ;  bales  of  cotton  had  been  piled  close  upon  the 
furnaces  aiid  around  the  smoke-pipe  of  the  ill-fated  boat.  Died,  in  Wash- 
ington, Commodore  Stevens;  also,  Col.  C.  R.  Broom,  U.  S.  M.  In  Bal- 
timore, Hon.  W.  S.  Ramsay,  of  Pennsylvania.  In  South  Carolina,  Gov- 
ernor Noble.  In  Connecticut,  Hon.  T.  Belts.  In  Boston,  Rev.  Dr.  Kirk- 
land.  At  Ballston  Spa.,  Hon,  A.  Brown.  At  West  Point,  Lieutenant 
Bransford,  U.  S.  A.  At  Alexandria,  D.  C,  Major  S.  Cooper.  In  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.,  Captain  Fowler.  In  Mississippi,  General  Hinds,  one  of  the  de- 
fenders of  New-Orleans.  In  Alabama,  Col.  Thomas  Riddle.  In  Ten- 
nessee, Judge  Hugh  L.  White;  also,  Hon.  Felix  Grundy.  In  Virginia, 
Capt.  Wash.  Hood,  U.  S.  engineers;  also.  Judge  Parker;  also,  at  Char- 
lottesville, professors  Davis  and  Bonnycastle.  In  Kentucky,  General 
Adair,  who  commanded  under  Jackson  at  New-Orleans  ;  also,  Hon.  S.  H. 
Anderson.  In  New-York,  the  eccentric  Ex-Sheriff  Parkins,  of  London. 
In  Albany,  by  the  fall  of  a  draw-bridge,  twenty  persons  were  drowned. 
On  Red  River,  Timothy  Flint,  a  celebrated  writer  of  the  west.  In  Ar 
kansas.  Colonel  Cheatham,  an  officer  under  Marion.  In  New-Jersey, 
Hon.  J.  Rutherford,  the  last  of  the  senators  who  served  under  Washington. 
In  Vermont,  Ex-governor  Chittenden.  In  Florida,  Colonel  Green,  U.  S.  A. 
In  Texas,  Colonel  Karnes.  In  France,  Captain  Thomas  Oxford,  who  was 
buried,  pursuant  to  will,  with  an  American  flag  for  his  winding-sheet. 
In  England,  Lord  Durham,  late  governor-general  of^  the  Canadas.  At 
Hanover,  the  celebrated  Doctor  Graff.  In  Paris,  Doctor  Morison,  "the 
hygeist."  In  London,  murdered  by  his  valet,  Lord  William  Russell.  In 
Venice,  m  80,  Count  Guiccioli,  husband  to  one  of  Byron's  heroines.  In 
Paris,  the  English  admiral  Sir  Sydney  Smith,  s.  76.  In  London,  Henry 
Cromwell  Field,  last  descendant  of  "the  Protector."  In  Paris,  Sanson, 
"the  executioner."  At  Caraccas,  J.  G.  A.  Wdliamson,  American  charge 
d'affaires.  In  Wales,  in  a  mad-house,  the  celebrated  Beau  Brummel, 
"companion  of  George  IV."  At  Nice,  Italy,  Paganini,  the  violinist.  lu 
Rome,  Lucien  Bonaparte,  youngest  brother  of  Napoleon.  At  St.  James' 
palace,  the  princess  Augusta,  x.  72.  At  Berlin,  si  70,  Frederick  William 
111.  of  Prussia. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  557 

A.  D.  1841.- On  the  4th  of  March,  William  Henry  Harrison,  of  Ohio, 
\f  as  inaugurated  president  of  the  United  States — John  Tyler,  of  Virginia, 
having  been  elected  with  him  to  the  vice-presidency.  The  ceremony  was 
performed  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  citizens,  aiid  the 
address  delivered  was  lengthy  and  elaborate.  The  new  president  pledged 
himself  to  carry  out,  to  the  letter,  the  views  of  the  party  which  had  ele- 
vated him  to  the  highest  dignity  in  the  gift  of  the  nation  ;  which  views,  he 
considered,  were  indispensable  to  the  real  well-being  of  both  government 
and  people.  The  subjoined  passage  from  his  inaugural,  conveys  the  tone 
of  the  entire  address  : 

"  When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  first  came  from  the  hands 
of  the  convention  which  formed  it,  many  of  the  sternest  republicans  of 
the  day  were  alarmed  at  the  extent  of  the  power  which  had  been  granted 
to  the  federal  government,  and  more  particularly  of  that  portion  which 
had  been  assigned  to  the  executive  branch.  There  were  in  it  features 
which  appeared  not  to  be  in  harmony  with  their  simple  representative  de- 
mocracy or  republic.  And,  knowing  the  tendency  of  power  to  increase 
itself,  particularly  when  exercised  by  a  single  individual,  predictions  were 
made,  that,  at  no  very  remote  period,  the  government  would  terminate  in 
virtual  monarchy.  It  would  not  become  me  to  say  that  the  fears  of  these 
patriots  have  been  yet  realized.  But,  as  I  sincerely  believe  that  the  ten- 
dency of  measures,  and  of  men's  opinions,  for  some  years  past,  has  been 
in  that  direction,  it  is,  I  conceive,  strictly  proper  that  I  should  take  this 
occasion  to  repeat  the  assurances  I  have  heretofore  given  of  my  determi- 
nation to  arrest  the  progress  of  that  tendency,  if  it  really  exists,  and  re- 
store the  government  to  its  pristine  health  and  vigour,  as  far  as  this  can 
be  effected  by  any  legitimate  exercise  of  the  power  placed  in  my  hands. 
Of  the  former,  is  the  eligibility  of  the  same  individual  to  a  second  term  of 
the  presidencj'.  The  sagacious  mind  of  Mr.  Jefferson  early  saw  and  la- 
mented this  error,  and  attempts  have  been  made,  hitherto  without  suc- 
cess, to  apply  the  amendatory  power  of  the  states  to  its  correction.  As, 
however,  one  mode  of  correction  is  in  the  power  of  every  president,  and 
consequently  in  mine,  it  would  be  useless,  and  perhaps  invidious,  to  enu- 
merate the  evils  of  which,  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  our  fellow-citizens, 
this  error  of  the  sages  wiio  framed  the  Constitution  may  have  been  the 
source,  and  the  bitter  fruits  which  we  are  still  to  gather  from  it,  if  it  con- 
tinues to  disfigure  our  system.  It  may  be  observed,  however,  as  a  gen- 
eral remark,  that  republicans  can  commit  no  greater  error  than  to  adopt 
or  continue  any  feature  in  their  systems  of  government  which  may  be 
calculated  to  create  or  increase  the  love  of  power  in  the  bosoms  of  those 
to  whom  necessity  obliges  them  to  commit  the  management  of  their  af- 
fairs. And  surely  nothing  is  more  likely  to  produce  such  a  state  of  mind 
than  the  long  continuance  of  an  office  of  high  trust.  Nothing  can  be  more 
corrupting,  nothing  more  destructive  of  all  those  noble  feelings  which  be- 
long to  the  character  of  a  devoted  republican  patriot.  When  this  cor- 
rupting passion  once  takes  possession  of  the  human  mind,  like  the  love  of 
gold,  it  becomes  insatiable.  It  is  the  never-dying  worm  in  his  bosom, 
grows  with  his  growth,  and  strengthens  with  the  declining  years  of  its 
victim.  If  this  is  true,  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  for  a  republic  to  limit  the 
service  of  that  officer,  at  least,  to  whom  she  has  intrusted  the  manage- 
ment of  her  foreign  relations,  the  execution  of  her  laws  and  the  command 
of  her  armies  and  navies,  to  a  period  so  short  as  to  prevent  his  forgetting 
that  he  is  the  accountable  agent,  not  the  principal — the  servant  not  the 
master.  Until  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  can  be  eflected,  public 
opinion  may  secure  the  desired  object.  I  give  my  aid  to  it  by  renewing 
the  pledge  heretofore  given,  that,  under  no  circumstances,  will  I  consent 
to  serve  a  second  term." 

The  liberal  p'-of'^ssions  of  the  president,  however,  he  was  destined  v  "Am 


558  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

to  carry  into  execution.  His  toilsome  journey  from  the  west  in  mid- 
winter, combined  with  an  exchange  of  quietude  for  constmt  bustle,  as 
well  as  tlie  general  excitement  of  the  times,  was  too  much  for  his  failing 
constitution  to  endure.  Just  one  month  from  his  assumption  of  the  reins 
of  government,  on  the  4th  of  April,  General  [larrison  lay  a  pallid  corpse 
in  the  presidential  mansion.  So  perished  a  liberal  minded  statesman,  and 
with  him  the  high  hopes  of  a  numerous  body  of  citizens.  The  entire  na- 
tion was  moved  with  sadness  and  surprise  upon  learning  the  mournful 
event,  and  all  the  people  united  in  doing  honour  to  his  memory.  The  fu- 
neral procession  in  the  city  of  Washington  extended  over  two  miles,  and 
was  the  longest  ever  witnessed  there.  The  president  died  after  a  brief 
illness,  at  the  age  of  69,  and  was  the  first  who  died  in  office. 

John  Tyler,  vice-president,  by  a  provision  of  the  Constitution,  became 
president  for  the  unexpired  term.  He  arrived  at  the  seat  of  government 
from  Virginia,  on  the  day  after  the  president's  decease,  and  was  duly 
sworn  into  office.  He  retained  the  cabinet  officers  just  appointed  by  Gen- 
(;ral  Harrison,  who  were  the  following-named  :  Daniel  Webster,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, Secretary  of  State  ;  Thomas  Ewing,  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  ;  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  Secretary  of  War;  George  E.  Bad- 
ger of  North  Carolina,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ;  Francis  Granger,  of  New- 
York,  Postmaster  General ;  J.  J.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky,  Attorney  Gen- 
eral. Samuel  L.  Southard,  a  member  from  New-Jersey,  was  elected  by 
the  senate  to  fill  the  chair  just  vacated  by  John  Tyler. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  an  extra  session  of  Congress,  which  had  been  con- 
voked by  General  Harrison,  assembled  and  commenced  its  labours. 
Much  was  expected  by  the  people  at  large  from  the  action  of  this  body  ; 
yet  nothing  of  particular  importance  was  realized.  One  of  the  earliest 
measures  of  the  session,  was  the  passage  of  a  general  bankrupt  law — but 
(his  being  found  to  work  iniquitously,  its  privileges  being  abused,  it  was 
subsequently  repealed.  In  the  month  of  July,  a  bill  was  introduced  for 
the  establishment  of  a  National  Bank.  This  passed  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  the  Senate,  and  was  sent  to  the  president  for  his  signature  ; 
when,  to  the  astonishment  of  every  one,  I\Ir.  Tyler  returned  the  bill  with 
a  veto  message.  He  set  forth  his  views  at  length  with  reference  to  the 
measure,  but  they  may  be  all  summed  up  as  follows  :  That  he  had  always 
been  opposed  to  such  a  bank ;  that  this  was  perfectly  well  known  at  the 
time  of  his  election  to  the  vice-presidency;  and  that  he  had  since  seen  no 
reasons  for  changing  his  opinions  on  the  subject.  A  second  bill  for  a  Fis- 
cal bank  of  the  United  States  was  prepared,  after  consultation  of  the 
president  with  his  cabinet,  and  certain  members  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. This  also,  was  vetoed.  Mr.  Tyler's  cabinet  thereupon  threw 
up  their  commissions,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Webster,  assigning  for 
reason  a  capriciousness  and  whimsicality  on  the  part  of  the  president. 
The  non-resignation  of  Mr.  Webster  was  strongly  animadverted  upon  at 
the  time,  but  subsequent  results  fully  justified  the  conduct  of  that  able 
statesman. 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  upon  this  action  of  the  president,  published  a  letter  in 
which  he  highly  applauded  his  conduct.  The  people,  however,  considered 
the  frustration  by  Mr.  Tyler  of  a  great  measure  of  the  party  which  elect- 
ed him,  a  traitorous  act,  and  in  several  places  he  was  burnt  in  effigy.  The 
new  members  of  the  cabinet,  appointed  in  place  of  those  who  had  resign- 
ed, were  the  following  :  Walter  Forward,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury;  Abel  P.  Upshur,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  the  Navy;  John 
C.  Spencer,  of  New-York,  Secretary  of  War;  Hugh  S.  I-egare,  of  South 
Carolina,  Attorney  General ;  Charles  C.  Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky,  Post- 
master General. 

Congress  made  an  appropriation  of  $25,000  to  Mrs.  Harrison,  for  the 
purpose  of  reimbursing,  in  some  degree,  the  losses  sustained  by  the  Gen- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


559 


eral  in  removing,  for  so  short  a  period,  to  Washington.  His  remains 
were  disinterred,  by  desire  of  the  family,  and  removed  to  his  farm  at  North 
IJend. 

In  the  course  of  the  session,  a  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  was  called  up. 
They  were  materially  modified,  after  some  opposition  on  the  part  of 
Southern  members.  Some  considered  the  handling  of  the  subject  an  in- 
fraction of  Clay's  compromise  ;  but  the  majority  were  of  opinion  that  the 
condition  of  the  country  called  for  renewed  action,  and  results  proved 
that  they  were  right. 

The  census  of  the  United  States  for  1840  having  been  completed,  the 
Senate,  by  a  resolution,  required  the  secretary  of  state  to  furnish  an  ab- 
stract of  the  same.  The  total  population  of  the  Union  was  17,068,112  souls. 
The  following  table  shows  how  the  population  was  apportioned. 


Free 

persons 

Free  persons 

States. 

Vhites.     of  colour. 

Slaves. 

States. 

Whites. 

of  colour 

Slaves. 

Maine, 

500,438 

1,358 

0 

Delaware, 

58,561 

16,919 

2,605 

New  Hampshire,  284,036 

537 

1 

Maryland, 

317,717 

62,020 

89,495 

Massachusetts 

729,030 

8,668 

1 

Virginia, 

740,968 

49,842 

448,987 

Rhode-Island, 

105,587 

3,238 

5 

N.  Cai-olina, 

484,870 

22,732 

245,817 

(Connecticut, 

301,856 

8,105 

17 

S.  Carolina, 

259,034 

8,276 

327,038 

Vermont, 

291,218 

730 

0 

Georgia, 

407,695 

2,753 

280,844 

New-York, 

2,378,890 

50,027 

4 

Alabama, 

335,185 

2,039 

253,532 

New-Jersey, 

351,588 

24,044 

674 

Mississippi, 

179,074 

1.366 

195,211 

Pennsylvaiiia, 

1,676,115 

47,854 

64 

Louisiana, 

153,983 

21,368 

165,219 

Ohio, 

1,502,122 

17,342 

3 

Tennessee, 

640,627 

5,524 

183,059 

Indiana, 

G78,C98 

7,165 

3 

Kentucky, 

587,542 

7,309 

182,072 

Illinois, 

472,354 

3,598 

331 

Missouri, 

323,888 

1,574 

53,240 

Michigan, 

211,560 

707 

0 

Arkansas, 

77.174 

46.. 

19,935 

Wisconsin, 

30,566 

178 

8 

Florida, 

27.728 

820 

25,55: 

Iowa, 

42,864 

153 

18 

D.  of  Colum 

,   30,657 

4,364 

4,694 

Total,        14,181,575  2,483,536       «86,069 

About  the  beginnmg  of  this  year,  one  Alexander  INIcLeod,  a  Canadian, 
created  some  disturbance.  He  came  within  the  American  lines,  and  being 
an  idle  and  worthless  person,  thought  to  attract  some  momentary  atten- 
tion by  representing  himself  as  one  of  the  mob  engaged  in  the  destruction 
of  the  steamboat  Caroline,  some  time  previous.  It  seems,  in  the  end,  he 
drew  more  notice  than  he  expected,  or  found  agreeable.  In  Lockport, 
near  the  New- York  frontier,  he  was  taken  and  held  to  bai  1  i  n  the  recognizance 
of  $5,000  for  himself,  with  two  sureties  of  $2,500  each,  for  his  appearance 
at  court  to  answer  the  charges  of  murder  and  arson. 

It  appeared,  that  an  impartial  trial  could  not  be  had  for  this  man 
at  the  west,  on  account  of  the  excitement  against  him.  He  was  therefore 
removed  to  the  city  of  New- York,  and  examined  before  the  supreme 
court  of  the  state,  at  its  May  term.  Judge  Cowan,  in  a  lucid  report  on  the 
question  of  jurisdiction,  which  had  been  raised,  decided  that  the  fate  of 
the  prisoner  must  be  determined  by  the  state  tribunals,  without  reference 
to  the  action  of  the  general  government  in  the  premises. 

Meanwhile,  a  correspondence  ensued  between  Mr.  Fox,  British  Minis- 
ter at  Washington,  and  the  American  secretary  of  state.  The  English 
ambassador  called  upon  the  American  government  to  take  prompt  and 
effectual  steps  for  the  liberation  of  McLeod.  "It  is  well  known,"  said 
he,  "that  the  destruction  of  the  steamboat  Caroline  was  a  public  act  of 
persons  in  her  majesty's  service,  obeying  the  orders  of  their  superior 
authorities.  That  act,  therefore,  according  to  the  usages  of  nations,  can 
tnly  be  the  subject  of  discussion  between  the  two  national  governments." 

Mr.  Forsyth,  in  his  reply,  after  stating  the  anxious  desire  of  his  govern- 
ment to  maintain  amicable  relations  between  the  United  States  and  Eng- 
land,  said:  "It  is,  then,  with  unfeigned  regret,  that  the  president  finds 


5r^;  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

himself  unable  to  recognize  the  validity  of  a  demand,  a  compliance  with 
which  you  deem  so  material  to  the  preservation  of  the  good  understanding 
which  has  been  hitherto  manifested  between  the  two  countries.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  several  states  which  constitute  the  Union,  is,  within  its 
appropriate  sphere,  perfectly  independent  of  the  federal  government.  The 
offence  with  which  McLeod  is  charged  was  committed  within  the  territory 
and  against  the  laws  and  citizens  of  the  state  of  New-York,  and  is  one  that 
comes  clearly  within  the  competency  of  her  tribunals.  It  does  not,  there- 
fore, present  an  occasion  where,  under  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the 
Union,  the  interposition  called  for  would  be  proper,  for  which  a  warrant 
can  be  found  in  the  powers  with  which  the  federal  executive  is  invested. 
Nor  would  the  circumstances  to  which  you  have  referred,  or  the  reasons 
you  have  urged,  justify  the  execution  of  such  a  power,  if  it  existed." 

Mr.  Fox,  in  reply,  regrets  this  refusal,  and  intimates  that  it,  together 
with  the  ill-treatment  of  Mr.  McLeod,  will  lead  to  the  most  grave  and 
serious  consequences.  In  the  interim,  counsel  for  the  prisoner,  Messrs. 
Bradley  and  Joshua  A.  Spencer,  had  moved  a  change  of  trial  from  the 
city  of  New- York  to  Utica.  There,  in  the  month  of  October,  before  Judge 
(Jridley,  and  others,  a  lengthy  trial  was  held;  when,  notwithstanding  the 
abilities  of  Attorney-general  Hall  for  the  people,  an  alibi  was  proven  for 
the  prisoner — and  so  the  matter  ended. 

In  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,  this  year,  appeared  a  table  which  was 
furnished  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  showing  "the  amount  in  quantity  ol 
the  agricultural  products  of  the  Union.  With  the  aid  of  this  table  an  esti- 
mate has  been  made  of  the  value  in  money  of  the  several  products,  and 
the  result  placed  side  by  side  with  the  population  of  the  states  respectively, 
to  show  the  yield  per  head  in  round  numbers. 

Per 
States.  Value.  Pop.  head 

S.Carolina,       $49,117,800      594,398  $82 
Georgia,  58,830,000      691,392     85 


Per 

States.                      Value.  Pop.  head. 

Maine,               $34,720.00'^  501,793  $69 

N.  Hampshire,  25,703,000  284,.574     90 

Vennont,             43,227,000  291,948   148 

Massachusetts,  28,809,400  737,799     38 

Rhode  Island,      3,745,800  108,830     34 

Connecticut,      22,945,000  309,948     74 

New- York,       238,800,000  2,428,921     98 

New-Jersey,       35,911,000  373,308     95 

Pennsylvania,  136,249,000  1,724.033     79 

Delaware,             6,027,000  73,085     73 

Maryland,          43,846,200  469,232     93 

Virginia            102,177,000  1,239,797     82 

N.  Carolina         40,115,500  484,870     80 


Ohio,  84,507,000  1,519,467 

Tennessee,  73,130,000  829,510     83 

Louisiana,  37,706,000  352,000  lOf 

.Mabama,  42,376,000  590,756     71 

Mississippi.  41,773,000  375,601  111 

Missouri,  22,309,400  383,702     58 

Indiana,  47,859.000  685,866     G9 

Illinois,  35,264,500  476,133     74 

Arkansas,  10,536,000  97,.574  108 

Iowa,  2,277,000  43,035     53 

Dist.  Columbia,      352,000  43,7 Ifi       7 


It  will  be  seen  by  the  foregoing,  that  only  four  states  produce  more 
than  one  hundred  dollars  to  each  head  of  the  population.  Of  these,  Ver- 
mont takes  the  lead,  and  must  certainly  be  considered  a  very  enterprising 
and  thrifty  state.  The  average  production  per  capitem  is  seventy-seven 
dollars  and  fifty  cents.  Fourteen  members  of  the  Union  rise  above  this 
average,  the  remainder  stand  below  it. 

The  failure  of  the  United  States'  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  in  February, 
caused  much  surprise  as  well  as  distress.  Its  immense  capital  of  $35,000, 
000  had  so  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  people,  that  the  possibility  of  such  a 
dark  mishap  as  its  ultimate  ruin,  never  entered  their  bewildered  compre- 
hension. In  Europe,  even,  not  less  than  $15,000,000  worth  of  stock  had 
been  purchased,  and  was  distributed  among  the  middling  classes  in  and 
about  London.  In  New-York,  the  amount  of  $7,000,000  had  been  taken, 
and  the  balance  was  owned  by  the  United  States'  government,  and  the 
states  south  and  west.  According  to  a  report  of  the  directors,  the  bank 
had,  in  thirty  days  from  its  resumption  of  specie  payments  in  January 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  561 

paid  out  in  cash  to  keen-eyed  brokers  $6,000,000 ;  and  as  demands  for  as 
much  more  were  already  presented,  they  were  forced  to  bend  to  the  tempest 
and  suspend.  An  investigation  into  the  affairs  of  the  bank,  which  was  or- 
dered, lesulted  in  the  discovery  that  the  old  board  of  directors  had  been 
largely  engaged  in  various  extraneous  speculations,  such  as  buying  up 
Texas  funds,  endeavouring  to  mondpolize  the  cotton  market,  &c.  ;  this, 
be  it  understood,  on  their  own  private  account,  though  by  means  of  the 
bank's  funds.  Messrs.  Biddle,  Jaudon,  Cowperthwaite,  and  others,  were 
accordingly  indicted  for  this  by  the  grand  jury  of  Philadelphia;  but 
as  those  gentlemen  had  merely  expended  what  they  had  previously 
withdrawn,  nothing  was  effected  towards  establishing  the  former  good 
credit  of  the  bank. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  member,  from  the  committee  on 
naval  affairs,  brought  in  the  following  statement,  showing  the  gradual  in- 
crease of  the  navy — together  with  a  recommendation  that  the  same  ratio, 
both  of  power  and  expense,  should  be  maintained  : 

In  1836,  we  had  $7,611,055  appropriated,  and  462  guns  afloat. 

"    1837  "  8,185,710  "  554  " 

"    1838  "  5,702,420  "  630 

•'    1839  "  5,264,385  "  596 

"    1840  "  5,155,120  "  882  " 

'•    1841  "  5,780,927  "  1,070 

The  new  president's  unsparing  exercise  of  the  veto  power,  caused  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Representatives  to  recommend  his  impeachment — when  he 
addressed  that  body  a  message,  protesting  violently  against  any  such  right. 

This  summer  perished,  in  Syracuse,  N.Y.,  thirty  persons  instantly,  fifty 
more  being  badly  wounded.  Twenty-eight  kegs  of  gunpowder  had  been 
stored,  contrary  to  law,  in  the  heart  of  the  city  ;  when,  a  fire  breaking  out, 
they  exploded,  with  this  fatal  result.  The  steamboat  Erie,  of  Buffalo,  was 
burned  in  August,  while  twenty  miles  from  land,  with  two  hundred  pas- 
sengers on  board ;  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  lives  were  sacrificed ; 
the  fire,  in  this  case,  was  caused  by  the  ignition  of  a  barrel  of  turpentine- 
Died,  in  Washington,  Judge  Barbour,  of  Virginia  ;  also,  Hon.  John  For- 
syth, s.  60,  late  Secretary  of  State ;  also,  General  Alexander  Macomb, 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army;  also,  Colonel  R.  D.  Wainright.  In 
South  Carolina,  General  Griffin.  In  Tennessee,  Governor  Cannon.  In 
Pennsylvania,  Charles  Ogle,  M.  C. ;  also,  Hon.  J.  R.  Black.  In  New- 
York,  Heniy  Brevoort,  m.  99,  also,  Major  Shute,  m  82;  also  Dr.  M'Nev- 
in,  the  companion  of  Emmet  in  the  Irish  "rebellion  ;"  also,  Herman  Le 
Roy,  Esq  ,  father-in-law  of  Daniel  Webster.  In  Connecticut,  Judge  Lan- 
man.  In  Virginia,  Bishop  Moore.  In  Lexington,  Ky.,  Hon.  R.  H.  Men- 
ifee. In  Geneva,  N-  Y.,  Hon.  Gideon  Lee.  In  Florida,  Ex-governor 
Reid  ;  also.  Judge  Winn.  In  Philadelphia,  Dr.  S.  Calhoun,  professor  of 
materia  medica;  also,  Willis  Gaylord  Clark,  poet.  In  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  William  Bartlett,  Esq.,  leaving  $200,000  to  Andover  seminary.  In 
Ne^v-Orleans,  Colonel  R.  P.  Bowie  ;  also,  Nicholas  Girod,  bequeathing  to 
various  objects  $400,000.  In  South  America,  Commodore  Claxton.  Sup- 
posed to  have  been  lost  in  the  President  steamship,  Tyrone  Power,  come- 
dian. At  Gibraltar,  Sir  David  Wilkie,  eminent  as  a  painter.  In  London, 
Captain  S.  B.  Grifling,  of  New- York.  At  Kingston,  U.  C,  Lord  Syden- 
ham, Gevernor-general  of  the  Canadas.  In  Paris,  Samuel  Welles,  an 
American  banker,  leaving  a  good  name  and  a  large  fortune,  which  do  not 
always  go  together.  In  London,  Sir  Philip  Brooke,  rear-admiral  of  the 
red,  better  known  as  captain  of  the  Shannon,  in  her  action  with  the 
Chesapeake  ;  also.  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  M.  D.,  .e  72  ;  also,  Theodore  Hook, 
a  favourite  dramatic  author ;  also,  T.  Dibdin,  the  same;  also.  Sir  Fran- 
cis Chantrey,  an  eminent  sculptor ;  also,  Joseph  Chitty,  a  distinguished 
lawyer.  In  Syria,  Rev.  Mr.  Mitchell  and  lady,  both  of  Connecticut. 
36 


562  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

A.I).  1842. — Mr.  Tyler,  in  one  of  his  messages,  with  reference  to  the 
state  of  the  country,  is  remarkably  liberal-minded  as  well  as  just.  In 
allusion  to  the  public  domain,  he  says  :  "We  have,  on  this  side  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  tlie  enormous  expanse  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy  millions 
of  acres  of  unoccu[)icd  territory,  to  say  nothincr  of  that  which  lies  beyond." 
And  he  then  further  continues,  "We  hold  out  to  the  people  of  other  coun- 
tries an  invitation  to  come  and  settle  among  us,  as  members  of  our  rap- 
idly-growing family  ;  and  for  the  blessings  which  we  offer  them,  we  require 
of  them  only  to  look  upon  our  country  as  their  country,  and  to  unite  with 
us  in  the  great  task  of  preserving  our  institutions,  and  thereby  perpetuating 
our  liberties.  No  motive  exists  for  foreign  conquest.  We  desire  but  to 
reclaim  our  almost  illimitable  wilderness,  and  to  introduce  into  their  depths 
the  lights  of  civilization.  While  we  shall  at  all  times  be  prepared  to  vin- 
dicate the  national  honour,  our  most  earnest  desire  will  be  to  maintain  an 
unbroken  peace." 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  a  voluminous  correspondence,  which  had 
commenced  between  the  Hon.  Mr.  Stevenson,  American  minister  at  the 
court  of  St.  James,  and  Lord  Palmerston,  and  was  continued  with  Lord 
Aberdeen,  when  the  latter  succeeded  to  the  office  of  British  Secretary  of 
State  for  foreign  affairs,  was  laid  before  Congress.  The  subject  in  con- 
troversy was  that  ancient  and  uneasy  theme,  the  right  of  search.  It  is  in- 
teresting, from  the  importance  of  the  principles  of  international  law  dis- 
cussed between  these  statesmen. 

"The  government  of  Great  Britain,"  commences  Mr.  Stevenson,  "with 
that  of  other  nations,  regarding  the  African  slave  trade  as  a  great  evil, 
united  in  measures  for  its  abolition.  For  that  purpose  laws  were  passed 
and  treaties  concluded,  giving  to  the  vessels  of  each  of  the  contracting 
parties  the  mutual  right  of  search,  under  certain  limitations.  Indepen- 
dent of  these  treaties,  and  under  the  principles  of  public  law,  this  right  of 
search  could  not  be  exercised.  The  United  States  were  invited  to  become 
a  party  to  these  treaties ;  but,  for  reasons  which  they  deemed  satisfactory, 
and  growing  out  of  the  peculiar  character  of  their  institutions  and  systems 
of  government,  they  declined  doing  so.  They  deemed  it  inexpedient, 
under  any  modification  or  in  any  form,  to  yield  Uie  right  of  having  their 
vessels  searched  or  interfei'cd  with  in  time  of  peace  upon  the  high  seas. 

"In  the  meantime,  some  of  the  powers  who  were  parties  to  these  trea- 
ties, and  others  who  refused  to  become  so,  continued  to  prosecute  their 
slave  traffic ;  and  to  enable  them  to  do  so  with  more  effect  they  resorted 
to  the  use  of  the  flags  of  other  nations,  but  more  particularly  that  of  the 
United  States.  To  prevent  this,  and  enforce  her  treaties,  Great  Britain 
deemed  it  important  that  her  cruisers  in  the  African  seas  should  have  the 
right  of  detaining  and  examining  all  vessels  navigating  those  seas,  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  their  national  character.  Against  this  practice 
the  government  of  the  United  States  protested,  and  The  numerous  cases 
out  of  which  the  present  discussion  has  arisen,  became  subjects  of  com- 
plaint and  negotiation  between  the  two  governments." 

The  British  minister,  in  his  ofiScial  capacity  replying,  says :  "The  un- 
dersigned begs  leave  to  state  to  Mr.  Stevenson,  in  reply  to  the  remarks 
contained  in  his  last  note,  that  her  majesty's  government  do  not  pretend 
that  her  majesty's  naval  officers  have  any  right  to  search  American  mer- 
chantmen met  with  in  time  of  peace  at  sea;  but  there  is  an  essential  and 
fundamental  difference  between  searching  a  vessel  and  detaining  her  papers 
to  see  if  she  is  legally  provided  with  documents  entitling  her  to  the  pro- 
tection of  any  country,  and  especially  of  the  country  whose  flag  she  may 
have  hoisted  at  the  time.  For  though,  by  common  parlance,  the  word 
"flag"  is  used  to  express  the  test  of  nationality,  and  though,  according  to 
that  acceptation  of  the  word,  her  majesty's  government  admit  that  British 
cruizers  are  not  entitled  in  time  of  peace  to  search  merchant  vessels  sail- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  563 

ing  under  the  American  flag,  yet  her  majesty's  government  do  not  mean 
thereby  to  say  that  a  merchantman  can  exempt  herself  from  search  by 
merely  hoisting-  a  piece  of  bunting  with  the  United  States  emblems  and 
colours  upon  it:  that  which  her  majesty's  government  means  is,  that  the 
rights  of  the  United  States  flag  exempt  a  vessel  from  search  when  that 
vessel  is  provided  with  papers  entitling  her  to  wear  that  flag,  and  proving 
her  to  be  United  States  property,  and  navigated  according  to  law." 

The  president,  in  his  annual  message,  very  ably  reviewed  the  whole 
matter,  as  follows ; 

"By  the  10th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  it  was  expressly  declared, 
that,  'Whereas  the  traffic  in  slaves  is  irreconcileable  with  the  principles 
of  humanity  and  justice ;  and  whereas  both  His  Majesty  and  the  United 
States  are  desirous  of  continuing  their  efforts  to  promote  its  entire  aboli- 
tion, it  is  hereby  agreed  that  both  the  contracting  parties  shall  use  their 
best  endeavours  to  accomplish  so  desirable  an  object.'  In  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  and  treaty  stipulations  of  Great  Britain,  a  practice  had 
threatened  to  grow  up  on  the  part  of  its  cruizers  of  subjecting  to  visitation 
ships  sailing  under  the  American  flag,  which,  while  it  seriously  involved 
our  maritime  rights,  would  subject  to  vexation  a  branch  of  our  trade  which 
was  increasing,  and  which  required  the  fostering  care  of  the  government. 
And  although  Lord  Aberdeen,  in  his  correspondence  with  the  American 
envoys  at  London,  expressly  disclaimed  all  right  to  detain  any  American 
ship  on  the  high  seas,  even  if  found  with  a  cargo  of  slaves  on  board,  and 
restricted  the  British  pretensions  to  a  mere  claim  to  visit  and  inquire,  yet 
it  could  not  well  be  discovered  by  the  executive  of  the  United  States  how 
such  visit  and  inquiry  could  be  made  witliont  detention  on  tlie  voyage, 
and  consequent  interruption  to  the  trade.  It  was  regarded  as  the  right 
of  search  presented  only  in  a  new  form,  and  expressed  in  ditfereiit  words  ; 
and  I  therefore  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  distinctly  to  declare,  in  my  annual 
message  to  Congress,  that  no  such  concession  could  be  made,  and  that 
the  United  States  had  both  the  will  and  the  ability  to  enforce  their  own 
laws  and  to  protect  their  flag  from  being  used  for  purposes  wholly  for- 
bidden by  those  laws  and  obnoxious  to  the  tnoral  censure  of  the  world. 

"Taking  the  message  as  his  letter  of  instructions,  our  then  minister  at 
Paris,  Mr.  Cass,  felt  himself  required  to  assume  the  same  ground  in  a 
remonstrance  which  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  present  to  M.  Guizot,  and  through 
him  to  the  king  of  the  French,  against  what  has  been  called  the  Quintu- 
ple Treaty;  and  his  conduct  in  this  respect  met  with  the  approval  of  this 
government.  In  close  conformity  with  these  views,  the  Sth  article  of  the 
late  treaty  with  Great  Britain  was  framed,  which  provides  that  'each  na- 
tion shall  keep  afloat  in  the  African  seas  a  force  not  less  than  eighty  guns, 
to  act  separately  and  apart,  under  instructiors  from  their  respective  gov- 
ernments, and  for  the  enforcement  of  their  respective  laws  and  obliga- 
tions.' From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ground  assumed  in  the  message 
has  been  fully  maintained,  at  the  same  time  that  the  stipulations  of  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent  are  to  be  carried  out  in  good  faith  by  the  two  countries, 
and  that  all  pretence  is  removed  for  interference  with  our  commerce  for 
any  purpose  whatever  by  a  foreign  government. 

"While,  therefore,  the  United  States  have  been  standing  up  for  the 
freedom  of  the  seas,  they  have  not  thought  proper  to  make  that  a  pretext 
for  avoiding  a  fulfilment  of  their  treaty  stipulations,  or  a  ground  forgiving 
countenance  to  a  trade  reprobated  by  our  laws.  A  similar  arrangement 
by  the  other  great  powers  could  not  fail  to  sweep  from  the  ocean  the  slave 
trade,  without  the  interpolation  of  any  new  principle  into  the  maritime 
code.  We  may  be  permitted  to  hope  that  the  example  thus  set  will  be 
followed  by  one,  if  not  all,  of  them.  We  thereby  also  offer  suitable  pro- 
tection to  the  fair  trader  in  those  seas,  thus  fulfilling  at  the  same  time  the 
dictates  of  a  sound  policy,  and  complying  with  the  claims  of  justice  and 
humanity 


5t;4  THE  TEEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

"  With  the  other  powers  of  Europe  our  relations  continue  on  the  mosl 
amicable  footing.  Treaties  now  existing  with  them  shouhl  be  rigidly 
observed,  and  every  opportunity,  compatible  with  the  interests  of  the 
United  States,  should  be  seized  upon  to  enlarge  tlie  basis  of  commercial 
intercourse.  Peace  with  all  the  world  is  the  foundation  of  our  policy, 
which  can  only  be  rendered  permanent  by  the  practice  of  equal  and  im- 
partial justice  to  all.  Our  great  desire  should  be  to  enter  only  into  thai 
rivalry  which  looks  to  the  general  good  in  the  cultivation  of  tlie  sciences, 
the  enlargement  of  the  field  for  the  exercise  of  the  mechanical  arts,  and 
the  spread  of  commerce — that  great  civilizer — to  every  land  and  sea. 
Carefully  abstaining  from  interference  in  all  questions  exclusively  referring 
themselves  to  the  political  interests  of  Europe,  we  may  be  permitted  to 
hope  an  equal  exemption  from  the  interference  of  European  governments 
in  what  relates  to  tlie  states  of  the  American  continent." 

We  should,  perhaps,  observe,  that  the  American  minister  had  previous- 
ly given  to  the  British  government,  a  discharge  from  all  further  liability 
on  account  of  the  Caroline,  as  it  had  apologized,  and  as  no  better  repa- 
ration from  the  nature  of  the  case  could  be  had,  and  as  it  had  also  ex- 
pressed so  large  a  degree  of  respect  and  regard  for  the  inviolable  and  sa- 
cred character  of  our  neutral  rights,  &c.,  &c. 

A  case  somewhat  analagous  to  that  of  the  Amistad,  now  arose  to  be  no- 
ticed :  The  brig  Creole,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  sailed  from  that  port  towards 
the  close  of  the  last  year,  for  New-Orleans,  with  a  cargo  consisting  partly 
of  tobacco,  and  135  slaves  ;  some  eight  or  ten  days  after  leaving  Hampton 
Roads,  a  part  of  the  slaves  rose  upon  the  crew  of  the  vessel,  murdered  a 
passenger  named  Hewell,  who  owned  some  of  the  negroes,  wounded  the 
captain  dangerously,  and  the  first  mate  and  two  of  the  crew  severely. 
The  slaves  consequently  obtained  complete  possession  of  the  vessel,  when, 
under  their  direction,  it  was  taken  into  the  port  of  Nassau,  in  the  island 
of  New-Providence.  There,  at  the  request  of  the  American  consul  in  the 
place,  the  governor  ordered  a  guard  on  board  the  Creole,  with  a  view  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  any  from  on  board,  until  an  examination  could  be 
had  ;  on  examination,  nineteen  of  the  slaves  were  identified  as  having  par- 
ticipated in  the  mutiny  and  murder.  These  were  placed  in  confinement 
for  another  investigation  of  the  case ;  but  the  government  refused  to  ac- 
cede to  the  demand  of  the  American  consul  that  they  should  be  sent  back 
to  America  for  trial.  The  remainder  of  the  slaves,  in  number  114,  were 
set  at  liberty,  on  the  ground  that  they  became  free  in  landing  on  British 
territory. 

The  affair  of  the  Amistad,  as  we  have  said,  which  had  occurred  but  a 
short  time  previous  to  this,  was  considered  so  nearly  identical  with  it,  as 
to  afford  the  English  a  tolerable  excuse  for  following  the  example  set 
them  on  that  occasion. 

Congress  adjourned,  after  a  laborious  session,  in  which  were  passed 
ninety-five  public  acts,  thirteen  joint  resolutions,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  private  bills.  Two  other  public  bills  were  passed  which  were 
defeated  by  the  veto  of  the  President,  and  two  more  were  defeated  by  not 
receiving  the  executive  approval  before  the  close  of  the  session. 

The  introduction  of  the  Croton  river  into  New-York  took  place  in  .Tune, 
and  the  event  was  very  justly  celebrated  with  public  rejoicings.  It  may 
not  be  generally  known  that  this  stupendous  work  surpasses  in  magnifi- 
cence one  of  the  proudest  boasts  of  ancient  Rome.  None  of  the  hydrau- 
lic structures  of  that  city,  in  spite  of  the  legions  of  slaves  she  had  at  com- 
mand, equal  in  magnitude  of  design,  perfection  of  detail,  and  prospective 
benefits,  this  great  accomplishment  of  a  single  city  of  the  American  re- 
public. The  entire  length  of  the  aqueduct  is  forty  and  a  half  miles.  The 
work  commences  at  the  village  of  Croton,  about  five  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  river.     Here  is  the  first  re*>ervoir,  vv'hich  is  formed  by  a  dam 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  565 

forcing  the  river  back  several  miles,  covering  600  acres,  and  computed  to 
contain  not  less  than  100,000,000  of  gallons  for  each  foot  in  depth  from 
the  surface.  The  uniform  descent  of  the  aqueduct  from  commencement, 
is  about  fourteen  inches  to  the  mile  ;  consequently  extensive  excavations 
or  tunnels  passing  through  hills  or  heavy  embankments,  with  culverts  in 
crossing  valleys,  were  required.  Several  of  the  tunnels  are  cut  through 
solid  rock,  at  an  euormous  expense  ;  the  longest  is  near  the  village  of 
Manhattanville,  and  is  1,215  feet  in  length.  Sleepy  Hollow,  well  known 
to  readers  of  imaginative  lore,  is  spanned  by  a  series  of  graceful  arches. 

The  main  line  of  the  aqueduct  is  constructed  as  follows  :  the  bottom  is 
an  inverted  arch,  the  roof  a  semi-circle  ;  the  dimensions  six  feet  at  bot- 
tom, seven  feet  at  top,  and  from  eight  to  ten  feet  in  height.  The  founda- 
tion is  of  stone,  well  laid,  and  the  interstices  filled  with  rubble  ;  over  this 
a  bed  of  concrete  composed  of  cement,  broken  stone  and  gravel,  well  com- 
bined ;  the  side  walls  are  thirty-nine  inches  thick  at  bottom,  and  twenty- 
seven  inches  at  top  ;  the  arches  both  of  brick.  In  crossing  Harlem  river 
the  aqueduct  encounters  its  most  formidable  impediment.  Owing  to  the 
great  depression  of  the  stream  below  the  grade  line,  and  the  peculiar  in- 
clination of  its  banks,  the  length  of  the  aqueduct  bridge  will  be  J, 420  feet. 
Its  width  will  be  eighteen  feet  inside  the  parapet  walls,  and  twenty-seven 
feet  between  the  outer  edges  of  the  coping;  it  will  be  supported  by  six- 
teen piers,  twenty  by  forty  feet  at  base,  and  eighty- four  feet  in  height,  to 
the  spring  of  the  arch,  diminishing  as  they  rise,  with  a  span  of  eighty  feet. 
This  bridge  is  intended  for  the  support  of  iron  pipes,  which  will  be  laid 
down,  in  the  first  instance,  between  two  and  three  feet  in  diameter;  but 
the  work  will  be  so  arranged  as  to  admit  the  introduction  of  two  four  feet 
pipes  at  any  time  hereafter,  whose  capacity  will  be  equal  to  that  of  the 
grand  trunk.  A  number  of  formidable  ravines  shortly  after  present  them- 
selves, but  are  all  crossed  handsomely,  the  water  being  conducted  by 
means  of  inverted  syphons.  Ninety-sixth  street  being  one  hundred  feet 
wide,  has  two  arches  of  twenty-seven  feet  span,  for  the  carriage-way, 
and  one  arch  of  fourteen  feet  span,  on  each  side,  for  the  sidewalks.  The 
other  streets  being  but  sixty  feet  in  width,  will  each  have  an  arch  of  thirty 
feet  span  for  the  carriage-way,  and  one  on  each  side  of  ten  feet.  The 
breadth  over  the  arches  to  be  twenty-four  feet. 

The  next  important  work  is  the  receiving  reservoir,  thirty-eight  miles 
by  the  line  of  the  aqueduct  from  its  northern  terminus.  It  covers  thirty- 
five  acres  of  ground,  and  is  divided  into  two  sections  ;  the  north  section  to 
have  twenty  feet  of  water  when  full,  the  south  twenty-five  feet ;  and  the 
whole  reservoir  containing  100,000,000  gallons.  From  this  reservoir  the 
water  will  be  conveyed  through  the  Fifth  Avenue  to  the  distributing  basin, 
in  Forty-second  street ;  this  covers  about  five  acres  and  holds  20,000,000 
of  gallons.  This  distributing  reservoir  is  also  a  work  of  great  magnitude 
and  expense,  and  calculated  to  endure  as  long  as  the  hills.  It  is  in  the 
Egyptian  style  of  architecture,  and  employed  four  hundred  men  four  years 
in  its  construction.  The  perfection  of  the  work  is  such  that  a  single  man 
has  complete  control  of  the  immense  quantity  of  water  used  to  supply 
the  city.  The  original  estimate  of  expense  for  the  entire  work,  was 
$4,718,197  ;  but  before  it  is  entirely  finished,  it  is  now  supposed  the  amount 
will  not  fall  far  short  of  $12,000,000.  At  intervals  of  a  mile,  ventilators 
are  constructed,  in  the  form  of  towers,  composed  of  white  marble;  these 
may  be  seen,  glistening  in  the  sunlight,  by  passengers  along  the  course  of 
the  Hudson. 

It  is  with  pleasure  we  now  make  mention  of  an  act  of  international  cour- 
tesy which  reflects  high  credit  upon  the  government  of  Queen  Victoria. 
Her  majesty  caused  to  be  forwarded,  through  her  minister  at  Washington, 
to  the  American  secretary  of  state,  .yi\r  valuable  i^old  medals,  with  appro- 
jiriate  emblems,  to  be  disposed  as  follows: 


r,66  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

1.  For  Captain  Depeyster,  of  the  packet-ship  "  Sheridan,"  of  New- York, 
for  saving  the  crew  of  the  British  barque  "  Zephyr,"  of  Newcastle,  in 
November,  1840. 

2.  For  Captain  VVottoii,  of  the'packel-ship  "  Rhone,"  of  New-York,  for 
saving  the  crew  of  the  British  barque  "  Belinda,"  of  Troon,  D.  xMac  Nichol, 
master. 

3.  For  Captain  Cropper,  of  the  packet-ship  "  Columbus,"  of  New-York, 
for  saving  the  lives  of  the  master  and  crew  of  the  vessel  "  Leonidas,"  of 
Belfast,  in  November,  1840. 

4.  For  Captain  Thompson,  of  the  packet-ship  "  Stephen  Whitney,"  of 
New- York,  for  saving  the  master  and  crew  of  the  schooner  "  Dispatch"  of 
St.  Jolm's,  Newfoundland,  in  November,  1840. 

5.  For  Captain  Palmer,  of  the  packet-ship  "Garrick,"  of  New- York,  for 
saving  the  lives  of  the  master,  mate,  and  crew  of  the  brig  "Eugenia"  of 
St.  John's,  New-Brunswick,  in  December,  1840. 

6.  For  Captain  Stoddart,  of  the  packet-ship  "  Ville  de  Lyon,"  of  New- 
York,  for  saving  the  lives  of  the  master  and  crew  of  the  British  brig 
"  Britiania,"  in  November,  1840. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  last  year,  the  government  of  Texas,  instead 
of  wisely  husbanding  its  resources,  was  so  extremely  inconsiderate  as 
to  authorize  the  famous  Santa  Fe  expedition.  This  was  an  attempt  by 
an  armed  force  to  capture  the  Mexican  city  and  province  of  that  name, 
which  lies  remote  from  assistance,  at  tlie  foot  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  pretence  set  up  for  this,  was  a  necessity  of  retaliation  for  the  injus- 
tice on  the  part  of  Mexico  of  refusing  to  recognize  the  independence  of 
the  Texians.  The  force  consisted  of  some  three  or  four  hundred  men, 
and  was  divided  into  three  divisions,  the  principal  command  being  in  the 
hands  of  a  General  McLeod.  Tlie  journey,  from  the  starting  point  of  the 
invaders,  was  not  adequately  provided  for,  either  in  the  way  of  provisions 
or  anything  else;  consequently,  by  the  time  half  the  long  distance  was 
passed  over,  the  men  began  to  suffer,  and  liieir  distresses  increased  up  to 
the  time  of  their  surrender  to  the  Mexican  authorities.  But  now,  from 
having  subsisted  for  weeks  upon  snakes  and  lizards,  they  sunk  to  a  state, 
if  possible,  more  abject.  In  defiance  of  all  the  principles  of  justice,  and 
in  the  most  gross  violation  of  their  solemnly  pledged  word  that  the  cap- 
tives should  be  humanely  treated,  the  Mexican  authorities  stripped  their 
prisoners  of  everything — arms,  blankets,  and  clothing — chained  them  in 
pairs,  barefooted,  and  drove  them  off  a  distance  of  two  thousand  miles  to 
the  city  of  Mexico.  Thirty-five  famished  and  died.  Four  were  wantonly 
shot  by  the  guard,  for  their  inability  or  refusal  to  keep  up  with  the  main 
body.  The  ears  of  those  who  thus  perished  were  cut  off  and  preserved, 
to  be  delivered  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  barbarians,  as  evidence 
that  their  prisoners  had  not  escaped. 

There  accompanied  this  expedition,  in  the  capacity  of  "travellers,  men 
of  letters,  or  invalids,"  several  Americans,  some  of  whom  bore  passports 
from  the  INIexican  consul  at  New-Orleans,  and  other  evidences  of  their 
being  non-belligerent  citizens.  George  W.  Kendall,  a  IMr.  Falconer,  and 
a  son  of  General  Combs,  of  Kentucky,  were  of  this  class.  These,  and 
other  men,  who  had  just  claims  to  special  consideration,  were  deprived 
of  their  papers  and  means  of  protection,  and  maltreated  in  common  with 
the  rest.  In  consequence  of  this,  protests  were  entered  by  several  of  the 
foreign  ministers  at  Mexico ;  and  a  very  lengthy  correspondence  was 
had  between  the  Mexican  authorities  and  different  branches  of  other  gov- 
ernments. 

On  the  22d  of  June,  the  president  of  the  United  States  communicated 
to  the  Senate,  in  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  that  body,  the  corres- 
pondence which  had  recently  taken  place  between  the  American  minister 
in  Mexico  and  the  government  of  that  country,  together  with  the  instruc- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  567 

lions  of  the  government  to  the  minister.  The  correspondence  was  of 
great  length  ;  it  comprised  the  letter  of  Mr.  Webster,  secretary  of  state, 
to  Mr.  Ellis,  late  minister  in  Mexico,  requesting  him  to  interfere  in  favour 
of  Mr,  Franldin  Combs,  and  other  letters  requesting  the  interposition  of 
Mr.  Ellis  in  behalf  of  other  individuals,  who  were  involved  in  the  disasters 
of  the  Santa  Fe  expedition.  The  view  taken  by  the  secretary  o£  state  of 
these  cases,  is  fully  explained  in  a  letter  of  a  subsequent  date,  addressed 
by  him  to  Mr.  VVaddy  Thompson,  the  new  minister  to  Mexico. 

In  this  letter,  dated  April  5,  1842,  Mr.  Webster  draws  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  cases  of  those  who,  like  Mr.  Kendall,  joined  the  expedition  for 
objects  entirely  distinct  from  a  hostile  invasion  of  Mexico,  and  those  who 
were  parties  to  the  military  expedition,  and  states  the  grounds  on  which 
pereons  connected  with  the  expedition  under  certain  circumstances  are 
entitled  to  be  treated  as  non-combatants.  The  following  is  the  concluding 
portion  of  the  letter,  in  which  the  minister  is  instructed  what  course  to 
adopt  in  relation  to  the  prisoners  whose  cases  were  specially  stated. 
After  alluding  to  the  cruelties  which  are  alledged  to  have  been  inflicted 
on  the  prisoners,  the  secretary  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"The  government  of  the  United  States  has  no  inclination  to  interfere 
in  the  war  between  Mexico  and  Texas  for  the  benefit  or  protection  of  in- 
dividuals, any  further  than  its  clear  duties  require.  But  if  cicizens  of  the 
United  States  who  have  not  renounced,  nor  intended  to  renounce,  their  alle- 
giance to  their  own  government,  nor  have  entered  into  the  military  ser- 
vice of  any  other  government,  have,  nevertheless,  been  found  so  connected 
with  armed  enemies  of  Mexico,  as  that  they  may  be  lawfully  captured  and 
detained  as  prisoners  of  war,  it  is  still  the  duty  of  this  government  to  take 
so  far  a  concern  in  their  welfare  as  to  see  that,  as  prisoners  of  war,  they 
ire  treated  according  to  the  usages  of  modern  times  and  civilized  states. 
Indeed,  although  the  rights  or  the  safety  of  none  of  their  own  citizens 
were  concerned,  yet,  if  in  a  war  waged  between  two  neighbouring  states, 
the  killing,  enslaving,  or  cruelly  treating  of  prisoners  should  be  indulged, 
the  United  States  would  feel  it  to  be  their  duty,  as  well  as  their  right,  to 
remonstrate  and  to  interfere  against  such  a  departure  from  the  principles 
of  humanity  and  civilization.  These  principles  are  common  principles, 
essential  alike  to  the  welfare  of  all  nations,  and,  in  the  preservation  of 
which  all  nations  have,  therefore,  rights  and  interests.  But  their  duly  to 
interfere  becomes  imperative  in  cases  affecting  their  own  citizens.  It  is, 
therefore,  that  the  government  of  the  United  St<ates  protests  against  the 
hardships  and  cruelties  to  which  the  Santa  Fe  prisoners  have  been  sub- 
jected. It  protests  against  this  treatment  in  the  name  of  humanity  and 
the  law  of  nations — in  the  name  of  all  Christian  states — in  the  name  of 
civilization  and  the  spirit  of  the  age — in  the  name  of  all  republics— in  the 
name  of  liberty  herself,  enfeebled  and  diahonoured  by  all  cruelty,  and  all 
excess — in  the  name  of,  and  for  the  honour  of,  this  whole  hemisphere.  It 
protests,  emphatically  and  earnestly,  against  practices  belonging  only  to 
barbarous  people  in  barbarous  times. 

"By  the  well-established  rules  of  national  law,  prisoners  of  war  are  not 
to  be  treated  harshly  unless  personally  guilty  towards  him  who  has  them 
in  his  power,  for  he  should  remember  that  they  are  men  and  unfortunate. 
When  an  enemy  is  conquered  and  submits,  a  great  soul  forgets  all  resent- 
ment and  is  entirely  filled  with  compassion  for  him.  This  is  the  humane 
language  of  the  law  of  nations  ;  and  this  is  the  sentiment  of  high  honour 
among  men.  The  law  of  war  forbids  the  wounding,  killing,  impressment 
into  the  troops  of  tlie  country,  or  the  enslaving  or  otherwise  maltreating 
of  prisoners  of  war,  unless  they  have  been  guilty  of  some  grave  crime ; 
and  from  the  obligation  of  this  law  no  civilized  nation  can  discharge  itself. 
Every  nation  on  being  received  at  her  own  request  into  the  circle  of  civ- 
ilized governments,  must  understand  that  she  not  only  attains  righis  of 


5G8  THE  THEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

sovereignty  and  the  dignity  of  national  character,  but  that  she  binds  her- 
self also  to  the  strict  and  faithful  observance  of  all  those  principles,  laws 
and  usages  whicli  have  obtained  currency  among  civilized  states,  and 
which  have  for  their  object  the  mitigation  of  the  miseries  of  war.  No 
(community  can  be  allowed  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  national  character  in 
modern  times  without  submitting  to  all  the  duties  which  that  character 
imposes.  A  Christian  people,  who  exercise  sovereign  power,  who  make 
treaties,  maintain  diplomatic  relations  with  other  states,  and  who  should 
yet  refuse  to  conduct  its  military  operations  according  to  the  usages  uni- 
versally observed  by  such  states,  would  present  a  character  singularly  in- 
consistent and  anomalous.  This  government  will  not  hastily  suppose 
that  the  Mexican  republic  will  assume  such  a  cliaracter.  There  is  yet 
another  very  important  element  arising  out  of  the  facts  of  this  case. 

"It  is  asserted  and  believed  that  the  surrender  of  some  of  the  persons 
connected  with  the  expedition  was  made  upon  specific  terms,  which  were 
immediately  violated  by  the  local  Mexican  authorities.  If  there  is  one 
rule  of  the  law  of  war  more  clear  and  peremptory  than  another,  it  is,  that 
compacts  between  enemies,  such  as  truces  and  capitulations,  should  be 
faithfully  adhered  to;  and  their  non-observance  is  denounced  as  being 
manifestly  at  variance  with  the  true  interest  and  duty,  not  only  of  the 
immediate  parties,  but  of  all  mankind.  Consequently,  if  the  surrenderor 
the  expedition,  or  any  part  of  it,  was  conditional,  the  benefit  of  those  con^ 
ditions  must  be  insisted  upon  in  favour  of  the  captives.  According  to  thr 
statement  of  Messrs.  Falconer  and  Van  Ness,  Mr.  Kendall  proceeded  twc 
hundred  miles  in  advance  of  the  main  body,  and  was  taken  with  his  corr* 
panions  while  they  were  displaying  a  flag  of  truce ;  and  the  persons  whc 
took  them  gave  assurances  that  they  should  not  be  held  as  prisoners  ol 
war.  Here,  then,  was  a  special  immunity  promised,  but  afterwards  noto- 
riously withheld,  as  we  are  bound  to  believe,  in  the  present  state  of  ou»- 
information  upon  the  subject.  If,  therefore,  this  government  were  not 
entitled  to  demand  the  release  of  Mr.  Kendall  on  the  ground  of  his  having 
been  a  non-combatant  and  a  neutral,  it  might  require  the  government  of 
Mexico  to  take  care  that  the  stipulations  of  its  authorized  agents  to  that 
effect  be  scrupulously  fulfilled,  and  that  on  this  account,  those  to  whom 
the  promise  was  made  should  be  immediately  released,  according  (o  that 
promise. 

"In  conclusion,  I  am  directed  by  the  president  of  the  United  States 
now  to  instruct  you  that,  on  the  receipt  of  this  dispatch,  you  inquire  care- 
fully and  minutely  into  the  circumstances  of  those  persons  who,  having 
been  taken  near  Santa  Fe,  and  having  claimed  the  interposition  of  this 
government,  are  still  held  as  prisoners  in  Mexico,  and  you  will  then  de- 
mand of  the  Mexican  government  the  release  of  such  of  them  as  appear 
to  have  been  innocent  traders,  travellers,  invalids,  men  of  letters,  or  for 
any  other  reasons  justly  esteemed  non-combatants,  being  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  To  this  end  it  may  be  proper  to  direct  the  consul  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  places  where  any  of  them  may  be  confined,  and  to  take  their 
statements  under  oath,  as  also  the  statements  of  other  persons  to  whom 
they  may  respectively  refer.  If  the  Mexican  government  deny  facts  upon 
which  any  of  the  persons  claim  their  release,  and  desire  time  for  further 
investigation  of  their  respective  cases,  or  any  of  them,  proper  and  suitable 
time  must  be  allowed ;  but  if  any  of  the  persons  described  in  the  next 
preceding  paragraph,  and  for  whose  relief  you  shall  have  made  a  demand, 
shall  still  be  detained  for  the  purpose  of  further  inquiry  or  otherwise,  you 
will  then  explicitly  demand  of  the  Mexican  government,  that  they  be 
treated  thenceforward  with  all  the  lenity  which,  in  the  most  favourable 
cases,  belongs  to  the  rights  of  prisoners  of  war,  that  they  be  not  confined  in 
loathsome  dungeons,  with  malefactors  and  persons  diseased,  that  they  be 
not  chained,  or  subjected  to  ignominy,  or  to  any  particular  rigor  in  their 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  569 

detention  ;  that  they  be  not  obliged  to  labour  on  the  public  works,  or  put 
to  any  other  hardship.  You  will  state  to  the  Mexican  government  that 
the  government  of  the  United  States  entertains  a  conviction  that  these 
persons  ought  to  be  set  at  liberty  without  delay ;  that  it  will  feel  great 
dissatisfaction  if  it  shall  learn  that  those  whose  cases  have  been  already 
made  the  subject  of  an  express  demand,  are  still  suffering,"  &c.,  &;c. 

After  much  delay,  the  prisoners  named  were  set  at  liberty.  Santa 
Anna,  by  an  act  of  great  clemency,  shortly  after,  on  the  solemnization  of 
his  birth-day,  released  all  of  the  Santa  Fe  prisoners.  At  that  time  there 
were  fifty  at  the  castle  of  Perote ;  one  hundred  and  nineteen  in  the  city  of 
Mexico;  and  the  remainder  at  Jalapa. 

The  United  States'  South  Sea  Exploring  Expedition  returned  home  in 
June  and  July  of  this  year,  having  been  absent  since  the  18th  of  August, 
1838 — nearly  four  years.  Since  leaving  the  United  States,  the  combined 
squadron  had  navigated  about  four  hundred  thousand  miles.  The  Vin- 
cennes,  the  vessel_of  Captain  Wilkes,  sailed  round  the  world,  altogether 
a  distance  of  seventy-one  thousand  miles,  and  returned  in  comparatively 
good  order,  without  having  met  with  any  material  accident.  The  brig 
Porpoise,  Commander  Ringgold,  arrived  in  New- York  on  the  2d  of  July, 
having  been  absent  three  years  and  eleven  months,  and  making  according 
to  log,  ninety-five  thousand  miles.  The  ship  Peacock  was  wrecked  at 
the  mouth  of  Columbia  river,  by  running  upon  a  shoal;  but,  happily, 
without  a  loss  of  life.  She  had  sailed,  prior  to  her  destruction,  sixty-two 
thousand  miles,  and  was  still  in  excellent  order.  «  Captain  Hudson  was 
the  last  man  to  leave  his  sinking  ship,  having  taken  from  her  such  valu- 
ables as  could  be  rescued  hastily  by  means  of  such  boats  as  could  be  got 
alongside.  The  shipwrecked  crew  received  much  attention  from  the  gen- 
tlemanly British  commander  at  Fort  George,  formerly  Astoria,  about 
twelve  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  they  were  kindly  cared  for 
until  the  arrival  of  other  vessels  of  the  squadron  to  their  relief.  The 
brig  Oregon,  which  was  substituted  for  the  Peacock  after  this  loss,  arrived 
in  Boston  on  the  1st  of  July,  in  command  of  Lieutenant  Carr.  The  ship 
Clarendon,  by  way  of  Canton,  arrived  in  New- York  in  June.  The  Fly- 
ing-Fish, tender  to  the  Vincennes,  previous  to  her  being  sold  at  Singapore 
as  unseaworthy,  had  made  seventy-eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  miles. 

The  expedition  thoroughly  executed  every  part  of  the  duties  confided 
to  it  by  the  government.  A  very  large  number  of  ports,  harbours,  islands, 
reefs  and  shoals,  were  visited,  examined  and  surveyed.  Many  charts 
of  the  South  seas  having  been  found  erroneous,  were  carefully  cor- 
rected. Several  of  the  principal  groups  of  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean 
were  visited  for  the  first  time  by  the  government  vessels  of  this  na- 
tion, and  friendly  relations  established  with  the  chiefs  and  natives  of  them. 
The  discoveries  in  the  Antarctic  Ocean— observations  for  fixing  the  south- 
ern magnetic  pole,  &c.,  &e.,  preceded  those  of  the  French  and  English 
expeditions. 

On  one  of  the  islands  visited,  the  natives  offered  them  worship,  evidently 
believing  them  to  have  descended  from  the  sun.  On  Mouna  Loa,  in  the 
island  of  Hawaii,  experiments  were  made  with  the  pendulum  at  a  height 
of  fourteen  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Topographical  sur- 
veys were  also  made  of  some  of  the  most  extensive  craters.  On  one  oc- 
casion, while  examining  a  group  of  the  Fejee  islands,  the  boats'  crews 
were  attacked,  and  two  of  their  officers  were  killed — but  no  similar  occur- 
rence took  place  afterwards.  A  friendly  Fejee  chief,  Vendovi,  was 
brought  to  the  CTnited  States,  but  he  died  shortly  after  his  arrival.  The 
Sooloo  Sea  was  also  explored,  and  a  new  and  feasible  route  discovered 
for  passing  n  that  direction  to  China,  thus  guarding  against  the  northeast 
monsoofi 


570  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

On  one  of  the  islands,  where  they  obtained  specimens  of  minerals  im- 
bedded in  igneous  rock,  there  was  no  appearance  of  vegetation  whatever; 
yet  it  was  so  densely  covered  with  penguins,  which  stoutly  resisted  their 
landing,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  they  could  force  their  way  through 
them. 

The  expedition  also,  during  its  absence,  examined  and  surveyed  a  large 
portion  of  the  Oregon  territory,  formerly  but  little  known.  The  Coluiii- 
bia  river  was  ascended  one  hundred  and  twent^y  miles  to  the  cascades  and 
falls,  'i'lie  philologist  of  the  expedition,  Mr.  Hale,  was  left  there  for  the 
purpose  of  prosecuting  his  inquiries  at  leisure,  and  returning  by  land. 
All  the  harbours  of  Oregon  were  visited  and  surveyed.  A  new  and  com- 
plete map  of  the  country  was  prepared,  embracing  its  rivers,  sounds,  coast, 
forts,  &c.,  which  will  furnish  the  government  with  a  mass  of  valuable  in- 
formation relative  to  its  formerly  but  little  known  possessions  on  the 
northwest  coast,  and  in  the  whole  of  that  interesting  region.  An  exam- 
ination was  also  made  of  a  part  of  Upper  California,  the  Sacramento  river, 
bay  of  San  Francisco,  with  their  various  tributaries,  &;c,,  &c. 

Those  of  the  officers  who  were  lost,  were  Lieutenant  Underwood  and 
Midshipman  Henry,  killed  by  savages  at  the  Island  of  Mololo,  one  of  the 
Fejee  group,  while  bravely  defending  their  men.  Midshipmen  Reid  and 
Bacon,  together  with  some  thirteen  others,  in  the  Sea  Gull,  were  probably 
capsized  by  a  gale  and  lost,  while  attempting  to  round  Cape  Horn.  A 
chaste  obelisk  in  memory  of  these  early  dead,  was  erected  by  their  com- 
panions, in  Mount  Aulwirn  cemetery. 

There  died,  in  Washington,  this  year,  Mrs.  Letitia  Tyler,  wife  of  the 
president ;  also,  Hon.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  of  New-Jersey  ;  also,  Hon.  J. 
Lawrence  and  D.  Dimock,  of  Pa. ;  also.  Senator  Dixon,  of  R.  I. ;  and  Hon. 
L.  Williams,  of  N.  C,  "the  father  of  the  House."  In  Baltimore,  by  ex- 
plosion of  the  Medora,  twenty-six  persons  were  killed,  and  thirty-eight 
wounded.  Died,  in  Maryland,  Ex-governor  Veazey.  In  New-Jersey, 
Gen.  Rossel.  In  Vermont,  Rev.  Dr.  Channing,  of  Boston.  In  Massa- 
chusetts, Maj.  Lomax,  U.  S.  A.  At  Groton,  Ct.,  Capt.  Avery,  an  officer 
under  Col.  Ledyard  at  the  storming  of  Fort  Griswold  by  the  British.  In 
New-London,  Gen'l.  Isham.  At  Fort  Sullivan,  S.  C,  .Major  Kirby.  In 
Kentucky,  Ex-governor  Desha.  In  Georgia,  Hon.  W.  R.  Habersham. 
In  Missouri,  Gen.  Atkinson;  also,  Major  Floyd;  also.  Judge  Lucas.  Ai 
New-Orleans,  I'Abbe  Moni.  In  the  Illinois  house  of  assembly,  Hon.  Mr. 
Arndt,  being  shot  in  an  altercation.  In  Virginia,  Hon.  W.  S.  Hastings,  of 
Mass.  At  Pittsburgh,  Capt.  Butler,  U.  S.  A.  In  Ohio,  Judge  Jolly,  one 
of  Morgan's  riflemen  in  the  revolution.  At  Philadelphia,  Condy  Raguet, 
formerly  American  charge  at  Brazil.  In  New-York,  Col.  Cnmmings, 
U.  S.  A. ;  also,  ^  70,  Mrs.  Blennerhasset,  a  name  rendered  enduring  by 
the  evil  deeds  of  Burr  and  eloquence  of  VVirt.  In  Florida,  IMajor  Wilcox, 
U.  S.  A.  In  the  Cherokee  nation,  Capt.  Simonton,  U.  S.  dragoons.  In 
Texas,  Chief-justice  Moreland.  In  France,  Gen.  Fenwick,  U.  S.  A. ;  also, 
the  famous  surgeon  Baron  Larrey,  m  76;  also.  Admiral  Baudin  ;  also,  the 
count  de  Las  Cases,  companion  of  Napoleon  in  banishment.  At  St.  Peters- 
burgh,  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter,  historical  painter.  In  Smyrna,  Capt.  Voor- 
hees,  U.  S.  N.  In  Italy,  M.  de  Sismondi,  the  historian  ;  also,  Capt.  Ham- 
ilton, author  of  "Travels  in  America."  In  Ireland,  John  Banim,  novelist ; 
also,  Rev.  Henry  Maturin,  author  of  "  Bertram."  In  London,  Gen.  Shrap- 
nell,  inventor  of  the  "shells"  which  bear  his  name;  also,  Ducrow,  the 
equestrian.  In  France,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  eldest  son  of  Louis  Philippe, 
being  thrown  from  his  barouche.  In  London,  Sir  Charles  Bell,  eminent 
as  a  surgeon  ;  also,  Viscount  Coke,  writer  of  jurisprudence.  In  Edinburgh, 
James  Grahame,  author  of  a  "  History  of  America."  In  London,  John  Har- 
rison, grandson  of  the  discoverer  of  the  longitude,  for  which  he  was 
voted  by  government  ^50,000. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  57I 

A.  D.  1843. — On  the  reassembling  of  Congress,  the  principal  subject  of 
attention  was  still  the  establishment  of  an  exchequer.  Nothing  that  Con- 
gress could  offer  having  found  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  president,  it  now 
became  his  turn  to  submit  a  plan.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  accor- 
dingly laid  before  the  House  his  project,  approved  by  the  heads  of  gov- 
ernment— when  it  was  rejected,  by  the  strong  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety-three  to  eighteen.  A  treaty  was  negotiated  between  the  executive 
authorities  of  the  United  States  and  certain  Texian  commissioners  .for  the 
annexation  of  Texas — but  this  also  was  rejected  by  the  Senate. 

In  July  several  changes  occurred  in  the  cabinet  of  the  president,  which 
was  thus  remodelled:  Mr.  A.  P.  Upshur,  of  Va.,  was  made  Secretary 
of  State  ;  John  C.  Spencer,  of  N.  Y.,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  J.  M- 
Porter,  of  Pa.,  Secretary  of  War  ;  T.  W.  Gilmer,  of  Va.,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy;  C.  A.  WicklifTe,  of  Ky.,  Post-master  General ;  J.  Nelson,  of  Md., 
Attorney  General. 

Congress,  before  the  close  of  its  session,  made  two  appropriations, 
which,  for  the  honour  of  that  body,  deserve  to  be  recorded.  First,  $30,000 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  line  of  telegraphs  to  Baltimore,  under  the 
direction  of  Professor  Morse.  This  opened  a  new  field  of  enterprize  to 
the  discerning  men  of  the  age,  and  we  now  see  how  incalculably  advan- ' 
tageous  the  results  of  the  system  are  not  merely  to  this  nation  but  to 
the  race  at  large.  Secondly,  $40,000  to  establisli  a  special  embas- 
sage to  the  Celestial  Empire.  Former  remissness  in  regard  to  the  trade 
of  that  region,  had  proved  highly  injurious  to  the  true  interests  and  dig- 
liity  of  the  republic. 

A  melancholy  event  occurred  in  the  American  navy  at  the  end  of  the 
last  year;  an  incident  without  parallel,  and  one  calculated  to  startle  the 
sensibilities  of  the  whole  people.  A  son  of  the  honourable  Secretary  of 
War  was  in  the  month  of  December  hanged  at  the  yard-arm  of  a  vessel 
on  board  which  he  was  a  midshipman,  for  the  alleged  crime  of  a  mutinous 
and  piratical  conspiracy.  The  name  of  the  vessel  was  the  Somers,  a  ten 
gun  brig  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  A.  Slidell  Mackenzie,  and  the 
crevvT  consisted  of  a  complement  of  fifteen  petty  officers  and  seamen  with 
some  seventy-odd  naval  apprentices.  The  vessel  was  new,  and  had 
been  ordered  to  the  coast  of  Africa  on  a  trial  cruize,  to  touch  at  Monro- 
via and  return  by  the  way  of  St.  Thomas — and  it  was  the  design  of  the 
mutineers  to  seize  her  upon  leaving  the  latter  point,  murder  the  officers, 
and  at  once  supplant  the  national  colours  with  a  flag  bearing  the  skull  and 
cross-bones.  Thirteen  of  the  crew,  it  was  said,  had  taken  an  oath  of 
fonspiracy,  and  were  determined  to  act  upon  the  ground  that  "dead 
men  tell  no  tales'" — slaying  all  they  might  capture,  save  women,  whom 
Ihey  were  to  preserve  for  themselves. 

The  plot  was  nearly  ripe  for  execution,  when  the  purser's  stevvard,  to 
\vhoin  the  horrid  design  had  been  partly  revealed,  betrayed  it.  Midship- 
man Philip  Spencer,  a  youth  of  nineteen,  was  represented  as  the  origina- 
tor and  head  of  the  infernal  scheme;  and  upon  being  confronted  with  his 
accuser,  he  admitted  the  charge  brought  against  him,  but  asserted  that 
what  he  had  said  was  "all  in  a  joke."  Upon  a  further  inquiry  into  the 
strange  afitair,  however,  a  paper  written  in  cypher  was  found,  separating 
the  crew — and  other  evidences  that  it  was  like  to  have  proved  a  matter 
much  too  solemn  tor  a  joke.  Other  parties  implicated  were  examined 
rigorously,  and  sufficient  cause  found  to  warrant  the  detention  in  double 
irons  of  three  persons,  namely,  a  midshipman  and  two  sailors,  the  one 
holding  the  authoritative  position  of  master-at-arms,  and  the  other  master 
of  the  top.  After  this,  a  spirit  of  insubordination  seeming  to  be  manifest- 
ed in  the  crew,  upon  deliberation  wiih  the  balance  of  his  officers,  the  com- 
mander of  the  vessel  determined  upon  the  extremity  of  executing  the 
supposed  ringleaders  of  the  mutiny  in  his  ship.    After  this,  it  was  said, 


572  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

the  men  returned  to  their  duty  with  accustomed  alacrity.  Commander 
Mackenzie,  upon  his  arrival  in  New- York,  was  tried  by  a  court-martial, 
at  much  length,  for  this  act  of  speedy  retribution,  and  was  finally  exone- 
rated  from  all  blame. 

The  Rhode-Island  "rebellion,"  so  called,  now  comes  to  be  considered. 
It  appears,  that  some  time  previous  to  this,  a  convention  of  inhabitants  in 
that  state  met  and  framed  a  new  constitution,  materially  different  from 
the  one  under  which  the  government  of  the  state  was  then  administered. 
The  principal  grievance  complained  of  was  the  extremely  limited  and  ar- 
bitrary nature  of  the  laws  relative  to  the  right  of  suffrage — from  which 
circumstance  the  favourers  of  the  new  constitution  were  denominated 
"  free  suffrage"  men,  while  their  opponents  assumed  the  name  of  the  "  law 
and  order'  party.  At  the  election  for  state  officers  in  1842,  two  gover- 
Jiors  and  two  sets  of  legislative  officers  were  voted  for  and  were  declared 
duly  elected  under  the  two  opposing  constitutions.  Thomas  W.  Dorr 
was  pronounced  governor  by  the  revolutionists,  while  Samuel  W.  King 
was  proclaimed  the  same  by  the  regular  authorities  under  the  old  and  un- 
repealed charter  of  King  Charles.  Both  parties  prepared  to  maintain 
their  claims  by  force  of  arms,  and  the  entire  state  became  a  scene  of  con- 
fusion and  uproar. 

In  this  exigency,  the  president  of  the  Union  was  appealed  to,  and  he  de 
cided  that  the  "  law  and  order"  men  were  right.  TJie  Dorrites  were  de- 
clared traitors,  inasmuch  as  their  initiatory  measures  had  been  unauthor- 
ized, and  all  their  primary  assemblies  mformal  and  consequently  illegal. 
Both  parlies  now  began  to  arm  themselves,  and  a  civil  war  seemed  inevi- 
table. The  legally-constituted  authorities  called  for  aid  from  the  general 
government,  and  troops  were  ordered  to  their  assistance.  The  new-con- 
stitutionists  made  an  attempt  on  the  state  arsenal,  but  were  beaten  off; 
whereupon  Dorr  appealed  for  assistance  to  the  friends  of  liberty  every- 
where, and  many  marched  to  join  his  standard.  Shortly  after,  he  took 
possession  of  a  hill  at  a  place  called  Chepachet,  where  he  mounted  five 
pieces  of  cannon,  and  mustered  about  him  some  seven  hundred  men. 
Thereupon,  martial  law  was  proclaimed  in  the  state  by  the  legal  govern- 
ment, and  a  force  of  three  thousand  militia  under  General  M'Neil  was  or- 
dered to  "disperse  the  rebels."  This  was  done;  on  the  approach  of  the 
regulars.  Dorr  and  his  party  fled,  without  firing  a  gun ;  only  one  man 
was  killed  during  the  whole  course  of  the  disturbance. 

After  two  years'  absence  from  the  state,  Mr.  Dorr  returned  to  Rhode 
Island,  and  was  there  tried  and  convicted  of  treason,  and  sentenced  to  the 
state's  prison  for  life.  This  sentence,  however,  the  governor  of  the  state 
signified  his  readiness  to  revoke  whenever  the  pseudo-governor  should 
acknowledge  his  allegiance  to  the  existing  government — which  now  rests 
upon  a  new  constitution,  legally  formed  and  adopted  by  the  people  of  the 
Btate  since  the  commencement  of  difficulties  there,  and  which  makes  the 
right  of  suffrage  as  extensive  as  in  that  constitution  which  was  preferred 
by  the  insurgents,  except  that  two  years'  residence  in  the  state  is  required 
instead  of  one.  Mr.  Dorr  at  first  stoutly  refused  to  do  anything  of  the 
kind,  and  was  placed  in  durance  ;  but  his  health  giving  way,  he  was  fi- 
nally induced  to  subscribe  to  the  oath,  and  was  set  at  liberty. 

Much  has  been  said  of  American  "repudiation."  Those  delinquent 
states  who  from  extravagance  or  mismanagement  of  some  sort,  found 
themselves  unable  to  pay  the  interest  on  their  bonds,  have  certainly  suf- 
fered much,  and  justly,  from  the  storms  of  objurgation  and  reproach  which 
have  been  poured  down  like  thick  hail  upon  their  exposed  heads.  A  peru- 
sal of  the  annexed  portion  of  a  letter  penned  by  a  great  statesman  of  this 
nation,  will,  however,  throw  some  small  glimmering  of  light  upon  the  dark 
subject.  If,  indeed,  as  we  may  be  allowed  to  hope,  the  disabilities  of  the 
repudiators  have  been  forced  upon  them  by  the  unavoidable  exigencies  of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  573 

the  lunes,  there  is  yet  fair  reason  to  presume  that  the  laggards  will, 
ere  long,  redeem  their  pledges,  and  achieve  for  themselves  a  more  hon- 
ourable distinction. 

Mr.  Everett,  American  minister  in  London,  in  the  month  of  March,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  holders  of  certain  American  state  stocks,  who  had 
presented  a  memorial  to  him  on  the  subject.  After  the  usual  preliminary 
remarks,  he  continues  :  "  I  concur  with  you  fully  in  protesting  against 
the  doctrine  that  a  state  which  has  pledged  its  faith  and  resources  can  re- 
lease itself  from  the  obligation,  however  burdensome,  in  any  way  but  that 
of  honourable  payment.  Fatal  delusions,  in  times  of  great  distress,  occa- 
sionally come  over  the  minds  of  communities  as  well  as  individuals  ;  but 
I  rejoice  in  the  belief  that  the  number  is  exceedingly  small  of  those  who 
have,  in  any  form,  advanced  the  idea  of  what  has  been  called  repudiation." 
I  am  convinced  that  those  states  which  unhappily  have  failed  to  make  pro- 
vision for  the  interest  due  on  their  bonds  have  done  so  under  the  heavy 
pressure  of  adverse  circumstances,  and  not  with  the  purpose  of  giving 
legislative  sanction  to  a  doctrine  so  pernicious,  immoral,  and  unworthy. 

"  The  memorialists  are  pleased  to  give  me  credit  for  sympathy  with 
their  sufferings.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  person,  not  himself  directly  a  suf- 
ferer, who  has  had  so  much  reason  as  myself  to  feel  deeply  all  the  evil 
effects— the  sacrifice  not  merely  of  material  prosperity,  but  what  is  of  in- 
finitely greater  consequence,  of  public  honour — resultmg  from  this  disas- 
trous failure.  The  reproach  which  it  has  brought  on  the  American  name, 
has  been  the  only  circumstance  which  has  prevented  a  residence  in  the 
land  of  my  fathers  from  being  a  source  of  unmingled  satisfaction  to  me. 

"  The  position,  gentlemen,  of  some,  at  least,  of  the  indebted  states,  is 
as  singular  as  it  is  deplorable.  They  have  involved  themselves  most  un- 
advisedly, in  engagements  which  would  be  onerous  to  much  larger  and 
richer  communities  ;  and  they  yet  possess,  under  an  almost  hopeless  pres- 
ent embarrassment,  the  undoubted  means  of  eventual  recovery.  I  will 
take  the  state  of  Illinois,  for  instance,  and  what  I  say  of  that  state  will 
hold  good  of  the  others,  making  allowance  for  difference  of  local  circum- 
stances. The  state  of  Illinois,  undertook  a  few  years  since  the  construc- 
tion of  a  ship  canal  of  about  100  miles  in  length,  to  unite  the  waters  of 
Lake  Michigan  with  those  of  the  Illinois  river ;  and  more  recently  projected 
and  commenced  the  execution  of  1,300  miles  of  railway.  On  these  works 
she  has  borrowed  and  expended  above  c£2,000,000  ;  the  works  are  incom- 
plete and  unproductive.  The  population  of  the  state  is  that  of  a  second 
sized  English  county,  short  of  600,000.  It  is  what  in  good  times  would 
be  considered  an  eminently  prosperous  population ;  but  I  am  inclined  to 
think,  that  if  the  English  income-tax  of  the  last  year  were,  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  Illinois,  laid  on  that  state,  more  than  one  half  the  population 
possessing  in  the  aggregate  that  proportion  of  tlie  taxable  property  would 
m  the  present  period  of  general  distress,  fall  below  the  point  of  exemp- 
tion, and  that  of  the  other  half,  a  small  number  only  would  rise  much 
above  that  point ;  and  yet  the  undeveloped  resources  of  Illinois  are  almost 
boundless.  The  state  is  larger  than  England  and  Wales.  By  the  Mis- 
sissippi it  is  connected  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  by  Lake  Michigan  with 
the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  it  has  a  most  extensive  internal  navigation,  by 
means  of  several  noble  rivers.  The  climate  of  the  state  is  mild ;  it  con- 
tains, I  suppose,  as  large  a  body  of  land  not  gierely  cultivable,  but  highly 
fertile,  as  can  be  found  lying  together  in  the  United  States;  it  abounds  in 
various  kinds  of  mineral  wealth ;  it  is  situated  about  in  the  centre  of  a 
horizontal  field  of  bituminous  coal,  which  Mr.  Lyell  pronounced  the  other 
day  to  be  as  large  as  Great  Britain ;  and  it  is  inhabited  by  an  industrious, 
frugal,  intelligent  people,  most  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers.  That 
such  a  people  will  for  any  length  of  time  submit  to  lie  under  the  reproach 
and  bear  the  loss  incident  to  a  total  prostration  of  public  credit,  I  can 
never  believe. 


574  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

"In  addition  to  these  public  embarassments,  private  fortunes  almost  with 
out  number  have  been  destroyed  in  the  general  wreck,  of  which  the  fail 
nre  of  the  states,  as  cause  or  effect,  is  one  of  the  principal  elements, 
doubt  if,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  in  so  short  a  period,  such  a  Iransi 
tion  has  been  made  from  a  state  of  higli  prosperity  to  one  of  general  dis 
tress,  as  in  the  United  States  within  the  last  six  years.  And  yet,  gentle 
irien,  tiie  elasticity  and  power  of  recovery  in  the  country  are  great  beyonc 
the  conception  of  those  who  do  not  know  it  from  personal  observation 
Kven  within  tlie  disastrous  period  to  which  I  have  alluded,  a  private 
commercial  debt  to  this  country,  estimated  at  c£25,000,000  sterling,  has 
been  paid  by  the  American  merchants,  with  as  little  loss  to  the  creditoi 
as  would  attend  the  collection  of  an  equal  amount  o*"  domestic  debt  in  this 
()r  any  other  country. 

"  But  I  will  not  detain  you  by  enlarging  on  these  topics.  The  subject,  1 
need  not  tell  you,  is  one  on  which,  in  all  respects,  it  is  proper  that  I  should 
speak  with  reserve.  I  think  I  shall  have  done  my  duty,  if  I  have  con- 
vinced you  that  I  am  keenly  sensible  of  the  sufferings  of  your  constitu- 
ents, and  truly  solicitous  for  their  effectual  relief;  and  that,  amid  all 
the  uncertainties  and  delay  which  may  attend  the  measures  requisite  for 
that  purpose,  I  still  feel  confident  that  the  time  will  come  when  every 
state  in  the  Union  will  fulfil  its  engagements." 

The  Bunker  Hill  monument  was  in  this  year  completed,  and  a  magnifi- 
cent celebration  held  to  commemorate  the  event.  The  day  chosen  was 
the  17th  of  June,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle;  that  day  upon  which  the 
fathers  of  the  country  poured  out  their  blood  so  like  water,  to  redeem  the 
parched  land  from  destruction.  Deputations  from  the  seat  of  government, 
and  various  quarters  of  the  Union,  were  there  upon  the  occasion.  The 
immense  concourse  formed  in  the  city  of  Boston,  Charlestown,  Roxbury, 
and  the  surrounding  towns,  and  marched  to  the  eventful  heights — not  as 
did  their  ancestors,  rudely  clad  and  but  half-armed,  save  with  the  panoply 
of  virtue  and  stern  patriotism — but  now  in  all  the  gorgeous  colours  of  a 
pageant.  Upwards  of  six  hundred  banners  were  displayed,  emblazoned 
with  innumerable  and  appropriate  devices ;  and  for  hours  the  swaying 
masses  of  men  filled  every  avenue,  thronging  around  the  hill.  One  thou- 
sand ladies  were  seated  upon  ranges  of  settees  conveniently  disposed,  tier 
above  tier,  around  the  speaker — reminding  one  of  the  picture  of  a  Mo- 
hammedan paradise.  Daniel  Webster  was  the  orator  of  the  day,  and  by 
a  series  of  brilliant  eflbrts  added   freshness  to  his  ever-glowing  laurels. 

The  dimensions  of  the  monument  are  as  follows  :  thirty  feet  square  at 
the  base,  and  sixteen  feet  four  and  a  half  inches  at  the  top,  having  a  dimi- 
nution of  fourteen  feet  seven  and  a  half  inches  above  its  base.  The  height, 
at  the  top  of  the  apex,  is  two  hundred  and  twenty-one  feet.  It  is  substan- 
tially built  of  hewn  Quincy  granite,  and  its  entire  cost  was  $119,800.  The 
interior  is  circular,  having  a  diameter  of  ten  feet  and  seven  inches  at  bottom, 
and  six  feet  four  inches  at  top,  and  is  ascended  by  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  steps.  The  top  is  an  elliptical  chamber,  seventeen  feel  high,  eleven  feet 
in  diameter,  with  four  windows  two  feet  eight  inches  high,  and  two  feet 
two  inches  in  breadth — and  presents  one  of  the  most  splendid  views  in  the 
United  States. 

To  elevate  the  top  stone  of  the  monument  to  its  position  required  no 
little  skill  and  ingenuity — as  it  was  a  block  of  two  and  a  half  tons  weight, 
four  feet  nine  inches  square  at  the  base  and  three  feet  six  inches  in  thick- 
ness through  the  centre.  The  height  of  the  monument  entire,  as  we  have 
said,  is  two  hundred  and  twenty-one  feet,  being  an  altitude  some  few 
feet  greater  than  that  of  the  Washington  monument  at  Baltimore,  inclu 
ding  its  statue  of  thirteen  feet.  The  Groton  monument,  an  imposing 
structure  near  New-London,  is  but  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  fee» 
high.     The   monument  on  Bunker  Hill,  it  is  said,  is  higher  than  anythin« 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  575 

of  the  kind  at  present  erected  in  the  country.    The  New-York  Washing- 
ton monument,  however,  is  intended  to  be  the  highest  in  the  world. 
Estimate  of  the  year's  agricultural  produce  throughout  the  Union  : 

Bushels  of  Wheat,      .     .     .     ]20,000,000      Value  to  the  gi-ower,  $70,000,0(10 

"         Rye,      ....       23,000,000              "         "         "  11,000,000 

Barley,       .     .     .         5,000,000              "         "         "  2,000.000 

Buckwheat,    .     .         9,000,000              "         "         "  3,000,000 

"         Com,     ....     .500,000,000              "         »         "  189,000,000 

"         Totatoes,   .     .     .     135,000,000              "         "         "  33,000,000 

"         Oats,      ....     150,000.000              "         "         "  33,000,000 

Tons  of  Hay, 15,000,000              "         "         "  174,000,000 

"       Flax  and  Hemp,     .            15S,5C9              "         "         "  19,028,370 

Bales  of  Cottou,     ....         2,500,000              "         "         "  56,000.000 

rounds  of  Tobacco,   .     .     .     250,000,000              "         "         "  ]2JO00,OOU 

"         Rice,     ....     111,000,000              "         "         "  3,000,000 

Sugar   ....     142,000,000              "         "         "  7.000,000 

"         Silk  Cocoons,      .            244,124              "         "         "  122,062 

(Jallrms  of  Wine,    ....            130,748              "         "         "  65,374 

Produce  of  the  Dairy,  Z65.  .     272,000,000              "         "         "  34,000,000 

"         "       Orchard,  bbls.      7,000,000              "         "         "  6,000,000 

Number  of  Cattle,      .     .     .     115,000,000             "         "        "  700,000.000 


Total,  $1,358,215,806 
This  estimate  is  based  upon  a  "tabular  view"  by  th^  commissioner  of 
patents  at  Washington.     The  prices  set  down  are  those  which  pievail  in 
the  market,  or  such  as  are  supposed  to  be  a  fair  average. 

The  following  are  the  characteristics  of  the  states,  in  regard  to  the  spe- 
cies of  produce,  at  least  for  the  year  specified.  New-Yorit  produces  the 
most  oats,  viz.,  24,907,553  bushels;  also,  the  most  barley.  1.802, (182  bush- 
els. Pennsylvania  produces  the  most  rye,  viz.,  9,429,037  bushels ;  also, 
the  most  buckwheat,  2,408,508  bushels.  Ohio  produces  tlie  most  wheat, 
viz.,  18,780.705  bushels.  Tennessee  the  most  Indian  corn,  viz.,  07,838,477 
bushels.  New-York  the  most  potatoes,  viz.,  26,553,012  bushels;  also, 
the  most  hay,  4,295,530  tons.  Kentucky  produces  the  most  flax  and  hemp, 
viz..,  31,728  tons.  Virginia  produces  the  most  tobacco,  viz.,  52,322,543 
pounds.  Georgia  produces  the  most  cotton,  viz.,  185,758,128  pounds. 
South-Carolina  produces  the  most  rice,  viz.,  60,892,807  pounds.  Connec- 
ticut raises  tlie  most  silk,  viz.,  140,971  pounds.  Louisiana  the  most  sugar, 
viz.,  37,173,590  pounds.  North-Carolina  the  most  wine,  viz-,  17,347  gal- 
lons. 

The  deaths  in  the  course  of  the  year,  of  prominent  persons,  were  aS 
follows  :  In  Washington,  Hon.  Mr.  Burnell,  of  Mass.  in  Boston,  Hugh 
S.  Legare,  of  S.  C. ;  also  Judge  Simmons.  At  New-Haven,  Ct.,  js.  85, 
Noah  Webster,  L.  L.  D.  In  New-York,  Ex-governor  Mason,  of  Michigan  ; 
also,  Judge  Smith  Thompson.  Near  New- York,  General  Armstrong,  m.  85, 
Secretary  of  War  in  1613.  At  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Commodore  Dallas,  U.  S.  N. 
At  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Washington  Allston,  artist.  In  Portland,  Me.. 
General  Eustis,  U.  S.  A. ;  also.  Senator  Holmes.  In  New-Jersey,  Judge 
Halsey.  In  New- York,  Judge  Elmendorf ;  also,  Peter  Lorillard,  by  his 
own  industry  a  millionaire.  In  Philadelphia,  Jacob  Ridgeway,  the  same. 
In  Indiana,  Bishop  Roberts.  In  Boston,  Judge  Thatcher.  At  Cincin- 
nati, Senator  M'Roberts,  of  111.  At  St.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  Senator  Linn. 
In  Virginia,  General  Porterfield.  At  Norwich,  Ct.,  m  89,  Uncas,  the  last 
of  the  Mohegans.  At  Kingston,  U,  C,  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  being  the  third 
Governor-general  of  the  Canadas  dying  wiihin  three  years.  In  Lon- 
don, Robert  Southey,  poetlaurcat ;  also,  Richard  Arkwright,  whose  father 
invented  the  spinning  machine.  In  Paris,  Dr.  Hahnemann,  founder  of 
homoepathy.  At  Constantinople,  Commodore  Porter.  At  Cape  Palmas. 
Africa,  Rev.  L.  B.  Minor,  missionary. 


576  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

A.  D.  1841— The  great  subject  of  attention  with  Congress,  was  the  expedi- 
ency of  annexing  'I'cxas.  In  a  few  brief  sentences,  we  give  here  the  sub- 
stance of  a  score  of  interminable  speeches,  for  as  well  as  againiit  the  pro- 
posed annexation.  Tlie  favourers  of  the  scheme  asserted,  on  the  one 
liand,  that  the  country  of  Texas  was  of  incalculable  importance  to  the 
United  States,  in  an  agricultural  and  commercial  point  of  view  :  That  to 
a  soil  of  inexhaustible  fertility  it  united  a  geinal  and  healthy  climate,  and 
was  destined,  at  a  day  not  far  distant,  to  make  large  contributions  to  the 
commerce  of  the  world  :  That  the  magnitude  of  its  productions  under  the 
fostering  care  of  the  American  government,  would  give  a  new  impulse  to 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  whole  country,  while  the  addition  made 
to  the  boundary  of  the  home  market  thus  secured  to  the  mining,  manufar- 
luring,  and  mechanical  skill  and  industry  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle 
States,  would  be  of  a  character  the  most  commanding  and  important :  That 
Texas  being  adapted  to  the  culture  of  cotton,  sugar,  and  rice,  and  devot- 
ing most  of  her  energies  to  the  raising  of  those  productions,  would  open 
an  extensive  market  to  the  Western  States,  in  the  important  articles  of 
beef,  pork,  horses,  mules,  &c.,  as  well  as  in  bread  stuffs  :  That  Texas 
had  been  chiefly  settled  by  persons  from  the  United  States,  who  carried 
with  Ihem  the  laws,  customs,  and  political  and  domestic  institutions  of 
their  native  land  ;  and  being  thus  indoctrinated  in  all  the  principles  of  civil 
liberty,  would  bring  along  vvith  them  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  a  firm 
and  inflexible  resolution  to  assist  in  maintaining  the  public  liberty  unim- 
paired :  That  justice  required  that  the  people  of  Texas  should  be  shield- 
ed by  some  superior  power,  from  the  inhuman  description  of  warfare 
which  was  carried  on  against  them  by  Mexico  :  That  if  the  wishes  of 
Texas  to  enter  the  Union  were  now  defeated  by  the  United  States,  she 
would  be  driven  to  seek  the  protection  of  some  other  nation,  which  would 
prove  greatly  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  whole  Union  ;  for  the  gov- 
ernment would  be  sure  to  suff"er  seriously  in  its  revenue  by  the  introduc 
tion  of  a  system  of  smuggling  upon  an  extensive  scale,  which  an  army 
of  custom-house  officers  could  not  prevent,  and  which  would  operate  to 
aff'ect  injuriously  the  interests  of  all  the  industrial  classes  of  the  country  ; 
and  that  by  a  constant  collision  of  the  inhabitants,  the  peace  of  the  nation 
would  be  continually  violated. 

Those  who  were  opposed  to  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union, 
asserted  that  the  annexation  of  that  country  to  the  United  States  without 
the  concurrence  of  the  nation  that  claimed  it  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of 
1819,  whereby  the  United  States  ahenated  its  title  to  Texas  by  solemn 
compacts,  would  be  a  violation  of  national  faith  and  honour :  That  in 
case  the  treaty  should  become  ratified,  a  war  with  Mexico  would  be  the 
inevitable  consequence  ;  as  that  nation  had  never  acknowledged  the  inde- 
pendence of  Texas,  but  claimed  the  right  of  jurisdiction  over  it :  That  the 
admittance  of  Texas  under  such  circumstances  would  place  a  weapon  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  look  upon  us  and  our  institutions  with  distrustful 
and  envious  eyes,  that  would  do  us  more  real,  lasting  injury,  as  a  nation, 
than  the  acquisition  of  such  a  territory,  valuable  though  it  might  be,  could 
possibly  repair  :  That  while  the  lust  for  power,  with  fraud  and  violence 
in  its  train,  had  led  other  governments  to  aggressions  and  conquests,  our 
movements  in  these  respects  had  always  been  regulated  by  reason  and 
justice;  but  that  the  annexation  of  Texas,  under  existing  circumstances, 
would  be  a  violation  of  those  principles  upon  which  we  can  now  look 
back  with  feelings  of  honest  pride  and  satisfaction :  That  the  strong  sec- 
tional feeling  which  now  exists  between  the  North  and  South  would  be 
so  augmented  by  the  annexation,  as  to  lead  possibly  to  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union. 

One  of  the  most  appalling  disasters  of  which  we  have  any  account,  oc 
curred  in  the  month  of  February,  at  Washington,  on  board  the  steam- 


THE  TREASUaY  OF  HISTORt.  577 

frigate  Princeton.  A  select  party  of  between  300  and  400  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  including  the  president,  heads  of  departments,  foreign  min- 
isters,  members  of  congress,  &c.,  had  been  invited  by  the  commander 
of  the  vessel.  Captain  R.  F.  Stockton,  to  make  an  excursion  down  the 
river.  In  addition  to  the  elegance  of  the  ship,  a  new  and  tremendous 
apparatus  for  war  was  to  be  exhibited  to  the  company.  An  enormous  gun, 
denominated  the  Peace-maker,  which  was  formed  of  wrought  iron,  for  safe- 
ty, instead  of  cast,  was  considered  so  perfect  an  engine  of  destruction  as 
to  be  worthy  of  attention.  Its  weight  was  ten  tons  ;  it  was  fifteen  feet  in 
length,  and  threw  a  ball  weighing  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds  ; 
yet  the  immense  missile  was  projected  a  distance  of  four  miles  with  the 
same  precision  that  a  rifle  ball  could  be  sent  eighty  paces. 

During  the  passage  down  towards  Mount  Vernon  the  gun  was  fired 
three  times,  to  the  admiration  of  such  connoiseurs  in  the  art  of  gunnery 
as  were  on  board;  but  in  returning,  by  desire  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Na- 
vy, and  others,  Captain  Stockton  consented  to  increase  the  charge,  in 
firing  a  final  salute.  As  they  were  gathered  about  the  gun  to  witness  the 
effect,  it  burst,  scattering  death  and  desolation  around.  Mr.  Upshur,  Sec- 
retary of  State — Mr.  Gilmer,  so  recently  placed  at  the  head  of  the  navy — 
Commodore  Kennon,  one  of  its  most  gallant  officers— Virgil  Maxcy,  Esq., 
lately  returned  from  a  diplomatic  residence  abroad — and  Hon.  Mr.  Gardi- 
ner, of  New-York,  were  among  the  slain.  Besides  these,  seventeen  sea- 
men were  wounded,  some  of  them  badly.  Captain  Stockton,  who  fired 
the  gun,  had  the  hair  of  his  head  and  face  burned  ofl^,  and  was  thrown 
prostrate,  with  many  others,  stunned  by  the  explosion.  The  lower  part  of 
the  piece,  from  the  trunnions  to  the  breech,  was  blown  off,  being  subdivi- 
ded in  two  large  sections  and  fifteen  or  twenty  small  pieces.  The  only 
consolation  afforded  in  this  calamity,  is  that  none  of  the  ladies  were 
injured,  although  a  number  were  upon  deck  at  the  time. 

A  disgraceful  disturbance  in  the  vicinity  of  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  this  year 
resulted  in  the  death  of  the  "prophet"  of  the  Mormons,  Mr.  Jos.  Smith, 
together  with  his  brother,  Hyruni  Smith.  These  deluded  people  had  pre- 
viously, for  a  number  of  years,  vexed  with  their  mummeries  and  fanati- 
cism the  well-intentioned  citizens  of  the  west;  but  that  they  might  have 
been  in  some  instances  imposed  upon,  and  ought  not  to  have  been  so  sum- 
marily slain,  is  doubtless  true.  A  brief  glance  at  the  rise  and  progress  of 
the  deception,  will  afford  a  clue  to  the  causes  superinducing  that  bitter 
enmity  which  has  always  surrounded  the  "holy  city"  of  the  deceived  or 
deceivers. 

Smith,  the  "prophet,"  was  a  native  of  Vermont,  but  in  early  life  re- 
moved, with  his  parents,  to  the  western  part  of  New- York.  The  family 
was  remarkable  for  idleness,  ignorance,  and  superstition.  Joseph  and 
his  father  were  pious  believers  in  witches,  dreams,  and  digging  for  money ; 
but  their  views  in  regard  to  property  tenure,  and  the  rights  of  others, 
were  extremely  loose  and  disjointed.  Failing  to  discover  hidden  treasure 
in  the  earth,  or  to  acquire  the  means  of  subsistence  from  supernatural 
revelations,  the  family  became  separated,  and  the  incipient  prophet  hired 
himself  out  as  a  labourer  near  Palmyra.  There  he  became  acquainted  v/ith 
a  thrifty  farmer  by  the  name  of  Harris,  whose  credulity  was  such  that 
ne  allowed  himself  to  become  security  for  the  publication  of  the  famous 
"Book  of  Mormon,"  the  foundation  of  the  new  faith. 

This  book  is  its  own  condemnation.  R  is  a  duodecimo  volume,  contain- 
ing 590  pages;  and  is  without  doubt  one  of  the  weakest  productions  ever 
attempted  to  be  palmed  off  as  a  divine  revelation.  It  is  irostly  a  blind 
mass  of  words,  interwoven  with  scriptural  language  and  quota^:ons,  with- 
out any  leading  plan  or  design.  It  is  in  fact  such  a  production  as  might 
be  expected  from  a  person  of  Smith's  abilities  and  turn  of  mind.  The  fot- 
lowing  is  a  verbatim  of  the  title-page  : 
37 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 
•The  Book  of  Mokmon  :    an  account  written  by  thk  hand  of  Mormon    upo.t 

PLATES  taken   FROM  THE   PLATES  OF  NkPIII. 

"Wherefore  it  is  an  abridgment  of  the  record  of  tlie  people  of  Nephi,  and  also  of 
the  Lamanites ;  written  to  the  Larnanites,  which  are  a  remnant  of  the  House  of  Is- 
)uel,  and  also  to  the  Jew  and  Gentile,  written  by  way  of  commandment,  and  also 
by  the  Spirit  of  Prophecy  and  Revelation.  Written  and  scaled  uj)  and  hid  up  to  the 
J-ord  that  they  may  not  be  destroyed,  to  come  li>rth  by  the  gift  and  power  of  God 
unto  the  interpretation  thereof,  sealed  by  the  hand  of  Moroni,  and  hid  up  unto  the 
l^ord  to  come  fortli  in  due  time  by  the  way  of  the  Gentile  :  the  interpretation  there- 
of by  the  gift  of  God,  an  abridgment  taken  from  the  book  of  Ether.  Also,  which  is 
a  Record  of  tiie  I'eojjle  of  Jared,  which  were  scattered  at  the  time  the  Lord  con- 
I'ounded  the  language  of  the  people  when  they  were  building  a  tower  to  get  to 
Heaven,  which  is  to  show  unto  the  remnant  of  the  House  of  Israel  how  great  tiiingB 
the  Lord  hath  done  unto  their  fathers,  and  that  they  may  know  the  covenants  of  the 
Lord,  and  that  they  are  not  cast  off  forever ;  and  also  to  the  convincing  of  the  Jew 
and  Gentile,  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Eternal  God,  manifesting  himself  unto  all 
nations.  And  now  if  there  are  faults  it  be  the  mistake  of  men,  wherefore  condemn 
not  the  things  of  God  that  ye  may  be  found  spotless  at  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ. 

"  By  Joseph  Smith,  junior.  Author  and  Proprietor,  I'almyra.  Printed  by  E.  B. 
Grandm,  for  the  author,  1830." 

This  wonderful  revelation  purported  to  have  been  translated  from  cer- 
tain brass  plates,  which  were  covered  with  mysterious  characters,  and 
were  said  to  have  been  dug  out  of  a  hill  situated  "  in  the  township  of  Man- 
chester, Ontario  county,  New- York."  Mr.  Smith  was  enabled  to  do  the 
translating  by  means  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  spectacles,  which  he  found  with 
the  plates.  On  the  last  page  of  the  marvellous  volume  as  translated,  was 
published  "  the  testimony  of  eight  witnesses,"  of  which  the  following  is 
a  correct  transcript: 

"  Be  it  known  unto  all  nations,  kindi-ed,  tongues,  arid  people,  unto  whom  this  book 
shall  come,  that  Joseph  Smith,  junior,  the  Autbor  and  Proprietor  of  this  work,  hath 
shewed  unto  us  the  plates  of  which  hath  been  spoken,  which  have  the  appearance 
of  gold ;  and  as  many  of  the  leaves  as  the  said  Smith  has  ti'auslated  we  did  handle 
with  our  hands,  and  we  also  saw  the  engi-avings  thereof,  all  of  which  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  ancient  work  and  of  curious  workmanship.  And  this  we  bear  record, 
with  words  of  soberness,  that  the  said  Smith  has  shown  unto  us,  for  we  have  seen 
•uid  hefted,  and  know  of  a  suretj'  that  the  said  Smith  has  got  the  plates  of  which  we 
have  spoken.  And  we  give  our  names  unto  the  world  that  which  we  have  seen 
and  we  lie  not,  God  bearing  witness  of  it.  Cliristian  Whitmer,  Jacob  Whitmer, 
I'eter  Whitmer,  jr.,  John  Whitmer,  Hiram  Page,  Joseph  Smith,  sen.,  Hyrum  Smith, 
Samuel  H.  Smith." 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  Mr.  Smith's  bible,  he  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  make  converts  of  two  or  three  leaders  of  a  new  sect  of  religionists, 
known  as  "Reformers,"  or  "Disciples,"  who  were  then  making  a  stir  in 
Ohio.  With  these  followers  he  concluded  to  emigrate  to  the  fructifer- 
ous west,  and  there  raise  his  miraculous  standard.  Kirtland,  Ohio,  was 
first  chosen  as  their  head-quarters;  and  as  many  in  that  neighbourhood 
were  much  excited  just  then,  looking  for  some  wonderful  event  to  take 
place  in  the  world,  they  were  readily  induced  to  subscribe  to  the  new 
doctrine,  and  turn  their  property  into  a  common  stock.  The  foundation 
of  a  temple  was  commenced  on  a  most  extensive  scale.  An  unsuccess- 
ful application  was  made  to  the  legislature  of  Ohio  for  the  charter  of  a 
bank.  Upon  the  refusal,  they  established  an  unchartered  institution,  and 
commenced  their  banking  operations  by  issuing  notes  and  making  loans. 
For  a  time  the  society  rapidly  increased — but  as  the  bank  was  a  fraud,  and 
they  did  not  pretend  to  hquidate  or  allow  of  any  claims  against  them  from 
the  unbelievers  of  the  world,  they  were  expelled  from  the  state. 

Their  next  attempt  to  establish  themselves  was  in  the  state  of  Missouri ; 
but  as  their  ill-fame  had  preceded  them  there,  a  prohibitory  spirit  was 
found  to  have  taken  possession  of  the  irreligious  and  matter-of-fact  men 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  579 

ol  that  state,  disallowing  the  settlement  of  the  fanatics  among  them.  The 
Mormons  showed  great  perseverance  in  their  attempt,  and  raised  an 
armed  force,  a  "sacred  legion,"  to  drive  off  "the  infidels  ;"  but  as  they 
were  not  sufficiently  strong,  many  outrages  were  perpetrated  against  them, 
and  they  were  eventually  forced  to  leave  the  state.  They  then  migrated 
to  Illinois,  and  pitched  upon  Nauvoo,  in  Hancock  county,  for  their  "  holy 
city."  The  foundation  of  another  temple  was  laid,  on  a  grand  plan, 
and  they  were  directly  flourishing  finely.  Numerous  converts  joined  them 
from  the  east,  and  from  England,  whither  they  had  sent  their  emissaries. 
Alas,  for  these  saints  of  the  latter  days !  it  was  discovered  that  some  of 
their  chief  apostles  were  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  bogus,  or  counter- 
feit coin,  wherewithal  to  gull  the  simple  among  the  sinners.  Other  and 
graver  charges  were  also  preferred  against  them ;  in  consequence  of  all 
which,  a  war  of  extermination  was  declared  against  them  by  the  lUinoians, 
and  in  one  of  the  frequent  crusades  which  were  set  on  foot  for  their  pun- 
ishment, the  assassination  above-mentioned  was  perpetrated. 

In  the  month  of  May  there  broke  out  in  the  peaceable  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, a  riot,  unprecedented  for  its  bloody  and  destructive  virulence.  It 
appears,  a  political  meeting  of  a  party  distinguished  as  "  Native  Ameri- 
cans," was  called  in  the  district  of  Kensington.  The  assemblage  was 
numerous,  and  the  proceedings  were  for  convenience  conducted  in  the 
open  air ;  when,  a  shower  of  rain  interrupting  them,  the  meeting  adjourn- 
ed to  the  market-house.  Opposite  to  this,  unfortunately,  was  a  row  of 
buildings  mostly  occupied  by  foreigners,  and  from  these  an  attack  was  m 
some  manner  provoked.  A  gun  was  discharged  into  the  crowd,  with 
deadly  effect,  from  an  upper  window  of  one  of  the  houses  ;  and  this  rash 
and  fool-hardy  act,  whatever  previously  might  have  been  done,  was  the 
real  cause  of  all  the  sanguinary  and  destructive  proceedings  which  en- 
sued. The  assault  was  repelled  on  the  instant,  with  aggravated  violence  ; 
and,  after  a  brief  quiet  of  preparation  by  the  leaders  of  the  mob,  with  un- 
reasoning fury  they  attacked  alike  men,  churches,  dwellings  and  even  the 
market  in  the  proscribed  neighbourhood.  A  female  seminary,  belonging 
to  the  Romanists,  was  also  assaulted.  Everything  "  foreign,"  indeed,  was 
denounced  on  the  one  hand,  and  everything  "  native"  on  the  other,  and 
for  several  days  the  civil  power  of  the  city  and  state  were  set  at  defiance, 
and  proved  inadequate  to  quell  the  fearful  outbreak.  Men  were  seized 
and  hanged  up  in  the  streets  on  suspicion  ;  and  many  upon  both  sides 
were  killed  or  maimed  who  were  unconnected  with  the  disturbance  ex 
cept  as  spectators.  When  the  constituted  authorities  finally  obtained  the 
ascendancy,  from  fifty  to  sixty  buildings  had  been  demolished — including 
the  two  elegant  churches  of  St.  Philip  and  St.  Augustine — fourteen  per- 
sons had  been  killed,  thirty-nine  wounded,  and  a  multitude  deprived  ol 
their  means  of  subsistence.  Martial  law  was  proclaimed,  and  by  the 
assistance  of  several  companies  of  the  United  States  troops,  and  Gen. 
Cadwallader's  volunteers,  order  was  at  length  restored. 

With  this  year  ceased  the  aspirations  of  a  few  more  of  the  ambitious  den- 
izens of  earth.  Died  at  Andalusia,  Pa.,  s,  5§,  Nicholas  Biddle,  Esq.,  late 
president  of  the  U.  S.  Bank.  In  New- York,  General  Morgan  Lewis,  .e  90. 
In  Philadelphia,  P.  S.  Duponceau;  also.  Judge  Baldwin.  At  Norfolk, 
Va.,  Commodore  Kennedy.  In  Tennessee,  Ex-governor  Carroll.  In 
Maryland,  Judges  Duvall  and  Magruder.  At  Niagara  Falls,,  General  P. 
B.  Porter.  At  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Governor  Reynolds,  by  suicide.  In  Indi- 
ana, Ex-governor  Noble.  In  Ohio,  Hon.  H.  A.  Moore.  In  Illinois,  Ex 
governor  Duncan.  At  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Judge  Cowan.  In  North  Carolina, 
Judge  Gaston.  In  Maine,  Ex-governor  Kavanagh.  In  Pa.,  Hon.  Hen- 
ry  A.  Muhlenburg;  also,  Alraon  H.  Read.  At  Galveston,  Texas,  Genera} 
Murphy,  U.  S.  charge  d'affaires.  At  sea,  Commander  Shiubrick.  In  Per- 
sia, Dr.  Grant,  American  missionary.     At  Boulougae-sur-mer,  Thomas 


580  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Campbell,  poet.  In  France,  General  Bertrand,  the  friend  of  Napoleon. 
At  Paris,  M.  Lafitte,  the  banker.  In  China,  Howqua,  the  great  Hong 
merchant,  who  hated  the  English  and  loved  the  Americans,  and  whose 
name  is  inscribed  upon  millions  of  tea-boxes.  In  Sweden,  King  Carl 
John,  formerly  the  I  rench  marshal  Bernadotle. 

A.  D.  1845. — The  march  of  the  Union  is  still  onward — three  new  states, 
Iowa,  Florida,  and  Texas,  were  with  this  year  added  to  the  national  galaxy. 
On  the  fourth  of  March,  also,  a  new  president  was  inducted  into  office,  m 
the  place  of  Mr.  Tyler.  James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  the  youngest  of 
the  presidents  {m  49)  was  chosen ;  George  M.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  associated  with  him  as  vice-president. 

In  May,  was  completed  a  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse,  which  is  important,  as  abolishing  every  kind  of 
droit  d'aubaine  and  tax  on  emigration.  This  will  allow  all  aliens  resident 
in  either  country  to  inherit  real  estate  and  dispose  of  the  same,  paying 
only  such  duties  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  where  the  property  lies 
would  pay  in  like  cases. 

On  the  first  day  of  July,  went  into  operation  the  new  and  important 
"  Act  to  reduce  the  rates  of  postage,  to  limit  the  use  and  correct  the  abuse 
of  the  franking  privilege,  and  for  the  prevention  of  frauds  on  the  revenues 
of  the  post-office  department." 

The  post-office  establishment  is  deserving  of  notice.  The  progress  of 
this  great  branch  of  the  public  service,  is  illustrative  of  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  country  and  the  extension  of  the  resources  of  the  people.  Its 
steady  increase  from  its  commencement  affords  the  most  reliable  evidence 
of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  maintain  an  intelligent  communi- 
cation of  all  parts  of  the  Union  with  each  other,  as  well  as  the  means,  by 
the  industrious  character  of  the  population,  to  carry  into  effect  such  de- 
sires. The  following  table  is  compiled  from  a  report  of  the  Post-master 
General. 

Years  Receipts.     Expenditures.  No.  of  miles.  [Years.  Receipts.    Expenditnres.  No.  of  miles. 

1790  $37,93.5       $32,140  7,375  1820       1,111,927     1,160,926       8,800,000 


1795  160  620       117,843       1,799,720  1825  1,307,-525  1,229,043  10,634,630 

1830  1,919,300  1,9.59,109  14,.500,000 

1835  2,993,556  2,763,041  25,869,486 

1840  4,379,313  4,627,716  34,996,.525 


1800  280,504      213,994       3,057,964 

1805  421,373       377,367       4,250,000 


1810  551,684       475,969       4,694,000 

1815        1,043,065      748,121      5,001,000 


1845       4,289,841    4,230,731     35,634,269 


Thus,  from  the  small  beginning  of  about  seven  thousand  miles  of  annual 
mail  carriage,  and  an  expenditure  of  less  than  $40,000,  this  department  has 
arisen  to  be  one  of  the  most  useful  and  important  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment. It  now  requires  the  agency  of  some  fifteen  thousand  post-masters 
and  their  clerks,  besides  above  three  thousand  contractors,  and  a  large 
number  of  persons  connected  with  the  department  in  various  ways.  To 
carry  on  the  complicated  machinery  of  the  general  post-ofifice  in  all  its 
minute  details,  without  confusion,  requires  system,  method,  and  business 
talents  of  the  highest  order,  foresight,  capacity,  and  an  attention  to  the 
business  of  the  department  unremitting. 

Here  we  have  exhibited,  concisely,  the  produce  in  the  course  of.  a  year 
of  the  mines  now  being  worked  in  the  United  Stales,  together  with  the 
number  of  persons  employed  in  the  same. 

Articles.  Amount.    No.of  men.|Articles.  Amount    No.  of  men. 

Castlrou.      ,  .  $7,161,525  ?  on    o^  Anthracite  Coal       .  4,313,355  3,043 

Bar    "     .        .  .  13,806,310  S '^"'4"^'^  Salt         .         .         .  1.541,544  2,361 

Lead       .         .  .  1,249,.577          983  Bituminous  Coal      .  1,656,190  3.762 

Gold        .         .  .  528,605        1,046  Grauite  and  Marble  3,679,444  7,329 

Other  metals   .  .  370,614          728|                                    

Total,  $34,344,164  50.249 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  581 

The  ratification  of  the  treaty  with  China  was  one  of  the  notable  events 
of  this  season.  Mr.  Gushing,  to  the  surprise  of  some  who  professed  much 
knowledge  of  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  the  course  of  his  mis- 
sion, accomplished  everything  required  of  him,  and  upon  the  whole  was 
eminently  successful.  A  complimentary  letter  from  his  excellency,  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  Tao-Kwang,  the  brother  of  the  sun  and 
moon,  is  pronounced  by  competent  critics  to  be  a  perfect  thing  "  of  its 
kind."     It  is  here  given  : 

"To   THE    Emperor   of   China. 

"  I,  John  Tyler,  President  of  the  United  States  of  Amei-ica,  which  states  are — 
Maine,  New-Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New- 
York,  New-Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  Missouri,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Michigan, — send  you  this  letter  of  peace 
and  fi-iendship,  signed  by  my  own  hand. 

"  I  hope  your  health  is  good.  China  is  a  gi-eat  empire,  extending  over  a  great  pai't 
of  the  world.  The  Chinese  are  numerous.  You  have  mi-Uions  and  millions  of  sub- 
jects. The  twenty-six  United  States  ai"e  as  large  as  China,  though  our  people  are 
not  so  numerous.  The  rising  sun  looks  upon  the  great  moimtains  and  great  rivers 
of  China.  When  he  sets,  he  looks  upon  rivers  and  mountains  equally  as  large  in  the 
United  States.  Our  territories  extend  from  one  great  ocean  to  the  other ;  and  on 
the  west  we  are  dixaded  from  your  dominions  only  by  the  sea.  Leaving  the  mouth 
of  one  of  our  gi-eat  rivers,  and.  going  constantly  towards  the  setting  sun,  we  sail  to 
Japan  and  to  the  Yellow  Sea. 

"  Now,  my  words  ai'e,  that  the  governments  of  two  such  great  countries  should  be 
at  peace.  It  is  projier,  and  according  to  the  will  of  Heaven,  that  they  should  re- 
spect each  other,  and  act  wisely.  I  therefore  send  to  your  coui't,  Caleb  Cushing, 
one  of  the  wise  and  learned  men  of  this  countiy.  On  his  first  arrival  in  China,  he 
will  inquire  for  your  health.  He  has  then  strict  orders  to  go  to  your  great  city  of 
Pekin,  and  there  to  dehver  this  letter.  He  will  have  with  him  secretaries  and  in- 
terpreters. 

"  The  Chinese  love  to  trade  with  our  people,  and  to  sell  them  tea  and  silk,  for  which 
our  people  pay  silver,  and  sometimes  other  articles.  But  if  the  Chinese  and  the 
Americans  will  trade,  there  shah  be  rules,  so  that  they  shall  not  break  your  laws  nor 
our  laws.  Our  minister,  Caleb  Cushing,  is  authorized  to  make  a  treaty  to  regidate 
ti-ade.  Let  it  be  just.  Let  there  be  no  unfair  advantage  on  either  side.  Let  the 
people  ti-ade  not  only  at  Canton,  but  also  at  Amoy,  Ningpo,  Shang-hai,  Fuh-chow, 
und  all  such  other  places  as  may  offer  profitable  exchanges  both  to  China  and  the 
United  States,  provided  they  do  not  break  your  laws  nor  our  laws.  We  shall  not 
take  the  part  of  evil  doers.  We  shall  not  uphold  them  that  break  your  laws. 
Therefore,  we  doubt  not  that  you  wiU  be  pleased  that  our  messenger  of  peace,  with 
ihis  letter  in  his  hand,  shall  come  to  Pekin,  and  there  deliver  it,  and  that  your  gi-eat 
officers  will,  by  your  orders,  make  a  treaty  with  him  to  regulate  affairs  of  tirade — so 
that  nothing  may  happen  to  disturb  the  peace  between  China  and  America.  Let 
the  treaty  be  signed  by  your  own  imperial  hand.  It  shall  be  signed  by  mine,  by  the 
authority  of  our  great  coiuicil,  the  Senate. 

"  And  so  may  your  health  be  good,  and  may  peace  reign." 

"  Written  at  Washington,  this  12th  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-three. 

"  Your  good  friend, 
"By  the  president:  "JOHN  TYLER. 

'■  A.  P.  Upshur,  Secretary  of  State." 

The  letter  in  reply  from  the  Chinese  emperor  to  the  president,  consists 
of  a  roll  seven  feet  one  inch  long,  by  two  feet  eleven  inches  wide.  The 
writing  is  on  a  field  of  plain  yellow  silk,  with  a  margin  of  silk  of  the  same 
colour,  embroidered  in  gold  thread.  The  letter  is  in  two  languages,  Chi- 
nese and  Manchu  Tartar,  in  characters  of  large  size,  and  in  perpendicular 
columns,  which  are  separated  in  the  middle  by  the  imperial  seal — which 
is  composed  of  Chinese  characters,  enclosed  in  a  cartoiiche  about  three 
inches  square.  This  roll  is  enclosed  in  a  wrapper  of  yellow  silk,  yellow 
being  the  imperial  colour,  which  again  is  enclosed  in  a  round  box  covered 


582  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTOaV. 

with  yellow  silk,  and  closoil  by  two  fastenings  of  jade  stone,  and  finally  is 
enclosed  in  an  obloiig  square  box  of  rose-wood,  and  padded  and  lined  with 
yellow  silk.  Tiic  size  of  the  letter  indicates  the  respect;  the  letter  itsell 
is  sufficiently  curious  and  interesting,  and  is  translated  as  follows  : 

"The  Great  Empekor  presents  his  regards  to  tlie  President,  and  trusta  he  ii 
well. 

"  I,  tlio  Emperor,  having  looked  up  and  received  the  manifest  will  of  Heaven,  hold 
the  reins  of  government  over,  and  Boothe  and  tranquiiize  the  Central  Flowery  King- 
dom, regarding  all  within  and  beyond  the  border  seas  as  one  and  the  same  family. 

"  Early  in  the  spring,  the  ambassador  of  your  honourable  nation,  Caleb  Gushing, 
having  received  your  letter,  arrived  from  afar  at  my  province  of  Yue.  lie  having 
passed  over  the  vast  oceans  with  unspeakable  toil  and  fatigue,  I,  the  Emperor,  not 
hearing  to  cause  him  further  inconvenience  of  travelling  by  land  and  water,  to  dis- 
pense with  his  coming  to  Peking,  to  be  presented  at  court,  specially  appointed  Ye- 
king,  of  the  Imperial  House,  minister  and  commissioner  extraordinary,  to  repair 
thither,  and  U)  treat  him  with  courteous  attention. 

"  Moreover,  they  having  negotiated  and  settled  all  things  proper,  the  said  minister 
took  the  letter,  and  presented  it  for  my  inspection ;  and  your  sincerity  and  friend- 
ship beuig  in  the  highest  degree  real,  and  the  thoughts  and  sentiments  being  with 
the  utmost  sincerity  and  truth  kind,  at  tlic  time  of  opening  and  perusing  it,  my  plea- 
sure and  delight  were  exceedingly  profound. 

"  All  and  everything  they  had  settled  regarding  the  regulations  of  commerce,  I  the 
Emperor,  further  examined  \\-ith  utmost  sciiitiny,  and  found  they  are  all  perspicu- 
ous, and  entirely  and  perfectly  judicious,  and  forever  worthy  of  adherence. 

"  To  Kwang  Chow,  Hen  Mfin,  Fuh  Chow,  Ning  Po,  and  Shang  Hae,*  it  is  alike 
permitted  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  proceed,  and  accordmg  to  the  articles 
of  the  treaty,  at  their  convenience  to  carry  on  commerce. 

"  Now,  bound  hy  perpetual  amity  and  concord,  advantage  will  accrue  to  the  citi- 
zens of  both  nations,  which,  I  trust,  must  certainly  cause  the  President  also  to  be 
extremely  well  satisfied  and  delighted. 

"  Tao  Kwang,  24th  yr.,  11th  mo.,  and  7th  day  (16th  Dec,  a,  d.  1344.)" 

/ — > 

Great  seal  of  the  empire,  (  Signet  of  the   ? 

in  Chinese  and  Tartar :  l  Imperial  wrill.  \ 

(Signed,)  Peter  Parker, 

Late  Chinese  Secretary  to  the  Legation. 

Chinese  characters  are  ideographic  ;  they  express  not  only  sounds,  but 
things  ;  consequently  the  origination  of  much  of  their  peculiarity  of  style. 
When  they  first  saw  the  American  flag,  they  imagined  the  stars  to  be  flow- 
ers, and  gave  to  the  country  the  name  o{  Hwa-kee-kwo,  the  Flower  flag 
country,  by  which  it  is  since  generally  known.  The  more  dignified  and 
diplomatic  class,  however,  who  pride  themselves  upon  correctness,  im- 
prove the  title  into  Ho-chung-kwo,  the  Many-state  country. 

In  the  interior  of  New-York,  in  the  month  of  August,  a  bold  assertion 
of  false  principles  resulted  in  the  shedding  of  blood.  Anti-rentism,  a  mon- 
strous embodiment,  a  speciously  disguised  spirit  of  insurrection  and  agra- 
rianism,  was  most  criminally  fomented  by  a  few  deceitful  or  brawling 
leaders  to  this  sad  result.  The  disturbances  in  the  first  instance  were  more 
immediately  confined  to  the  extensive  manor  of  the  Van  Rensselaer  fam- 
ily ;  but  from  the  supineness  of  authorities  in  allowing  themselves  to  be 
overruled  there,  the  infection  spread  to  the  neighbouring  counties  of  Ul- 
ster, Scoharie,  Greene,  and  Delaware.  Tenantry  of  every  description  be- 
gan to  resist  the  collection  of  ordinary  and  just  dues  against  them  ;  and 
perpetual  lease-hold  tenures,  by  whatever  means  or  services  acquired, 
were  openly  denounced  as  altogether  barbarous,  and  in  direct  controver- 
sion of  the  present  republican  spirit  of  the  age.  The  tenants,  forsooth, 
would  neither  purchase,  pay  rent,  nor  restore  to  the  rightful  owners  their 
possessions.     And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  in  Delaware  county,  on  the 


States 


The  five  ports  in  the  Chinese  Empire,  which  the  treaty  onens  to  the  commerce  ofth^  Uidt«d 
ites. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


583 


occasion  of  which  we  speak,  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  men  were 
assembled,  armed,  and  determined  to  carry  into  effect  such  mad  princi- 
ples. The  officers  of  the  law  were  resisted — and  the  sheriff  in  cold  blood 
murdered.  For  this  the  grand  jury  of  the  county,  instead  of  imitating  the 
reprehensible  laxity  of  their  neighbours,  indicted  and  caused  the  arrest  of 
over  one  hundred  persons,  charged  with  murder  and  crimes  of  the  high- 
est magnitude ;  they  were  tried  impartially,  two  were  sentenced  to  be 
hung,  and  thirteen  to  be  incarcerated  in  the  state's  prison  for  terms  of 
seven  years  and  upwards.  The  punishment  of  those  condemned  to  death 
was  afterwards  commuted  by  the  governor  to  imprisonment  for  life.  This 
prompt  exercise  of  power  combined  with  mercy — together  with  some 
liberal  changes  made  in  the  policy  of  the  wealthier  land  owners,  has  re- 
stored harmony  to  the  excited  districts. 

The  calamity  of  fire  again  swept  through  the  country.  In  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  not  less  than  twenty-five  squares  of  the  city,  containing  near  eigh- 
teen hundred  buildings,  were  in  one  fell  conflagration  destroyed.  A  num- 
ber of  lives  were  lost,  and  hundreds  of  families  who  had  conceived  them- 
selves to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  want,  were  in  a  day  rendered  homeless  and 
destitute.  It  is  true  that  aid  was  liberally  extended  to  the  sufferers  by 
their  sympathizing  fellow-citizens  ;  and  neighbouring  cities  in  public  as- 
semblages offered  such  palpable  condolence  as  will,  in  all  probability,  soon 
enable  the  desolated  township  to  resume  its  former  creditable  and  pros- 
perous condition. — Hardly  had  the  public  sympathies  returned  to  their 
wonted  quietude,  when  a  new  and  unlooked-for  infliction  visited  New- 
York.  The  people  of  that  city  were  in  July  of  this  year  painfully 
awakened  from  their  dream  of  security  against  any  extensive  devastation 
by  fire.  It  was  then  proved,  at  a  most  deplorable  cost,  that  their  bounti- 
ful supply  of  water  did  not  afford  any  absolute  protection  against  the  des- 
olating element.  A  fire  broke  out  near  the  scene  of  the  former  conflagra- 
tion in  that  city,  which  destroyed,  besides  a  number  of  lives,  over  three  hun- 
dred buildings,  and  property  to  the  amount  of  between  six  and  seven  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  On  the  occasion  of  this  calamitous  occurrence,  the  corpo- 
ration of  the  city  appointed  a  scientific  committee  of  inquiry  to  ascertain 
whether  saltpetre  would  explode  or  not — but  the  question  still  remains  a 
mooted  one. — In  Philadelphia,  also,  irreparable  damage  was  done,  by  the 
ruthless  application  of  an  incendiary  torch  to  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts. 
Many  rare  and  valuable  productions  of  artists  now  numbered  with  the 
dead,  were  destroyed. — Quebec  was  next  visited  by  the  scourge,  and  thir- 
teen hundred  houses  were  prostrated. 

The  statistics  of  manufactures,  show  a  gross  amount  of  capital  invested 
throughout  the  Union  of  between  three  and  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 
Perhaps  the  following  is  as  correct  a  table,  exhibiting  the  apportionment 
among  the  different  branches  of  business,,as  can  be  given. 

Manufactures  of  Ami.  in  Dolls. 

Earthenware         .         .         .  l,104,82-'i 

Drugs,  Medicines,  &c.  .         .  4,151,895 

Soap  and  Candles         .         .  G,000,nO() 

Musical  Instruments     .         .  923,92 1 

Can-iages  and  Wagons           .  10,897,887 

Ships             ....  7,016,084 

Fui-niture     ....  7,555,40.'> 

Sugar,  refined       .         .         .  3,250,700 

Confectionaries     .         .         .  1,769,571 

Gunpowder           .         .         .  1,795,45.0 

Precious  metals    .         .         •  3,734,960 

Various  metals      .         .         .  9,779,442 

Domest.  goods  made  in  families  26,023,380 

Non-enumerated  articles       .  34,785,353 


Manufactures  of 
Cotton 
Wool 

Leather         .         , 
Flax 
Cordage 

Mixed  Manufactures    . 
Silk  ... 

Paper 
Cast  Iron 
Bar  Iron 

Cannon  and  small  arms 
Hardw;u-e  and  Cutlery 
Machinery    . 
Hats,  Caps,  and  Bonnets 
Glass 


A7nt.  in  Dolls. 
.  56,340,453 
.  21,696,895 
.  33,134,403 
322,205 
•  4,078,306 
.  10,545,503 
219,814 
.       7,153,092 

8,607,090 
.     13,806,310 

1,000,000 
.  6,451,967 
.  10,980.581 
.  10,180,847 
.       2,890,493 


Total,  1307,196,844 


684 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY. 


A  statement  of  the  value  of  commerce  of  the  states  for  the  year: 


States. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Maine, 

$G0G,8C4 

$1,050,.525 

New-Hampshii-e,        60,481 

28,547 

Vermont, 

209,808 

557,509 

Massachusetts 

17,986,133 

9,807,110 

Rhode-Islaml, 

323,692 

348,096 

Connecticut, 

335,707 

532,392 

New-York, 

57,875,604 

27,576,778 

New-Jersey, 

145 

60,907 

Pennsylvauia, 

7,385.858 

3,770,727 

Delaware , 

3,5.57 

55,665 

Mai-ylaud, 

4,417,078 

4.904,766 

Dist.  of  Columbia,     2'J,Q.A) 

501,675 

Virginia.. 

3,801,417 

3,750,386 

States. 

Imports. 

Exportt. 

North-Carolina, 

$187,404 

$344,650 

South-Carolina, 

l,3.'i9,465 

1,525,725 

Georgia, 

,341,764 

4,300,257 

Alabanm, 

363,871 

9,965,673 

Mississippi, 

Louisiana, 

8,033,590 

23,404,149 

Ohio, 

13,051 

809,786 

Kentucky, 

17,306 

Tennessee, 

5,687 

Michigan, 

80,784 

262,229 

Missouri, 

31,137 

Florida, 

176,930 

33,384 

Total,  $100,162,087  $104,691,1534 
The  men  who  passed  away  this  year,  were  General  Andrew  Jackson,  in 
Tennessee,  ie  78  ;  also,  Hon.  J.  II.  Peyton  and  D.  W.  Dickinson.  Senator 
Bates  and  Hon.  L.  Saltonstail,  of  Mass.  General  Dawson,  of  La.,  and 
Douglass  Houghton,  of  Mich.  Prof.  Ware,  of  Harvard  college,  and  Roger 
M.  Sherman,  of  Ct.  At  Princeton,  N.  J.,  Prof.  Dod.  In  Hatfield,  Ct.,  Ol- 
iver Smith,  leaving  $G00,000  for  benevolent  purposes.  In  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  Judge  Story.  In  New-York,  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor,  of  St.  George's 
church;  also,  Dr.  Mallison,  Prof,  of  electro-magnetism.  In  Philadelphia, 
Commodore  Elliott.  By  loss  of  the  Swallow,  on  the  Hudson  river,  14 
persons  were  drowned  :  and  by  explosion  of  the  Big  Hatchee,  on  the  Mis- 
souri, from  20  to  30  were  killed  or  scalded. 

A.  D.  1846. — The  most  exciting  topic  of  public  interest,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this  year,  was  the  adjustment  of  the  Oregon  boundary.  This 
subject,  which  had  been  in  agitation  for  the  last  two  or  three  years,  now 
demanded  a  permanent  adjustment,  and  with  this  understanding,  full 
powers  were  given  by  the  British  government  to  INIr.  Pakenham,  minister 
plenipotentiary  at  Washington,  to  open  negotiations  with  the  secretary 
of  state.  Both  governments  at  first  claimed  the  whole  territory  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  extending  as  far  north  as  54°  40',  and  from  the  de- 
termined expressions  made  use  of  on  either  side,  as  well  as  the  belligerent 
character  of  the  debates  in  congress  and  parliament,  serious  difficulties 
were  apprehended  in  settling  the  respective  claims. 

A  proposal  from  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  compromise 
the  matter,  by  making  the  degree  of  49  tlie  boundary,  without  conceding 
that  part  of  Vancouver's  Island  south  of  that  line,  or  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Columbia,  was  rejected  by  the  British  minister,  and  a  counter-com- 
promise oflfered  on  the  part  of  the  latter,  met  with  a  similar  reception  at 
the  hands  of  tlte  government.  The  following  treaty  was  finally  concluded 
between  Mr.  Pakenham  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  having  been  rati- 
fied by  both  governments,  this  threatening  question  was  at  length  put  to 
rest: 


PROTOCOL. 

A  Conference  was  held  at  the  Department  of  State  on  the  6th  of  June, 
1846,  between  Honourable  James  Buchanan.  Secretary  of  State,  the 
American  Plenipotentiary,  and  Right  Hon.  Richard  Pakenham,  the  British 
Plenipotentiary,  when  the  negotiation  respecting  the  Oregon  Territory 
was  resumed.  The  British  Plenipotentiary  made  a  verbal  explanation 
of  the  motives  which  had  induced  her  Majesty's  Government  to  instruct 
him  to  make  another  proposition  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
for  the  solution  of  these  long-existing  difficulties.     The  Secretary   of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. ';  585 

State  expressed  his  satisfaction  with  the  friendly  moti\'es  which  had 
animated  the  British  Government  in  this  endeavour. 
^  Whereupon,  the  British  Plenipotentiary  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  the  draught  of  a  convention,  setting  forth  the  terms  which  he 
had  been  instructed  to  propose  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
for  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  question. 

James  Buchanan, 
Richard  Pakenham. 

THE  TREATY. 

Convention  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  Her  Majesty  the  Queen 
of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  concluded  at  Wash- 
ington, the  I5th  of  June,  1846. 

The  United  States  of  America  and  her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  the  United 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  deeming  it  to  be  desirable,  for  the 
future  welfare  of  both  countries,  that  the  state  of  doubt  and  uncertainty 
which  has  hitherto  prevailed  respecting  the  sovereignty  and  government 
of  the  territory  on  the  Northwest  coast  of  America,  lying  Westward  of 
the  Rocky  or  Stony  Mountains,  should  be  finally  terminated  by  an  amica- 
ble compromise  of  the  rights  mutually  asserted  by  the  two  parlies  over 
said  territory,  have  respectively  named  Plenipotentiaries  to  treat  and 
agree  concerning  the  terms  of  such  settlement ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America  has,  on  his  part,  furnished  with  full 
powers,  James  Buchanan,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  and 
her  Majesty,  the  Que«n  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  has,  on  her  part,  appointed  Right  Honourable  Richard  Pakenham, 
a  member  of  her  Majesty's  Most  Honourable  Privy  Council,  and  her 
Majesty's  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the 
United  States,  who,  after  having  communicated  to  each  other  their  re- 
spective full  powers,  framed  in  good  and  due  form,  have  agreed  upon  and 
concluded  the  following  articles  : — 

Art.  1. — From  the  point  (»n  the  49th  parallel  of  North  latitude,  where 
the  boundary  laid  down  in  existing  treaties  and  conventions  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  terminates,  the  line  of  boundary 
between  the  territories  of  her  Britannic  Majesty  and  those  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  continued  Westward  along  the  49th  parallel  of  North 
latitude  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  which  separates  the  Continent  from 
Vancouver's  Island,  and  thence  Southerly  through  the  middle  of  the  said 
channel,  and  of  Fuca  Straits,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  provided,  however, 
that  the  navigation  of  the  said  channel  and  straits,  south  of  the  49th 
parallel  of  North  latitude,  remain  free  and  open  to  both  parties. 

Art.  2. — From  the  point  at  which  the  49th  parallel  of  North  latitude  shall 
be  found  to  intersect  the  great  Northern  branch  of  the  Columbia  river, 
the  navigation  of  the  said  branch  shall  be  free  and  open  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  and  to  all  British  subjects  trading  with  the  same,  to  the 
point  where  the  said  branch  meets  the  main  stream  of  the  Columbia,  and 
thence  down  the  said  main  stream  to  the  ocean,  with  free  access  into 
and  through  the  said  river  or  rivers,  it  being  understood  that  all  the  usual 
portages  along  the  line  thus  described,  shall  in  like  manner  be  free  and 
open.  In  navigating  the  said  river  or  rivers,  British  subjects,  with  their 
goods  and  produce,  shall  be  treated  on  the  same  footing  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States  ;  it  being,  however,  always  understood  that  nothing  in  this 
article  shall  be  construed  as  preventing,  or  intended  to  prevent,  the  Go- 
vernment of  the  United  States  from  making  any  regulations  respecting 
the  navigation  of  the  said  river  or  rivers,  not  inconsistent  with  the  present 
treaty 


536  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Art.  3. — Til  the  future  appropriations  of  the  territory  south  of  the  49th 
jiarallel  of  North  hititude,  as  provided  in  the  first  Article  of  this  Treaty, 
the  possessory  riglits  of  the  Hudson's  IJay  Company,  and  of  all  British 
subjects  who  may  be  already  in  the  occupation  of  land  or  other  properly 
lawfully  acquired  within  the  said  territory  shall  be  respected. 

Art.  4. — The  farms,  lands,  and  other  property  of  every  description,  be- 
longing to  the  Puget's  Sound  Agricultural  Company,  on  the  north  side  of 
the  Columbia  River,  shall  be  confirmed  to  the  said  Company.  In  case, 
however,  the  situation  of  those  farms  and  lands  should  be  considered  by 
the  United  States  to  be  of  public  and  political  importance,  and  the  United 
States  Government  should  signify  a  desire  to  obtain  possession  of  the 
\vhole  or  of  any  part  thereof,  tlie  property  so  required  shall  be  transferred 
to  tlie  said  Government  at  a  proper  valuation  to  be  agreed  upon  between 
the  parties. 

Art.  5. — The  present  Treaty  shall  be  ratified  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  thereof, 
and  by  her  Britannic  Majesty  ;  and  the  ratification .  shall  be  exchanged 
at  London  at  the  expiration  of  six  months  from  the  date  hereof,  or  sooner 
if  possible. 

In  witness  thereof,  the  respective  Plenipotentiaries  have  signed  the 
same,  and  have  affixed  thereto  the  seals  of  their  arms. 

Done  at  Washington,  the  fifteenth  day  of  June,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-six. 

Ja.mes  Buchanan, 
Richard  Pakenham. 

IN  SENATE.— [coNFmE.NTiAL.] 

The  resolution  to  ratify  the  Treaty  was  passed  by  the  following  vote ; 

Yeas. — Messrs.  Archer,  Ashley,  Bagby,  Barrow,  Benton,  Berrien,  Cal- 
houn, Chalmers,  Thomas  Clayton,  John  M.  Clayton,  Colquitt,  Corwin, 
Crittenden,  Davis,  Daylon,  Dix,  Evans,  Greene,  Haywood,  Houston, 
Huntingdon,  Johnson  of  Maryland,  Johnson  of  Louisiana,  Lewis,  McDuffie, 
Mangum,  Miller,  Morehcad,  .Nilcs,  Pcarce,  Peimybacker,  Phelps,  Rusk, 
Sevier,  Simmons,  Speight,  Turney,  I'pham,  Webster,  Woodbridge,  and 
Vulee — 41. 

Nays. — Messrs.  Allen,  Atchison,  Atherton,  Breese,  Bright,  Cameron. 
Cass,  Dickinson,  Fairfield,  Ilannegan,  Jeinicss,  Semple,  Sturgeon,  and 
Westcott— 14. 

Mr.  Jarnagin  of  Tennessee  alone  declined  to  vote,  on  account  of 
instructions.     The  Senate  was  full. 

The  difficulty  with  Great  Britain  having  been  thus  finally  adjusted,  and 
the  political  horizon  in  that  quarter  cleared  oflT,  attention  began  to  be  turned 
once  more  to  the  south,  where  a  dark  and  threatening  cloud,  which  had 
long  been  gathering  there,  was  about  to  burst  in  a  storm  of  war.  The 
causes  which  led  to  this  event,  which  has  cost  so  much  blood  and  so  many 
sacrifices  to  two  sister  republics,  and  whose  consequences  in  the  future 
■can  scarcely  be  over-estimated,  ought  to  be  impartially  and  succinctly 
narrated,  so  as  to  serve  for  permanent  reference. 

If  we  would  study  the  proximate  causes  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  we 
must  go  back  to  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the  early  days  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  and  observe  the  steady,  iron-like  grasp  of  his  fingers  upon  posses- 
sions and  territories  not  his  own.  The  instincts  of  races  never  die  out, 
any  more  than  those  of  individuals.  Both  have  their  diflferent  periods  of 
activity  and  phases  of  development ;  but  they  do  not  cease  but  with  the 
life  of  the  possessor.  Without  seeking  either  to  censure  or  applaud  this 
spirit,  it  is  enough  that  we  can  clearly  trace  its  operation  through  the 
whole  history  and  life  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Anglo-American   race 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY  587 

down  to  the  present  moment,  when  our  pioneers,  stimulated  by  the  recent 
successes  in  Mexico,  are  extending  themselves  over  the  Sierra  Madre, 
and  preparing  to  play  over  again  the  game  of  Texas  and  California.  Na- 
ture, who  seems  never  to  gift  a  man  or  a  species  with  an  instinct  without 
at  the  same  time  grantmg  the  best  means  for  obtaining  its  gratification, 
has  not  neglected  this  rule  in  the  case  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  Hardy  and 
enduring  beyond  all  otlier  races,  endowed  with  an  incredible  endurance 
and  an  inexhaustible  energy,  they  never  turn  back  upon  a  pleasing  pros- 
pect where  once  they  have  fixed  their  gaze,  and  never  yield  to  reverses, 
however  severe  or  crushing.  On  the  other  hand,  the  modern  Mexicans 
are,  as  it  were,  the  debris  of  a  degraded  and  enfeebled  race — degenerated 
by  intermixture  with  the  inferior  blood  of  African  and  Indian,  and  demo- 
ralized by  a  long  course  of  indolence  and  pohtical  corruption.  Both  phy- 
sically and  morally  they  are  the  very  antithesis  of  the  Anglo-American. 
They  are  as  weak  as  he  is  strong ;  they  bluster  where  he  sets  his  teeth 
and  goes  onward  in  silence  ;  they  run  where  he  fights  ;  they  starve  in  the 
midst  of  abundance,  while  he  knows  how  to  pluck  wealth  and  prosperity 
from  rocks  and  sterile  plains. 

Such,  a  few  years  ago,  were  the  two  principal  peoples  inhabiting  the 
continent  of  North  America.  Between  them,  and  occupying  the  whole 
space  between  the  river  Sabine  and  the  Rio  Grande,  lay  an  immense  ter- 
ritory, almost  unoccupied  by  man.  Nominally  under  the  rule  of  Mexico, 
yet  it  was  so  remote  from  the  central  power,  and  that  power  itself  was 
so  feeble,  that  it  might  still  fairly  be  classed  as  belonging  to  the  unsettled 
and  savage  portions  of  the  globe.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  poor  and 
decrepit  towns  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  here  and  there  a 
little  village  in  the  interior,  the  whole  territory  contained  no  indications 
of  civilization  or  of  Mexican  rule.  Even  the  aborigines  themselves 
seemed  to  have  become  decayed  and  almost  extinct.  The  Camanches 
of  the  north,  and  a  few  small  wandering  tribes,  were  all  that  remained  to 
dispute  the  soil  with  the  bold  and  unflincliing  Anglo-Saxon. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  a  number  of  land  speculators,  one 
of  the  principal  of  whom  was  Stephen  Austin,  seeing  the  inevitable  ten- 
dency of  northern  immigration  to  the  west  and  south,  obtained  large  grants 
of  lands  in  Texas  from  the  Mexican  government,  which  soon  led  to  an 
immigration  to  the  new  territory,  which  went  on  rapidly,  accelerated  by 
its  own  impetus,  and  which  in  a  few  years  had  created  a  public  opinion, 
and  was  sufficiently  numerous  to  feel  itself  authorized  to  petition  the 
Mexican  congress  for  admission  as  a  separate  state  of  the  confederacy. 
The  Mexican  government,  recently  overturned  by  Santa  Anna,  paid  no 
attention  to  this  petition  ;  and  Stephen  Austin,  who  was  its  bearer  to  the 
city  of  Mexico,  wrote  a  letter  home,  advising  his  fellow  Texans  to  organ- 
ize a  state  government  despite  the  Mexican  authorities.  This  letter  was 
intercepted  by  Santa  Anna's  government,  and  Austin,  shortly  after  his 
return,  arrested  and  conveyed  back  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  where  he  was 
imprisoned  a  year  in  solitary  confinement. 

This  at  once  roused  the  indignation  and  the  vengeance  of  the  Anglo- 
Americans  in  Texas,  as  well  as  a  large  body  of  sympathizers  in  the 
United  States,  bound  to  the  Texas  adventurers  by  the  ties  of  blood,  ac- 
quaintanceship, or,  at  least,  congeniality  of  feeling  and  character. 

It  is  curious  here  to  observe,  that  the  pretext  made  by  the  Texans  was, 
that  the  Mexican  government  had  committed  an  outrage  on  the  right  of 
petition — a  right  which  all  freemen  hold  sacred,  and  are  ever  ready  to 
protect  with  their  lives ;  but  that,  in  fact,  this  was  not  the  case.  The 
Mexican  government  did  not  imprison  Austin  for  having  presented  a  peti- 
tion, but  for  having  written  a  letter,  which,  as  affairs  then  stood,  was  an 
act  of  treason  to  the  government  of  Mexico,  to  which  he  professed  alle- 
giance.   This  was  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  similar  mistakes, 


588  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

which  show  now  easy  it  is  for  the  wolf  to  find  pretexts  for  eating  the 
lamb,  if  only  the  original  reason  of  a  good  appetite  be  not  wanting. 

Such  was  the  stale  of  things  until  1835  ;  the  emigration  into  Texas 
from  the  United  States  iiaving  been  constantly  increasing,  and  the  autho 
rity  of  the  Mexican  government  being  put  completely  at  defiance.  At 
this  time  Santa  Anna,  having  completed  the  revolution,  and  secured  the 
supreme  power  in  his  own  hands,  turned  his  attention  seriously  toward 
his  refractory  Anglo-American  province,  and  sent  (ieneral  Cos  into  Texas 
with  a  small  army,  to  enforce  certain  requisitions  of  the  government, 
among  which  were  the  enforcing  of  an  obsolete  law  of  1830  against  the 
emigration  of  Americans  into  Texas  ;  and  the  surrender  of  Lorenzo  de 
Zalva,  a  Mexican  refugee,  fled  to  Texas  to  escape  punishment  for  having 
moved  in  the  Mexican  congress  for  a  law  directed  against  the  property 
of  the  church.  In  the  course  of  the  summer.  General  Cos  took  posses- 
sion of  the  town  of  Antonio  de  Bexar ;  and  on  the  28th  of  September, 
1835,  the  Texans,  who  had  armed  for  resistance  against  Mexico,  attacked 
and  defeated  a  party  of  Mexicans,  at  the  town  of  Gonzales,  on  the  Rio 
Guadalupe. 

The  contest  thus  commenced  between  a  successful  rebel  chief,  who 
had  violated  the  constitution  of  his  country,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  rebel- 
lious province,  inhabited  by  a  superior  race,  on  the  other,  could  have  but 
one  result :  the  separation  and  independence  of  the  revolted  province. 
Nor,  if  we  keep  in  view  the  history  of  our  own  Union,  and  the  achieve- 
ments which  constitute  our  greatest  glory,  can  we  find  any  thing  to  con- 
demn in  the  conduct  of  the  Texans.  The  right  of  revolution  is  inherent 
in  nations ;  and  any  people  vindicates  its  privilege  to  that  right  the  mo 
ment  it  shows  itself  able  to  exercise  and  maintain  it.  Thus  the  inde 
pendence  of  Texas  was  as  much  a  real  bond  fide  independence — provided 
she  succeeded  in  maintaining  it — as  that  of  the  British  colonies  of  North 
America,  subsequent  to  July  4,  1776.  On  the  3d  of  November,  1835,  the 
delegates  of  Texas  assembled  at  San  Felipe  de  Austin,  and  put  forth  a 
declaration  against  Santa  Anna  and  other  military  chieftains,  who,  it 
stated,  "  had  by  force  of  arms  overthrown  the  federal  institutions  of 
Mexico,  and  dissolved  the  social  compact  which  existed  between  Texas 
and  the  other  members  of  the  Mexican  confederacy."  The  war,  from 
this  time,  was  prosecuted  with  various  fortunes  to  either  side,  until  April 
21,  1836,  when  the  contest  was  virtually  decided  by  the  battle  of  San 
Jacinto,  at  which  the  Mexicans  were  totally  defeated,  and  Santa  Anna 
himself  made  prisoner.  On  the  2d  of  March  previously,  the  Texan  dele- 
gates had  assembled  at  Washington,  on  the  Brazos,  and  made  a  formal 
Declaration  of  Independence,  signed  a  constitution,  and  organized  a  go- 
vernment. The  Texans  now,  therefore,  required  of  their  prisoner,  Santa 
Anna,  an  obligation,  which  he  at  length  took,  to  "  solemnly  acknowledge, 
sanction,  and  ratify"  this  act  of  independence,  and  to  use  his  personal 
and  official  powers  to  procure,  without  delay,  the  ratification  and  con- 
firmation of  that  treaty  by  the  legitimate  government  of  Mexico.  At 
this  time  the  boundaries  of  Texas  were  defined  as  follows : 

"  Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande ;  thence  up  the  principal 
stream  of  said  river  to  its  source ;  thence  due  north  to  the  42°  of  north 
latitude  ;  thence  along  the  boundary  line,  as  defined  in  the  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain  (February,  1819),  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

The  claim  of  boundary  and  independence,  however,  founded  upon  this 
concession  of  Santa  Anna,  cannot  be  maintained,  as  it  was  virtually  ex- 
torted by  force,  and  could  not  be  of  any  binding  virtue  until  it  had  been 
ratified  by  the  legitimate  government  of  Mexico.  So  far  from  receiving 
this  sanction,  however,  President  Bustamente,  who  shortly  afterward 
superseded  Santa  Anna,  repudiated  this  treaty,  and  recommenced  the 
war  with  Texas — a  war  which,  gradually  subsiding  into  an  interrupted 


HE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  ftgg 

series  of  banditti-like  excursions  on  either  side,  at  length  entirely  ceased, 
and  Texas  was  virtually  its  own  master. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  real  ultimate  designs  of  the  Texas  emigrants 
from  the  United  States  became  apparent,  that  all  disguise  was  thrown  off, 
and  the  question  of  annexation  to  the  United  States  boldly  proclaimed.  On 
the  4ih  of  August,  1837,  a  little  more  than  two  years  after  her  declaration  of 
independence,  the  new  government  had  made  a  proposition  of  annexation, 
which  Mr.  President  Van  Buren  declined  ;  declaring  that,  so  long  as  we 
were  bound  by  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  Mexico,  to  annex 
Texas  would  necessarily  involve  the  question  of  war ;  and  that  a  dispo- 
sition to  espouse  the  quarrel  of  Texas  was  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of 
the  treaty,  and  with  the  policy  and  welfare  of  the  United  States. 

A  distinction  ought  here  to  be  made,  which  seems  entirely  to  have 
been  overlooked.  Although  the  inhabitants  of  Texas  had  an  unqestion- 
able  right  to  obtain  their  freedom  from  Mexico,  and  erect  themselves  into 
an  independent  republic — and  although  the  United  States  had  also  the  right 
of  recognizing  that  independence — yet  the  moment  it  was  made  apparent 
that  the  ultimate  object  of  Texas  was  annexation  to  the  American  Union, 
Ihe  sincerity  of  the  former,  and  the  disinterestedness  of  the  other,  became 
•"airly  questionable.  The  world  will  therefore  decide  that,  whatever 
might  have  been  the  right  of  Texas  to  procure  her  freedom,  or  of  the 
United  States  to  recognize  it,  the  moment  that  it  was  proposed  to  make 
both  acts  inure  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  United  States,  that  moment 
Mexico  had  a  right  to  complain  of  it,  as  affording  a  sufficient  ground 
of  war. 

Meanwhile,  a  series  of  partial  negotiations  between  Texas  and  various 
other  powers,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  acknowledgment  of  her 
independence,  went  forward — disturbed  now  and  then  by  a  sprinkling  of 
war  with  the  enfeebled  yet  exasperated  mother-country — until  the  acci- 
dental administration  of  our  government  by  Mr.  Tyler,  revived  the  old 
scheme  of  annexation  in  all  its  force,  and  introduced  a  new  element  into 
the  political  canvass  of  1844,  which  resulted  in  the  final  annexation  of 
Texas,  though  not  the  election  of  Mr.  Tyler,  by  whom  it  had  really  been 
accomplished. 

On  her  side,  Mexico  had  not  been  idle.  On  the  23d  of  August,  1843, 
Mr.  Bocanegra,  the  Mexican  minister  of  foreign  relations,  addressed  a 
note  to  Mr.  Waddy  Thompson,  which  contained  the  following  passage : 

"  And  if  a  party  in  Texas  is  now  endeavouring  to  effect  its  incorpora- 
tion with  the  United  States,  it  is  from  a  consciousness  of  their  notorious 
incapability  to  form  and  constitute  an  independent  nation,  without  their 
having  changed  their  situation,  or  acquired  any  right  to  separate  them- 
selves from  their  mother  country.  His  excellency  the  provisional  presi- 
dent, resting  on  this  deep  conviction,  is  obliged  to  prevent  an  aggression, 
unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  from  being  consummated  ;  and 
if  it  be  indispensable  for  the  Mexican  nation  to  seek  security  for  its  rights  at 
the  expense  of  the  disasters  of  war,  it  will  call  upon  God,  and  rely  on  its  oivn 
efforts  for  the  defence  of  its  just  caused 

This  declaration  was  a  notice  to  the  American  government  of  the  effects 
to  be  anticipated  from  the  annexation,  and  was  replied  to,  by  Mr.  Waddy 
Thompson,  in  a  haughty  note,  affirming  that  the  notice  of  the  Mexican 
minister  was  a  threat,  or  a  warning ;  but  silent  as  to  the  attitude  really 
assumed  by  the  United  States. 

A  short  time  subsequent  to  this  correspondence,  and  as  if  to  prevent 
any  misunderstanding  of  the  meaning  of  Mexico,  General  Almonte,  Mexi- 
can minister  at  Washington,  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Upshur,  secretary 
of  state,  of  which  the  following  passage  is  a  part : — 

"  But  if,  contrary  to  the  hopes  and  wishes  entertained  by  the  government 
of  the  undersigned  for  the  preservation  of  the  good  understanding  and 


590  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

■harmony  which  should  reign  between  the  two  neighbouring  and  friendly 
republics,  the  United  Stales  should,  in  defiance  of  good  faith,  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice  which  they  have  constantly  proclaimed,  commit  the 
laiheard-of  act  of  violence  of  appropriating  to  themselves  an  integrant 
part  of  the  Mexican  territory,  the  undersigned,  in  the  name  of  his  nation, 
and  now  for  them,  protests  in  the  most  solemn  manner  against  such  an 
aggression  ;  and  he  moreover  declares,  by  express  o-rder  of  his  govern- 
ment, that  on  sanction  being  given  by  the  executive  of  the  Union  to  the 
incorporation  of  Texas  into  the  United  States,  he  will  consider  his  mission 
ended,  seeing  that,  as  the  secretary  of  state  will  have  learned,  the  Mexican 
government  is  resolved  to  declare  war  as  soon  as  it  receives  intimation  of  such 
an  acty 

Long  previous  to  actual  annexation,  it  will  be  observed,  the  Mexican 
government  had  officially  informed  the  executive  of  the  United  States, 
that  war  must  inevitably  result  from  that  act.  The  government  of  the 
United  States,  however,  persisted  in  its  plan  of  annexation ;  and  to  Mr. 
J.  C.  Calhoun,  appointed  secretary  of  state  by  Mr.  Tyler  after  the  death 
of  Mr.  Upshur  by  the  explosion  on  the  steamer  Princeton,  is  due  the 
merit  of  the  ingenious  discovery  that  "  this  step  (the  annexation)  had  been 
forced  on  the  government  in  self-defence,  in  consequence  of  the  policy 
adopted  by  Great  Britain  in  reference  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas  " 
— notwithstanding  the  explicit  declaration  of  Mr.  Pakenham,  the  British 
minister,  that,  although  his  government  earnestly  desired  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  Texas,  yet  that  "it  would  not  interfere  unduly,  or  with  an  im- 
proper assumption  of  authority  with  either  party,  in  order  to  insure  the 
adoption  of  such  a  course."  On  the  2-2d  of  April  1844,  Mr.  Tyler  sub- 
mitted to  the  Senate  a  treaty  of  annexation,  which,  after  some  warm 
debate,  was  rejected,  and  the  question  left  open  to  the  public  and  the 
press. 

In  the  following  November  the  presidential  canvass  was  brought  to  a 
close  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk  to  the  presidency,  as  the  avowed 
champion  of  annexation,  and  in  obedience  to  this  apparent  expression  of 
the  popular  will  congress  passed,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1845,  a  joint  reso- 
lution giving  its  consent  that  the  territory  "  rightfully  belonging  to  the 
republic  of  Texas"  might  be  erected  into  a  new  state  called  the  State  of 
Texas ;  subject,  however,  to  the  adjustment  by  this  government  of  "  all 
questions  of  boundary  that  may  arise  with  other  governments."  The 
terms  of  this  resolution  were  promptly  accepted  by  Texas,  by  her  ordi- 
nance of  July  4,  1845  ;  and  two  da5^s  after  she  requested  the  president  of 
the  United  States  to  occupy  the  ports  of  Texas  and  send  an  army  to  their 
defence — a  request  which  was  granted  with  an  alacrity  which  showed  how 
agreeable  it  was  to  that  functionary. 

It  is  at  this  point  in  the  history  of  these  transactions  that  we  first  en- 
counter the  name  of  Major  General  Zachary  Taylor,  then  in  command  at 
Fort  Jessup — who  received  orders  to  advance  his  forces  into  Texas,  seve- 
ral weeks  before  the  War  Department  had  received  intelligence  of  the 
Texan  ordinance  of  July  4.  On  the  28th  of  June  Mr.  Donelson,  then 
minister  to  Texas,  and  to  whom"  General  Taylor  had  boen  referred  for 
advice,  wrote  him  that  he  had  best  move  his  forces,  "without  delay, to  the 
western  frontier  of  Texas,"  and  also  informing  him  that  Corpus  Christ i, 
on  Aranzas  Bay,  was  the  best  point  for  the  assembling  oi  his  troops. 
Mr.  Donelson,  in  this  letter,  also  stated  that  the  country  between  the  Nue- 
ces and  the  Rio  Grande  was  in  dispute,  the  Texans  holding  Corpus.  Christi, 
and  the  Mexicans  Santiago,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Gr.inde. 

General  Taylor  proceeded  at  once  to  Aranzas  Bpy,  where  he  arrived 
and  took  position  in  the  beginning  of  August,  where  a\\  the  trcoos  in  the 
west,  the  northwest,  and  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  that  c  /pld  be  Fp'xrod,  were 
ordered  to  join  him.     In  November,  1845,  the  forces  .?  semOj-d  c  af'.er  his 


I  'I'll 


fi,! 


Ij  jMIHl 
'Nlllillllllt!! 


Ill  llllli!i!llil!li: 


:i       ii:   !' 


i|i''' 


liiiiraiiiiiiiiiiiiiiffliiMliiBiliiSSiiiiiiiii* 


y,i::.::Jl,Hi„ 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  591 

command  amounted  to  4,049  effective  men,  of  which  about  1500  were 
dragoons  and  artillery. 

At  about  the  same  lime  Captain  Stockton  was  ordered  with  a  squadron 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  both  nations  thus  stood  ready,  if  not  prepared, 
for  war.  It  must,  however,  be  mentioned  that  in  the  autumn,  but  after 
General  Taylor's  army  had  assembled  at  Corpus  Christi,  the  president  di- 
rected Mr.  Black,  our  consul  at  Mexico,  to  inquire  of  the  Mexican  govern- 
ment whether  they  would  receive  an  envoy  "  entrusted  with  full  powers 
to  adjust  all  the  questions  in  dispute  between  the  two  governments."  To 
this  a  favourable  answer  was  returned,  "provided  the  mission  was  frank 
and  free,  without  the  appearance  of  coercion,  and  that  the  American 
squadron,  then  hovering  off  Vera  Cruz,  was  recalled." 

In  accordance  with  this  arrangement  Mr.  John  Slidell  was  appointed 
special  envoy  to  Mexico,  and  arrived  at  Sacrificios  on  the  20th  of  Novem- 
ber, whence  he  hastened  on  toward  the  city  of  Mexico.  At  Puebla,  how- 
ever, he  was  met  by  Mr.  Black,  who  informed  him  that  the  Mexican 
government  did  not  dare  to  entertain  peace  propositions  just  then,  lest  the 
irritation  of  the  people  would  overturn  the  government  and  render  peace 
impossible.  It  was  hoped  that,  by  January,  arrangements  could  be  com- 
pleted for  commencing  negotiations.  Disregarding  these  intimations,  Mr. 
Slidell  proceeded  at  once  to  the  city  of  Mexico  ;  and  after  the  interchange 
of  a  few  brief  and  peremptory  notes,  he  received,  on  the  20th  of  Decem- 
ber— twelve  days  after  the  date  of  his  first  note — official  notice  that  the 
Mexican  government  could  not  admit  him  "  to  the  exercise  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  mission  conferred  on  him  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States." 

It  seems  that  the  Mexican  government  had  judged  rightly  in  supposing 
that  any  appearance  of  negotiation  would  be  seized  upon  as  the  pretext 
for  its  own  destruction.  On  the  29th  of  December,  only  nine  days  after 
the  dismissal  of  Mr.  Slidell,  the  anticipated  revolution  broke  out ;  and  on 
the  2d  of  January,  1846,  Herrera  was  overthrown,  and  Paredes  ushered 
in  triumph  into  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  declared  president.  He  imme- 
diately proceeded  to  organize  a  government  on  the  basis  of  the  war 
spirit,  which  burned  so  fiercely  in  Mexico,  and  made  Almonte  a  leading 
member  of  his  cabinet. 

In  the  month  of  March,  Mr.  Slidell,  who  had  retired  to  Jalapa,  renewed, 
under  instructions  from  the  State  Department,  his  overtures  to  the  Mexi- 
can government.  To  this  new  proposition  the  Mexican  minister  for 
foreign  affairs,  Mr.  Costillo  Y.  Lanzas,  again  returned  an  unequivocal 
denial  ;  repeating  what  had  been  stated  as  the  chief  ground  of  his  first 
rejection,  that  his  government  would  admit  "only  a  plenipotentiary  from 
the  United  States  clothed  with  special  powers  to  treat  upon  the  question 
of  Texas,  and  upon  this  alone."  In  a  few  days  afterward,  Mr.  Slidell 
received  his  passports,  and  thus  the  door  to  negotiation  was  finally 
closed. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  the  advance  column  of  the  army  under  Colonel 
Twiggs  commenced  its  march  from  Corpus  Christi,  and  on  the  18th,  the 
whole  was  concentrated  near  the  banks  of  the  Arroya  Colorado,  about 
thirty  miles  from  Matamoras.  Here  a  party  of  irregular  Mexican  cavalry 
(rancheros)  appeared  on  the  opposite  banks,  and  signified  to  the  officer 
making  a  reconnaissance,  that  an  attempt  to  pass  the  river  would  be  an 
act  of  hostility.  Notwithstanding  this  notice,  the  army  crossed  the  river 
on  the  20th,  and  on  the  25th  established  its  position  at  Point  Isabel ;  the 
buildmgs  of  which  the  Mexican  prefect  attempted  to  burn,  as  he  left  the 
place.  On  the  28th  of  March,  General  Taylor  took  his  position  within 
cannon  range  of  Matamoras.  The  Mexican  forces  in  the  town  commenced 
preparing  batteries  to  bear  on  the  American  camp ;  and  General  Taylor 
also  erected  batteries  to  command  Matamoras.     Such  was  the  position 


592  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  the  parties,  when  a  conference  was  held  between  Generals  Worth  and 
La  Vega,  as  to  the  objects  in  advancing  the  army.  The  conference  was 
fruitless  of  any  results. 

On  the  24th  of  April,  General  Arista  assumed  the  chief  command  of 
the  army  of  iSIexico.  On  the  same  day  General  Taylor  detached  a  party 
of  C3  dragoons  to  watch  the  course  of  the  river  above  Matamoras.     Tliis 

Sarty,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Thornton,  were  watched  by  the 
lexicans,  and  at  a  point  about  thirty  miles  from  the  American  camp, 
Avere  surprised  and  attacked.  After  the  loss  of  sixteen  men  killed  and 
wounded,  they  were  compelled  to  surrender  to  the  superior  forces  of  the 
Mexicans,  who  in  large  numbers  had  surrounded  them  in  a  fenced  plan- 
tation field. 

Three  days  after  this  affair,  the  camp  of  Captain  Walker's  Texan 
Rangers  was  surprised,  and  several  killed  and  wounded.  This  was  be- 
tween Point  Isabel  and  Matamoras.  In  the  meanwhile,  it  was  ascertained 
that  a  large  body  of  the  Mexican  army  had  crossed  the  Itio  Grande  above, 
and  that  another  corps  was  about  to  cross  below.  General  Taylor  was 
convinced  that  the  object  of  attack  was  Point  Isabel,  which  had  been 
left  in  care  of  a  small  detachment,  and  where  a  large  depot  of  provisions 
invited  the  enemy.  Leaving  an  unfinished  field-work,  under  the  command 
of  Major  Brown,  and  garrisoned  by  the  7th  infantry,  with  Lowd's  and 
Bragg's  companies  of  artillery,  he  marched  for  Point  Isabel  on  the  1st 
of  May,  with  his  main  force,  and  arrived  on  the  next  day. 

The  departure  of  General  Taylor  with  his  army,  furnished  the  enemy 
in  Matamoras  with  the  opportunity  of  a  safe  attack  on  Fort  Brown.  At 
five  in  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  May,  a  heavy  bombardment  was  com- 
menced from  the  batteries  in  Matamoras,  and  continued  at  intervals  till 
the  loth,  when  the  gallant  defenders  of  the  fort  were  relieved,  and  the 
siege  raised,  by  the  arrival  of  General  Taylor  and  his  victorious  army, 
fresh  from  the  fields  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma.  It  appears 
that  Arista  had  proceeded  toward  Point  Isabel  with  the  whole  of  his 
forces,  numbering  about  eight  thousand  men ;  but  the  celerity  of  Taylor's 
movements  enabled  him  to  arrive  there  first,  and  Arista's  plan  was  aban- 
doned. 

Having  garrisoned  the  depot  at  Point  Isabel  with  new  troops,  and  put 
everything  there  in  proper  order.  General  Taylor  commenced  his  return 
march  to  Fort  Brown  on  the  7th  of  May.  The  next  day  at  noon,  the 
Mexican  army  was  encountered,  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  on  a  prairie 
about  thre«  miles  from  Palo  Alto.  A  halt  was  ordered  ;  the  troops  re- 
freshed at  a  pool  ;  and  at  tw'o  o'clock  the  American  army  a'Qvanced  to 
the  charge,  and  the  battle  was  waged  with  unintermitting  ardour  until 
nightfall,  when  the  iNIexicans  were  forced  to  retire— their  superior  num- 
bers j'ielding  before  the  profound  coolness  and  fatal  skill  of  our  troops — 
and  General  Taylor  encamped  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

In  this  opening  engagement  of  the  Mexican  campaign,  the  artillery 
vindicated  its  claim  to  being  considered  one  of  the  most  important  and 
indispensable  arms  of  the  American  service.  One  of  its  most  beloved 
and  brilliant  ornaments — Major  Ringgold — was  mortally  wounded  in  this 
battle,  and  died  in  a  few  days  afterward. 

During  the  night,  the  Mexican  general  retreated  his  forces  to  Resaca 
de  la  Palma,  several  miles  distant ;  where,  behind  a  ravine  which  crossed 
the  road,  which  was  skirted  with  dense  thickets,  he  awaited  once  more  the 
approach  of  the  American  forces.  At  two  o'clock  the  next  day,  General 
Taylor  resumed  his  march,  and  in  about  two  hours  came  in  sight  of  the 
Mexicans.  The  enemy  commenced  the  action  with  his  artillery,  which 
was  so  well  served,  under  Generals  La  Vega  and  Requena,  that  Captain 
May  was  despatched  to  dislodge  them — a  duty  which  he  performed  with 
the  most  brilliant  success  ;  completely  dispersing  the  artillery,  and  taking 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  593 

General  La  Vega  himself  prisoner.  Our  infantry  now  pushed  forward, 
and  charged  the  Mexican  lines  with  so  much  vigour,  that  they  were  soon 
forced  to  give  way,  and  the  battle  was  ended — the  Mexicans  at  length 
flying  from  the  field,  and  never  stopping  till  they  had  either  crossed  the 
Rio  Grande,  or  were  drowned  in  its  waters. 

In  these  two  engagements  General  Taylor  displayed,  in  a  high  degree, 
those  traits  of  coolness  and  bravery  which  have  made  his  name  so  famous, 
and  rendered  him  the  idol  of  the  army.  His  humanity  was  also  as  dis- 
tinguished, after  the  battle,  as  his  courage  and  activity  had  been  while 
the  contest  lasted.  His  official  report  shows  also  that  his  modesty  was 
at  least  the  equal  of  his  gallantry  and  his  humanity. 

We  insert  the  report : 

Headquarters  Army  of  Occupation,      > 
Camp  at  Palo  Alto,  Texas,  May  9,  1846.  \ 

Sir, — I  have  the  honour  to  report  that  I  was  met  near  this  place  yesterday,  on  my 
march  from  Point  Isabel,  by  the  Mexican  forces,  and  after  an  action  of  about  five 
hours,  dislodged  them  from  their  position,  and  encamped  upon  the  field.  Our 
artillery,  consisting  of  two  18-pounders  and.  two  light  batteries,  was  the  arm  chiefly 
engaged,  and  to  the  excellent  manner  in  which  it  was  manoeuvred  and  served  is 
our  success  mainly  due. 

The  strength  of  the  enemy  is  believed  to  have  been  about  six  thousand  men,  with 
seven  pieces  of  artillery,  and  eight  hundred  cavalry.  His  loss  is  probably  at  least 
one  hundred  killed.  Our  strength  did  not  exceed,  all  told,  twenty-three  hundred, 
while  our  loss  was  comparatively  trifling — four  men  killed,  three  officers  and  thirty- 
seven  men  wounded,  several  of  the  latter  mortally.  I  regret  to  say  that  Major 
Ringgold,  3d  artillery,  and  Captain  Paige,  4th  infantry,  are  severely  wounded. 
Lieut.  Luther,  2d  artillery,  slightly  so. 

The  enemy  has  fallen  back,  and  it  is  believed  has  repassed  the  river.  I  have  ad- 
vanced parties  now  thrown  forward  in  his  direction,  and  shall  move  the  main  body 
immediately. 

In  the  haste  of  this  first  report,  I  can  only  say  that  the  officers  and  men  behaved 
in  the  most  admirable  manner  throughout  the  action.  I  shall  have  the  pleasure 
of  making  a  more  detailed  report  when  those  of  the  diSerent  commanders  shall  be 
received. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Z.  Taylor, 
Brevet  Brigadier-general  U.S.  A.  Commanding. 


'■[ 


Headquarters  Army  of  Occupation, 
Camp  at  Resaca,  de  la  Palma,  3  miles  from  Matamoras, 
10  o'clock,  P.M.— May  9,  1846. 

Sir, — I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  I  marched  with  the  main  body  of  the  army 
at  two  o'clock  to-day,  having  previously  thrown  forward  a  body  of  light  infantry 
into  the  forest,  which  covers  the  Matamoras  road.  When  near  the  spot  where  I 
am  now  encamped,  my  advance  discovered  that  a  ravine  crossing  the  road  had 
been  occupied  by  the  enemy  with  artillery.  I  immediately  ordered  a  battery  of 
field  artillery  to  sweep  the  position,  flanking  and  sustaining  it  by  the  3d,  4th,  and 
5th  regiments,  deployed  as  skirmishers  to  the  right  and  left.  A  heavy  fire  of 
artillery  and  of  musketry  was  kept  up  for  some  time,  until  finally  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries were  carried  in  succession  by  a  squadron  of  dragoons  and  the  regiments  of 
infantry  that  were  on  the  ground.  He  was  soon  driven  from  his  position,  and  pur 
sued  by  a  squadron  of  dragoons,  battalion  of  artillery,  3d  infantry,  and  a  light 
battery,  to  the  river.  Our  victory  has  been  complete.  Eight  pieces  of  artillery, 
with  a  great  quantity  of  ammunition,  three  standards,  and  some  one  hundred 
prisoners  hav-e  been  taken ;  among  the  latter,  General  La  Vega,  and  several  other 
officers.  One  general  is  understood  to  have  been  killed.  The  enemy  has  recrossed 
the  river,  and  I  am  sure  will  not  again  molest  us  on  this  bank. 

The  loss  of  the  enemy  in  killed  has  been  most  severe.  Our  own  has  been  very 
heavy,  and  I  deeply  regret  to  report  that  Lieut.  Inge,  2d  dragoons,  Lieut  Coch- 
rane, 4th  infantry,  and  Lieut.  Chadbourne,  8th  infantry,  were  killed  on  the  field. 
Lieut. -col.  Payne,  4lh  artillery,  Lieut.-col.  Mcintosh,  Lieut.  Dobbins,  3d  infantry, 
Capt.  Hooe  and  Lieut.  Fowler,  5th  infantry,  and  Capt.  Montgomery,  Lieuts.  Gates, 
Selden,  McClay,  Burbank,  and  Jordan,  8th  infantry,  were  wounded.  The  extent 
38 


594  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

of  our  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  is  not  yet  ascertained,  and  is  reserved  for  a  more 
detailed  report. 

The  ailnir  of  to-day  may  be  regarded  as  a  proper  supplement  to  the  cannonade 
of  yesterday ;  and  the  two  taken  together,  exhibit  the  coolness  and  gallantry  of  our 
olliccrs  and  iiioii  in  the  most  favourable  light.  All  iiave  done  their  duty,  and  done 
it  nobly.  It  will  be  my  pride  in  a  more  circumstantial  report  of  both  actions,  to 
dwell  upon  jjarticular  instances  of  individual  distinction. 

It  aff'ords  me  peculiar  pleasure  to  report  that  tlie  field-work  opposite  Matamoras 
has  sustained  ilsolf  handsomely  during  a  cannonade  and  bombardment  of  168  hours. 
But  the  pliMSure  is  alloyed  with  profound  regret  at  the  loss  of  its  heroic  and  in- 
domitable commander.  Major  Brown,  who  died  to-day  from  the  effect  of  a  shell. 
His  loss  would  be  a  severe  one  to  the  sei-vice  at  any  time,  but  to  the  anny  under 
my  orders,  it  is,  indeed,  irreparable.  One  ofTicer  and  one  non-commissioned  officer 
killed,  and  ten  men  wounded,  comprise  all  the  casualties  incident  to  this  severe 
bombardment. 

I  inadvertently  omitted  to  mention  the  capture  of  a  large  number  of  pack  mulo 
left  in  the  Mexican  camp. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

Z.  Taylor, 
Brevet  Brigadier-general  U.  S.  A.  CommandiDg 

Headquarters  Army  of  Occupation,  ) 

Point  Isabel,  Texas,  May  12,  1846.  J 

Sir, — I  am  making  a  hasty  visit  to  this  place,  for  the  purpose  of  having  an  inter- 
view with  Commodore  Connor,  whose  squadron  is  now  at  anchor  off  the  harbour, 
and  aiTanging  with  him  a  combined  movement  up  the  river.  I  avail  myself  of  the 
brief  time  at  my  command  to  report  that  the  main  body  of  the  army  is  now  occu- 
pying its  former  position  opposite  Matamoras.  The  Mexican  forces  are  almost  dis 
organized,  and  I  shall  lose  no  time  in  investing  Matamoras,  and  opening  the  naviga 
tion  of  the  river. 

I  regret  to  report  that  Major  Ringgold  died  the  morning  of  the  11th  inst.,  of  the 
severe  wounds  received  in  the  action  of  Palo  Alto.  With  the  exception  of  Captain 
Paige,  whose  wound  is  dangerous,  the  otla-r  wounded  officers  are  doing  well.  In 
my  report  of  the  second  engagement,  I  accidentally  omitted  the  name  of  Lieut. 
Dobbins,  3d  infantry,  among  the  officers  slightly  wounded,  and  desire  that  the 
omission  may  be  supplied  in  the  despatch  itself.  I  am  under  the  painfiil  necessity 
of  reporting  that  Lieut.  Blake,  topographical  engineers,  after  rendering  distinguish- 
ed services  in  my  staff  dm-ing  the  affair  of  the  8th  inst.,  accidentally  shot  himself 
with  a  pistol  on  the  following  day,  and  expired  during  the  night. 

It  has  been  quite  impossible  as  yet  to  furnish  detailed  reports  of  our  engagements 
with  the  enemy,  or  even  accurate  returns  of  the  killed  and  wounded.  Our  loss  is 
not  far  from  3  officers  and  40  men  killed,  and  13  officers  and  100  men  wounded ; 
while  that  of  the  enemy  has  in  all  probability  exceeded  300  killed  ;  more  than  200 
have  been  buried  by  us  on  the  two  fields  of  battle. 

I  have  exchanged  a  sufficient  number  of  prisoners  to  recover  the  command  of 
Captain  Thornton.  The  wounded  prisoners  have  been  sent  to  Matamoras — the 
wounded  officers  on  their  parole.  General  La  Vega  and  a  few  other  officers  have 
been  sent  to  New  Orleans,  having  declined  a  parole,  and  will  be  reported  to  Major- 
gen.  Gaines.  I  am  not  conversant  with  the  usages  of  war  in  such  cases,  and  beg 
that  such  provision  may  be  made  for  these  prisoners  as  may  be  authorized  by  law. 
Our  own  prisoners  have  been  treated  with  gi-eat  kindness  by  the  Mexican  officers, 
I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Z.  Taylor, 
Brevet  Brigadier-general  U.  3.  A.  Commanding. 

The  first  news  that  arrived  in  this  country  of  actual  hostilities  having 
been  commenced  on  the  Rio  Grande,  was  received  with  apparent  (although 
unreasonable)  astonishment,  and  created  the  most  intense  excitement. 
Congress  was  then  in  session,  and  the  president  immediately  sent  in  a 
message,  announcing  that  the  Mexican  government  had  "  at  last  invaded 
our  territory,  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  citizens  upon  our  ov/n  soil."  Af- 
ter a  brief  discussion,  congress  admitted  the  correctness  of  the  president's 
assertion,  and  declared  that  "  by  the  act  of  the  republic  of  Mexico,  a  state 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  595 

of  war  exists  between  that  government  and  the  United  States."  At  the 
same  time  an  appropriation  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  was  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  president,  and  he  was  authorized  to  accept  the  services  of 
fifty  thousand  volunteers. 

If  the  government  at  Washington  had  been  heretofore  remiss  in  provid- 
ing for  the  exigencies  of  war  which  itself  had  been  greatly  instrumental 
in  hurrying  on,  it  now  seemed  disposed  to  compensate  for  past  inactivity. 
In  two  days  from  the  declaration  of  congress  that  war  existed  on  the  Rio 
Grande,  the  plan  of  the  campaign  of  1816  was  completed— the  requisitions 
on  the  governors  of  states  determined  on — and  General  Scott  issued  to 
the  chief  of  the  general  staff  at  Washington  his  memoranda  relative  to 
transportation,  &c.  These  memoranda  were  issued  on  the  15th  of  May  ; 
and  so  thoroughly  educated  in  their  profession — so  capable  and  so  energetic 
were  the  officers  of  the  general  staff,  that,  on  the  1st  of  August,  all  the 
foot  regiments  of  the  volunteer  army  had  been  mustered  into  service, 
marched  several  thousand  miles,  and  assembled  on  the  Rio  Grande. 

After  the  battle  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  the  little  American  army,  under 
General  Taylor,  took  possession  of  Matamoras,  and  commenced  vigorous 
preparations  for  penetrating  into  the  interior  of  Mexico.  His  entire  force 
now  consisted  of  about  nine  thousand  men,  twenty-four  hundred  of  whom 
were  assigned  to  different  garrisons  in  the  vicinity,  while  the  main  body, 
consisting  of  six  thousand  six  hundred  men,  was  destined  to  march  on 
Monterey.  This  force  was  divided  into  three  divisions,  commanded  re- 
spectively by  Brigadier-general  Twiggs,  Brigadier-general  Worth,  and 
Major-general  Butler.  General  Worth  commenced  his  march  for  Monte- 
rey, the  capital  of  New  Leon,  on  the  20th  of  August ;  on  the  5th  of  Sep- 
tember the  general-in-chief  left  Camargo,  the  principal  depot  of  supplies, 
leaving  that  town  garrisoned  by  about  two  thousand  men.  At  the  end  of 
the  month,  the  whole  marching  force  found  itself  concentrated  at  the 
village  of  Morin,  on  the  road  to  INIonterey,  under  command  of  General 
Taylor.  After  halting  a  few  days  to  obtain  information,  the  whole  body 
pushed  on,  and  on  the  19th  of  September  arrived  at  Walnut  Springs,  three 
miles  from  Monterey,  having  met  no  serious  resistance  on  the  way. 

Monterey  was  by  nature  made  apparently  impregnable,  and  had  been 
partially  fortified  by  art.  It  was  commanded  by  General  Pedro  Ampudia, 
with  a  garrison  of  about  seven  thousand  regular,  and  two  or  three  thou- 
sand irregular  troops.  General  Taylor,  however,  having  decided  to  carry 
the  place  by  storm,  with  the  bayonet  and  the  artillery,  made  a  reconnaissance 
of  the  works  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival  at  Walnut  Springs.  The  next 
day  General  Worth  was  ordered  to  make  a  detour  to  the  right,  turn  the 
hill  of  the  Bishop's  Palace,  and  take  a  position  on  the  Saltillo  road,  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  the  enemy's  works  in  that  quarter.  General  Butler 
was  posted  with  his  division  behind  a  battery  of  two  twenty-four  pounders, 
and  a  ten  inch  mortar.  On  the  morning  of  the  21st,  the  battle  began  in 
earnest.  Twiggs's  and  Butler's  divisions,  supported  by  the  light  artillery, 
were  both  ordered  forward.  May,  with  his  dragoons,  was  detached  to  the 
right,  to  support  General  Worth,  while  a  column  of  six  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  with  Bragg's  artillery,  was  ordered  to  attack  the  lower  part  of  the 
town,  at  a  point  designated  by  Major  Mansfield.  They  found  themselves 
opposed  by  entrenched  streets  and  barricaded  houses  ;  and,  after  sustain- 
ing a  deadltV  fire,  Garland's  force  was  compelled  to  retire.  At  this  juncture 
General  Taylor  ordered  up  the  4th  infantry,  and  the  volunteer  regiments 
from  Ohio,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  commanded  by  Colonels  Mitchell, 
Campbell,  and  Davis.  The  last  two  regiments,  with  three  companies  of 
the  4th  regiment,  advanced  against  the  redoubt.  The  last  companies, 
being  in  front,  were  received  with  a  deadly  fire,  which  killed  or  disabled 
one  third  of  the  men,  and  they  were  compelled  to  retire.  The  brigade  of 
General  Quitman  (Tennessee  and  Mississippi)  pushed  on,  and,  with  the  aid 


590  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

of  Captain  Backus's  company  (on  the  roof  of  a  house)  captured  the  fort, 
with  its  cannon  and  ammunition. 

In  the  mean  wliile  the  Ohio  regiment,  with  General  Butler  and  Colonel 
Mitchell,  entered  the  town  to  tlu^  right,  and  advanced  against  the  second 
battery,  but  the  fire  was  so  severe  that  the  regiment  was  withdrawn- 
General  Butler,  wlio  had  advanced  with  it,  being  wounded.  The  guns  of 
the  first  battery  were  turned  upon  the  second,  and  C'olonel  Garland  was 
again  ordered  forward  with  another  column.  They  were  compelled  to 
pass  several  streets  trenched  and  barricaded,  and  after  another  severe 
contest  retired  in  good  order.  Up  to  this  time,  it  is  obvious,  no  important 
success  had  been  obtained  against  tlie  lower  town.  Repeated  assaults 
had  been  made,  and  one  battery  carried  ;  but  it  is  evident  the  enemy  hao 
preserved  the  main  part  of  his  defences  untouched.  The  Mexican  cavalry 
had  also  made  several  charges,  but  always  unsuccessfully.  On  the  same 
day  (the  21st)  Worth's  division  had  advanced  to  the  right,  defeated  tht 
enemy,  and  carried  several  fortified  heights.  At  night  General  Tayloi 
ordered  a  large  part  of  Twiggs's  and  Butler's  divisions  back  to  Walnut 
Springs — a  portion  remaining  to  guard  the  battery  in  the  ravine. 

At  dawn  of  the  22d,  Worth  and  his  division,  which  had  bivouacked  on 
the  Saltillo  road,  recommenced  the  advance.  The  height  above  the 
Bishop's  Palace  was  stormed  and  taken,  when  the  palace  and  the  guns  of 
both  were  turned  upon  the  enemy  below. 

The  guns  of  the  citadel  continued,  during  this  day,  to  fire  upon  the 
American  positions  ;  but  General  Taylor  made  no  important  movement  in 
front.  The  turning  of  the  enemy's  position  by  Worth,  and  the  capture  of 
the  Bishop's  Palace,  gave  a  new  face  to  affairs.  This  was  the  key  to 
Monterey,  and  General  Ampudia  concentrated  his  troops  in  the  heart  of 
the  city.  General  Taylor,  on  the  morning  of  the  23d,  found  nearly  all  the 
works  in  tjie  lower  part  of  the  city  abandoned.  He  immediately  ordered 
General  Quitman  to  enter  the  place,  but  here  a  new  resistance  was  made. 
The  houses  were  fortified,  and  our  troops  actually  dug  through  from  house 
to  house  !  On  the  upper  side  of  the  city,  Worth's  division  had  also  gained 
a  lodgment.  The  firing  continued  during  the  23d — the  Americans  having 
possession  of  the  greater  part  of  the  city,  and  the  Mexicans  confined,  in 
their  defence,  chiefly  to  the  citadel  and  plaza.  That  evening  (at  9  p.m.) 
General  Ampudia  sent  in  propositions  to  General  Taylor,  which,  after 
some  negotiation,  resulted  in  the  surrender  and  evacuation  of  Monterey. 
The  main  part  of  the  capitulation  was,  that  the  Mexican  troops  should  re- 
tire beyond  a  line  formed  by  the  pass  of  Rinconada,  the  city  of  Linares, 
and  San  Fernando  de  Presas  ;  and  that  the  forces  of  the  United  States 
would  not  advance  beyond  that  line  before  the  expiration  of  eight  weeks, 
or  until  the  orders  or  instructions  of  the  respective  governments  should  be 
received. 

The  following  are  the  articles  of  capitulation  • 

Article  1.  As  the  legitimate  result  of  the  operations  before  this  place, 
and  the  present  position  of  the  contending  armies,  it  is  agreed  that  the 
city,  the  fortifications,  cannon,  the  munitions  of  war,  and  all  other  public 
property,  with  the  under-mentioned  exceptions,  be  surrendered  to  the 
commanding  general  of  the  United  States  forces  now  at  Monterey. 

Art.  II.  That  the  Mexican  forces  be  allowed  to  retain  the  following 
arms,  to  wit :  the  commissioned  officers  their  side-arms,  the  infantry  their 
arms  and  accoutrements,  the  cavalry  their  arms  and  accoutrements,  the 
artillery  one  field  battery,  not  to  exceed  six  pieces,  with  twenty-one 
rounds  of  ammunition. 

Art.  III.  That  the  jNIexican  armed  forces  retire,  within  seven  days  from 
this  date,  beyond  the  line  formed  by  the  pass  of  the  Rinconada,  the  city 
of  Linares,  and  San  Fernando  de  Presas. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  597 

Art.  IV.  That  the  citadel  of  Monterey  be  evacuated  by  the  Mexican, 

and  occupied  by  the  American  forces,  to-morrow  morning  at  ten  o'clock. 

Art.  V.  To'  avoid  collisions,  and  for  mutual  convenience,  that  the  troops 

of  the  United  States  will  not  occupy  the  city  until  the  Mexican  forces 

have  withdrawn,  except  for  hospital  and  storage  purposes. 

Art.  VI.  That  the  forces  of  the  United  States  will  not  advance  beyond 
the  line  specified  in  the  2d  [3d]  article  before  the  expiration  of  eight 
weeks,  or  until  the  orders  or  instructions  of  the  respective  governments 
can  be  received. 

Art.  VII.  That  the  public  property  to  be  delivered  shall  be  turned  over 
and  received  by  officers  appointed  by  the  commanding  generals  of  the  two 
armies. 

Art.  VIII.  That  all  doubts  as  to  the  meaning  of  any  of  the  preceding 
articles  shall  be  solved  by  an  equitable  construction,  and  on  principles  of 
liberality  to  the  retiring  army. 

Art.  IX.  That  the  Mexican  flag,  when  struck  at  the  citadel,  may  be 
saluted  by  its  own  battery. 
Done  at  Monterey,  Sept.  24,  1846. 

W.  J.  Worth, 

Brigadier-general  U.  S.  A. 
S.  PiNKNEY  Henderson, 
Major-general  commauding  the  Texan  volunteers, 
Jefferson  Davis, 

Col.  Mississippi  Riflemeu. 
Manuel  M.  Llano, 
Ortega, 
T.  Requena, 
PEnRo  Ampcdia. 
Approved : 

Z.  Taylor, 
Major-general,  U.  S.  A.  Commanding. 

The  American  loss  in  this  battle  was  (killed  and  wounded)  four  hundred 
and  eighty-eight,  a  large  portion  of  whom  fell  in  the  attacks  of  the  21st 
on  the  lower  town. 

As  the  terms  of  this  capitulation  were  made  a  subject  of  reproach 
among  the  blood-thirstiest  of  our  politicians,  and  several  editors  who  are 
always  ready  to  shed  their  last  drop  of  ink  in  villifying  the  defenders  o.f 
their  country,  we  feel  it  but  a  di^y  to  say  that  for  our  own  part  we  see, 
in  the  humanity  and  forbearance  which  dictated  it,  the  strongest  claims  of 
General  Taylor  upon  our  regard  ;  while  it  is  now  universally  admitted 
that  it  was  equally  distinguished  for  the  sagacity  and  profound  judgment 
which  dictated  it. 

The  War  Department,  however,  was  dissatisfied,  and  ordered  General 
Taylor  to  give  notice  that  the  armistice  should  cease,  and  that  each  party 
should  be  at  liberty  to  resume  hostilities.  Meanwhile  the  army  had  been 
transporting  its  supplies,  opening  its  communications,  and  refreshing  it- 
self in  the  delicious  climate  and  upon  the  fine  fruits  of  Monterey.  On 
the  8th  of  November  a  general  order  announced  that  the  army  would  pro- 
ceed to  occupy  Saltillo,  the  capital  of  the  state  of  Coahuila ;  and  on  the 
12th  General  Worth  with  his  division  took  up  his  line  of  march  for  that 
point,  where  he  soon  after  established  himself,  and  was  joined  by  a  co- 
lumn under  General  Wool.  Generals  Patterson  and  Quitman,  with  a  field 
battery  from  General  Taylor's  army,  meanwhile  pushed  on  and  occupied 
Victoria,  the  capital  of  Tamaulipas,  without  much  opposition.  About  the 
same  time  Tampico  was  captured  by  Commodore  Perry  and  garrisoned 
by  the  land  forces.  Thus  the  campaign  of  the  Rio  Grande  was  brought 
to  a  close,  having  commenced  in  March,  1846,  by  the  march  of  General 
Taylor  from  Corpus  Christi  over  the  disputed  territory,  and  terminated  in 


508  THE  TREASURV  OF  HISTORY. 

December  with  the  military  occupation  of  New  Mexico,  New  Leon,  Coa- 

huihi  and  Tamaulii)as. 

While  tliese  events  were  transpiring  on  the  Rio  Grande,  the  government 
had  sent  an  expedition  against  Northern  Mexico,  under  the  command  of 
Generals  Kearney  and  Wool.     The  idea  appears  to  have  been  entertained 
by  the  administration,  that  the  states  of  Chihuahua,  Durango,  and  othei 
portions  of  New  Mexico  were  prepared  to  openly  favor  this  movement, 
and  declare  themselves  independent  of  the  central  government.     Under 
this  impression,  principally  created  by  the  statements  of  some  letter-wri- 
ters for  the  newspapers,  a  corps  was  organized,  called  the  Army  of  the 
West,  and  designed  to  take  possession  of  New  Mexico,  by  way  of  Santa 
Fe.     This  army,  which  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  volunteers,  be- 
gan concentrating  at  Fort  Leavenworth  early  in  June,  1846,  and  on  the 
30lh  of  that  month  the  entire  force  had  commenced  its  march  for  Santa 
Fe.     This  force  consisted  of  2700  men,  200  of  which  were  dragoons,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  the  remainder  were  mounted.     On  the  3d  of  August 
the  army  left  Bent's  Fort,  wliere  they  had  arrived  in  safety,  after  a  long 
and  dreary  march,  and  in  ten  days  afterward  began  to  approach  the  Mex- 
ican settlements.     The  governor  of  Santa  Fe,  Armijo,  had  received  notice 
of  the  approach  of  our  forces,  and  had  gathered  a  formidable  number  of 
men  from  the  adjacent  provinces  to  dispute  the  field.     On  the  16th  of  Au- 
gust he  marched  out  of  Santa  Fe  and  took  position  on  an  eminence  com- 
manding a  narrow  defile,  through  which  ran  the  only  road  to  the  city. 
However,  upon  holding  a  council  of  war,  the  governor  decided  to  abandon 
his  favourable  position,  and  the  Mexicans  retreated — Armijo  himself  ma- 
king his  way  to  Chihuahua  with  a  hundred  dragoons.     Two  days  after, 
General  Kearney  with  his  army  took  peaceable  possession  of  Santa  Fe 
and  assured  the  people  that  he  would  protect  them  in  tlieir  religion,  their 
liberties,  and  their  property — that  his  object  in  coming  was  to  establish 
free  government,  and  that  he  absolved  them  from  their  allegiance  to  Mex- 
ico.    He  even  undertook  to  regulate  the  civil  and  municipal  aff'airs  of  the 
country,  and  m  some  cases  compelled  the  magistrates  to  swear  allegiance 
to  the  United  States.     He  also  issued  a  proclamation,  addressed  "From 
the  Army  of  the  West  to  the  Inhabitants  of  New  Mexico,"  in  which  he 
stated  it  as  "  the  wish  and  intention  of  the  United  States  to  provide  for 
New  Mexico  a  free  government  with  the  least  possible  delay,  similar  to 
those  in  the  United  States ;  and  the  people  of  New  Mexico  will  then  be 
called  upon  to  exercise  the  rights  of  freemen  in  electing  their  own  repre- 
sentatives to  the  territorial  legislature."    The  proclamation  also  went  on 
to  say : 

"  The  undersigned  hereby  absolves  all  persons  residing  within  the 
boundary  of  New  Mexico  from  further  allegiance  to  the  republic  of  Mexi- 
co, and  hereby  claims  them  as  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Those  who 
remain  quiet  and  peaceable  will  be  considered  as  good  citizens,  and  receive 
protection;  those  who  are  found  in  arms,  or  instigating  others  against  the 
United  States,  will  be  considered  as  traitors,  and  treated  accordingly." 

-'  Neither,"  says  Mansfield,  "  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  nor 
the  people,  by  act  of  congress,  or  by  vote,  had  provided  any  means,  or  ex- 
pressed any  wish  for  the  annexation  of  New  Mexico.  The  laws  of  nations 
were  equally  silent  as  to  any  mode  by  which  the  allegiance  of  a  citizen 
can  be  absolved  by  any  act  of  a  military  commander.  Nor  had  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  provided  any  way  by  which  a  foreign  citizen  could 
become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  except  by  naturalization." 

One  month  after  these  proceedings  (on  the  25th  of  September),  General 
Kearney  left  Santa  Fe,  and  with  four  hundred  dragoons  departed  for  Cali- 
fornia. He  took  the  old  Copper-mine  route,  down  the  Rio  Grande  to  So- 
rotto,  and  thence  to  the  Pacific.  On  the  20th  of  October,  three  hundred 
miles  west  of  Santa  Fe,  he  was  informed  by  a  returning  party  that  Fre 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  59y 

moiit  had  already  taken  possession  of  California.  He  then  sent  Major 
Sumner  back  with  the  largest  part  of  the  dragoons,  and  taking  only  one 
hundred  with  himself,  pursued,  with  this  small  force,  the  daring  enterprise 
of  crossing  the  deserts  and  mountains  of  Western  America  in  the  cold 
season. 

Thus  was  effected  the  conquest  of  the  province  of  New  Mexico  by  the 
troops  of  the  United  States:  bloodless  in  its  achievement,  and  fruitless  of 
any  immediate  results,  but  illustrating  the  energy  of  the  American  people 
in  the  collection  and  movement  of  troops,  and  the  celerity  with  which  the 
great  western  plains  may  be  traversed  by  military  forces. 

The  other  column,  destined  to  act  against  the  central  states  of  Mexico, 
and  called  the  "Army  of  the  Centre,"  was  placed  under  the  command  of 
Brigadier-general  John  E.  Wool,  and  directed  to  march  on  Chihuahua. 
This  force  was  composed  of  2940  men ;  and  notwithstanding  that  they 
were  scattered  over  various  states  of  the  Union,  and  had  many  of  them 
to  march  over  two  thousand  miles,  they  all  reached  San  Antonio  de  Bexar 
(the  place  of  rendezvous)  by  the  1st  of  September.  In  a  few  days  after- 
ward the  whole  army  took  up  its  line  of  march  from  San  Antonio  for  the 
Presidio  Rio  Grande,  where  the  river  was  crossed  and  the  army  pushed 
on  by  long  and  wearisome  marches  to  the  village  of  Santa  Rosa,  where 
it  was  discovered  that  the  road  abruptly  terminated  in  the  lofty  mountain 
ranges  of  the  Sierra  Gorda.  The  army  was  thus  compelled  to  turn  south 
toward  Saltillo ;  and  on  the  29th  of  October  reached  the  village  of  Mon- 
clovia,  of  which  it  took  peaceable  possession.  After  a  month  of  inaction, 
General  Wool  received  orders  from  General  Taylor  to  abandon  the  Chi- 
huahua expedition,  and  join  General  Worth  at  SaltiJlo — whence  his  gallant 
troops  next  were  to  make  their  appearance  on  the  memorable  fields  of 
Buena  Vista. 

In  the  fall  of  1845,  another  fruitless  expedition  had  been  sent  off  to  Cali- 
fornia, under  Capt.  J.  C.  Fremont,  with  the  avowed  object  of  exploring  a 
new  route  to  Oregon.  Arriving  on  the  29th  of  January,  1846,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Monterey,  California,  to  disarm  suspicion  he  left  his  troops  and  went  into 
the  town  alone,  to  explain  to  the  governor,  De  Castro,  the  object  of  his  visit 
— declaring  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  not  even  an  officer  of  the  regular 
line,  and  that  his  mission  was  entirely  a  peaceful  one.  He  requested  per- 
mission to  winter  in  the  valley  of  the  San  Joaquin,  which  was  granted; 
and  returning  to  his  men  he  brought  them  nearer  the  town,  when  he  was 
apprised  by  Mr.  Larkin  (American  consul)  that  De  Castro  was  raising 
men  to  attack  him.  Thus  warned,  he  took  post  with  his  little  troop  of 
sixty  men  on  the  summit  of  the  Sierra,  about  thirty  miles  from  Monterey, 
where  he  awaited  the  attack.  De  Castro,  however,  did  not  venture  upon 
the  assault;  and  Fremont,  finding  himself  unmolested,  marched  out  of 
his  position  on  the  10th  of  March  and  pursued  his  way  toward  Oregon. 
He  arrived  on  the  15th  of  May  at  the  Great  TIamath  Lake,  and  found  the 
Sierra  Nevada  covered  with  snow,  and  himself  surrounded  with  hostile 
Indians.  Under  these  circumstances  he  determined  to  return  by  the  river 
Sacramento  ;  and  on  his  arrival  at  the  Bay  of  Francisco  he  learned  that 
De  Castro  was  at  Zanona,  on  the  opposite  side,  preparing  an  expedition 
against  the  American  settlers.  Upon  this  he  formed  the  intention  of  over- 
turning the  Mexican  government  in  California — not  having  heard  that  war 
then  existed  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States.  His  first  achieve- 
ment was  the  capture  of  fourteen  men  of  De  Castro's  party  and  two  hun- 
dred mules.  On  the  1st  of  June  he  surprised  the  post  at  Zanona,  and 
captured  it — taking  prisoners  Colonel  Vallejo  and  several  officers,  and 
possessing  himself  of  nine  cannon  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  stand  of 
arms.  He  then  proceeded  to  Rio  de  los  Americanos,  where  he  heard  that 
De  Castro  was  about  to  attack  the  little  garrison  of  fourteen  men  which 
he  had  left  at  Zanona.     He  immediately  started  back  with  his  ninety  men ; 


coo  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

and  riding  eighty  miles  in  two  days,  arrived  just  in  time  to  defeat  De  Ca 
stro  as  he  was  proceeding  to  attack  Zanona. 

On  the  4th  of  July  the  Americans  were  assembled,  and  Fremont  made 
a  speech  to  them,  in  which  the  independence  of  California  was  formally 
declared.  After  various  unimportant  manoguvres.De  Castro  broke  up  his 
camp  at  Ciudad  los  Angelo.s,  and  left  for  Mexico.  On  the  13th  of  August, 
1846,  Commodore  Stockton,  in  conjunction  with  Colonel  Fremont  and  Mr. 
Larkin,  the  American  consul,  entered  Los  Angelos,  the  capital  of  Califor- 
nia, and  the  conquest  of  the  Californias  was  thus  complete. 

We  have  thought  it  unnecessary  to  detail  the  movements  of  Commo- 
dore Sloat  and  General  Kearney — the  former  having  taken  the  initiative 
on  the  6lh  of  July  by  hoisting  the  flag  of  the  United  States  at  Monterey, 
and  the  latter  not  having  arrived  from  his  overland  journey  until  the  event?* 
we  have  narrated  had  transpired.  Nor  will  we  do  more  than  allude  to  the 
unpleasant  controversy  which  has  since  arisen  between  two  distinguished 
officers  connected  with  the  expedition.  Such  quarrels  are  unworthy  of 
brave  men,  and  unfit  for  history. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  conquest  of  New  Mexico  had  thus  been  effect- 
ed with  the  expenditure  of  comparatively  little  blood,  the  elements  of 
strife  were  by  no  means  destroyed,  but  broke  out  unexpectedly  and  fiercely 
in  January,  1847,  at  Taos.  On  the  15th  of  that  month,  Governor  Bent, 
Sheriff  Elliott,  and  twenty-three  other  Americans  were  murdered  at  San 
Fernando  de  Taos.  Seven  more  were  killed  at  Turley's,  seven  miles  dis- 
tant ;  and  in  a  few  days  the  insurrection  became  general.  Colonel  Stirling 
Price,  who  commanded  the  troops  at  Santa  Fe,  being  informed  that  a 
strong  body  of  Mexicans  and  Indians  were  advancing  against  the  place, 
mustered  about  four  hundred  troops,  and  met  them  on  the  23d  of  January 
at  Covoda.  They  were  strongly  posted,  but  were  dispersed  after  a  can- 
nonading of  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  fled  in  all  directions,  leaving  thirty- 
two  dead.  The  Mexican  force  was  estimated  at  1500,  and  our  loss  was 
but  two  killed  and  six  wounded. 

On  the  27th  of  January  Colonel  Price  marched  to  Luceros,  on  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  on  the  29th  to  La  Joya,  a  strong  pass,  situated  in  a  canon,  or 
deep  pass  of  the  mountains,  where  the  men  could  scarcely  move  abreast. 
Along  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  the  enemy  were  posted,  and  there  they 
were  attacked  by  a  detachment,  under  Captain  Burgwin,  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  men,  who,  after  a  short  conflict,  dislodged  them,  with  the  loss 
to  the  Mexicans  of  twenty  killed  and  sixty  wounded.  On  the  1st  of  Feb- 
ruary the  main  body  of  the  forces,  under  Colonel  Price,  reached  the  top 
of  the  Taos  mountain,  which  was  covered  with  snow  two  feet  deep.  On 
the  2d  they  quartered  at  Rio  Chiciti.  On  the  3d  they  entered  the  towni  of 
Don  Fernando  de  Taos,  which  was  the  scene  of  the  massacre  of  Governor 
Bent  and  party.  The  Mexican  village  was  abandoned  by  the  enemy,  who 
had  taken  post  at  the  Indian  town  of  Pueblo  de  Taos.  This  was  a  strong- 
ly-foi'tified  post.  The  key  to  the  position  was  a  large  church,  and  two 
large  buildings  ascending  in  a  pyramidal  form,  six  or  seven  stories  high, 
and  pierced  with  embrasures  for  rifles.  Around  these  was  a  wall,  and 
within  them  the  enemy  had  taken  post.  The  Americans  brought  up  a  sii 
pOunder  and  a  howitzer,  with  which  they  battered  the  church  and  walls 
for  two  hours  ;  but  their  ammunition-wagons  not  having  come  up,  they 
retreated  to  Fernando. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th,  at  9  a.m.,  the  Americans  again  advanced 
determined  to  take  the  place.  The  six-pounder  and  two  howitzers,  com 
manded  by  Lieutenant  Dyer,  of  the  Ordnance,  were  brought  to  bea? 
against  the  church  on  one  side,  and  two  howitzers  on  another  side.  Afte; 
battering  for  two  hours,  a  charge  was  made  by  Captain  Burgwin,  of  the 
dragoons,  with  two  companies  in  one  line,  and  Captain  Angrecy,  witb 
three  companies  in  another  line.     In  this  assault  Captain  Burgwin,  a  lieu- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  601 

tenant  of  volunteers,  and  several  dragoons,  were  killed.  The  church  walls 
were  still  unpenetrated  by  the  artillery.  Ladders  were  made,  and  a  small 
hole  cut  with  axes ;  through  that,  tire  was  thrown  into  the  church.  A 
new  assault  was  made  upon  the  church  door,  which  failed,  with  loss.  The 
six-pounder  was  then  run  up,  at  half  past  three  p.m.,  within  sixty  yards, 
and  a  breach  made  large  enough  to  admit  four  men  abreast.  A  storming 
party  then  entered  the  church,  which  was  found  full  of  smoke.  The  ene 
my  still  occupied  the  two  large  buildings  ;  but  early  next  morning,  the 
aged  men  and  women,  bearing  their  children,  images,  and  crosses,  came 
out  to  meet  the  army  begging  for  mercy.  The  request  was  granted.  In 
this  battle  the  Americans  were  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  ;  the  Mexicans 
about  six  hundred.  The  American  loss  was  fifty-four  killed  and  wounded ; 
that  of  the  Mexicans  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  killed  and  many  wounded. 
Taken  as  a  whole  (says  Mansfield)  the  short  campaign  of  Colonel  Price 
with  Captain  Burgwin  and  others,  from  the  20th  of  January  to  the  5th  of 
February,  1847,  was  one  of  the  best  exhibitions  of  military  gallantry 
which  has  occurred  in  the  minor  parts  of  the  war.  Mai-ching  in  mid-win- 
ter over  snow-covered  ground,  they  three  times  engaged  the  enemy  ;  and 
in  the  last  conflict,  stormed  and  carried  a  very  strong  military  position 
against  superior  numbers. 

During  the  winter  of  1846-7,  the  Californians,  either  not  properly  un 
derstanding,  or  not  impressed  with  the  value  of  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  also  rose  in  insurrection.  At  the 
City  of  Angels,  and  other  points,  ihe  flag  of  the  United  States  was  torn 
down,  and  that  of  Mexico  hoisted  in  its  place.  In  November,  1846,  an  ac- 
tion occurred  at  Domiugos  Rancho,  between  a  party  from  the  United 
States  frigate  Savannah  and  a  portion  of  the  Californians.  The  latter 
were  fortified,  and  supported  by  artillery.  They  gained  an  advantage 
over  the  sailors,  who  were  on  foot,  which  raised  their  courage  and  excit- 
ed their  hopes.  In  December,  Commodore  Stockton,  having  landed  at 
Diego,  advanced  to  the  City  of  Angels,  and  again  re-established  the  Ameri- 
can dominion. 

Soon  after  this  a  battle  occurred  between  the  Americans,  under  General 
Kearney,  and  the  Mexicans,  at  San  Gabriel.  In  this  engagement  the  Mexi- 
cans were  defeated,  with  loss  ;  but  on  the  American  side  several  were 
killed,  and  General  Kearney  wounded. 

The  cause  of  these  insurrections  may  be  clearly  traced  to  the  course  of 
Stockton,  Fremont,  and  Kearney,  in  attempting  to  revolutionize  the  civil 
and  municipal  affairs  of  the  conquered  country :  a  course  unprecedented 
in  the  history  of  military  commanders,  and  unwarranted  either  by  the 
laws  of  our  own  country  or  the  code  of  nations.  Had  they  contented 
themselves  with  obtaining  and  holding  military  possession  of  the  country, 
it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  any  attempt  at  insurrection  would  have  been 
made. 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  and  exciting  episodes  of  this  romantic  war, 
was  the  march  of  Colonel  Doniphan  and  his  little  army  through  the  wild 
and  unexplored  regions  of  New  Mexico.  Colonel  Doniphan  left  Santa  Fe 
early  in  December,  with  eight  hundred  men,  in  three  divisions — his  pur- 
pose being  to  join  General  Wool  at  Chihuahua,  a  point  which,  as  we  have 
before  seen,  Wool  did  not  reach,  SupfKJsing,  however,  that  he  was  either 
there  or  on  his  way.  Colonel  Doniphan  took  up  his  line  of  march  for  the 
south,  and  on  the  21st  of  December  encountered  about  a  thousand  Mexican 
infantry  and  lancers,  at  Brozitos,  who  were  dispersed  at  the  first  fire  of 
the  American  rifles.  On  the  27th,  Doniphan  entered  El  Paso  del  Norte,  a 
town  containing  about  five  thousand  inhabitants,  on  the  route  to  Chihuahua, 
at  one  of  the  principal  crossings  of  the  Rio  Grande  (del  Norte).  Here  he 
waited  a  month  for  reinforcements  and  instructions,  and  then  Captain 
Weightman,  with  his  artillery,  having  arrived,  the  whole  force,  now 


602  THE  TREASU'RY  OF  HISTORY. 

amounling  to  about  nine  hundred  men,  pushed  on,  and  on  the  23d  of  Feb- 
ruary was  at  Carnion,only  a  hundred  miles  from  (Jhihualiua.  Meanwhile 
General  Hercdia,  commander  of  the  Mexican  forces  in  Chihuahua,  de 
spatched  General  Conde,  with  eight  hundred  men,  to  watch  the  Americans, 
while  he  himself,  with  the  whole  of  his  force,  amounting,  with  Conde's 
cavalry,  to  1575,  took  post  at  the  river  Sacramento,  and  awaited  Doni 
phan's  approach.  On  the  28th  of  February  the  American  army  came  in 
sight  of  the  enemy,  strongly  posted  in  a  valley  about  four  miles  wide, 
having  a  range  of  mountains  on  either  side.  The  road  to  Chihuahua  lay 
through  this  valley,  crossing  the  Sacramento  at  the  ranchero  where  Heredia 
was  encamped,  entrenched  on  a  high  ridge  between  the  Sacramento  and 
Arroya  rivers,  completely  commanding  the  road.  The  right  of  the  Mexi- 
can lines  rested  on  the  Cerro  Frijoles,  whose  high,  precipitous  sides  were 
surmounted  with  a  battery  which  commanded  the  surrounding  country, 
and  the  pass  leading  to  Chihuahua  through  the  Arroya  Seco.  On  their  left 
was  the  Cerro  Sacramento,  a  pile  of  inmiense  volcanic  rocks,  crowned 
with  a  battery  commanding  the  main  road  to  Chihuahua. 

A  passage  was  found  practicable  across  the  Arroya  Seco,  within  reach 
of  the  enemy's  fire  ;  and  the  American  column  having  reached  the  ground 
between  the  Seco  and  Sacramento,  commenced  deploying  towards  the 
table-land  occupied  by  the  Mexicans.  The  column  of  General  Conde's 
cavalry,  opposed  to  the  American  right,  now  commenced  a  charge,  which 
was  returned  by  the  fire  of  the  artillery  battery,  consisting  of  six  pieces, 
under  the  command  of  Major  Clark.  At  the  third  fire  the  enemy's  cavalry 
gave  way  and  dispersed.  They  fell  back  to  the  Mexican  camp,  and  rallied 
behind  a  redoubt.  This  the  Americans  attacked  with  artillery.  Captain 
Weightman  rapidly  advancing  with  two  howitzers,  supported  by  Captain 
Reed's  company  of  horse,  and  then  by  Lieutenant-colonel  Mitchell,  de- 
livering his  fire  with  great  effect,  the  enemy  were  driven  from  the  redoubt. 
The  Mexicans  were  pursued  towards  the  mountains  by  Lieutenant-colonel 
Mitchell,  Lieutenant-colonel  Jackson,  and  Major  Gilpin,  accompanied  by 
Weightman  with  his  section  of  howitzers.  In  the  mean  time  the  Mexi- 
cans had  carried  their  cannon  to  the  Cerro  Sacramento,  to  cover  their 
retreat.  The  fire  of  the  American  artillery  soon  silenced  these,  and  the 
Rancho  Sacramento  was  then  attacked.  At  length  the  IMexicans  were 
driven  from  their  last  position,  and  the  victory  was  complete.  The 
Mexicans  lost  one  hundred  men  and  ten  pieces  of  artillery. 

The  enemy  being  thus  completely  vanquished,  Colonel  Doniphan  entered 
the  city  of  Chihuahua  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  March.  This  city  is  the 
capital  of  one  of  the  most  important  states  of  Mexico,  and  is  situated  in 
the  centre  of  the  richest  silver  mines  in  Mexico,  and  is  surrounded  by  a 
rich  and  fertile  country.  Here  he  remained  for  six  weeks,  expecting  in 
vain  the  arrival  of  General  Wool ;  and  on  the  28th  of  April  took  up  his  line 
of  march  through  Cerro  Gordo,  Mapimi,  and  Parras,  to  Saltillo,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  22d  of  May,  1847.  On  the  25th  he  marched  his  force  to 
Monterey,  and  thence  descending  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
arrived  at  New  Orleans  on  the  15th  of  June.  Here  the  volunteers 
were  mustered  out  of  service  and  returned  to  their  homes — having  in  a 
little  more  than  a  year  performed  a  campaign  of  over  five  thousand  miles, 
through  a  wild  and  uncultivated  country,  most  of  it  an  entire  wilderness. 
Nor  was  this  the  most  remarkable  portion  of  the  campaign.  Previous  to 
the  departure  of  the  main  body  from  Santa  Fe,  a  detachment  of  the  same 
corps  had  marched  another  thousand  miles,  through  still  more  savage 
scenes.  This  detachment  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant-colonel  Gilpin, 
who  was  sent  out  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  overawe  the  Navaja 
Indians,  a  pastoral  tribe  inhabiting  the  vast  territory  between  New  Mexi- 
co and  the  Colorado  of  the  South.  The  command  of  Colonel  Gilpin 
crossed  th&  Rocky  Mountains,  and  descended  the  valley  of  the  Colorado 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  60 

ol  the  South;  and,  after  a  series  of  the  most  novel  and  exciting;  adven- 
tures, returned  in  time  to  join  the  long  march  of  Colonel  Doniphan  to 
Chihuahua  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

We  may  now  bring  our  summary  of  events  in  California  and  New 
Mexico  to  a  close,  for  the  present,  and  turn  our  attention  to  the  opera- 
tions at  Washington,  and  the  movements  of  Generals  Scott  and  Taylor. 
It  was  on  the  18lh  of  November,  that  General  Scott  received  directions 
from  the  secretary  of  war  to  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  assume  the 
command  of  the  army,  destined  to  make  a  descent  at  Vera  Cruz ;  the 
design  of  organizing  this  force  having  been  previously  communicated  to 
General  Taylor.  The  instructions  of  the  secretary  were  obeyed  with 
alacrity  by  General  Scott,  who  at  once  made  all  the  arrangements  re- 
quisite for  carrying  the  plan  into  effect.  Transports  were  to  be  pro- 
vided, surf-boats  constructed,  a  train  of  siege  ordnance  sent  forward,  and 
ten  new  regiments  added  to  the  line  of  the  army  as  early  as  possible 
after  the  meeting  of  congress ;  and  General  Scott  left  Washington  on 
the  24lh  of  November,  for  the  purpose  of  proceeding  to  the  scene  of  his 
future  operations. 

In  order  to  organize  the  force  of  General  Scott,  it  had  been  necessary 
to  despoil  General  Taylor  of  the  greater  part  of  his  gallant  army,  and 
to  leave  him  in  a  condition  of  crippled  inactivity.  This  afforded  the 
sincerest  regret  to  the  magnanimous  Scott,  whose  letter  to  his  brother 
soldier  on  this  occasion,  is  full  of  the  noblest  and  truest  feeling. 

Shortly  after  the  opening  of  congress,  it  became  apparent  that  the 
administration  entertained  an  intention  of  superseding  Generals  Scott  and 
Taylor,  in  Mexico,  and  in  a  few  days  a  project  was  actually  <lrought  for- 
ward, creating  a  new  and  higher  military  grade — a  project  which,  after 
being  pushed  with  the  utmost  pertinacity  by  the  administration,  and  its 
friends  in  congress,  failed. 

1847. — On  the  last  day  of  November,  General  Scott  sailed  from  New 
York,  and  arrived  on  the  Rio  Grande  about  the  1st  of  January,  where  he 
soon  began  to  discover  that  some  of  the  arrangements  which  he  had  calcu- 
lated upon  for  his  attack  on  Vera  Cruz,  would  not  be  carried  out  by  the 
government  at  Washington.  The  bill  for  raising  the  ten  new  regiments 
was  indefinitely  postponed,  to  give  place  to  the  hot  discussion  on  the 
lieutenant-generalship  ;  and  it  was  not  until  a  day  or  two  before  the 
adjournment,  that  it  was  finally  acted  upon. 

At  the  time  that  General  Scott  reached  the  scene  of  operations  in 
Mexico,  Santa  Anna  occupied  the  large  and  fortified  city  of  San  Luis 
Potosi,  with  an  army  of  twenty-two  thousand  men.  San  Luis  contains  a 
population  of  sixty  thousand,  and  is  about  equi-distant  from  Monterey, 
Vera  Cruz,  and  Mexico.  The  American  army,  under  General  Taylor, 
consisting  of  about  eighteen  thousand  men,  occupied  the  long  line  from 
Saltillo  to  Camargo,  and  thence  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  at  which 
latter  point  General  Scott  had  just  arrived  with  a  small  force,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  arrangements  for  the  immediate  attack  of  Vera  Cruz. 
In  a  short  time  the  Vomito  would  make  its  appearance  on  the  coast,  and 
anything  was  better  than  delay.  The  general,  therefore,  weighed  all  the 
chances  and  probabilities  of  the  case,  and  made  the  following  arrange- 
ments. He  had  forwarded  a  plan  of  his  operations  to  General  Taylor, 
but  the  messenger  had  been  murdered,  and  his  despatches  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Santa  Anna,  who  thus  was  possessed  of  Scott's  intention  to 
attack  Vera  Cruz.  There  were  already  six  or  seven  thousand  Mexican 
troops  in  and  about  Vera  Cruz,  and  the  number  could  speedily  be  greatly 
augmented.  It  was  therefore  probable  that  Santa  Anna  would  throw 
nearly  his  whole  force  into  Vera  Cruz,  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the 
landing  of  the  Americans.  Under  these  circumstances,  Scott  collected 
the  regular  infantry,  assigned  twelve  thousand  men  to  the  expedition 


604  THE  TREASURY  OF  HI^ORY. 

against  Vera  Cruz,  and  left  about  ten  thousand  (mostly  volunteers)  scat- 
tered within  the  reach  of  General  Taylor's  command.  We  must  now 
return,  to  tai^e  a  brief  survey  of  the  movements  of  General  Taylor.  In 
pursuance  of  the  orders  of  the  war  department,  he  had  directed,  during 
the  month  of  November,  the  divisions  of  Generals  Twiggs,  Pillow,  and 
Quitman,  to  move  from  Monterey  to  Victoria,  for  the  purpose  of  joining 
at  Tampico  the  expedition  against  Vera  Cruz.  In  the  latter  part  of 
December,  General  Patterson's  division  left  Matamoras  for  the  same 
destination,  while  the  division  of  General  Worth,  by  another  route,  joined 
General  Scott  at  the  Brazos.  In  the  latter  part  of  January,  1817,  General 
Taylor  left  Victoria,  and  established  his  head-quarters  at  Monterey,  where 
he  found  himself  at  the  head  of  between  six  and  seven  thousand  men. 
At  Monterey,  he  received  intelligence  that  a  party  of  dragoons  under 
Colonel  May  had  been  surprised  at  Encarnacion,  and  that  Cassius  M 
Clay,  and  Majors  Borland  and  Gaines  had  been  taken  prisoners  by  General 
Miuon.  at  the  head  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  Induced  by  these  circum- 
stances to  believe  that  Santa  Anna  intended  prosecuting  the  war  in  his 
direction,  he  determined  at  once  to  meet  him,  and  offer  battle.  Leaving 
a  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men  at  Monterey,  he  started  for  Saltillo,  where 
he  arrived  on  the  2d  of  February,  having  been  reinforced  by  five  hundred 
men  on  the  way,  which  made  his  effective  force  about  five  thousand.  On 
the  4th  of  February,  he  advanced  to  Agua  Nueva,  a  strong  position  on 
the  road  leading  from  Saltillo  to  San  Luis.  Here  he  remained  until  the 
21st,  when  he  received  intelligence  that  Santa  Anna  was  advancing  with 
his  whole  army.  Having  carefully  examined  the  strong  mountain-passes, 
he  decided^that  Buena  Vista,  a  strong  mountain-pass  eleven  miles  nearer 
Saltillo,  was  the  most  favourable  point  to  make  a  stand  against  a  force 
so  overwhelming.  He  therefore  fell  back  to  that  place  ;  and  having 
formed  his  army  in  order  of  battle,  calmly  awaited  the  approach  of  the 
enemy. 

The  position  of  the  American  army  at  this  moment,  says  Mansfield, 
was  most  critical.  The  regular  troops  had  been  withdrawn,  with  the 
exception  of  four  companies  of  artillery,  and  even  these  had  been  filled 
up  by  new  levies.  The  volunteers,  of  which  the  army  was  mainly  com- 
posed, had  received  some  instruction  in  the  regular  duties  of  the  camp, 
but  had  not  attained  that  perfection  in  discipline  which  gives  confidence 
in  military  operations. 

The  army  which  Santa  Anna  at  this  time  commanded,  was  the  finest 
body  of  troops  in  the  nation  ;  and  with  a  superiority  of  numbers  exceeding 
four  to  one,  and  the  knowledge  that  General  Taylor's  regular  troops  had 
nearly  all  been  withdrawn,  the  Mexican  commander  might  well  feel  con- 
fident of  success.  On  the  22d  of  February — a  day  then  already  memor- 
able in  history — General  Taylor  saw  the  Mexican  army  leave  its  position, 
and  approach  the  mountain-pass  where  he  had  posted  his  little  band.  The 
enemy's  right  was  concentrated  in  columns  of  attack  behind  a  spur  of 
the  mountain,  and  his  riflemen  were  opposite  ours,  firing  across  a  deep 
gully — a  small  unoccupied  eminence  and  mountain  spur  between  them. 
On  our  extreme  left  was  the  3d  Indiana  regiment,  supported  by  three 
pieces  of  artillery,  one  of  which  was  lost  in  the  onset  of  the  morning  ; 
next,  the  Illinois  regiment,  with  a  piece  of  artillery  on  either  flank  ;  next, 
two  pieces  of  artillery,  and  a  squadron  of  dragoons ;  next,  two  pieces  of 
artillery,  and  the  2d  Kentucky  foot ;  next,  four  companies  of  the  2d 
Illinois  regiment  on  a  spur  of  the  plateau,  at  the  foot  of  which  was  a 
parapet  across  the  road,  behind  which  were  four  pieces  of  artillery,  and 
two  companies  of  the  2d  Illinois  regiment.  The  2d  Indiana  regiment 
was  a  little  to  the  left,  on  an  eminence,  behind  which-  was  a  squadron  of 
dragoons ;  and  still  further  to  the  rear,  near  the  rancho  of  Buena  Vista, 
the  1st  Mississippi  regiment,  and  one  piece  of  artillery.     In  the  rear  ot 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  605 

our  extreme  left,  on  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  were  posted  the  Kentucky 
and  Arkansas  cavalry. 

We  make  such  extracts  from  General  Taylor's  own  report  of  this  bril- 
liant battle  as  we  have  room  for,  in  preference  to  any  attempt  at  con- 
densing its  details : 

"  During  the  evening  and  night  of  the  22d,  the  enemy  had  thrown  a 
body  of  light  troops  on  the  mountain  side,  with  the  purpose  of  outflank- 
ing our  left ;  and  it  was  here  that  the  action  of  the  23d  commenced  at  an 
early  hour.  Our  riflemen,  under  Colonel  Marshall,  who  had  been  rein- 
forced by  three  companies  under  Major  Trail,  second  Illinois  volunteers, 
maintained  their  ground  handsomely  against  a  greatly  superior  force, 
holding  themselves  under  cover,  and  using  their  weapons  with  deadly 
effect.  About  eight  o'clock,  a  strong  demonstration  was  made  against 
the  centre  of  our  position,  a  heavy  column  moving  along  the  road.  This 
force  was  soon  dispersed  by  a  few  rapid  and  well-directed  shots  from 
Captain  Washington's  battery.  In  the  mean  time  the  enemy  was  con- 
centrating a  large  force  of  infantry  and  cavalry  under  cover  of  the  ridges, 
with  the  obvious  intention  of  forcing  our  left,  which  was  posted  on  an 
extensive  plateau.  The  second  Indiana  and  second  Illinois  regiments 
formed  this  part  of  our  line,  tlie  former  covering  three  pieces  of  light 
artillery,  under  the  orders  of  Captain  O'Brien  ;  Brigadier-general  Lane 
being  in  the  immediate  command.  In  order  to  bring  his  men  within 
effective  range.  General  Lane  ordered  the  artillery  and  second  Indiana 
regiment  forward.  The  artillery  advanced  within  musket-range  of  a 
heavy  body  of  Mexican  infantry,  and  was  served  against  it  with  great 
effect,  but  without  being  able  to  check  its  advance.  The  infantry  ordered 
to  its  support  had  fallen  back  in  disorder,  being  exposed,  as  well  as  the 
battery,  not  onlj'^  to  a  severe  fire  of  small-arms  from  the  front,  but  also  to 
a  murderous  cross-fire  of  grape  and  canister,  from  a  Mexican  battery  on 
the  left.  Captain  O'Brien  found  it  impossible  to  retain  his  position  with- 
out support,  but  was  only  able  to  withdraw  two  of  his  pieces,  all  the 
horses  and  cannoniers  of  the  third  piece  being  killed  or  disabled.  The 
second  Indiana  regiment,  which  had  fallen  back  as  stated,  could  not  be 
rallied,  and  took  no  farther  part  in  the  action,  except  a  handful  of  men, 
who,  under  its  gallant  colonel,  Bowles,  joined  the  Mississippi  regiment, 
and  did  good  service,  and  those  fugitives  who,  at  a  later  period  in  the  day, 
assisted  in  defending  the  train  and  depot  at  Buena  Vista.  This  portion  of 
our  line  having  given  way,  and  the  enemy  appearing  in  overwhelming 
force  against  our  left  flank,  the  light  troops  which  had  rendered  such  good 
service  on  the  mountain  were  compelled  to  withdraw,  which  they  did, 
for  the  most  part,  in  good  order.  Many,  however,  were  not  rallied  until 
they  reached  the  depot  at  Buena  Vista,  to  the  defence  of  which  they  after- 
wards contributed. 

"  Colonel  Bissell's  regiment  (second  Illinois),  which  had  been  joined 
by  a  section  of  Captain  Sherman's  battery,  had  become  completely  out- 
flanked, and  was  compelled  to  fall  back,  being  entirely  unsupported.  The 
enemy  was  now  pouring  masses  of  infantry  and  cavalry  along  the  base 
of  the  mountain  on  our  left,  and  was  gaining  our  rear  in  great  force.  At 
this  moment  I  arrived  upon  the  field.  The  Mississippi  regiment  had  been 
directed  to  the  left  before  reaching  the  position,  and  immediately  came 
into  action  against  the  Mexican  infantry  which  had  turned  our  flank.  The 
second  Kentucky  regiment,  and  a  section  of  artillery  under  Captain  Bragg, 
had  previously  been  ordered  from  the  right  to  reinforce  our  left,  and  ar- 
rived at  a  most  opportune  moment.  That  regiment,  and  a  portion  of  the 
first  Illinois,  under  Colonel  Hardin,  gallantly  drove  the  enemy,  and  reco- 
vered a  portion  of  the  ground  we  had  lost.  The  batteries  of  Captains 
Sherman  and  Bragg  were  in  position  on  the  plateau,  and  did  much  execu- 
tion, not  only  in  front,  but  particularly  upon  the  masses  which  had  gained 


606  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

our  rear.  Discovering  that  the  enemy  was  heavily  pressing  upon  the 
Mississippi  refjiiiient,  the  third  Indiana  regiment,  under  Colonel  Lane, 
was  despatched  to  strengthen  that  part  of  our  line  which  formed  a 
crotchet  perpendicular  to  the  first  line  of  battle.  At  the  same  time 
Lieutenant  Kilburn,  with  a  piece  of  Captain  Bragg's  battery,  was  direct- 
ed to  su|)port  the  infantry  there  engaged.  The  action  was  for  a  long 
time  warmly  sustained  at  that  point — the  enemy  making  several  eflorts 
both  witii  infantry  and  cavalry  against  our  line,  and  being  always  re- 
pulsed Willi  heavy  loss.  I  had  placed  all  the  regular  cavalry  and  Captain 
Pike's  squadron  of  Arkansas  horse  under  the  orders  of  Brevet  Lieut. -col. 
May,  with  directions  to  hold  in  check  the  enemy's  column,  still  advancing 
to  the  rear  along  the  base  of  the  mountain,  which  was  done  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Kentucky  and  Arkansas  cavalry,  under  Colonels  Marshall 
and  Yell. 

"  In  the  mean  time  our  left,  which  was  still  strongly  threatened  by  a 
superior  force,  was  farther  strengthened  by  the  detachment  of  Captain 
Bragg's  and  a  portion  of  Captain  Sherman's  batteries  to  that  quarter. 
The  concentration  of  artillery-fire  upon  the  masses  of  the  enemy  along 
the  base  of  the  mountain,  and  the  determined  resistance  offered  by  the 
two  regiments  opposed  to  them,  had  created  confusion  in  their  ranks,  and 
some  of  the  corps  attempted  to  effect  a  retreat  upon  their  main  line  of 
battle.  The  squadron  of  the  first  dragoons,  under  Lieutenant  Rucker, 
was  now  ordered  up  the  deep  ravine  which  these  retreating  corps  were 
endeavouring  to  cross,  in  order  to  charge  and  disperse  them.  The  squad- 
ron proceeded  to  the  point  indicated,  but  could  not  accomplish  the  object, 
being  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire  from  a  battery  established  to  cover  the  re- 
treat of  those  corps.  While  the  squadron  was  detached  on  this  service, 
a  large  body  of  the  enemy  was  observed  to  concentrate  on  our  extreme 
left,  apparently  with  the  view  of  making  a  descent  upon  the  hacienda  of 
Buena  Vista,  where  our  train  and  baggage  were  deposited.  Lieut. -colonel 
IMay  was  ordered  to  the  support  of  that  point,  with  two  pieces  of  Captain 
Sherman's  battery  under  Lieutenant  Reynolds.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
scattered  forces  near  the  hacienda,  composed  in  part  of  Majors  Trail  and 
Gorman's  commands,  had  been  to  some  extent  organized  under  the  advice 
of  Major  Munroe,  chief  of  artillery,  with  the  assistance  of  Major  Mor- 
rison, volunteer  staff,  and  were  posted  to  defend  the  position.  Before 
our  cavalry  had  reached  the  hacienda,  that  of  the  enemy  had  made  its 
attack  ;  having  been  handsomely  met  by  the  Kentucky  and  Arkansas 
cavalry,  under  Colonels  INIarshall  and  Yell.  The  Mexican  column  imme- 
diately divided,  one  portion  sweeping  by  the  depot,  where  it  received  a 
destructive  fire  from  the  force  which  had  collected  there,  and  then  gain- 
ing the  mountain  opposite,  under  a  fire  from  Lieutenant  Reynolds'  sec- 
tion, the  remaining  portion  regaining  the  base  of  the  mountain  on  our 
left.  In  the  charge  at  Buena  Vista,  Colonel  Yell  fell  gallantly  at  the  head 
of  his  regiment ;  we  also  lost  Adjutant  Vaughan,  of  the  Kentucky  cavalrj^ 
a  young  officer  of  much  promise.  Lieut. -colonel  May,  who  had  been  re- 
joined by  the  squadron  of  the  first  dragoons  and  by  portions  of  the  Ark- 
ansas and  Indiana  troops,  under  Lieut. -colonel  Roane  and  Major  Gorman, 
now  approached  the  base  of  the  mountain,  holding  in  check  the  right 
flank  of  the  enemy,  upon  whose  masses,  crowded  in  the  narrow  gorges 
and  ravines,  our  artillery  was  doing  fearful  execution. 

"  The  position  of  that  portion  of  the  Mexican  army  which  had  gained 
our  rear  was  now  very  critical,  and  it  seemed  doubtful  whether  it  could 
regain  the  main  body. 

"  During  the  day,  the  cavalry  of  General  Minon  had  ascended  the  ele- 
vated plain  above  Saltillo,  and  occupied  the  road  from  the  city  to  the  field 
of  battle,  where  they  intercepted  several  of  our  men.  Approaching  the 
tovvn,  they  were  fired  upon  by  Captain  Webster,  from  the  redoubt  occu- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  607 

pied  by  his  company,  and  then  moved  off  towards  the  eastern  side  of  tlve 
valley,  and  obhquely  towards  Buena  Vista.  At  this  time.  Captain  Shovei 
moved  rapidly  forward  with  his  piece,  supported  by  a  miscellaneous  com- 
mand of  mounted  volunteers,  and  fired  several  shots  at  the  cavalry  with 
great  effect.  They  were  driven  into  the  ravines  which  lead  to  the  lower 
valley,  closely  pursued  by  Captain  Shover,  who  was  farther  supported  by 
a  piece  of  Captain  Webster's  battery,  under  Lieutenant  Donaldson,  which 
had  advanced  from  the  redoubt,  supported  by  Captain  Wheeler's  company 
of  Illinois  "oiunteers.  The  enemy  made  one  or  two  efforts  to  charge  the 
artillery,  bk..  was  finally  driven  back  in  a  confused  mass,  and  did  not 
again  appear  upon  the  plain. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  firing  had  partially  ceased  upon  the  principal 
field.  The  enemy  seemed  to  confine  his  efforts  to  the  protection  of  his 
artillery,  and  I  had  left  the  plateau  for  a  moment,  when  I  was  recalled 
thither  by  a  very  heavy  musketry  fire.  On  regaining  that  position,  I  dis- 
covered that  our  infantry  (lUinois  and  second  Kentucky)  had  engaged  a 
greatly  superior  force  of  the  enemy — evidently  his  reserve — and  that 
they  had  been  overwhelmed  by  numbers.  The  moment  was  most  critical. 
Captain  O'Brien,  with  two  pieces,  had  sustained  this  heavy  charge  to  the 
last,  and  was  finally  obliged  to  leave  his  guns  on  the  field — his  infantry 
support  being  entirely  routed.  Captain  Bragg,  who  had  just  arrived  from 
the  left,  was  ordered  at  once  into  battery.  Without  any  infantry  to  sup- 
port him,  and  at  the  imminent  risk  of  losing  his  guns,  this  officer  came 
rapidly  into  action,  the  Mexican  line  being  but  a  few  yards  from  the  muz- 
zle of  his  pieces.  The  first  discharge  of  canister  caused  the  enemy  to 
hesitate ;  the  second  and  third  drove  him  back  in  disorder,  and  saved  the 
day.  The  second  Kentucky  regiment,  which  had  advanced  beyond  sup- 
Dorting  distance  in  this  affair,  was  driven  back  and  closely  pressed  by  the 
snemy's  cavalry.  Taking  a  ravine  which  led  in  the  direction  of  Captain 
Washington's  battery,  their  pursuers  became  exposed  to  his  fire,  which 
soon  checked  and  drove  them  back  with  loss.  In  the  mean  time  the  rest 
of  our  artillery  had  taken  position  on  the  plateau,  covered  by  the  Missis- 
sippi and  third  Indiana  regiments,  the  former  of  which  had  reached  the 
ground  in  time  to  pour  a  fire  into  the  right  flank  of  the  enemy,  and  thus 
contribute  to  his  repulse. 

"In  this  last  conflict  we  had  the  misfortune  to  suffer  a  very  heavy  loss. 
Colonel  Hardin,  first  Illinois,  and  Colonel  McKee  and  Lieutenant-colonel 
Clay,  second  Kentucky  regiment,  fell  at  this  time,  while  gallantly  leading 
their  commands. 

"  No  farther  attempt  was  made  by  the  enemy  to  force  our  position,  and 
the  approach  of  night  gave  an  opportunity  to  pay  proper  attention  to  the 
wounded,  and  also  to  refresh  the  soldiers,  who  had  been  exhausted  by 
incessant  watchfulness  and  combat.  Though  the  night  was  severely 
cold,  the  troops  were  compelled  for  the  most  to  bivouac  without  fires, 
expecting  that  morning  would  renew  the  conflict.  Seven  fresh  companies 
were  drawn  from  the  town,  and  Brigadier-general  Marshall,  with  a  re- 
inforcement of  Kentucky  cavalry  and  four  heavy  guns,  under  Captain 
Prentiss,  first  artillery,  was  near  at  hand,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the 
enemy  had  abandoned  his  position  during  the  night.  Our  scouts  soon 
ascertained  that  he  had  fallen  back  upon  Agua  Nueva.  The  great  dis- 
parity of  numbers,  and  the  exhaustion  of  our  troops,  rendered  it  inexpe- 
dient and  hazardous  to  attempt  pursuit." 

The  entire  American  force  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista  was 
three  hundred  and  thirty-four  officers,  and  four  thousand  four  hundred 
and  twenty-five  men — all  volunteers,  except  two  squadrons  of  cavalry 
and  three  batteries  of  light  artillery.  The  strength  of  the  Mexican  army, 
as  stated  by  Santa  Anna  himself,  was  twenty  thousand.  The  Americans 
lost  in  this  engagement  267  killed,  456  wounded,  and  23  missing.    The 


608  -  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

lowest  estimate  of  the  Mexicans,  in  killed  and  wounded,  was  from  fifteen 
hundred  to  two  thousand. 

The  news  of  lliis  victory  was  received  in  the  United  States  with  the 
wildest  enthusiasm,  and  its  effect  was  to  virtually  close  the  war  in  that 
quarter,  and  to  shatter  the  Mexican  force  as  well  as  weaken  its  self- 
confidence  in  a  degree  that  it  never  recovered. 

Our  narrative  now  brings  us  to  the  expedition  against  Vera  Cruz  and  its 
movements.  Having  been  joined  by  the  troops  from  the  Rio  Grande,  Ge- 
neral Scott  proceeded  to  the  general  rendezvous  at  the  Island  of  Lobos,  125 
miles  north  and  west  of  Vera  Cruz,  where  the  whole  force  was  embarked 
on  transports  and  conveyed  to  Antonio  Lizardo.  On  the  7th  of  March 
General  Scott,  accompanied  by  Commodore  Connor,  reconnoitred  the 
city,  and  selected  the  shore  west  of  the  Island  of  Sacrificios  as  the  best 
landing-place.  On  the  morning  of  the  9th  the  whole  armament  set  sail — 
General  Scott  in  the  steamship  Massachusetts  leading  the  van.  The 
landing  was  commenced  a  little  before  sunset,  and  before  ten  o'clock 
every  soldier  was  safely  on  shore,  without  the  slightest  accident  or  oppo- 
sition. It  is  true  that  the  guns  of  the  distant  castle  kept  up  a  continual 
firing  which  did  no  damage,  and  that  immediately  upon  landing,  a  series 
of  skirmishes  took  place  which  were  kept  up  until  the  final  capture  of 
the  city. 

On  the  12th  of  March  the  American  army  had  taken  up  its  positions, 
and  from  that  day  to  the  '22d  a  series  of  the  severest  and  most  arduous 
iabours  was  kept  up  in  regularly  investing  the  city,  transporting  equip- 
ments, provisions,  artillery,  ammunition,  &c.,  &c.,  and  getting  the  heavy 
ordnance  and  mortars  on  shore.  On  the  22d  General  Scott  summoned 
the  governor  of  Vera  Cruz  to  surrender  the  city.  The  governor,  who 
construed  the  summons  as  including  the  castle  of  San  Juan  d'UUoa,  as 
well  as  the  city,  declined ;  and  on  the  return  of  the  flag,  the  mortar- 
battery  opened  its  fire  on  the  city,  and  kept  it  up  through  the  day  and 
night.  On  the  24th  the  twenty-four  pounders  and  Paixhan  guns  were 
ready  to  join  their  voices,  and  on  the  25th  the  whole  battery  was  in 
terrible  play,  both  from  land  and  sea.  The  scene  was  a  terrific  one. 
A  writer,  who  was  on  the  spot,  thus  describes  it .  "  The  darkness  of  the 
night  was  illuminated  by  the  blazing  shells  circling  through  the  air.  The 
roar  of  artillery  and  the  heavy  fall  of  descending  shot  were  heard  through 
ihe  streets  of  the  besieged  city.  The  roofs  of  buildings  were  on  fire. 
The  domes  of  churches  reverberated  with  fearful  explosions.  The  sea 
was  reddened  with  the  broadsides  of  ships.  The  castle  of  San  Juan  re- 
turned from  its  heavy  batteries  the  fire,  the  light,  the  smoke,  the  noise 
of  battle." 

On  the  evening  of  the  25th  the  European  consuls  in  Vera  Cruz  sent  a 
memorial  to  General  Scott,  representing  that  the  batteries  had  had  a 
terrible  effect  upon  the  city,  and  requesting  a  truce  that  they  and  the 
women  and  children  of  the  city  should  have  permission  to  retire.  To 
this  the  general  replied  that  a  truce  could  only  be  granted  on  application 
of  the  governor,  with  a  view  to  a  surrender :  that  he  had  up  to  the  22d 
kept  open  his  offer  of  safeguard  to  the  consuls  and  all  neutral  persons 
who  chose  to  retire,  which  had  not  been  availed  of;  and  that  all  the 
consequent  circumstances  had  been  considered  and  decided  upon  before 
the  commencement  of  the  bombardment.  Early  the  next  morning  Gen- 
eral Landero,  upon  whom  Governor  Morales  had  devolved  the  command, 
sent  in  overtures  of  surrender ;  and,  late  in  the  night  of  the  27th,  the 
articles  of  capitulation  were  signed  and  exchanged.  On  the  29th  the 
official  dispatch  of  General  Scott  announced  the  capitulation  of  the  city, 
and  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  floating  over  the  city  and 
castle  of  San  Juan  d'Ulloa.  The  entire  period  from  the  first  investment 
of  the  city  to  its  capitulation  was  fifteen  days.     The  city  suffered  terribly 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  609 

from  the  bombardment — many  lives  were  lost,  and  many  parts  of  the 
town  were  in  ruins.  The  loss  of  the  Americans  during  the  whole  siege 
was  but  two  officers  and  a  few  soldiers. 

By  the  terms  of  the  capitulation,  all  the  arms  and  munitions  of  war 
came  into  possession  of  the  United  States ;  five  thousand  prisoners  sur- 
rendered on  parole ;  about  five  hundred  pieces  of  artillery  fell  into  our 
nands  ;  and  the  principal  seaport  and  defence  of  Mexico  was  surmounted 
by  the  American  flag. 

The  march  upon  the  city  of  Mexico  commenced  ten  days  after  the  sur- 
render of  Vera  Cruz,  by  the  departure  of  General  Twiggs  with  his  division 
on  the  road  to  Jalapa,  followed  closely  by  others.  They  reached  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  in  about  three  days,  where  it  was  ascertained  that  Santa 
Anna  occupied  the  heights  of  Cerro  Gordo  with  fifteen  thousand  men,  en- 
trenched in  natural  and  apparently  impregnable  defences,  at  the  summit 
of  almost  inaccessible  mountains.  On  the  12th  General  Twiggs  made  a 
reconnaisance,  and  determined  on  an  attack  the  next  morning.  General 
Patterson  with  his  volunteers  having  arrived  during  the  night,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  await  the  arrival  of  General  Scott.  The  commander-in-chief,  on 
his  arrival,  made  a  new  reconnaisance,  and  satisfied  himself  that  the  post 
could  not  be  attacked  in  front  with  a  fair  chance  of  success.  A  road  was 
therefore  cut,  to  the  right  of  the  American  army,  but  to  the  left  of  Cerro 
Gordo,  which  wound  round  the  base  of  Cerro  Gordo,  and  reunited  with 
the  Jalapa  road  on  the  other  side  of  the  Mexicans — thus  enabling  the 
Americans,  while  the  enemy  was  expecting  them  ni  front,  to  attack  him 
in  the  rear.  For  three  days  the  work  of  making  this  road  went  on  undis- 
covered by  the  enemy  ;  but  when  it  was  nearly  finished,  they  began  to  fire 
grape  upon  the  workmen,  and  General  Twiggs  was  despatched  to  storm 
the  hill  below  Cerro  Gordo  and  above  the  new  road,  which,  of  course,  was 
successfully  accomplished.  On  the  17th  Scott  issued  his  celebrated  order, 
detailing  with  prophetic  accuracy  the  movements  of  the  following  day. 
This  remarkable  order  deserves  to  be  recorded,  as  an  evidence  of  the  per- 
fection and  mathematical  precision  to  which  the  art  of  killing  people  has 
been  reduced : 

Headquarters  of  the  Army,        ) 
Plan  del  Rio,  April  17,  1847.  S 

The  enemy's  whole  line  of  entrenchments  and  batteries  will  be  attacked 
in  front,  and  at  the  san  e  time  turned,  early  in  the  day  to-morrow — proba- 
bly before  ten  o'clock,  a.  m. 

The  second  (Twiggs')  division  of  regulars  is  already  advanced  within 
easy  turning  distance  towards  the  enemy's  left.  That  division  has  in- 
structions to  move  forward  before  daylight  to-morrow,  and  take  up  a  po- 
sition across  the  national  road  in  the  enemy's  rear,  so  as  to  cut  off  a  retreat 
towards  Jalapa.  It  may  be  reinforced  to-day,  if  unexpectedly  attacked 
in  force,  by  regiments — one  or  two  taken  from  Shields'  brigade  of  volun- 
teers. If  not,  the  two  volunteer  regiments  will  march  for  that  purpose  at 
daylight  to-morrow  morning,  under  Brigadier-general  Shields,  who  will 
report  to  Brigadier-general  Twiggs,  on  getting  up  with  him,  or  the  gene- 
ral-in-chief,  if  he  be  in  advance. 

The  remaining  regiment  of  that  volunteer  brigade  will  receive  instruc- 
tions in  the  course  of  this  day. 

The  first  division  of  regulars  (Worth's)  will  follow  the  movement  against 
the  enemy's  left  at  sunrise  to-morrow  morning. 

As  already  arranged,  Brigadier-general  Pillow's  brigade  will  march  at 
six  o'clock  to-morrow  morning  along  the  route  he  has  carefully  reconnoi- 
tred, and  stand  ready  as  soon  as  he  hears  the  report  of  arms  on  our  right, 
or  sooner  if  circumstances  should  favor  him,  to  pierce  the  enemy's  hne 
of  batteries  at  such  point — the  nearer  the  river  the  better — as  he  may  se- 
lect.    Once  in  the  rear  of  that  line,  he  will  turn  to  the  right  or  left,  or  both, 

Vol.  II.— 39 


610  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

and  attack  the  batteries  in  reverse ;  or,  if  abandoned,  he  will  pursue  the 
enemy  with  vigour  until  further  orders. 

Wall's  field  battery  and  the  cavalry  will  be  held  in  reserve  on  the  na- 
tional road,  a  little  out  of  view  and  range  of  the  enemy's  batteries.  They 
will  take  up  that  position  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  enemy's  batteries  being  carried  or  abandoned,  all  our  divisions  and 
corps  will  pursue  vvitli  vigour. 

This  pursuit  may  be  continued  many  miles,  until  stopped  by  darkness 
or  fortified  positions  towards  Jalapa.  Consequently,  the  body  of  the  army 
will  not  return  to  this  encampment,  but  be  followed  to-morrow  afternoon, 
or  early  the  next  morning,  by  the  baggage  trains  of  the  several  corps. 
For  this  purpose,  the  feebler  officers  and  men  of  each  corps  will  be  left  to 
guard  its  camp  and  efiects,  and  to  load  up  the  latter  in  the  w-agons  of  the 
corps.  A  commander  of  the  present  encampment  will  be  designated  in 
the  course  of  this  day. 

As  soon  as  it  shall  be  known  that  the  enemy's  works  have  been  carried, 
or  that  the  general  pursuit  has  been  commenced,  one  wagon  for  each  regi- 
ment and  one  for  the  cavalry  will  follow  the  movement,  to  receive,  imder 
the  directions  of  medical  officers,  the  wounded  and  disabled,  who  will  be 
brought  back  to  this  place  for  treatment  in  general  hospital. 

The  surgeon-general  will  organize  this  important  service  and  designate 
that  hospital,  as  well  as  the  medical  officers  to  be  left  at  it. 

Every  man  who  marches  out  to  attack  or  pursue  the  enemy,  will  take 
the  usual  allowance  of  ammunition,  and  subsistence  for  at  least  two 
days. 

By  command  of  Major-gen.  Scott, 

H.  L.  Scott,  A.  A.  A.  General. 

Every  point  of  this  order  was  realized  by  the  event,  excepting  that 
General  Pillow's  brigade  was  repulsed,  and  the  batteries  which  he  had 
been  directed  to  take  were  captured  by  the  advanced  corps  of  the  army, 
at  the  close  of  the  day.  So  admirably  considered  and  planned  had  been 
the  whole  battle  beforehand,  that  this  order  may  be  now  taken  as  a  history 
of  the  engagement.  Early  in  the  morning  the  battery  of  Cerro  Gordo, 
which  overlooked  the  whole  field,  w^as  taken  by  Twiggs  and  Harney, 
whose  men  were  absolutely  obliged  to  climb  its  precipitous  sides,  while 
the  batteries  which  crowned  its  summit  were  pouring  down  upon  them 
their  deadly  plunging  fire.  The  Mexican  General  Vasquez,  was  killed  in 
the  fort,  and  the  American  flag  planted  on  the  battlements.  Santa  Anna, 
Almonte,  and  eight  thousand  Mexican  soldiers  fled  before  Shields  and  his 
gallant  volunteers ;  while  Pillow  kept  La  Vega  employed  until  Cerro 
Gordo  fell — when  he  and  three  thousand  men  surrendered  themselves 
prisoners.  The  flying  Mexicans  were  hotly  pursued  by  Twiggs,  Harney, 
and  the  division  of  Shields — that  brave  officer  himself  having  been  shot 
through  the  lungs ;  and  the  reserve  division  of  Gen.  Worth,  coming  up, 
joined  in  the  chase,  which  continued  until  Jalapa  appeared  in  sight.  The 
immediate  result  of  this  battle  was  three  thousand  prisoners :  forty-three 
pieces  of  bronze  Seville  artillery ;  five  thousand  stand  of  arms ;  five 
generals  ;  and  the  munitions  and  materials  of  an  army.  Our  loss  in  this 
battle,  killed  and  wounded,  was  about  two  hundred  and  fifty ;  that  of  the 
Mexicans,  three  hundred  and  fifty. 

From  Cerro  Gordo  the  main  army  kept  its  way  to  Jalapa,  which  city  it 
entered  on  the  19th.  La  Hoya  was  abandoned  without  opposition  ;  and 
the  strong  castle  and  town  of  Perote  were  occupied  by  our  troops  on  the 
22d  of  April.  At  Perote  fifty-four  pieces  of  cannon  and  mortars,  eleven 
thousand  cannon-balls,  fourteen  thousand  bombs,  and  five  hundred  mus 
kets  fell  into  our  hands.  On  the  15th  of  May  the  city  of  Puebla  was 
occupied  by  the  force  of  General  Worth.     All  this  was  accomplished  in 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  611 

about  two  months  ;  and  thus  far  the  campaign  must  be  acknowledged  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  brilliant  on  record. 

The  whole  effective  marching  force  of  the  American  army  when  it  en- 
tered Puebla  was  about  four  thousand  men ;  yet  with  this  utterly  insuffi 
cient  force  General  Scott  might  have  determined  to  pus^  on  toward  the 
city  of  Mexico,  but  was  detained  at  Puebla  by  the  arrival  there,  in  the 
beginning  of  June,  of  Mr.  Nicholas  P.  Trist,  who  had  been  commissioned 
by  the  president  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  the  Mexican  government. 
Here  the  army  rested  and  perfected  its  discipline — waiting  on  the  one  side 
for  the  arrival  of  reinforcements,  and  on  the  other  to  see  the  result  of  the 
negotiations  of  Mr.  Trist.  After  long  delay,  the  propositions  of  Mr.  Trist 
were  rejected;  and  General  Scott,  having  been  reinforced  by  General 
Cadwallader  with  1400  men.  General  Pillow  with  1000,  and  General  Pierce 
with  2500,  found  himself  about  to  march  on  the  city  of  Mexico  with  an 
army  numbering  under  eleven  thousand  men,  composed  as  follows  : 

Scott's  force  at  Puebla,  7,000 

Cadwallader's  brigade,  1,400 

Pillow's                do.,  1,800 

Pierce's  corps,  2,409 

Garrison  of  Puebla,  under  Col.  Childs,  1,400 

Total  arrived  at  Puebla,    •  14,009 

Deduct  garrison  at  Puebla,  and  sick  in  hospitals,  3,261 


Total  force  marched  from  Puebla,  10,748 

With  this  force,  on  the  7th  of  August,  the  march  for  Mexico  was  com- 
menced, the  army  being  arranged  in  four  divisions,  under  Generals  Worth, 
Twiggs,  Pillow,  and  Quitman,  and  a  cavalry  brigade  under  Colonel  Harney. 
On  the  10th  the  division  of  Twiggs  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
and  on  the  11th  reached  Ayotla,  only  fifteen  miles  from  the  city  of  Mexi- 
co, where  it  rested  for  the  other  divisions  to  come  up.  The  lake  of  Tez- 
cuco  was  directly  in  front ;  at  the  lower  end,  half  way  between  Ayotla 
and  Mexico,  was  El  Penon,  a  fortified  mountain;  directly  west  of  this, 
and  five  miles  south  of  Mexico,  was  Mexicalcingo,  another  fortified  point. 
West  and  south  of  Ayotla  lay  the  lakes  of  Chaico  and  Xocliimilco ;  and 
west  of  these,  at  right  angles  with  the  national  road,  ran  the  road 
to  Acapulco,  leading  from  Mexico  to  the  Pacific.  On  this  road  is  San 
Augustine,  which  subsequently  became  the  general  depot  of  our  army ; 
and  between  San  Augustine  and  Mexico,  and  near  the  Acapulco  road,  lie 
San  Antonio,  Contreras,  and  Churubusco. 

On  surveying  the  ground  in  front,  it  appeared  perfectly  evident  that 
Santa  Anna  had  made  the  best  possible  use  of  the  defences,  natural  and 
artificial,  of  the  city,  and  that  the  capture  of  El  Penon  and  Mexicalcingo, 
which  were  only  the  beginning  of  these  defences,  could  not  be  accom- 
plished without  a  tremendous  loss  of  life,  which  must  so  weaken  our 
army  as  to  render  the  result  of  the  general  battle  uncertain.  The  great 
idea  of  Scott  therefore — following  out  the  system  upon  which  the  cam- 
paign had  thus  far  been  carried  on— was  to  avoid  the  straightforward  route 
to  the  city,  turn  the  entire  defences  of  the  enemy  in  this  direction,  and 
approach  Mexico  from  the  west  or  southwest.  By  a  series  of  the  strictest 
reconnaissances  it  was  discovered  that  a  passage  existed  south  of  Lake 
Chaico,  by  which  the  army  could  place  itself  in  a  position  to  advance  upon 
the  city  by  the  Acapulco  road.  In  obedience  to  this  plan  the  army  was 
at  once  put  in  motion  ;  and  on  the  16th  General  Worth's  division  reached 
San  Augustine,  closely  followed  by  the  others,  without  having  been  seri- 
ously molested;  and  on  the  18th  the  whole  army  was  ready  for  the  attack 

The  defences  of  Mexico  were  very  strong,  both  exterior  and  interior 


612  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

For  the  former  there  was  a  line  of  forts  and  fortified  eminences,  the 
strongest  of  which  was  El  Penon.  It  contained  fifty-one  guns,  wiili  in- 
fantry breastworks,  and  was  surrounded  by  a  deep  ditch  connecting  the 
marshes  and  the  waters  about  it.  Next  came  Mexicalcingo,  at  the  upper 
end  of  Lake  Xochimilco,  and  commanding  a  narrow  causeway  to  the  city. 
The  next  was  tlie  bridge  of  Churubusco,  a  Ule  du  ponl  at  the  crossing  of 
a  canal,  and  on  the  Acapulco  road.  Then,  to  tlie  west,  and  in  front,  wa;> 
the  hill  of  Contreras,  like  the  others  thoroughly  armed.  Still  nearer  tc 
the  city  was  the  hill  of  Chepultepec,  on  which  was  the  Military  Collcgf'— 
a  very  strong  position,  and  well  fortified.  The  ground  around  the  city 
and  between  this  complete  semicircle  of  fortifications,  was  either  mar.sliy 
or  covered  with  volcanic  fragments,  sharp  and  angular,  and  almost  im- 
passable, even  for  footmen.  Behind  these  exterior  forts  was  General 
Valencia  with  six  thousand  of  the  best  troops  in  Mexico. 

The  interior  line  of  defences  consisted  of  the  forts  and  canals  of  the 
city  itself.  The  city  was  only  accessible  by  causeways,  and  every  gate- 
way was  defended  by  garitas,  or  small  forts,  to  the  number  of  eight 
mounted  with  a  large  number  of  cannon. 

On  the  night  of  the  18th  of  August,  the  following  was  the  position  of  the 
two  armies  :  Worth's  division  had,  during  the  day,  advanced  from  San 
Augustine  in  the  direction  of  San  Antonia,  whose  batteries  were  brought 
to  bear  on  his  troops,  and  the  first  shot  killed  Captain  Thornton,  a  brave 
but  unfortunate  oflUcer  of  the  2d  dragoons.  The  cavalry  had  been  thrown 
in  front  to  reconnoitre.  The  village  proved  to  be  strongly  fortified,  and  a 
bold  reconnaissance,  made  by  Captain  Mason,  of  the  engineers,  accompa- 
nied by  Lieutenants  Stevens  and  Tower,  determined  that  this  point  could 
only  be  approached  by  the  front,  over  a  narrow  causeway  of  great  length, 
flanked  with  wet  ditches  of  great  depth.  Worth  was  ordered  not  to  at- 
tack, but  to  threaten  and  mask  the  place.  On  the  left  of  the  road  here, 
extending  west,  was  an  immense  field  of  volcanic  rocks  and  lava,  called 
pedregal,  and  on  the  east  it  was  wet  and  boggy.  This  pedregal  was  thrown 
up  in  sharp  rocks  and  broken  pieces,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  Mexican 
oflScers  supposed  it  to  be  impassable.  It  extended  to  the  mountains,  five 
miles  to  the  left.  That  night  Worth  made  the  headquarters  of  his  division 
at  a  hacienda  on  the  road,  near  Antonia,  and  within  reach  of  the  enemy's 
guns. 

On  the  same  night  the  division  of  Twiggs  slept  in  a  little  village, 
in  sight  of  Worth's  corps.  The  divisions  of  Pillow  and  Quitman  were 
near. 

On  the  same  evening  (the  18th)  General  Valencia,  whose  division  had 
previously  been  held  liable  to  march  to  any  point,  and  whose  troops  were 
called  '•  the  flower''  of  the  Mexican  army,  occupied  thg  fortified  intrench- 
ments  at  the  heights  of  Contreras,  about  five  miles  to  the  northwest  of 
San  Augustine.  At  the  same  time  (evening  of  the  18th),  General  Rincon 
took  command  at  Churubusco,  whose  fortifications  w^ere  not  then  com- 
pleted, but  to  finish  which  he  immediately  addressed  himself.  The  gar- 
rison of  that  post  appears  to  have  been  composed,  according  to  the  official 
report,  of  the  battalions  of  national  guards,  called  Independencia  and  Bravo^ 
which  were  subsequently  reinforced  (19th  and  20th)  by  diff"erent  batteries 
of  artillery. 

At  San  Antonia  was  posted  another  Mexican  division,  reinforced  on  the 
morning  of  the  19th,  by  the  battalions  of  Hidalgo  and  Victoria.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  Contreras  and  San  Angel  were  other  divisions  of  the 
enemy  under  Santa  Anna. 

This,  then,  was  the  situation  of  the  two  armies  on  the  night  of  the  18th 
of  August.  General  Scott's  headquarters  were  at  San  Augustine.  The 
pass  of  San  Antonia,  in  front,  being  strong  and  on  a  narrow  causeway,  the 
plan  of  attack  adopted  seems  to  have  been  this — to  turn  Antonia  by  taking 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  SO 

the  fort  at  Contreras,  and  thus  be  able  to  march  round  San  Antonia ;  or, 
rather,  to  gain  Coyhoacan  on  the  San  Angel,  in  the  rear  of  San  Antonia, 
and  which  was  also  but  one  mile  from  Churubusco.  To  do  this,  however, 
required  that  a  new  road  should  be  cut  for  artillery  from  San  Augustine  to 
Contreras,  and  that,  when  there,  that  position,  strongly  defended  by  artil- 
lery, should  be  stormed  and  taken.  This  was  the  plan  now  devised  by  the 
American  general,  and  to  be  immediately  executed  by  the  army. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th,  all  was  animation  in  both  armies.  General 
Valencia  was  strongly  posted  at  Contreras  ;  Rincon  was  busy  increasing 
the  fortifications  at  Churubusco  ;  Santa  Anna  was  reinforcing  both  Anto- 
nia and  Contreras,  with  bodies  of  troops  drawn  from  the  city  ;  and  General 
Scott,  having  made  a  new  reconnaissance  to  the  left  by  Captain  Lee,  with 
Lieutenants  Beauregard  and  Tower,  now  detached  Pillow's  division 
on  the  contemplated  route  to  make  a  practicable  road  for  heavy  artillery. 

At  four  P.M.  General  Scott  took  position  on  one  of  the  eminences  in 
front  of  Contreras,  and  found  the  brigades  of  P.  F.  Smith  and  Riley 
(Twiggs's  division),  supported  by  those  of  Pierce  and  Cadwallader  (Pil- 
low's division),  picking  their  way  over  the  broken  ground  in  the  enemy's 
front,  and  extending  themselves  towards  the  road  which  leads  to  the  city. 
With  great  difficulty  Captain  Magruder's  battery  of  twelve  and  six-pound- 
ers, and  Lieutenant  Callender's  battery  of  mountain  howitzers  and  rock- 
ets, had  been  advanced  to  within  range  of  the  intrenchments.  "  The 
ground,"  says  an  officer,  "  was  the  worst  possible  for  artillery ;  covered 
with  rocks,  large  and  small,  prickly-pear  and  cactus ;  intersected  by  ditches 
filled  with  water,  and  lined  with  maguey  plant,  itself  imperviable  to  cavalry ; 
and  with  patches  of  corn,  which  concealed  the  enemy's  skirmishers  while 
it  impeded  our  passage.  The  artillery  advanced  but  slowly  under  a  most 
murderous  fire  of  grape,  canister,  and  round  shot,  until  it  got  into  posi- 
tion." 

Our  artillerymen  could  get  but  three  pieces  in  battery,  while  the  enemy 
had  twenty-two,  which,  being  mostly  heavy,  rendered  our  fire  nugatory. 
"  For  two  hours,"  says  the  same  officer,  "  our  troops  stood  the  storm  of 
iron  and  lead  which  hailed  upon  them,  unmoved.  At  every  discharge  they 
laid  flat  down  to  avoid  the  storm,  and  then  sprung  up  to  serve  the  guns. 
At  the  end  of  that  time,  two  of  the  guns  were  dismounted,  and  we  (the 
rifles)  badly  hurt ;  thirteen  of  the  horses  were  killed  and  disabled,  and  fif- 
teen of  the  cannoniers  killed  and  wounded.  The  troops  were  then  re- 
called." 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Mexican  lancers  had  been  repeatedly  repulsed. 
In  another  part  of  the  field  Riley's  brigade  sustained  the  enemy's  fire,  and 
were  engaged  in  skirmishing.  This  action  lasted  for  about  three  hours, 
during  which  time  our  troops  maintained  themselves  under  a  heavy  and 
severe  fire,  and  successfully  resisted  the  charges  of  large  columns  of 
cavalry. 

The  day  of  the  19th,  however,  closed  without  any  decisive  results.  The 
infantry,  unsustained  by  either  cavalry  or  artillery,  could  not  charge  in 
columns  without  being  mowed  down  by  the  Mexican  batteries,  nor  in  line 
without  being  successfully  assailed  by  the  Mexican  cavalry.  To  cut  off 
ihe  junction  of  further  reinforcements  from  the  capital  (which  till  now  ar- 
rived at  will),  the  general-in-chief  determined  to  occupy  the  hamlet  and 
church  of  Contreras,  on  the  road  leading  from  the  capital  to  Valencia's 
camp.  Cadwallader's  brigade,  already  advanced  in  that  direction,  had  ta- 
ken position,  and  needed  assistance.  The  14th  regiment  of  infantry.  Col- 
onel Morgan,  was  then  ordered  by  Scott  to  occupy  the  hamlet,  and  a  few 
minutes  later  they  were  followed  by  the  New  York  and  South  Carolina 
volunteers,  composing  the  brigade  of  General  Shields.  These  troops 
made  their  way  through  a  dense  forest  to  the  left  of  the  road  at  Contreras 
(east  side),  and  in  the  night  took  post  in  the  hamlet  on  the  road.    In  the 


614  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY". 

mean  time,  the  brigades  of  Smith  and  Riley  had  advanced  still  further,  an. 
taken  post  in  rear  and  flank  of  the  enemy's  post  at  Contreras. 

It  was  determined  by  Scott  to  make  a  diversion  in  tlie  morning,  or 
earlier,  if  practicable,  in  front  of  Fort  (.'ontreras,  while  the  brigades  of 
Smith  and  Kilcy  should  attack,  and  Shields  should  cut  off  the  advance  of 
reinforcements,  or  the  retreat  of  the  defeated  through  the  hamlet  on  the 
road.     This  purpose  was  carried  out. 

The  darkness  and  heavy  rain  impeded  the  troops,  and  rendered  the 
transmission  of  orders  so  difficult,  tliiit  ihe  attack  on  the  enemy,  which 
had  been  planned  for  the  dawn  of  day,  did  not  commence  till  a  later  hour. 
About  four  o'clock  the  troops  of  liilcy  and  Smith,  which  had  occupied  the 
hamlet  and  road  during  the  night,  dclilcd  into  their  position  in  rear  of  the 
enemy,  by  a  ravine  covered  by  orchards  and  corn-fields.  The  nature  of 
the  ground  facilitated  this  operation.  The  batteries  and  intrenched  camp 
of  Valencia  were  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  toward  the  east  or  south-east,  so 
as  to  command  the  road,  it  being  the  great  object  to  defend  the  roads 
which  led  to  the  city.  The  volcanic  and  rocky  formation  here  made 
several  little  eminences,  with  ravines  between.  In  this  instance  there 
were  other  eminences  in  the  rear  still  higher.  The  brigade  of  Riley 
passed  through  an  orchard  into  the  ravine  behind  Valencia,  so  as  to  be 
out  of  sight  of  Valencia's  corps,  and  yet  occupy  a  position  near  to  him, 
in  his  rear.  The  brigade  of  Smith  f(.)llowed.  That  of  f'adwallader  had 
already  taken  position  in  rear  of  these,  as  a  support,  while  Shields'  was 
held  in  reserve — taking  the  place  of  Smith's  men,  in  the  village  of  Con- 
treras, and  undertaking  to  hold  that  against  the  approach  of  the  Mexican 
main  army  from  the  city,  or,  in  case  Valencia  was  defeated,  to  cut  off  his 
retreat  to  the  city.  He  was  accompanied  also  by  the  13th  regiment,  under 
Colonel  Morgan. 

At  six  A.  M.  the  arrangements  for  battle  were  all  made.  When  the 
word  was  given,  our  men  sprang  up  in  rear  and  on  both  flanks  of  the 
astonished  Mexicans ;  rushed  over  the  crest  of  the  hill,  and  dashed  pell- 
mell  into  the  intrenchments !  Nothing  could  resist  them:  the  batteries 
were  taken  ;  the  army  of  Valencia  driven  out  in  utter  rout,  and  its  flying 
remnants  pursued  on  the  road  to  Mexico!  So  admirable  were  the  dispo- 
sitions, and  so  impulsively  energetic,  that  the  battle  was  ended  almost  as 
soon  as  begun.  The  actual  conflict  lasted  but  seventeen  minutes !  The 
pursuit  was  for  hours.     The  results  were  gigantic. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  enemy  (who,  previous  to  the  assault,  were  ignorant 
of  the  American  forces  in  the  ravine)  had  commenced  a  heavy  fire  on 
Shields'  brigade  in  the  hamlet.  This,  however,  ceased  when  the  charge 
was  made  by  Riley.  Shields  then  ordered  his  brigade,  composed  of  the 
New  York  and  South  Carolina  regiments,  into  the  road,  to  cut  off"  the 
retreat  of  such  of  Valencia's  corps  as  passed  that  way.  In  this  they 
succeeded.  Large  parties  of  the  enemy  were  met  by  the  fire  of  these 
regiments,  and  either  scattered  through  ihe  fields  or  made  prisoners.  At 
this  point  on  the  road  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  were  taken,  of  whom 
twenty-five  were  officers,  and  among  the  latter  was  General  Nicholas 
Mendoza. 

The  victory  of  Contreras  was  brilliant  and  decisive.  The  aggregate 
loss  of  the  enemy  was  seven  hundred  killed,  about  one  thousand  wounded, 
eight  hundred  and  thirteen  prisoners,  of  whom  eighty-eight  were  officers 
(including  four  generals),  twenty-two  pieces  of  brass  cannon,  seven  hun- 
dred pack-mules,  and  an  immense  number  of  small-arms,  shots,  shells, 
and  ammunition.  But  the  most  important  loss,  to  an  experienced  military 
eye,  was  that  of  one  of  the  strong  positions  by  which  the  roads  to  Mexico 
Avere  commanded,  and  in  consequence  of  which  San  Antonia  was  turned, 
and  Churubusco  attacked  in  flank.  It  was  only  two  miles  from  the  point 
where  Shields  captured  Mendoza  to  San  Angel,  and  but  three  miles  (bv 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  615 

good  roads)  from  tlie  last  point  (by  Coyhoacan)  to  Churubusco.  On  these 
roads  the  American  troops  rushed  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  enemy,  till  they 
united  with  Worth's  corps  in  the  storm  of  the  church  and  ttte  du  pont  at 
the  last  place. 

From  Contreras  the  Americans  pushed  on  to  Churubusco,  where  Ge- 
neral Rincon  was  stationed,  with  a  large  force,  constantly  augmented  by 
those  who  fled  from  Contreras.  Six  pieces  of  cannon  had  been  planted 
by  the  Mexicans  in  the  centre  of  a  field-work,  on  the  road  to  Coyhoacan, 
and  at  the  commencement  of  the  causeway  leading  to  the  western  gate 
of  the  city,  and  which  had  to  be  passed  before  getting  on  the  road.  This 
hacienda  consisted  of  a  stone  wall  enclosure,  within  which  was  a  stone 
building  higher  than  the  wall,  and  a  stone  church  higher  than  either.  The 
outside  walls  were  pierced  for  firing  down  upon  assailants.  About  three 
hundred  yards  in  rear,  and  to  the  east,  was  the  head  of  the  bridge,  at  the 
intersection  of  the  causeway. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th,  about  8  a.m.,  when  it  was  fully  ascertain 
ed  that  the  enemy  was  in  full  retreat  towards  the  great  causeway  road 
from  San  Antonia  to  Mexico,  the  brigades  of  Clarke  and  Garland  pro- 
ceeded to  the  attack  of  Antonia.  This  post,  left  unsupported  by  the  line 
of  troops,  now  driven  from  Contreras,  and  with  comparatively  open 
ground  about  it,  could  be  turned.  Accordingly,  Colonel  Clarke's  brigade, 
conducted  by  Captain  Mason  of  the  engineers,  and  Lieutenant  Hardcastle 
of  the  topographical  corps,  turned  the  enemy's  right,  by  a  sweep  to  the 
left,  and  came  out  on  the  high  road  to  Mexico.  In  the  mean  lime,  the 
garrison  had  retreated,  and  were  now  cut  in  the  centre  by  the  advancing 
column  of  Clarke.  The  brigade  of  Garland,  advancing  in  front,  now  oc- 
cupied the  evacuated  hamlet — capturing  the  artillery  in  its  batteries 
These  brigades  were  soon  united,  and  rushed  on  in  hot  pursuit. 

The  great  movement  of  the  day  now  commenced — the  march  of  the 
united  army  (Quitman's  second  brigade  excepted),  on  the  fortified  post  of 
Churubusco.  This  was  made  in  two  columns — the  division  of  Worth 
from  San  Antonia  in  front,  and  the  divisions  of  Twiggs  and  Pillow,  with 
the  brigade  of  Shields  from  Coyhoacan;  to  which  point  they  had  pursued 
the  remains  of  the  Mexican  army — routed  at  Contreras,  and  followed 
through  San  Angel.  This  naturally  resolved  the  battle  into  two  distinct 
actions  on  the  same  field,  and  so  clearly  connected,  as  to  be  within  half- 
cannon-shot  at  the  centres  of  contest.  These  were  respectively,  the  tete 
du  pont,  attacked  by  the  first  column  under  Worth,  and  the  fortified  church 
and  hacienda,  attacked  by  the  column  of  Twiggs  and  Pillow. 

It  had  got  to  be  about  1  p.m.,  when  the  different  divisions  from  the 
south  and  west  were  united,  not  in  line  (nor  together),  but  within  the 
same  circuit  of  attack.  At  the  same  time,  the  garrisons  of  Churubuscd 
(strongly  reinforced),  the  brigade  of  Perez,  at  Portalis,  the  broken  corps 
from  San  Angel,  and  the  principal  divisions  of  Santa  Anna's  army  were 
all  prepared  for  battle,  having  concentrated  in  and  about  Churubusco. 
The  division  of  Twiggs  had  commenced  the  attack  on  the  fortified  church 
about  an  hour,  amidst  an  incessant  roll  of  fire,  when  Worth,  with  ("ad- 
wallader's  brigade,  commenced  manceuvring  on  the  tete  du  pont.  The 
other  fortification  attacked  by  Twiggs  was  just  half-gunshot  to  the  left, 
and,  but  for  the  attack  on  it,  would  have  poured  a  destructive  fire  on 
Worth.  Both  were  attacked  simultaneously  ;  and  thus  the  fire  of  Pablo 
de  Churubusco  was  in  a  measure  diverted.  The  brigade  of  Colonel  Gar- 
land, with  Smith's  light  battalion,  moved  along  a  little  to  the  right  of  the 
road,  directly  up  to  the  tete  du  pont.  They  advanced  under  the  fire  of  a 
long  line  of  infantry.  Clarke's  brigade  marched  at  the  same  time,  di- 
rectly on  the  road;  and  this  again  was  supported  by  the  11th  and  14th 
regiments,  and  the  whole  moved  steadily  up  under  a  tremendous  dis- 
charge of  both  small-arms  and  cannon.     Most  of  these  corps,  advancing 


516  THE  TREASCdl   OP  fliSTORT. 

perpendicularly,  sufTcred  greatly  from  the  fire  of  batteries  at  the  bridge- 
nead.  At  length,  the  lino  in  front  of  Garland's  column  gave  way,  and 
made  a  rapid  retreat  to  Mexico.  The  it'te  du  pout  was  reached  by 
Clarke's — its  dce[)  ditch  was  crossed  by  the  5lh  and  bth  infantry — the 
parapets  stormed — and  one  of  the  most  fonnidable  defences  of  Mexico 
crowned,  by  its  capture,  the  third  action  of  the  memorable  20th  of  August. 

In  the  mean  wliile,  a  yet  more  active,  blotjdy,  and  eventful  action  took 
place  to  the  left  of  Worth's  line,  in  the  attack  of  what  may  be  called  the 
citadel  of  Churubusco,  the  fortification  at  the  hacienda,  before  described. 
The  dispositions  were  rapidly  made,  and  as  quickly  executed.  The  troops 
moved  regularly  and  gaUantly  into  their  places,  and  the  battle  of  Churu- 
busco was  commenced,  which,  for  three  hours,  was  vigorously  maintained. 

In  the  centre  of  the  batteries  of  San  Pablo  was  placed  the  company  of 
St.  Patrick's,  formed  out  of  deserters  from  the  American  army.  These 
men  fought  desperately  and  skilfully,  causing  the  deaths  of  many  of  the 
assailants,  and  delaying  the  capture  of  the  post. 

It  was  now  two  hours  and  a  half  from  the  commencement  of  the  battle 
by  the  division  of  'i'wiggs,  when  the  tete  du  pont  gave  way  before  the 
storming  parlies  of  Wurlli.  The  enemy  were  driven  out  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet,  and  the  larger  part  of  Worth's  and  Pillow's  divisions  crossed 
the  bridge  and  followed  in  vigorous  pursuit.  Captain  Larkin  Smith  and 
Lieutenant  Snelling  of  the  8th  infantry,  however,  seized  upon  a  field- 
piece,  and  fired  upon  the  church,  or  citadel.  The  furious  battle  at  thai 
point  still  continued ;  but  in  half  an  hour  more — ^just  three  hours  from 
the  commencement — the  citadel  (San  Pablo)  was  entered,  sword  in  hand, 
by  two  companies  of  the  3d  infantry  under  Captains  Alexander  and  J.  M. 
Smith,  with  Lieutenant  Shepler.  At  the  same  moment  the  white  flag  had 
been  exhibited,  and  Captain  Alexander  received  the  surrender,  and  hoisted 
on  the  balcony  the  flags  of  the  gallant  3d  infantry. 

The  brigades  of  Pierce  and  Shields,  supported  by  the  rifles,  had  en- 
countered, to  the  rear  of  the  works  of  Churubusco,  four  thousand  Mexi- 
can infantry  supported  by  three  thousand  cavalry.  Hotly  and  furiously 
did  the  battle  rage  in  this  quarter. 

In  the  citadel  (church)  of  Churubusco  the  brave  Generals  Rincon  and 
Anaya,  with  hundreds  of  others,  were  taken  prisoners.  Thus  had  the 
army  of  Scott  at  Contreras,  Antonia,  the  Tete  du  Pont,  Churubusco,  and 
in  the  field,  five  times  in  one  day,  defeated  the  enemy  in  sight  of  the 
capital  of  Mexico. 

After  the  close  of  this  day — one  of  the  most  extraordinary  in  the  annals 
of  war — General  Scott  proceeded  towards  Tacubaya,  but  on  the  way  was 
met  with  propositions  for  peace.  This  was  the  20th  of  August,  and  that 
night  General  Scott  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  archiepiscopal  palace  of 
Mexico,  the  city  being  within  his  grasp.  He,  however,  waited  quietly  till 
the  morning,  moved  by  a  noble  sentiment  of  humanity,  which  will  be  a 
crown  of  glory  upon  his  brow  when  the  bays  of  battle  have  all  faded  and 
withered.  The  next  day  negotiations  were  commenced,  and  were  contin- 
ued in  an  unsatisfactory  maimer  to  the  6th  of  September,  when  General 
Scott  gave  notice  to  General  Santa  Anna  of  certain  violations  of  the  ar- 
mistice having  been  committed  by  the  Mexicans,  and  was  replied  to  by 
similar  allegations  on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  The  next  day  it  was  under- 
stood that  the  negotiations  had  failed,  and  measures  were  immediately 
taken  for  the  recommencement  of  hostilities.  During  the  pending  of  ne- 
gotiations twenty-nine  Irishmen,  who  had  sworn  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  and  were  taken  in  arras  against  us  at  Churubusco,  were  tried  by  a 
court-martial,  and  sixteen  of  them  hung  as  traitors. 

On  the  7th  of  September  a  general  reconnaisance  of  the  city  was  made, 
with  a  view  to  carrying  it  by  assault,  and  of  the  formidable  defences  in  front 
of  Tacubaya,  commanding  the  principal  causeway  and  the  aqueduct  sup- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  617 

piying  the  city  with  water.  The  village  of  Tacubaya  is  about  ^.wo  miles 
and  a  half  from  the  city  of  Mexico.  Twelve  hundred  yards  north  were  the 
hill  and  fortified  buildings  of  Chepultepec,  and  here  the  causeway  branches 
off  to  the  east,  and  runs,  about  two  miles  in  length,  to  the  city.  The  Ta- 
cubaya road  entered  the  San  Cosmo  causeway,  about  two  miles  further 
on.  These  causeways  were  the  principal  avenues  to  the  city,  and  the 
cannon  of  Chepultepec  commanded  them  as  well  as  the  city  itself.  The 
first  thing  to  be  done,  therefore,  was  to  take  the  castle  of  Chepultepec. 
The  only  accessible  side  of  Chepultepec  was  towards  the  city,  up  a  thickly- 
wooded  slope.  At  the  foot  of  this  hill-slope,  adjoining  the  grove  of  trees, 
is  El  Molino  del  Rey,  a  high  stone  building,  with  towers  at  the  end.  This 
was  strongly  garrisoned.  A  little  to  the  west  of  El  INIolino  is  Casa  de 
Mata,  a  stone  building  somewhat  similar,  and,  like  it,  strongly  armed. 

At  half-past  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  the  attack  upon 
Molino  del  Rey  commenced,  by  the  firing  of  Huger's  battery — at  the  same 
time  the  storming  parly  rushing  in  and  driving  the  Mexican  artillerymen 
from  their  field-batteries,  about  six  hundred  yards  south  of  El  Molino,  in 
the  midst  of  a  terrible  fire.  The  Mexicans,  perceiving  the  smallness  of 
the  American  force,  rallied  and  resumed  a  deadly  fire,  striking  down  eleven 
of  the  fourteen  American  officers  who  had  advanced  to  the  charge.  For 
a  moment  they  regained  possession  of  their  batteries,  but  were  repulsed 
by  a  battalion  of  reserve,  and  the  point  carried.  Meanwhile  Molino  del 
Rey  itself  had  been  carried  by  Garland's  brigade,  and  Casa  de  Mata  had 
fallen,  after  an  obstinate  and  bloody  resistance,  and  was  at  once  blown  up. 

These  feats  having  been  accomplished,  and  these  defences  rendered 
entirely  useless  to  the  Mexicans,  our  troops,  according  to  the  directions 
of  General  Scott,  fell  back  upon  Tacubaya,  having  suffered  in  these  fiercest 
encounters  of  the  war  a  loss  of  nearly  one-fourth  their  entire  number. 

On  the  1 1th  the  reconnaisanccs  of  General  Scott  were  all  completed,  and 
the  final  assault  decided  on.  The  general  had  determined  to  attack  the 
southwestern  gates  by  the  Chepultepec  causeway ;  but,  to  deceive  the 
enemy,  a  masked  movement  was  arranged  on  the  San  Antonio  gates, 
which  took  place  by  daylight.  At  night  the  greater  part  of  the  troops  en- 
gaged in  this  movement  were  withdrawn,  and  batteries  erected  to  com- 
mand the  fortress  of  Chepultepec.  At  daylight  they  commenced  firing, 
and  continued  during  the  whole  day,  being  answered  by  a  most  destructive 
fire  from  the  enemy.  At  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning,  the  assault  by 
storm  commenced,  and  in  a  few  hours  the  apparently  impregnable  fortress 
of  Chepultepec  was  in  the  hands  of  our  troops,  and  the  whole  Mexican 
army  in  full  llight  for  the  city.  At  the  suburb  of  San  Cosmo  another  stand 
was  made,  but  only  for  a  few  minutes  ;  and  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening 
the  American  army  rested  before  the  unde^'ended  walls  of  Mexico.  At 
daylight  on  the  14th,  the  ayuntamento  of  Mexico  waited  upon  General 
Scott  and  informed  him  that  both  the  government  and  army  had  marched 
out  during  the  night,  and  demanded  terms  of  capitulation.  The  reply  was 
that,  as  the  city  had  been  virtually  in  his  power  the  day  before,  the  army 
would  come  under  no  terms  save  such  as  it  should  choose  to  impose  upon 
itself.  The  general  then  gave  orders  to  Worth  and  Quitman  to  advance 
and  occupy  the  city.  These  directions  were  obeyed  with  alacrity  ;  and 
at  seven  o'clock,  a.  m.,  the  stars  and  stripes  rose  above  the  National  Pa- 
lace of  Mexico. 

We  here  insert  General  Scott's  ofllcial  account  of  the  memorable  en- 
gagements before  the  city  of  Mexico  : 

Headquarters  of  the  Army,  \ 

National  Palace  of  Mexico,  Sept.  18,  1847.  5 

Sir,— At  the  end  of  another  series  of  arduous  and  brilliant  operations 

of  more  than  forty-eight  hours'  continuance,  this  glorious  army  hoisted, 


(518  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

on  ilic  morning  of  ilic  Mili,  the  colours  of  the  United  States  on  the  wal. 
of  this  piu.ice. 

The  victory  of  llie  8tli,  at  tlie  Mohiio  del  Rey,  was  followed  by  daring 
recoiniaisiiiiccs  on  the  i)arl  of  our  ditslini^^uished  enj^ineers — Captain  Lee, 
Lieutenants  IJoauri-gard,  Stevens,  and  Tower;  Major  Smith,  senior,  being 
sick,  and  Captain  Mason,  third  in  rank,  wounded,  'i'heir  o[)erations  were 
directed  principally  to  the  south — towards  the  gates  of  the  Piedad,  San 
Angel  (Nuio  I'erdido),  San  Antonio,  and  the  Faseo  de  la  Viga. 

'I'his  city  stands  on  a  slight  swell  of  ground,  near  the  centre  of  an  ir- 
regular basin,  and  is  girdled  with  a  ditch  in  its  greater  extent — a  navigable 
canal  of  great  breach h  and  depth — very  diflicult  to  bridge  in  the  presence 
of  an  enemy,  and  serving  at  once  for  drainage,  custoni-house  purposes, 
and  military  defence  ;  leaving  eight  entrances  or  gates,  over  arches,  each 
of  which  ue  found  defended  by  a  system  of  strong  works,  that  seemed 
to  require  nothing  but  some  men  and  guns  to  be  impregnable. 

Outside  and  within  the  cross-fires  of  those  gates,  we  found  to  the  south 
other  obstacles  but  little  less  formidable.  All  the  approaches  near  the 
city  are  over  elevated  causeways,  cut  in  many  places  (to  oppose  us),  and 
flanked  on  both  sides  by  ditches,  also  of  unusual  dimensions.  The  im- 
merous  cross-roads  are  fhinked  in  like  manner,  having  bridges  at  the  in- 
tersections, recently  broken.  The  meadows  thus  checkered  are,  more- 
over, in  many  places,  under  water  or  marshy  ;  for,  it  will  be  remembered, 
we  were  in  the  midst  of  the  wet  season,  though  with  less  rain  than  usual, 
and  we  could  not  wait  for  the  fall  of  the  neighbouring  lakes,  and  the  con- 
sequent drainage  of  the  wet  grounds  at  the  edge  of  the  city — the  lowest 
in  the  whole  basin. 

After  a  close  personal  survey  of  the  southern  gates,  covered  by  Pillow's 
division  and  Riley's  brigade  of  Twiggs' — with  four  times  our  numbers 
concentrated  in  our  immediate  front — I  determined  on  the  11th  to  avoid 
that  net- work  of  obstacles,  and  to  seek,  by  a  sudden  diversion  to  the 
southwest  and  w  est,  less  unfavourable  approaches. 

To  economize  the  lives  of  our  gallant  oflicers  and  men,  as  well  as  to 
ensure  success,  it  became  indispensable  that  this  resolution  should  be 
long  masked  from  the  enemy;  and  again,  that  the  new  movement,  when 
discovered,  should  be  mistaken  for  a  feint,  and  the  old  as  indicating  our 
true  and  ultimate  point  of  attack. 

Accordingly,  on  the  spot,  the  llih,  I  ordered  Quitman's  division  from 
Coyhoacan,  to  join  Pillow,  by  daylight,  before  the  southern  gates;  and  then 
that  the  two  major-generals,  with  their  divisions,  should,  by  night,  proceed 
(two  miles)  to  join  nte  at  Tacubaya,  where  I  was  quartered  with  VVorth's 
division.  Twiggs,  with  Riley's  brigade  and  Captains  Taylor  and  Step- 
toe's  field  batteries — the  latter  of  12-pounders — was  left  in  fjont  of  those 
gates,  to  mana?uvre,  to  threaten,  or  to  make  false  attacks,  in  order  to  oc 
cupy  and  deceive  the  enemy.  Twiggs'  other  brigade  (Smith's)  was  left 
at  supporting  distance,  in  the  rear,  at  San  Angel,  till  the  morning  of  the 
13th,  and  also  to  support  our  general  depot  at  Miscoac.  The  stratagem 
against  the  south  was  admirably  executed  throughout  the  12th  and  down 
to  the  afternoon  of  the  13th,  when  it  was  too  late  for  the  enemy  to 
recover  froiu  the  efl'ects  of  his  delusion. 

The  first  step  in  the  new  movement  was  to  carry  Chepultepec,  a  natu- 
ral and  isolated  mound,  of  great  elevation,  strongly  fortified  at  its  base, 
on  its  acclivities,  and  heights.  Besides  a  numerous  garrison,  here  was 
the  military  college  of  the  republic,  with  a  large  number  of  sub-lieuten- 
ants and  other  students.  Those  works  were  within  direct  gun-shot  of 
the  village  of  Tacubaya,  and  until  carried,  we  could  not  approach  the  city 
on  the  west,  without  making  a  circuit  too  wide  and  too  hazardous. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  night  (that  of  the  11th)  heavy  batterios, 
within  easy  ranges,  were  established.     No.  1,  on  our  right,  under  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  615 

LOtnmand  of  Captain  Drum,  4th  artillery  (relieved  late  next  day,  for  some 
hours,  by  Lieutenant  Andrews,  of  the  3d),  and  No.  2,  commanded  by 
Lieutenant  Hagner,  ordnance — both  supported  by  Quitman's  division. 
Nos.  3  and  4  on  the  opposite  side,  supported  by  Pillow's  division,  were 
commanded,  the  former  by  Captain  Brooks  and  Lieutenant  S.  S.  Ander- 
son, 2d  artillery,  alternately,  and  the  latter  by  Lieutenant  Stone,  ordnance. 
The  batteries  were  traced  by  Captain  Huger  and  Captain  Lee,  engineer, 
and  constructed  by  them  with  the  able  assistance  of  the  young  officers 
of  those  corps  and  the  artillery. 

To  prepare  for  an  assault,  it  was  foreseen  that  the  play  of  the  batteries 
might  run  into  the  second  day  ;  but  recent  captures  had  not  only  trebled 
cur  siege  pieces,  but  also  our  ammunition  ;  and  we  knew  that  we  should 
greatly  augment  both  by  carrying  the  place.  I  was,  therefore,  in  no 
haste  in  ordering  an  assault  before  the  works  were  well  crippled  by  our 
missiles. 

The  bombardment  and  cannonade,  under  the  direction  of  Capt.  Huger, 
were  commenced  early  in  the  morning  of  the  12th.  Before  nightfall, 
which  necessarily  stopped  our  batteries,  we  had  perceived  that  a  good 
impression  had  been  made  on  the  castle  and  its  outworks,  and  that  a 
large  body  of  the  enemy  had  remained  outside,  towards  the  city,  from  an 
early  hour,  to  avoid  our  fire  and  to  be  at  hand  on  its  cessation,  in  order 
•o  reinforce  the  garrison  against  an  assault.  The  same  outside  force 
»vas  discovered  the  next  murning,  after  our  batteries  had  re-opened  upon 
the  castle,  by  which  we  again  reduced  its  garrison  to  the  mininmm  ne-ed- 
ed  for  the  guns. 

Pillow  and  Quitman  had  been  in  position  since  early  in  the  night  of  the 
11th.  Major-general  Worth  was  now  ordered  to  hold  his  division  in  re- 
serve, near  the  foundry,  to  support  Pillow;  and  Brigadier-general  Smith, 
of  Twiggs'  division,  had  just  arrived  with  his  brigade  from  Piedad  (two 
miles),  to  support  Quitman.  Twiggs'  guns,  before  the  southern  gates, 
again  reminded  us,  as  the  day  before,  that  he,  with  Riley's  brigade  and 
Taylor's  and  Steptoe's  batteries,  was  in  activity,  threatening  the  southern 
gates,  and  there  holding  a  great  part  of  the  Mexican  army  on  the  de 
fensive. 

Worth's  division  furnished  Pillow's  attack  with  an  assaulting  party  of 
some  250  volunteer  officers  and  men,  under  Captain  McKenzie,  of  the  2d 
artillery ;  and  Twiggs'  division  supplied  a  similar  one,  commanded  by 
Captain  Casey,  2d  infantry,  to  Quitman.  Each  of  these  little  columns 
was  furnished  with  scaling  ladders. 

The  signal  I  had  appointed  for  the  attack  was  the  momentary  cessation 
of  fire  on  the  part  of  our  heavy  batteries.  About  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  I3th,  judging  that  the  time  had  arrived  by  the  effect  of  the 
missiles  we  had  thrown,  I  sent  an  aide-de-camp  to  Pillow,  and  another  to 
Quitman,  with  notice  that  the  concerted  signal  w-as  about  to  be  given. 
Both  columns  now  advanced  with  an  alacrity  that  gave  assurance  of 
prompt  success.  The  batteries,  seizing  opportunities,  threw  shots  and 
shells  upon  the  enemy  over  the  heads  of  our  men,  with  good  effect,  par- 
ticularly at  every  attempt  to  reinforce  the  works  from  without  to  meet 
the  assault. 

Major-general  Pillow's  approach,  on  the  west  side,  lay  through  an  open 
grove,  filled  with  sharp-shooters,  who  were  speedily  dislodged  ;  when 
being  up  with  the  front  of  the  attack,  and  emergmg  into  open  space,  at 
the  foot  of  a  rocky  acclivity,  that  gallant  leader  was  struck  down  by  an 
agonizing  wound.  The  immediate  command  devolved  on  Brigadier-ge- 
neral Cadwallader,  in  the  absence  of  the  senior  brigadier  (Pierce)  of  the 
same  division — an  invalid  since  the  events  of  August  19.  On  a  previous 
call  of  Pillow,  Worth  had  just  sent  him  a  reinforcement— Colonel  Clarke's 
brigade. 


630  THE  TREASURY  OF   HISTORY. 

Tlic  broken  acclivity  was  still  to  be  ascended,  and  a  strong  redoubt 
midway,  to  be  carried,  before  reaching  the  castle  on  the  heights.  The. 
advance  of  our  brave  men,  led  by  brave  officers,  though  necessarily  slow, 
was  unwavering,  over  rocks,  chasms,  and  mines,  and  under  the  hottest 
fire  of  cannon  and  musketry.  The  redoubt  now  yielded  to  resistless 
valour,  and  the  shouts  that  followed  announced  to  the  castle  the  fate  that 
impended.  The  enemy  were  steadily  driven  from  shelter  to  shelter. 
The  retreat  allowed  not  time  to  fire  a  single  mine,  without  the  certainty 
of  blowing  up  friend  and  foe.  Those  who  at  a  distance  attempted  to  ap- 
ply matches  to  the  long  trains,  were  shot  down  by  our  men.  There  was 
death  below,  as  well  as  above  ground.  At  length  the  ditch  and  wall  of 
the  main  work  were  reached  ;  the  scaling  ladders  were  brought  up  and 
planted  by  the  storming  parties  ;  some  of  the  daring  spirits  first  in  the 
assault  were  cast  down,  killed  or  wounded ;  but  a  lodgment  was  soon 
made  ;  streams  of  heroes  followed ;  all  opposition  was  overcome,  and  se- 
veral of  our  regimental  colours  flung  out  from  the  upper  walls,  amidst 
long-continued  shouts  and  cheers,  which  sent  dismay  into  the  capital. 
No  scene  could  have  been  more  animating  or  glorious. 

Major-general  Quitman,  nobly  supported  by  Brigadier-generals  Shields 
and  Smith  (P.  ¥.),  his  other  officers  and  men,  was  up  with  the  part  as- 
signed him.  Simultaneously  with  the  movement  on  the  west,  he  had  gal- 
lantly approached  the  southeast  of  the  same  works,  over  a  causeway 
with  cuts  and  batteries,  and  defended  by  an  army  strongly  posted  out- 
side, to  the  east  of  the  works.  Those  formidable  obstacles  Quitman  had 
to  face,  with  but  little  shelter  for  his  troops  or  space  for  manceuvring. 
Deep  ditches  flanking  the  causeway  made  it  difficult  to  cross  on  either 
side  into  the  adjoining  meadows,  and  these  again  were  intersected  by 
other  ditches.  Smith  and  his  brigade  had  been  early  thrown  out  to  make 
a  sweep  to  the  right,  in  order  to  present  a  front  against  the  enemy's  line 
(outside),  and  to  turn  two  intervening  batteries  near  the  foot  of  Chepul- 
tepec.  This  movement  was  also  intended  to  support  Quitman's  storming 
parties,  both  on  the  causeway.  The  first  of  these,  furnished  by  Twiggs' 
division,  was  commanded  in  succession  by  Captain  Casey,  2d  infantry, 
and  Captain  Paul,  7th  infantry,  after  Casey  had  been  severely  wounded  ; 
and  the  second,  originally  under  the  gallant  Major  Twiggs,  marine  corps, 
killed,  and  then  Captain  Miller,  2d  Pennsylvania  volunteers.  The  storm 
ing  partJ^  now  commanded  by  Capain  Paul,  seconded  by  Captain  Roberts, 
of  the  rifles,  Lieutenant  Stewart,  and  others  of  the  same  regiment.  Smith's 
brigade,  carried  the  two  batteries  in  the  road,  took  some  guns,  with  many 
prisoners,  and  drove  the  enemy  posted  behind  in  support.  The  New 
York  and  South  Carolina  volunteers  (Shields'  brigade),  and  the  2d  Pennsyl- 
vania volunteers,  all  on  the  left  of  Quitman's  line,  together  with  portions 
of  his  storming  parties,  crossed  the  meadows  in  front,  under  a  heavy  fire, 
and  entered  the  outer  enclosure  of  Chepultepec  just  in  time  to  join  in  the 
final  assault  from  the  west. 

Besides  Major-generals  Pillow  and  Quitman,  Brigadier-generals  Shields, 
Smith,  and  Cadwallader,  the  following  are  the  officers  and  corps  most 
distinguished  in  those  brilliant  operations :  The  voltigeur  regiment  in  two 
detachments,  commanded  respectively  by  Colonel  Andrews  and  Lieuten- 
ant-colonel Johnstone — the  latter  mostly  in  the  lead,  accompanied  by 
Major  Caldwell ;  Captains  Barnard  and  Biddle,  of  the  same  regnnent — the 
former  the  first  to  plant  a  regimental  colour,  and  the  latter  among  the  first 
in  the  assault ;  the  storming  party  of  Worth's  division,  under  Captain 
McKenzie,  2d  artillery,  with  Lieutenant  Seldon,  8th  infantry,  early  on  the 
ladder  and  badly  wounded ;  Lieutenant  Armistead,  6th  infantry,  the  first 
to  leap  into  the  ditch  to  plant  a  ladder;  Lieutenant  Rodgers  of  the  4th. 
and  J.  P.  Smith  of  the  5th  infantry— both  mortally  wounded:  the  9th  in- 
fantry, under  Colonel  Ransom,  who  was  killed  while  gallantly  leading  tliai 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  621 

gallant  regiment ;  the  15th  infantry,  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Howard  and 
Major  Woods,  with  Captani  Chase,  whose  company  gallantly  carried  the 
redoubt,  midway  up  the  acclivity  ;  Colonel  Clarke's  brigade  (Worth's  di- 
vision) consisting  of  the  5th,  8th,  and  part  of  the  eth  regiments  of  infan- 
try, commanded  respectively  by  Captain  Chapman,  Major  Montgomery, 
and  Lieutenant  Edward  Johnson — the  latter  specially  noticed,  with  Lieuten- 
ants Longstreet  (badly  wounded,  advancing,  colours  in  hand),  Pickett,  and 
Merchant,  the  last  three  of  the  8th  infantry  ;  portions  of  the  United  States 
marines,  New  York,  South  Carolina  and  2d  Pennsylvania  volunteers,  which, 
delayed  with  their  division  (Quitman's)  by  the  hot  engagement  below, 
arrived  just  in  time  to  participate  in  the  assault  of  the  heights — particu- 
larly a  detachment  under  Lieutenant  Reid,  New  York  volunteers,  consist- 
ing of  a  company  of  the  same,  with  one  of  marines  ;  and  another  detach- 
ment, a  portion  of  the  storming  party  (Twigg's  division,  serving  with 
Quitman),  under  Lieutenant  Steele,  2d  infantry,  after  the  fall  of  Lieutenant 
Cantt,  7th  infantry. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  but  just  to  recall  the  decisive  effect  of  the  heavy 
batteries,  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  and  4,  commanded  by  those  excellent  officers,  Cap- 
tain Drum,  4th  artillery,  assisted  by  Lieutenants  Benjamin  and  Porter  of 
his  Dwn  company  ;  Captain  Brooks  and  Lieutenant  Anderson,  2d  artillery, 
assisted  by  Lieutenant  Russell,  4th  infantry,  a  volunteer;  Lieutenants 
Hagner  and  Stone  of  the  ordnance,  and  Lieutenant  Andrews,  3d  artillery  ; 
the  whole  superintended  by  Captain  Huger,  chief  of  ordnance  with  this 
army— an  officer  distinguished  by  every  kind  of  merit.  The  mountain 
howitzer  battery,  under  Lieutenant  Reno,  of  the  ordnance,  deserves,  also, 
to  be  particularly  mentioned.  Attached  to  the  voltigeurs,  it  followed  the 
movements  of  that  regiment,  and  again  won  applause. 

In  adding  to  the  list  of  individuals  of  conspicuous  merit,  I  must  limit 
myself  to  a  few  of  the  many  names  which  might  be  enumerated  :  Captain 
Hooker,  assistant  adjutant-general,  who  won  special  applause,  succes- 
sively, in  the  staff  of  Pillow  and  Cadwallader ;  Lieutenant  Lovell,  4th 
artillery  (wounded),  chief  of  Quitman's  staff';  Captain  Page,  assistant 
adjutant-general  (wounded),  and  Lieutenant  Hammond,  3d  artillery,  both 
of  Shields'  staff,  and  Lieutenant  Van  Dorn,  7th  infantry,  aide-de-camp  to 
brigadier-general  Smith. 

Those  operations  all  occurred  on  the  west,  southeast,  and  heights  of 
Chepuliepec.  To  the  north  and  at  the  base  of  the  mound,  inaccessible 
on  that  side,  the  11th  infantry,  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Hebert,  the  14th, 
under  Col.  Trousdale,  and  Capt.  Magruder's  field  battery,  1st  artillery — one 
section  advanced  under  Lieut.  Jackson — all  of  Pillow's  division — had,  at  the 
same  time,  some  spirited  affairs  against  superior  numbers,  driving  the  ene- 
my from  a  battery  in  the  road,  and  capturing  a  gun.  In  these,  the  officers 
and  corps  named  gained  merited  praise.  Colonel  Trousdale,  the  command- 
er, though  twice  wounded,  continued  on  duty  until  the  heights  were  carried. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  13th,  I  repeated  the  orders  of  the  night 
before  to  Major-general  Worth,  to  be,  with  his  division  at  hand,  to  support 
the  movement  of  Major-general  Pillow  from  our  left.  The  latter  seems 
soon  to  have  called  for  that  entire  division,  standing  momentarily  in  re- 
serve, and  Worth  sent  him  Col.  Clarke's  brigade.  The  call,  if  unneces- 
sary, was  at  least,  from  the  circumstances,  unknown  to  me  at  the  time  , 
for  soon  observing  that  the  very  large  body  of  the  enemy,  in  the  road  in 
front  of  Major-general  Quitman's  right,  was  receiving  reinforcements 
from  the  city — less  than  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  east— I  sent  instructions 
to  Worth,  on  our  opposite  flank,  to  turn  Chepultepec  with  his  division, 
and  to  proceed,  cautiously,  by  the  road  at  its  northern  base,  in  order,  if 
not  met  by  very  superior  numbers,  to  threaten  or  to  attack,  in  rear,  that 
body  of  the  enemy.  The  movement,  it  was  also  believed,  could  not  fail 
to  distract  and  to  intimidate  the  enemy  generally. 


023  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Worth  promptly  advanced  with  his  remaining  brigade — Colonel  Gar- 
land's— Lieutenant-colonel  C.  F.  Smith's  light  battalion — Lieutenant- 
colonel  Duncan's  field  battery — all  of  his  division — and  three  squadrons 
of  dragoons,  under  Major  Sumner,  which  I  had  just  ordered  up  to  join  in 
the  movement. 

Having  turned  the  forest  on  the  west,  and  arriving  opposite  to  the  north 
centre  of  Chepultepec,  Worth  came  up  with  the  truo[)S  in  the  road,  under 
Colonel  Trousdale,  and  aided,  by  a  flank  movement  of  a  part  of  Garland's 
brigade,  in  taking  the  one  gun  breastwork,  then  under  the  fire  of  Lieuten- 
ant Jackson's  section  of  Cajjlain  Magruder's  field  battery.  Conliiming  to 
advance,  this  division  passed  (Miepultepec,  attacking  the  right  of  the  ene- 
my's line,  resting  on  tliat  road,  about  the  moment  of  the  general  retreat 
consequent  upon  the  cajjture  of  the  formidable  castle  and  its  outworks. 

Arriving  some  minutes  later,  and  mounting  to  the  top  of  the  castle,  the 
whole  field,  to  the  east,  lay  plainly  under  my  view. 

'i'here  are  two  routes  from  Chepultepec  to  the  capital — the  one  on  the 
right  entering  the  same  gate,  IJelen,  with  the  road  from  the  south,  via  Pie- 
dad  ;  and  the  other  obli(jun)g  to  the  left  to  intersect  the  great  western,  oi 
San  Cosmo  road,  in  a  suburb  outside  of  the  gate  of  San  Cosmo. 

Each  of  these  routes  (an  elevated  causeway)  presents  a  double  roadway 
on  the  sides  of  an  aqueduct  of  strong  masonry  and  great  height,  resting 
on  open  arches  and  massive  pillars,  which  together  aflbrd  fine  points  both 
for  attack  and  defence.  The  sideways  of  both  aqueducts  are,  moreover, 
defended  by  many  strong  breastworks  at  the  gates,  and  before  reaching 
them.  As  we  had  expected,  we  found  the  four  tracks  unusually  dry  and 
solid  for  the  season. 

Worth  and  Quitman  were  prompt  in  pursuing  the  retreating  enemy — the 
former  by  the  San  Cosmo  aqueduct,  and  the  latter  along  that  of  lielen. 
Each  had  now  advanced  some  hundred  yards. 

Deeming  it  all  important  to  profit  by  our  successes,  and  the  consequent 
dismay  of  the  enemy,  which  could  not  be  otherwise  than  general,  I  hast- 
ened to  despatch  from  Chepultepec — first  Clark's  brigade,  and  then  Cad- 
wallader's,  to  the  support  of  Worth,  and  gave  orders  that  the  necessary 
heavy  guns  should  follow.  Pierce's  brigade  was,  at  the  same  time,  sent 
to  Quitman,  and,  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  I  caused  some  additional 
siege  pieces  to  be  added  to  his  train.  Then  after  designating  the  15th 
infantry,  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Howard — Morgan,  the  colonel,  had 
been  disabled  by  a  wound  at  Churubusco — as  the  garrison  of  Chepultepec, 
and  giving  directions  for  the  care  of  the  prisoners  of  war,  the  captured 
ordnance  and  ordnance  stores,  I  proceeded  to  join  the  advance  of  Worth, 
within  the  suburb,  and  beyond  the  turn  at  the  junction  of  the  aqueduct 
with  the  great  highway  from  the  west  to  the  gate  of  San  Cosmo. 

At  this  junction  of  roads,  we  first  passed  one  of  those  formidable  sys- 
tems of  city  defence,  spoken  of  above,  and  it  had  not  a  gun  I — a  strong 
proof,  1.  That  the  enemy  had  expected  us  to  I'ail  in  the  attack  upon  Che- 
pultepec, even  if  we  meant  any  thing  more  than  a  feint ;  2.  That,  in 
either  case,  we  designed,  in  his  belief,  to  return  and  double  our  forces 
against  the  southern  gates — a  delusion  kept  up  by  the  active  demonstra- 
tions of  Twiggs  and  the  forces  posted  on  that  side  ;  and,  3.  That  advanc- 
ing rapidly  from  the  reduction  of  Chepultepec,  the  enemy  had  not  time 
to  shift  guns — our  previous  captures  had  left  him,  comparatively,  but  few — 
from  the  southern  gates. 

Within  those  disgarnished  works,  I  found  our  troops  engaged  in  a  street 
fight  against  the  enemy  posted  in  gardens,  at  windows,  and  on  house-tops 
— all  flat,  with  parapets.  Worth  ordered  forward  the  mountain  howitzers 
of  Cadwallader's  brigade,  preceded  by  skirmishers  and  pioneers,  with 
pickaxes  and  crowbars,  to  force  windows  and  doors,  or  to  burrow  through 
walls.     The  assailants  were  soon  in  an  equality  of  position  fatal  to  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  623 

enemy.  By  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Worth  had  carried  two  batteries 
In  this  suburb.  According  to  my  instructions,  he  here  posted  guards  and 
sentinels,  and  placed  his  troops  under  shelter  for  the  night.  There  was 
but  one  more  obstacle — the  San  Cosmo  gate  (custom-house),  between  him 
and  the  great  square  in  front  of  the  cathedral  and  palace,  the  heart  of  the 
city;  and  that  barrier,  it  was  known,  could  not,  by  daylight,  resist  our 
siege  guns  thirty  minutes. 

I  had  gone  back  to  the  foot  of  Chepultepec,  the  point  from  which  the 
two  aqueducts  begin  to  diverge,  some  hours  earlier,  in  order  to  be  near 
that  new  depot,  and  in  easy  communication  with  Quitman  and  Twiggs,  as 
well  as  with  \Yorth. 

From  this  point  I  ordered  all  detachments  and  stragglers  to  their  re- 
spective corps,  then  in  advance  ;  sent  to  Quitman  additional  siege  guns, 
ammunition,  intrenching  tools  ;  directed  Twiggs'  remaining  brigade  (Ri- 
ley's) from  Piedad  to  support  Worth,  and  Captain  Steptoe's  field  battery, 
also  at  Piedad,  to  rejoin  Quitman's  division. 

I  had  been,  from  the  first,  well  aware  that  the  western  or  San  Cosmo 
was  the  less  difficult  route  to  the  centre,  and  conquest  of  the  capital,  and 
therefore  intended  that  Quitman  should  only  manojuvre  and  threaten  the 
Belen  or  southwestern  gate,  in  order  to  favour  the  main  attack  by  Worth, 
knowing  that  the  strong  defences  at  the  Belen  were  directly  under  the 
guns  of  the  much  stronger  fortress,  called  the  Citadel,  just  within.  Both 
of  these  defences  of  the  enemy  were  also  within  easy  supporting  dis- 
tance from  the  San  Angel  (or  Nino  Perdido)  and  San  Antonio  gates. 
Hence  the  greater  support,  in  numbers,  given  to  Worth's  movement  as 
the  main  attack. 

These  views  I  repeatedly,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  communicated  to 
Major-general  Quitman  ;  but  being  in  liot  pursuit— gallant  himself,  and 
ably  supported  by  Brigadier-generals  Shields  and  Smith  (Shields  badly 
wounded  before  Chepuhepec,  and  refusing  to  retire),  as  well  as  by  all  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  column — Quitman  continued  to  press  forward, 
under  flank  and  direct  fires,  carried  an  intermediate  battery  of  two  guns, 
and  then  the  gate,  before  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  but  not  without 
proportionate  loss,  increased  by  his  steady  maintenance  of  tliat  position. 

Here,  of  the  heavy  battery  (4th  artillery).  Captain  Drum  and  Lieuten- 
ant Benjamin  were  mortally  wounded,  and  Lieutenant  Porter,  its  third  in 
rank,  slightly.  'I'he  loss  of  those  two  most  distinguished  officers  the 
army  will  long  mourn.  Lieutenants  .T.  B.  Morange  and  \Villiam  Canty, 
of  the  South  Carolina  volunteers,  also  of  high  merit,  fell  on  the  same  oc- 
casion, besides  many  of  our  bravest  non-commissioned  officers  and  men, 
particularly  in  Captain  Drum's  veteran  company.  I  cannot,  in  this  place, 
give  names  or  numbers  ;  but  full  returns  of  the  killed  and  wounded,  of  all 
corps,  in  their  recent  operations,  will  accompany  this  report. 

Quitman  within  the  city — adding  several  new  defences  to  the  position 
he  had  won,  and  sheltering  his  corps  as  well  as  practicable— now  awaited 
the  return  of  daylight  under  the  guns  of  the  formidable  citadel,  yet  to  be 
subdued. 

About  four  o'clock  next  morning  (September  14),  a  deputation  of  the 
ayunlamento  (city  council)  waited  upon  me  to  report  that  the  federal 
government  and  the  army  of  Mexico  had  fled  from  the  capital  some  three 
hours  before ;  and  to  demand  terms  of  capitulation  in  favour  of  the 
church,  tlie  citizens,  and  the  municipal  authorities.  I  promptly  replied, 
that  I  would  sign  no  capitulation;  that  the  city  liad  been  virtually  in  our 
possession  from  the  time  of  the  lodgments  eff'ected  by  Wurlh  and  Quit- 
man the  day  before  ;  that  I  regretted  the  silent  escape  of  the  IMexicau 
army;  that  I  should  levy  upon  the  city  a  moderate  contribution,  for  spe- 
cial purposes;  and  that  the  American  army  should  come  under  no  terms 
not  self-imposed,  such  only  as  its  own  honour,  tlic  dignity  of  the  United 


624  THE  TllEASUUY  OF  HISTORY. 

States,  and  the  spirit  of  the  age,  should,  in  my  opinion,  imperiously  de- 
mand and  impose. 

Tor  the  terms  so  imposed,  1  refer  the  department  to  subsequent  general 
orders,  Nos.  287  imd  2H>J  (paragraphs  7,  8,  and  'J  of  the  latter),  copies  of 
which  are  iiorewilh  enciosi-d. 

At  the  termination  of  the  interview  with  the  city  deputation,  I  commu 
nicated,  ;i!jout  dayiijrhl,  orders  to  Worth  and  Quitman  to  advance  slowly 
and  caulionsly  (to  guard  against  treachery)  towards  the  heart  of  the  city, 
and  to  occupy  its  stronger  and  more  commanding  points.  Quitman  jtro- 
ceeded  to  tlie  great  plaza  or  sipiare,  planted  guards,  and  hoisted  the  co- 
lours of  the  United  States  on  the  national  palace,  containing  the  halls  of 
congress  and  executive  dejjartmenis  of  federal  Mexico.  In  this  grateful 
service  Quitman  might  have  been  anticipated  by  Worthy  but  for  my  ex- 
press orders,  halting  the  latter  at  the  head  of  the  Alameda  (a  green  park), 
within  three  squares  of  the  goal  of  general  ambition.  The  capital,  liow- 
ever,  was  not  taken  by  any  one  or  two  corps,  but  by  the  talent,  the  sci- 
ence, the  gallantry,  tlit;  prowess  of  this  entire  army.  In  the  glorious 
conquest  all  had  contributed,  early  and  powerfidly,  the  killed,  the  wound- 
ed, and  the  fit  for  duty,  at  Vera  Cruz,  ("irro  (ionlo,  Contreras,  San  Anto- 
nia,  Churuijusco  (three  battles),  the  .Molino  df  I  Key,  and  (.'hepidtepec,  as 
much  as  those  who  fought  at  the  gales  of  Helen  and  San  Cosmo. 

Soon  after  we  had  entered,  and  were  in  the  act  of  occupying  the  city, 
a  fire  was  opened  upon  us  from  the  Hat  roofs  of  the  houses,  from  win- 
dows and  corners  of  streets,  by  some  two  thousand  convicts,  liberated 
the  night  before  by  the  flying  government,  joined  by,  perhaps,  as  many 
l\Iexican  soldicus,  who  had  disbanded  themselves,  and  thrown  off  their 
imiforms.  This  unlawful  war  lasted  more  than  twenty-four  hours,  in 
spile  of  the  exertions  of  the  numici[)al  authorities,  and  was  not  put  down 
till  we  had  lost  many  men,  including  several  officers,  killed  or  wounded, 
and  had  punished  ihe  miscreants.  Their  objects  were  to  gratify  national 
hatred,  and  in  the  general  alarm  and  confusion  to  plunder  the  wealthy  in- 
habitants, particularly  the  deserted  houses.  But  families  are  now  gene- 
rally returning;  business  of  every  kind  has  been  resumed,  and  the  city  is 
already  tranquil  and  cheerful,  imder  the  admirable  conduct  (with  excep- 
tions very  f».'w  and  trifling)  of  our  gallant  troops. 

This  army  has  been  more  disgusted  than  surprised,  that  by  some  sinister 
process  on  the  part  of  certain  individuals  at  home,  its  numbers  have  been, 
generally,  almost  trebled  in  our  public  papers,  beginning  at  Washington. 

Leaving,  as  we  all  feared,  inadequate  garrisons  at  Vera  Cruz,  Perote, 
and  Puebla,  with  much  larger  hospitals  ;  and  being  obliged,  most  reluct- 
antly, from  the  same  cause  (general  paucity  of  numbers),  to  abandon 
Jalapa,  we  marched  (August  7-10)  from  Puebla  with  only  10.738  rank  and 
file.  This  number  includes  the  garrison  of  Jalapa,  and  the  2429  men 
brought  up  by  Brigadier-general  Pierce,  August  6. 

At  Contreras,  Churubusco,  &c.  (August  20),  we  had  but  8497  men  en- 
gaged— after  deducting  the  garrison  of  San  Augustin  (our  general  depot), 
the  intermediate  sick  and  the  dead  ;  at  the  Molino  del  Key  (September 
8),  but  three  brigades,  with  some  cavalry  and  artillery — making  in  all 
3251  men — were  in  the  battle  ;  in  the  two  days — September  12th  and 
13th — our  whole  operating  force,  after  deducting',  again,  the  recent  killed, 
wounded,  and  sick,  together  with  the  garrison  of  Miscoac  (the  then  gene- 
ral depot)  and  that  of  Tacubaya,  was  but  7180  ;  and,  finally,  after  deduct- 
ing the  new  garrison  of  Chepiiltepec,  with  the  killed  and  wounded  of  the 
two  days,  we  took  possession  (September  14th)  of  this  great  capital  with 
less  tlian  6000  men.  And  I  reassert,  upon  accumulated  and  unquestion- 
able evidence,  that,  in  not  one  of  those  conflicts  was  this  army  opposed 
by  fewer  than  three  and  a  half  times  its  numbers— in  several  of  them  by 
a  yet  greater  excess. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  625 

I  recapitulate  our  losses  since  we  arrived  in  the  basin  of  INIexico  : 

AuGi  ST  19,  20. — Killed,  137,  including  14  officers.  Wounded,  877,  in- 
cluding 82  officers.  Missing  (probably  killed),  38  rank  and  file.  Total, 
1052. 

Septl.mber  8. — Killed,  116,  including  9  officers.  Wounded,  665,  includ- 
ing 49  officers.     Missing,  18  rank  and  file.     Total,  789. 

September  12,  13,  14. — Killed,  130,  including  10  officers.  Wounded, 
703,  including  68  officers.     Missing,  29  rank  and  file.     Total,  862. 

Grand  total  of  losses,  2703,  including  383  officers. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  small  force  has  beaten  on  the  same  occasions  in 
view  of  their  capital,  the  whole  I\Iexican  army,  of  (at  the  beginning)  thirty- 
odd  thousand  men — posted,  always,  in  chosen  positions,  behind  intrench- 
ments,  or  more  formidable  defences  of  nature  and  art ;  killed  or  wounded, 
of  that  number,  more  than  7000  officers  and  men ;  taken  3730  prisoner!?, 
one-seventh  officers,  including  thirteen  generals,  of  whom  three  had  been 
presidents  of  this  republic  ;  captured  more  than  twenty  colours  and  stand- 
ards, seventy-five  pieces  of  ordnance,  besides  fifty-seven  wall  pieces, 
20,000  small  arms,  an  immense  quantity  of  shots,  shells,  powder,  &c.,  &c. 

Of  that  enemy,  once  so  formidable  in  numbers,  appointments,  artillery, 
&c.,  twenty-odd  thousand  have  disbanded  themselves  in  despair,  leaving, 
as  is  known,  not  more  than  three  fragments — the  largest  about  2500 — 
now  wandering  in  different  directions,  without  magazines  or  a  military 
chest,  and  living  at  free  quarters  upon  their  own  people. 

General  Santa  Anna,  himself  a  Jugitive,  is  believed  to  be  on  the  point 
of  re-signing  the  chief-magistracy,  and  escaping  to  neutral  Guatemala.  A 
new  president,  no  doubt,  will  soon  be  declared,  and  the  federal  congress  is 
expected  to  re-assemble  at  Querctaro,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles 
north  of  this,  on  the  Zacatecas  road,  some  time  in  October.  I  have  seen 
and  given  safe-conduct  through  this  city  to  several  of  its  members.  The 
government  will  find  itself  without  resources ;  no  army,  no  arsenals,  no 
magazines,  and  but  little  revenue,  internal  or  external.  Still,  such  is  the 
obstinacy,  or  rather  infatuation,  of  this  people,  that  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  the  new  authorities  will  dare  to  sue  for  peace  on  the  terms  which, 

in  the  recent  negotiations,  were  made  known  by  our  minister. 

*  *  *  #  #  *  « 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  to  enumerate,  once  more,  with  due  commendation 
and  thanks,  the  distinguished  staff  officers,  general  and  personal,  who,  in 
our  last  operations  in  front  of  the  enemy,  accompanied  me,  and  communi- 
cated orders  to  every  point  and  through  every  danger.  Lieutenant-colonel 
Hitchcock,  acting  inspector-general;  Major  Turnbull  and  Lieutenant  Hard- 
castle,  topographical  engineers;  Major  Kirby,  chief  paymaster;  Captain 
Irwin,  chief  quartermaster ;  Captain  Grayson,  chief  commissary  ;  Captain 
H.  L.  Scott,  chief  in  the  adjutant-general's  department ;  Lieutenant  Wil- 
liams, aide-de-camp;  Lieutenant  Lay,  military  secretary;  and  Major  J.  P. 
Gaines,  Kentucky  cavalry,  volunteer  aide-de-camp  ;  Captain  Lee,  engineer, 
so  constantly  distinguished,  aiso  bore  important  orders  from  me  (Septem- 
ber 13),  until  he  fainted  from  a  wound  and  the  loss  of  two  nights'  sleep 
at  the  batteries.  Lieutenants  Beauregard,  Stevens,  and  Tower,  all 
wounded,  were  employed  with  the  divisions,  and  Lieutenants  G.  W. 
Smith  and  G.  B.  McClellan,  with  the  company  of  sappers  and  miners. 
Those  five  lieutenants  of  engineers,  like  their  captain,  won  the  admiration 
of  all  about  them.  The  ordnance  officers.  Captain  Huger,  Lieutenants 
Hagner,  Stone,  and  Reno,  were  highly  effective,  and  distinguished  at  the 
several  batteries  ;  and  I  must  add  that  Captain  McKinstry,  assistant  quar- 
termaster, at  the  close  of  the  operations,  executed  several  important 
commissions  for  me  as  a  special  volunteer. 

Surgeon-general  Lavvson,  and  the  medical  staff  generally,  were  skilful 
and  untiring,  in  and  out  of  fire,  in  ministering  to  the  numerous  wounded. 
40 


520  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

To  illustrate  the  operations  in  this  basin,  I  enclose  two  beautiful  draw- 
ings, prepared  under  the  directions  of  Major  TurnbuU,  mostly  from  actual 
survey. 

I  have  tlie  honor  to  be,  sir,  with  high  respect,  your  most  obedient  ser- 
vant, 

WiNFiELD  Scott. 

The  Hon.  Wm.  L.  Marcy,  Secretary  of  War. 

Thus,  not  to  linger  over  details  which  it  would  be  easy  to  accumulate, 
but  is  difficult  to  pass  over,  we  may  bring  our  account  of  the  Mexican 
war  to  a  terniination— brielly  stating  that  after  a  long  and  tedious  nego 
tiation,  during  whicli  many  skirmishes  took  place,  and  the  new  seat  of 
the  Mexican  government,  Queretero,  was  captured,  peace  was  established 
between  the  two  republics,  on  the  basis  of  the  following  treaty,  and  our 
armies  withdrawn. 

TREATY 

Of  Peace,  Friendship,  Limits,  and  Settlement,  between  the  United  States  oj 
America  and  the  Mexican  Republic,  concluded  at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo^ 
February  2,  and  ratified,  with  the  Amendments,  by  the  American  Senate, 
March  10,  1848. 

In  the  name  of  Almighty  God: 

The  United  States  of  America  and  the  United  Mexican  States,  animated 
by  a  sincere  desire  to  put  an  end  to  the  calamities  of  the  war  which  un- 
happily exists  between  the  two  republics,  and  to  establish  on  a  solid 
basis  relations  of  peace  and  friendship,  which  shall  confer  reciprocal 
benefits  on  the  citizens  of  both,  and  assure  the  concord,  harmony,  and 
mutual  confidence  wherein  the  two  people  should  live  as  good  neighbours, 
have,  for  that  purpose,  appointed  tlieir  respective  plenipotentiaries;  that 
is  to  say,  the  president  of  the  United  States  has  appointed  N.  P.  Trist,  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  the  president  of  the  Mexican  Republic 
has  appointed  Don  Louis  Gonzag.a  Ccevas,  Don  Bernardo  Conto,  and 
Don  Miguel  Atristain,  citizens  of  the  said  republic,  who,  after  a  recipro- 
cal communication  of  their  respective  powers,  have,  under  the  protection 
of  Almighty  God,  the  author  of  peace,  arranged,  agreed  upon,  and  signed 
the  following  treaty  of  peace,  friendship,  limits,  and  settlement,  between 
the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Mexican  Republic. 

Article  I. — There  shall  be  a  firm  and  universal  peace  between  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  the  Mexican  Repubhc,  and  between  their 
respective  countries,  territories,  cities,  towns,  and  people,  without  ex- 
ception of  places  or  persons. 

Art.  II.— Immediately  on  the  signature  of  this  treaty,  a  convention 
shall  be  entered  into  between  a  commissioner  or  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  general-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States,  and  such  as 
may  be  appointed  by  the  Mexican  government,  to  the  end  that  a  pro- 
visional suspension  of  hostilities  shall  take  place  ;  and  that  in  the  places 
occupied  by  the  said  forces,  constitutional  order  may  be  re-established, 
as  regards  the  political,  administrative,  and  judicial  branches,  so  far  as 
this  shall  be  permitted  by  the  circumstances  of  military  occupation. 

Art.  III. — Immediately  upon  the  ratification  of  the  present  treaty,  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  orders  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  com- 
manders of  their  land  and  naval  forces,  requiring  the  latter  (providing 
this  treaty  shall  then  have  been  ratified  by  the  government  of  the  Mexi- 
can Republic),  immediately  to  desist  from  blockading  the  Mexican  ports ; 
and  requiring  the  former  (under  the  same  condition)  to  commence,  at  the 
earliest  moment  practicable,  withdrawing  all  troops  of  the  United  States 
then  in  the  interior  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  to  points  that  shall  be 


THE  IREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 


627 


selected  by  common  agreement,  at  a  distance  from  the  seaports  not 
exceeding  thirty  leagues  ;  and  such  evacuation  of  the  interior  of  the 
Republic  shall  be  completed  with  the  least  possible  delay ;  tlie  Mexican 
government  hereby  binding  itself  to  afford  every  facility  in  its  power  for 
rendering  the  same  convenient  to  the  troops,  on  their  march,  and  in  their 
new  positions,  and  for  promoting  a  good  understanding  between  them 
and  The  inhabitants.  In  like  manner,  orders  shall  be  despatched  to  the 
persons  in  charge  of  the  custom  houses,  at  all  ports  occupied  by  the 
forces  of  the  United  States,  requiring  them  (under  the  same  condition) 
immediately  to  deliver  possession  of  the  same  to  the  persons  authorized 
by  the  Mexican  government  to  receive  it,  together  with  all  bonds  and 
evidences  of  debt  for  duties  on  importations  and  on  exportations,  not  yet 
fallen  due.  Moreover,  a  faithful  and  exact  account  shall  be  made  out, 
showing  the  entire  amount  of  all  duties  on  imports  and  on  exports,  col- 
lected at  such  custom  houses,  or  elsewhere  in  Mexico,  by  authority  of 
the  United  States,  from  and  after  the  day  of  the  ratification  of  this  treaty 
by  the  government  of  the  Mexican  Republic ;  and  also  an  account  of  the 
cost  of  collection ;  and  such  entire  amount,  deducting  only  the  cost  of 
collection,  shall  be  delivered  to  the  Mexican  government,  at  the  city  of 
Mexico,  within  three  months  after  the  exchange  of  ratifications. 

The  evacuation  of  the  capital  of  the  Mexican  Repubhc  by  the  troops 
of  the  United  Stales,  in  virtue  of  the  above  stipulation,  shall  be  completed 
in  one  month  after  the  orders  there  stipulated  for  shall  have  been  re- 
ceived by  the  commander  of  the  said  troops,  or  sooner  if  possible. 

Art.  IV. — Immediately  after  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  the  present 
treaty,  all  castles,  forts,  territories,  places  and  possessions,  which  have 
been  taken  and  occupied  by  the  forces  of  the  United  States  during  the 
present  war,  within  the  limits  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  as  about  to  be 
established  by  the  following  article,  shall  be  definitely  restored  to  the  said 
republic,  together  with  all  the  artillery,  arms,  apparatus  of  war,  munitions, 
and  other  public  property,  which  were  in  the  said  castles  and  forts  when 
captured,  and  which  shall  remain  there  at  the  time  when  this  treaty  shall  be 
duly  ratified  by  the  government  of  the  .Mexican  Republic.  To  this  end, 
immediately  upon  the  signature  of  this  treaty,  orders  shall  be  despatched 
to  the  American  ofllccr  commanding  such  castles  and  ports,  securing 
against  the  removal  or  destruction  of  any  such  artillery,  arms,  apparatus 
of  war,  munitions,  or  other  public  property.  The  city  of  Mexico,  within 
the  inner  line  intrenchments  surrounding  the  said  city,  is  comprehended 
in  the  above  stipulations,  as  regards  the  restoration  of  artillery,  apparatus 
of  war,  &c. 

The  final  evacuation  of  the  territory  of  the  Mexican  Republic  by  the 
forces  of  the  United  States  shall  be  completed  within  three  months  from 
the  said  exchange  of  ratifications,  or  sooner  if  possible  ;  the  Mexican  Re- 
public hereby  engages,  as  in  the  foregoing  article,  to  use  all  means  in  its 
power  for  facilitating  such  evacuation,  and  rendering  it  convenient  to  the 
troops,  and  for  promoting  a  good  understanding  between  them  and  the  in 
habitants. 

If,  however,  the  ratification  of  this  treaty  by  both  parties  should  not 
take  place  in  time  to  allow  the  embarkation  of  the  troops  of  the  United 
States  to  be  completed  before  the  commencement  of  the  sickly  season,  at 
the  Mexican  ports  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  such  case  a  friendly  arrange- 
ment shall  be  entered  into  between  the  general-in-chief  of  the  said  troops 
and  the  Mexican  government,  whereby  healthy  and  otherwise  suitable 
places,  at  a  distance  from  the  ports  not  exceeding  thirty  leagues,  shall  be 
designated  for  the  residence  of  such  troops  as  may  not  yet  have  embarked, 
until  the  return  of  the  healthy  season.  And  the  space  of  time  here  refer- 
red to  as  comprehending  the  sickly  season,  shall  be  understood  to  extend 
from  the  first  day  of  May  to  the  first  day  of  November. 


628  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

All  prisoners  of  war  taken  on  either  side,  on  land  or  on  sea,  shall  be 
restored  as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the 
treaty.  It  is  also  agreed,  that,  if  any  Mexicans  should  now  be  held  as 
captives  by  any  savage  tribe  within  the  limits  of  the  United  Slates,  as 
about  to  be  established  by  the  following  article,  the  government  of  the 
said  United  States  will  exact  the  release  of  such  captives,  and  cause  them 
to  be  restored  to  their  country. 

Art.  V. — The  boundary  line  between  the  two  republics  shall  commence 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  three  leagues  from  land,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Rio  Grande,  otherwise  called  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  or  opposite  the  mouth 
of  its  deepest  branch,  if  it  should  have  more  than  one  branch  emptying 
directly  into  the  sea  ;  thence  up  the  middle  of  that  river,  following  the 
deepest  channel,  where  it  has  more  than  one,  to  the  point  where  it  strikes 
the  southern  boundary  of  New  Mexico ;  thence  westwardly,  along  the 
whole  southern  boundary  of  New  Mexico  (which  runs  north  of  the  town 
called  Paso),  to  its  western  termination  ;  thence  northward  along  the  west- 
ern line  of  New  Mexico,  until  it  intersects  the  first  branch  of  the  river 
Gila  (or  if  it  should  not  intersect  any  branch  of  that  river,  then  to  the 
point  on  the  said  line  nearest  to  such  branch,  and  thence  in  a  direct  line  to 
the  same) ;  thence  down  the  middle  of  the  said  branch  and  of  the  said  river, 
until  it  empties  into  the  Rio  Colorado ;  thence  across  the  Rio  Colorado, 
following  the  division  line  between  Upper  and  Lower  California,  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

The  southern  and  western  limits  of  New  Mexico,  mentioned  in  this  ar- 
ticle, are  those  laid  down  in  the  map  entitled  "Map  of  the  United  Mexican 
States,  as  organized  and  defined  by  various  acts  of  the  congress  of  said 
Republic,  and  constructed  according  to  the  best  authorities.  Revised  edi- 
tion.    Published  at  New  York,  in  1847,  by  J.  Disturnell." 

Of  which  map  a  copy  is  added  to  this  treaty,  bearing  the  signatures  and 
seals  of  the  undersigned  plenipotentiaries.  And  in  order  to  preclude  all 
difficulty  in  tracing  upon  the  ground  the  limit  separating  Upper  from  Low- 
er California,  it  is  agreed,  that  the  said  limits  shall  consist  of  a  straight 
line,  drawn  from  the  middle  of  the  Rio  Gila,  where  it  unites  with  the  Co- 
lorado, to  a  point  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  Ocean — distant  one  marine 
league  due  south  of  the  southernmost  point  of  the  port  of  San  Diego,  ac- 
cording to  the  plan  of  said  port,  made  in  the  year  1782,  by  Don  Juan  Panto- 
jer,  second  sailing-master  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  published  at  Madrid  in 
the  year  1802,  in  the  atlas  to  the  voyage  of  the  schooners  Sutil  and  Mexi- 
cana,  of  which  plan  a  copy  is  hereunto  added,  signed  and  sealed  by  the 
respective  plenipotentiaries. 

In  order  to  designate  the  boundary  line  with  due  precision,  upon  author- 
itative maps,  and  to  establish  on  the  ground  landmarks  which  shall  show 
the  limits  of  both  republics,  as  described  in  the  present  article,  the  gov- 
ernments shall  each  appoint  a  commissioner  and  surveyor,  who,  before  the 
expiration  of  one  year  from  the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this 
treaty,  shall  meet  at  the  port  of  San  Diego,  and  proceed  to  run  and  mark 
the  said  boundary  in  its  whole  course  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Bravo  del 
Norte.  They  shall  keep  journals,  and  make  out  plans  of  their  operations ; 
and  the  result  agreed  upon  by  them  shall  be  deemed  a  part  of  this  treaty, 
and  shall  have  the  same  force  as  if  it  were  inserted  therein.  The  two 
governments  will  amicably  agree  regarding  what  may  be  necessary  to 
these  persons,  and  also  as  to  their  respective  escorts,  should  such  be'  ne- 
cessary. 

The  boundaroy  line  established  by  this  article  shall  be  religiously 
respected  by  each  of  the  two  republics,  and  no  change  shall  be  made 
herein,  except  by  the  express  and  free  consent  of  both  nations,  lawfully 
given  by  the  general  government  of  each,  in  conformity  with  its  own  con- 
stitution. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  C29 

Art.  VI. — The  vessels  and  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall,  in  all 
time,  have  a  free  and  uninterrupted  passage  by  the  Gulf  of  California,  and 
by  the  river  Colorado;  and  not  by  land,  without  the  express  consent  of  the 
Mexican  government. 

If,  by  the  examinations  that  may  be  made,  it  should  be  ascertained  to 
be  practicable  and  advantageous  to  construct  a  road,  canal,  or  railway, 
which  should,  in  whole  or  in  part,  run  upon  the  river  Gila,  or  upon  its  right 
or  its  left  bank,  within  the  space  of  one  marine  league  from  either  mai-gin 
of  the  river,  the  governments  of  both  republics  will  form  an  agre<  ment 
regarding  its  construction,  in  order  that  it  may  serve  equally  for  the  use 
and  advantage  of  both  countries. 

Art.  VII. — The  river  Gila,  and  the  part  of  the  Rio  del  Norte  lying  below 
the  southern  boundary  of  New  Mexico,  being,  agreeably  to  the  fifth  arti- 
cle, divided  in  the  middle  between  the  two  republics,  the  navigation  of  the 
Gila  and  the  Bravo,  below  said  boundary,  shall  be  free  and  common  to  the 
vessels  and  citizens  of  both  countries  ;  and  neither  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  other,  construct  any  work  that  may  impede  or  interrupt,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  the  exercise  of  this  right — not  even  for  the  purpose  of 
favouring  new  methods  of  navigation.  Nor  shall  any  tax  or  contribution, 
under  any  denomination  or  title,  be  levied  upon  vessels  or  persons  navi- 
gating the  same,  or  upon  merchandise,  or  effects  transported  thereon,  ex 
cept  in  the  case  of  landing  upon  one  of  their  shores.  If,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  said  rivers  navigable,  or  for  maintaining  them  in  such  a  state, 
it  should  be  necessary  or  advantageous  to  establish  any  tax  or  contribu- 
tion, this  shall  not  be  done  without  the  consent  of  both  governments. 

The  stipulations  contained  in  the  present  article  shall  not  impair  the 
territorial  rights  of  either  republic,  within  its  established  limits. 

Art.  VIII. — Mexicans  now  established  in  territories  previously  belong- 
ing to  Mexico,  and  which  remain,  for  the  future,  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  as  defined  by  the  present  treaty,  shall  be  free  to  continue 
where  they  now  reside,  or  to  remove,  at  any  time,  to  the  Mexican  Repub- 
lic, retaining  the  property  which  they  possess  in  the  said  territories,  or 
disposing  thereof,  and  removing  the  proceeds  wherever  they  please,  with- 
out their  being  subjected,  on  this  account,  to  any  contribution  or  tax 
whatever. 

Those  who  shall  prefer  to  remain  in  said  territories  may  either  retain 
the  title  and  rights  of  Mexican  citizens,  or  acquire  those  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  But  they  shall  be  under  the  obligation  to  make  their  se- 
lection within  one  year  from  the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of 
this  treaty ;  and  those  who  shall  remain  in  the  said  territories,  after  the 
expiration  of  that  year,  without  having  declared  their  intention  to  retain 
the  character  of  Mexicans,  shall  be  considered  to  have  elected  to  become 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  said  territories,  property  of  any  kind,  now  belonging  to  Mexicans 
not  established  there,  shall  be  inviolably  respected.  The  present  owners, 
the  heirs  of  these,  and  all  Mexicans  who  may  hereafter  acquire  said  prop- 
erty by  contract,  shall  enjoy,  with  respect  to  it,  guaranties  equally  ample 
as  if  the  same  belonged  to  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


[In  place  of  the  following  article,  the  senate  has  inserted  the  third 
article  of  the  treaty  between  France  and  the  United  States,  for  the  cession 
of  Louisiana,  which  provides  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory 
Bhall  be  admitted  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship,  in  accor- 
dance with  the  principles  of  the  constitution,  as  soon  as  congress  shall 
determine  ;  and  that  in  the  mean  time,  they  shall  be  protected  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  liberty,  property,  and  religious  belief.] 

Art.  IX. — The  Mexicans  who,  in  the  territories  aforesaid,  shall  not 
preserve  the  character  of  citizens  of  the  Mexican  republic,  conformably 


630  THE  TREASURY  01-  HISTORY. 

with  what  is  stipulated  in  the  preceding  article,  shall  be  incorporated  mto 
the  union  of  the  United  States,  and  admitted  as  soon  as  possible,  according 
to  the  principles  of  the  federal  constitution,  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the 
rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States.  In  the  mean  time  they  shall  be 
maintained  and  protected  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  liberty,  their  property, 
and  the  civil  rights  now  vested  in  them,  according  to  the  Mexican  laws. 
With  respect  to  political  rights,  their  condition  shall  be  on  an  equality 
with  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  other  territories  of  the  United  States, 
and  at  least  equally  good  as  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  and  the 
Floridas,  when  these  provinces,  by  transfer  from  the  French  republic, 
and  the  crown  of  Spain,  became  territories  of  the  United  States. 

The  most  ample  guaranty  shall  be  enjoyed  by  all  ecclesiastics  and 
religious  corporations  or  communities,  as  well  in  the  discharge  of  the 
offices  of  their  ministrjs  as  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  property  of  every 
kind,  whether  individual  or  corporate.  This  guaranty  shall  embrace  all 
temples,  houses,  and  edifices  dedicated  to  the  Roman  Catholic  worship ; 
as  well  as  all  property  destined  to  its  support,  or  to  that  of  schools, 
hospitals,  or  other  foundations  for  charitable  or  beneficent  purposes.  No 
property  of  this  nature  shall  be  considered  as  having  become  the  property 
of  the  American  government,  or  as  subject  to  be  by  it  disposed  of,  or 
diverted  to  other  causes. 

Finally,  the  relations  and  communications  between  Catholics  living  in 
the  territories  aforesaid,  and  their  respective  ecclesiastic  authorities,  shall 
be  open,  free,  and  exempt  from  all  hindrance  whatever,  even  although 
such  authorities  should  reside  within  the  limits  of  the  Mexican  republic, 
as  defined  by  this  treaty  ;  and  this  freedom  shall  continue  so  long  as  a 
new  demarkation  of  ecclesiastical  districts  shall  not  have  been  made,  con- 
formably with  the  laws  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 

Art.  X. — Expunged. — All  grants  of  land  made  by  the  Mexican  govern- 
ment, or  by  the  competent  authorities,  in  territories  previously  apper- 
taining to  Mexico,  and  remaining  for  the  future  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  respected  as  valid,  to  the  same  extent  that  the 
same  grants  would  be  valid,  if  the  territories  had  remained  within  the 
limits  of  Mexico.  But  the  grantees  of  land  in  Texas  put  in  possession 
thereof,  who  by  reason  of  the  circumstances  of  the  country,  since  the 
beginning  of  the  troubles  between  Texas  and  the  Mexican  government, 
may  have  been  prevented  from  fulfilling  all  the  conditions  of  their  grants, 
shall  be  under  the  obligation  to  fulfil  the  said  conditions  within  the  periods 
limited  in  the  same  respectively,  such  periods  to  be  now  counted  from 
the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  treaty ;  in  default  of 
which,  said  grants  shall  not  be  obligatory  on  the  State  of  Texas,  in  virtue 
of  the  stipulations  contained  in  this  article. 

The  foregoing  stipulation  in  regard  to  grantees  of  land  in  Texas,  is 
extended  to  all  grantees  of  land  in  the  territories  aforesaid,  elsewhere 
than  in  Texas,  put  in  possession  under  such  gi'ants ;  and  in  default  of 
the  fulfillment  of  the  conditions  of  any  such  grant,  within  the  new  period 
which,  as  is  above  stipulated,  begins  with  the  day  of  the  exchange  of 
ratifications  of  this  treaty,  the  same  shall  be  null  and  void. 

The  Mexican  government  declares  that  no  grants  whatever  of  lands  in 
Texas  has  been  made  since  the  second  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  thirty-six  ;  and  that  no  grant  whatever  of  lands  in  any  of  the 
territories  aforesaid,  has  been  made  since  the  thirteenth  day  of  May,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-six. 

Art.  XI. — Considering  that  a  great  part  of  the  territories  which,  by  the 
present  treaty,  are  to  be  comprehended  for  the  future  within  the  limits  of 
the  United  States,  is  now  occupied  by  savage  tribes,  who  will  hereafter 
be  under  the  control  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  whose 
ncursions  within  the  territory  of  Mexico  would  be  prejudicial  in  the 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORV  631 

extreme,  it  is  solemnly  agreed  that  all  such  incursions  sivall  be  forcibly 
restrained  by  the  government  of  the  United  Slates,  whensoever  this  may 
be  necessary ;  and  that  when  they  cannot  be  prevented,  they  shall  be 
punished  by  the  said  government,  and  satisfaction  for  the  spme  shall  be 
exacted — all  in  the  same  way,  and  with  equal  diligence  and  energy,  as  if 
the  same  incursions  were  committed  within  its  own  territory,  against  its 
own  citizens. 

It  shall  not  be  lawful,  under  any  pretext  whatever,  for  any  inhabitant 
of  the  United  States  to  purchase  or  acquire  any  Mexican,  or  any  foreigner 
residing  in  Mexico,  who  may  have  been  captured  by  Indians  inhabiting 
the  territory  of  either  of  the  two  republics ;  nor  to  purchase  or  acquire 
horses,  mules,  cattle,  or  property  of  any  kind,  stolen  within  the  Mexican 
territory  by  such  Indians :  nor  to  provide  such  Indians  with  fire-arms  or 
ammunition  h^r  sale  or  otherwise. 

And  in  the  event  of  any  person  or  persons  captured  within  Mexican 
territory  by  Indians,  being  carried  into  the  territory  of  the  United  States, 
the  government  of  the  latter  engages  and  binds  itself  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  so  soon  as  it  shall  know  of  such  captives  being  within  its  territory, 
and  shall  be  able  so  to  do,  through  the  faithful  exercise  of  its  influence 
and  power,  to  rescue  them  and  return  them  to  their  country,  or  deliver 
them  to  the  agent  or  representative  of  the  Mexican  government.  The 
Mexican  authorities  will,  as  far  as  practicable,  give  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States  notice  of  such  captures ;  and  its  expenses  incurred  in 
the  maintenance  and  transmission  of  the  rescued  captives ;  who,  in  the 
mean  time,  shall  be  treated  with  the  utmost  hospitality  by  the  American 
authorities  at  the  place  where  they  may  be.  But  if  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  before  receiving  such  notice  from  Mexico,  sliould  obtain 
intelligence,  through  any  other  channel,  of  the  existence  of  Mexican  cap- 
tives within  its  territory,  it  will  proceed  forthwith  to  effect  their  release 
and  delivery  to  the  Mexican  agent,  as  above  stipulated. 

For  the  purpose  of  giving  to  these  stipulations  the  fullest  possible 
eflScacy,  thereby  affording  the  security  and  redress  demanded  by  their 
true  spirit  and  intent,  the  government  of  the  United  States  will  now  and 
hereafter  pass,  without  unnecessary  delay,  and  always  vigilantly  enforce, 
such  laws  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  may  require.  And  finally,  the 
sacredness  of  this  obligation  shall  never  be  lost  sight  of  by  the  said 
government,  when  providing  for  the  removal  of  Indians  from  any  portion 
of  said  territories,  or  for  its  being  settled  by  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  special  care  then  shall  be  taken  not  to  place 
its  Indian  occupants  under  the  necessity  of  seeking  new  homes,  by  com- 
mitting those  invasions  which  the  United  States  have  solemnly  obliged 
themselves  to  restrain. 

Art.  XII. — In  consideration  of  the  extension  acquired  by  the  boundaries 
of  the  United  States,  as  defined  in  the  fifth  article  of  the  present  treaty, 
the  government  of  the  United  States  engages  to  pay  to  that  of  the  Mexican 
Republic,  the  sum  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  in  the  one  or  the  other  of 
the  two  modes  below  specified. 

The  Mexican  government  shall  at  the  time  of  ratifying  this  treaty, 
declare  which  of  these  two  modes  of  payment  it  prefers ;  and  the  mode 
so  selected  by  it  shall  be  conformed  to  by  that  of  the  United  States. 

First  mode  of  payment. — Immediately  after  this  treaty  shall  have  been 
duly  ratified  by  the  government  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  the  sum  of  three 
millions  of  dollars  shall  be  paid  to  the  said  government  by  that  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  the  gold  or  silver  coin  of  Mexico. 
For  the  remaining  twelve  millions  of  dollars  the  United  States  shall 
create  a  stock,  bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  centum  per  annum,  com- 
mencing on  the  day  of  the  ratification  of  this  treaty  by  the  government 
of  the  Mexican  republic,  and  payable  annually  at  the  city  of  Washington ; 


532  THE  TREASUR/  OF  HISTORY. 

the  principal  of  said  stock  to  be  redeemable  there,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
government  of  tlie  United  States,  at  any  time  after  two  years  from  the 
exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  treaty ;  six  months'  public  notice  of  the 
intention  to  redeem  the  same  being  previously  given.  Certificates  of 
such  stock,  in  proper  form  for  such  sums  as  shall  be  specified  by  the 
Mexican  government,  shall  be  delivered  and  transferable  by  the  said 
government  to  the  same  by  that  of  the  United  States. 

Second  mode  of  payment. — Immediately  after  this  treaty  .shall  have 
been  duly  ratified  by  the  government  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  the  sum 
of  three  millions  of  dollars  shall  be  paid  to  the  said  government  by  that 
of  the  United  States,  at  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  the  gold  or  silver  coin  of 
Mexico.  The  remaining  twelve  millions  of  dollars  shall  be  paid  at  the 
same  place  and  in  the  same  coin,  in  annual  installments  of  three  millions 
of  dollars  each,  together  with  interest  on  the  same,  at  the  rate  of  six  per 
centum  per  annum.  This  interest  shall  begin  to  run  upon  the  whole  sum 
of  twelve  millions  from  the  day  of  the  ratification  of  the  present  treaty 
by  the  Mexican  government,  and  the  first  of  the  installments  shall  be  paid 
at  the  expiration  of  one  year  from  the  same  day.  Together  with  each 
annual  installment,  as  it  falls  due,  the  whole  interest  accruing  on  such  in- 
stallment from  the  beginning  shall  also  be  paid. 

[Certificates  in  the  proper  form  for  the  said  installments,  respectively, 
in  sums  as  shall  be  desired  by  the  Mexican  government,  and  transfer- 
able by  it,  shall  be  delivered  to  the  said  government  by  that  of  the  United 
States.] 

[N.  B.  The  first  of  these  modes  is  rejected.  The  latter  is  adopted, 
with  the  exception  of  the  last  paragraph,  in  brackets.] 

Art.  XIII. — The  United  States  engage,  moreover,  to  assume  and  pay 
to  the  claimants  all  the  amounts  now  due  them,  and  those  hereafter  to 
become  due,  by  reason  of  the  claims  already  liquidated  and  decided  against 
the  Mexican  Republic,  under  the  conventions  between  the  two  republics 
severally  concluded  on  the  eleventh  day  of  April,  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-nine,  and  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  for- 
ty-three ;  so  that  the  Mexican  Republic  shall  be  absolutely  exempt,  for 
the  future,  from  all  expense  whatever  on  account  of  the  said  claims. 

Art.  XIV. — The  United  States  do  farthermore  discharge  the  Mexican 
Republic  from  all  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  not  heretofore 
decided  against  the  IMexican  government,  which  may  have  arisen  previ- 
ously to  the  date  of  the  signature  of  this  treaty ;  w-hich  discharge  shall 
be  final  and  perpetual,  whether  the  said  claims  be  rejected  or  be  allowed 
by  the  board  of  commissioners  provided  for  in  the  following  article,  and 
whatever  shall  be  the  total  amount  of  those  allowed. 

Art.  XV. — The  United  States,  exonerating  Mexico  from  all  demands 
on  account  of  the  claims  of  their  citizens  mentioned  in  the  preceding  arti- 
cle, and  considering  them  entirely  and  forever  canceled,  whatever  their 
amount  may  be,  undertake  to  make  satisfaction  for  the  same,  to  an  amount 
not  exceeding  three  and  one-quarter  millions  of  dollars.  To  ascertain  the 
validity  and  amount  of  those  claims,  a  board  of  commissioners  shall  be 
established  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  whose  awards  shall 
be  final  and  conclusive  ;  provided,  that  in  deciding  upon  the  validity  of 
each  claim,  the  board  shall  be  guided  and  governed  by  the  principles  and 
rules  of  decision  prescribed  by  the  first  and  fifth  articles  of  the  unratified 
convention,  concluded  at  the  city  of  Mexico  on  the  twentieth  day  of  No- 
vember, one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-three  ;  and  in  no  case  shall 
an  award  be  made  in  favor  of  any  claim  not  embraced  by  these  principles 
and  rules. 

If,  in  the  opinion  of  the  said  board  of  commissioners,  or  of  the  claim- 
ants, any  books,  records,  or  documents,  in  the  possession  or  power  of  the 
government  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  shall  be  deemed  necessary  to  tho 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  633 

just  decision  of  any  claim,  the  commissioners,  or  the  claimants  through 
.hem,  shall,  within  such  period  as  congress  may  designate,  make  an  appli 
cation  in  writing  for  the  same,  be  addressed  to  the  Mexican  minister  for 
foreign  affairs,  to  be  transmitted  by  the  secretary  of  state  of  the  United 
States ;  and  the  Mexican  government  engages,  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment  after  the  receipt  of  such  demand,  to  cause  any  of  the  books, 
records,  or  documents  so  specified,  which  shall  be  in  their  possession  or 
power  (or  authenticated  copies  or  extracts  of  the  same)  to  be  transmitted 
to  the  said  secretary  of  state,  who  shall  immediately  deliver  them  over 
to  the  said  board  of  commissioners:  provided,  that  no  such  application 
shall  be  made  by  or  at  the  instance  of  any  claimant,  until  the  facts  which 
it  is  expected  to  prove  by  such  books,  records,  or  documents,  shall  have 
been  stated  under  oath  or  affirmation. 

Art.  XVI. — Each  of  the  contracting  parties  reserves  to  itself  the  entire 
right  to  fortify  whatever  point  within  its  territory  it  may  judge  proper  so 
to  fortify  for  its  security. 

Art.  XVII. — The  treaty  of  amity,  commerce,  and  navigation,  concluded 
at  the  city  of  Mexico  on  the  5th  day  of  April,  a.  d.  1831,  between  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  the  United  Mexican  States,  except  the 
additional  article,  and  except  so  far  as  the  stipulations  of  the  said  treaty 
may  be  incompatible  with  any  stipulation  contained  in  the  present 
treaty,  is  hereby  revived  for  the  period  of  eight  years  from  the  day  of 
the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  treaty,  with  the  same  force  and  virtue 
as  if  incorporated  therein ;  it  being  understood  that  each  of  the  contract- 
ing parties  reserves  to  itself  the  right,  at  any  time  after  the  said  period  of 
eight  years  shall  have  expired  to  terminate  the  same  by  giving  one  year's 
notice  of  such  intention  to  the  other  party. 

Art.  XVIII. — All  supplies  whatever  of  troops  of  the  United  States  in 
Mexico,  arriving  at  ports  in  the  occupation  of  such  troops  previous  to  the 
final  evacuation  thereof,  although  subsequently  to  the  restoration  of  the 
custom-houses  at  such  ports,  shall  be  entirely  exempt  from  duties  and 
charges  of  any  kind  ;  the  government  of  the  United  States  herebj''  enga- 
ging and  pledging  its  faith  to  establish,  and  vigilantly  to  enforce  all  possi- 
ble guards  for  securing  the  revenue  of  Mexico,  by  preventing  the  impor- 
tation, under  cover  of  this  stipulation,  of  any  articles  other  than  such, 
both  in  kind  and  in  quantity,  as  shall  really  be  wanted  for  the  use  and  con- 
sumption of  the  forces  of  the  United  States  during  the  time  they  may 
remain  in  Mexico.  To  this  end  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  officers  and 
agents  of  the  United  States  to  denounce  to  the  Mexican  authorities  at  the 
respective  ports  any  attempts  at  a  fraudulent  abuse  of  this  stipulation 
which  they  may  know  of  or  may  have  reason  to  suspect,  and  to  give  to 
such  authorities  all  the  aid  in  their  power  with  regard  thereto;  and  every 
such  attempt,  when  duly  proved  and  established  by  sentence  of  a  compe- 
tent tribunal,  shall  be  punished  by  the  confiscation  of  the  property  so 
attempted  to  be  fraudulently  introduced. 

Art.  XIX. — With  respect  to  all  merchandise,  effects  and  property 
whatsoever,  imported  into  ports  of  Mexico  while  in  the  occupation  of  the 
forces  of  the  United  States,  whether  by  citizens  of  either  republic,  or  by 
citizens  or  subjects  of  any  neutral  nation,  the  following  rules  shall  be 
observed : 

1.  All  such  merchandise,  effects,  and  property,  if  imported  previously 
to  the  restoration  of  the  custonvhouses  to  the  Mexican  authorities,  as 
stipulated  for  in  the  third  article  of  this  treaty,  shall  be  exempt  from  con- 
fiscation, although  the  importation  of  the  same  be  prohibited  by  the  Mexi- 
can tariff. 

2.  The  same  perfect  exemption  shall  be  enjoyed  by  all  such  merchan- 
dise, effects,  and  property,  imported  subsequently  to  the  restoration  of  the 
custom-houses,  and  previously  to  the  sixty  days  fixed  in  the  following 


634  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

article  for  the  coming  into  force  of  the  Mexican  tariff,  at  such  ports  re- 
spectively ;  the  said  merchandise,  effects,  and  property,  being,  however, 
at  the  time  of  their  importation,  subject  to  the  payment  of  duties,  as  pro- 
vided for  in  the  said  following  article. 

3.  All  merchandise,  effects,  and  property,  described  in  the  two  rules 
foregoing,  shall,  during  their  continuance  at  the  place  of  importation,  or 
upon  their  leaving  such  place  for  the  interior,  be  exempt  from  all  duty, 
tax  or  impost  of  every  kind,  under  whatsoever  title  or  denomination.  Nor 
shall  they  be  there  subject  to  any  charge  whatsoever  upon  the  sale  thereof. 

4.  All  merchandise,  effects,  and  property,  described  in  the  first  and 
second  rules,  which  shall  have  been  removed  to  any  place  in  the  interior 
while  such  place  was  in  the  occupation  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States, 
shall,  during  their  continuance  therein,  be  exempt  from  all  tax  upon  the 
sale  or  consumption  thereof,  and  from  every  kind  of  impost  or  contribu- 
tion, under  whatsoever  title  or  denomination. 

5.  But  if  any  merchandise,  effects,  or  property,  described  in  the  first  and 
second  rules  shall  be  removed  to  any  place  not  occupied  at  the  time  by 
the  forces  of  the  United  States,  they  shall,  upon  their  introduction  into 
such  place,  or  upon  their  sale  or  consumption  there,  be  subject  to  the 
same  duties  which,  under  the  Mexican  laws,  they  would  be  required  to 
pay  in  such  cases  if  they  had  been  imported  in  time  of  peace,  through 
the  maritime  custom-houses,  and  had  there  paid  the  duties  conformably 
with  the  Mexican  tariff. 

6.  The  owners  of  all  merchandise,  effects,  or  property,  described  in  the 
first  and  second  rules,  and  existing  in  any  port  of  Mexico,  shall  have  the 
right  to  reship  the  same,  exempt  from  all  tax,  impost,  or  contributioH 
whatever. 

With  respect  to  the  metals,  or  other  property,  exported  from  any  Mexi- 
can port  while  in  the  occupation  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States,  and 
previously  to  the  restoration  of  the  custom-house  at  such  port,  no  person 
shall  be  required  by  the  Mexican  authorities,  whether  general  or  state, 
to  pay  any  tax,  duty,  or  contribution,  upon  any  such  exportation,  or  in 
any  manner  to  account  for  the  same  to  the  said  authorities. 

Art.  XX. — Through  consideration  for  the  interests  of  commerce  gene- 
rally, it  is  agreed  that  if  less  than  sixty  days  should  elapse  between  the 
date  of  the  signature  of  this  treaty  and  the  restoration  of  the  custom- 
houses, conformably  with  a  stipulation  in  the  third  article,  in  such  case, 
all  merchandize,  effects,  and  property  whatsoever,  arriving  at  the  Mexican 
ports  after  the  restoration  of  the  said  custom-houses,  and  previously  to 
the  expiration  of  sixty  days  after  the  signature  of  this  treaty,  shall  be 
admitted  to  entry ;  and  no  other  duties  shall  be  levied  thereon  than  the 
duties  established  by  the  tariff  found  in  force  at  such  custom-houses  at 
the  time  of  the  restoration  of  the  same.  And  to  all  such  merchandize, 
effects,  and  property,  the  rules  established  in  the  preceding  article  shall 
apply. 

Art.  XXI. — If,  unhappily,  any  disagreement  should  hereafter  arise  be- 
tween the  governments  of  the  two  republics,  whether  with  respect  to  the 
interpretation  of  any  stipulation  in  this  treaty,  or  with  respect  to  any 
other  particular  concerning  the  political  or  commercial  relations  of  the 
two  nations,  the  said  governments,  in  the  name  of  those  nations,  do  pro- 
mise to  each  other  that  they  will  endeavour,  in  the  most  sincere  and  ear- 
nest manner,  to  settle  the  difference  so  arising,  and  to  preserve  the  state 
of  peace  and  friendship  in  which  the  two  countries  are  now  placing 
themselves  ;  using,  for  this  end,  mutual  representations  and  pacific  nego- 
tiations. And,  if  by  these  means  they  should  not  be  enabled  to  come  to 
an  agreement,  a  resort  shall  not,  on  this  account,  be  had  in  reprisals,  ag- 
gressions, or  hostility  of  any  kind  by  the  one  republic  against  the  other, 
until  the  government  of  that  which  deems  itself  aggrieved  shall  have 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  635 

maturely  considered,  in  the  spirit  of  peace  and  good  neighbourship,  whe- 
ther it  would  not  be  better  that  such  difference  should  be  settled  by  the 
arbitration  of  commissioners  appointed  on  each  side,  or  by  that  of  a 
friendly  nation.  And  should  such  course  be  proposed  by  either  party,  it 
shall  be  acceded  to  by  the  other,  unless  deemed  by  it  altogether  incom- 
patible with  the  nature  of  the  difference,  or  the  circumstances  of  the  case.. 
Art.  XXII.— If  (which  is  not  to  be  expected,  and  which  God  forbid !) 
war  shall  unhappily  break  out  between  the  two  republics,  they  do  now, 
with  a  view  to  such  calamity,  pledge  themselves  to  each  other  and  to  the 
world,  to  observe  the  following  rules,  absolutely  where  the  nature  of  the 
subject  permits,  and  as  closely  as  possible  in  all  cases  where  such  abso- 
lute observance  shall  be  impossible  : 

1.  The  merchants  of  either  republic  then  residing  in  the  other  shall  bt 
allowed  to  remain  twelve  months  (for  those  dwelling  in  the  interior),  art. 
six  months  (for  those  dwelling  at  the  seaports),  to  collect  their  debts  ant. 
settle  their  affairs ;  during  which  periods  they  shall  enjoy  the  same  pro- 
tection, and  be  on  the  same  footing,  in  all  respects,  as  the  citizens  or 
subjects  of  the  most  friendly  nations ;  and,  at  the  expiration  thereof,  or 
at  any  time  before,  they  shall  have  full  liberty  to  depart,  carrying  off  all 
their  effects  without  molestation  or  hindrance  ;  conforming  therein  to  the 
same  laws  which  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  friendly  nations  are 
required  to  conform  to.  Upon  the  entrance  of  the  armies  of  either  na- 
tion into  the  territories  of  the  other,  women  and  children,  ecclesiastics, 
scholars  of  every  faculty,  cultivators  of  the  earth,  merchants,  artisans, 
manufacturers,  and  fishermen,  unarmed,  and  inhabiting  unfortified  towns, 
villages,  or  places,  and  in  general  all  persons  whose  occupations  are  for 
the  common  subsistence  and  benefit  of  mankind,  shall  be  allowed  to  con- 
tinue their  respective  employments  unmolested  in  their  persons.  Nor 
shall  their  houses  or  goods  be  burnt  or  otherwise  destroyed,  nor  their 
cattle  taken,  nor  their  fields  wasted,  by  the  armed  force  into  whose 
power,  by  the  events  of  war,  they  may  happen  to  fall ;  but  if  the  neces- 
sity arise  to  take  any  thing  from  them  for  the  use  of  such  armed  force, 
the  same  shall  be  paid  for  at  an  equitable  price.  All  churches,  hospi- 
tals, schools,  colleges,  libraries,  and  other  establishments,  for  charitable 
and  benevolent  purposes,  shall  be  respected,  and  all  persons  connected 
with  the  same  protected  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  the  pursuits 
of  their  vocations. 

2.  In  order  that  the  fate  of  prisoners  of  war  may  be  alleviated,  all  such 
practices  as  those  of  sending  them  into  distant,  inclement,  or  unwhole 
some  districts,  or  crowding  them  into  close  and  noxious  places,  shall  be 
studiously  avoided.  They  shall  not  be  confined  in  dungeons,  prison-ships 
or  prisons  ;  nor  be  put  in  irons,  or  bound,  or  otherwise  restrained  in  the 
use  of  their  limbs.  The  officers  shall  enjoy  liberty  on  their  paroles, 
within  convenient  districts,  and  have  comfortable  quarters  ;  and  the  com- 
mon soldiers  shall  be  disposed  in  cantonments,  open  and  extensive  enough 
for  air  and  exercise,  and  lodged  in  barracks  as  roomy  and  good  as  are 
provided  by  the  party  in  whose  power  they  are  for  its  own  troops.  But 
if  any  officer  shall  break  his  parole  by  leaving  the  district  so  assigned 
him,  or  any  other  prisoner  shall  escape  from  the  limits  of  his  canton- 
ment, after  they  shall  have  been  designated  to  him,  such  individual, 
officer,  or  other  prisoner  shall  forfeit  so  much  of  the  benefit  of  this  arti- 
cle as  provides  for  his  liberty  on  parole  or  in  cantonment.  And  if  an 
officer  so  breaking  his  parole,  or  any  common  soldier  so  escaping  from 
the  limits  assigned  him,  shall  afterward  be  found  in  arms,  previously  to 
his  being  regularly  exchanged,  the  person  so  offending  shall  be  dealt  with 
according  to  the  established  laws  of  war.  The  officers  shall  be  daily  fur- 
nished by  the  party  in  whose  power  they  are  with  as  many  rations,  and 
of  the  same  articles,  as  are  allowed,  either  in  kind  or  by  commutation,  to 


B36  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 

officers  of  equal  rank  in  its  own  army;  and  all  others  sliall  be  daily  fur- 
nished with  such  ration  as  is  allowed  to  a  common  soldier  in  its  ow» 
service ;  the  vahie  of  all  which  supplies  sliall,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  or 
at  periods  to  be  agreed  upon  between  the  respective  commanders,  be 
paid  by  the  other  party,  on  a  mutual  adjustment  of  accounts  for  the  sub- 
sistence of  prisoners ;  and  such  accounts  shall  not  be  mingled  with  or  set 
off  against  any  others,  nor  the  balance  due  on  them  withheld,  as  a  com- 
pensation or  reprisal  for  any  cause  whatever,  real  or  pretended.  Each 
party  shall  be  allowed  to  keep  a  commissary  of  prisoners,  appointed  by 
itself,  within  every  cantonment  of  prisoners,  in  possession  of  the  other  ; 
which  commissary  shall  see  the  prisoners  as  often  as  he  pleases ;  shall 
be  allowed  to  receive,  exempt  from  all  duties  or  taxes,  and  to  distribute, 
whatever  comforts  may  be  sent  to  them  by  their  friends ;  and  shall  be 
free  to  transmit  his  reports  in  open  letters  to  the  party  by  whom  he  is 
employed.  And  it  is  declared  that  neither  the  pretence  that  war  dis- 
solves all  treaties,  nor  any  other  whatever,  shall  be  considered  as  armul- 
ing  or  suspending  the  solemn  covenant  contained  in  this  article.  On  the 
contrary,  the  state  of  war  is  precisely  that  for  which  it  is  provided  ;  and 
during  which  its  stipulations  are  to  be  as  sacredly  observed  as  the  most 
acknowledged  obligations  under  the  law  of  nature  or  nations. 

Art.  XXIII.— This  treaty  shall  be  ratified  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
senate  thereof ;  and  by  the  President  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  with  the 
previous  approbation  of  its  general  congress  ;  and  the  ratifications  shall 
be  exchanged  in  the  city  of  Washington,  in  four  months  from  the  date  of 
the  signature  hereof,  or  sooner  if  practicable. 

In  faith  whereof,  we,  the  respective  plenipotentiaries,  have  signed  this 
treaty  of  peace,  friendship,  limits,  and  settlement ;  and  have  hereunto 
affixed  our  seals  respectively.  Done  in  quintuplicate,  at  the  city  of 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  on  the  second  day  of  February,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-eight. 

N.  P.  Trist,  [l.  s.] 
Luis  G.  Cuevas,  [l.  s] 
Bernardo  Conto,  [l.  s.] 
MiG.  Atristain.      [l.  s.j 


Additional  and  Secret  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace,  Friendship,  Limits, 
and  Setllemcnt  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Mexican  Re- 
public, signed  this  day  by  their  respective  Plenipotentiaries.     [Expunged.] 
In  view  of  the  possibility  that  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this 
treaty   may,  by  the   circumstances  in   which   the   Mexican  Republic  is 
placed,  be  delayed  longer  than   the   term  of  four  months  fixed  by  its 
twenty-third  article  for  the   exchange  of  ratifications  of  the  same,  it  is 
hereby  agreed  that  such  delay  shall  not,  in  any  manner,  affect  the  force 
and  validity  of  this  treaty,  unless  it  should  exceed  the  term  of  eight 
months,  counted  from  the  date  of  the  signature  thereof. 

This  article  is  to  have  the  same  force  and  virtue  as  if  inserted  in  the 
treaty  to  which  this  is  an  addition. 

In  faith  whereof,  we,  the  respective  plenipotentiaries,  have  signed  this 
additional  and  secret  article,  and  have  hereunto  affixed  our  seals  respect- 
ively. Done  in  quintuplicate  at  the  city  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  on  the 
second  day  of  February,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty-eight. 

N.  P.  Trist,  [l.  s.] 

Luis  G.  Cuevas,  [l.  s.] 
Bernardo  Conto,  [l.  s.] 
MiG.  Atristain.      [l.  s.] 


OUTLINE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  STATES. 


VIRGINIA. 

Op  the  original  thirteen  colonies,  this  was  the  largest,  and  probably 
the  first  settled.  It  received  its  name  in  honor  of  Elizabeth,  the  "  virgin 
queen"  of  England.  We  are  told  that  the  London  company,  soon  after 
its  incorporation  in  1606,  despatched  to  America  three  ships,  having  on 
board  one  hundred  and  five  persons,  destined  to  begin  a  settlement  in  the 
southern  part  of  this  rich  and  beautiful  country.  The  squadron  was 
commanded  by  Christopher  Newport,  and  in  company  with  him  was 
Capt.  Gosnold,  and  the  celebrated  John  Smith.  Instead  of  being  warned 
by  the  failure  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  attempt  formerly  to  colonise  Vir- 
ginia, and  preserving  among  themselves  a  unanimity  of  feeling  and  ac- 
tion, these  adventurers  began  to  quarrel  with  each  other  concerning  their 
eventual  precedency  long  before  they  reached  the  land. 

It  seems,  a  sealed  box  had  been  delivered  to  the  commander,  with  or- 
ders that  it  should  not  be  opened  until  twenty-four  hours  after  the  emi- 
grants had  landed  in  America.  It  was  understood,  however,  that  said 
box  contained  instructions  for  their  guidance  in  establishing  tliemselves 
coionially  after  landing.  Smith,  from  a  certain  bold  and  perhaps  over- 
bearing demeanor,  incurred  the  hatred  of  his  companions,  and  was  most 
absurdly  accused  of  an  intention  to  murder  the  colonial  council,  usurp 
the  government,  and  make  himself  king  of  Virginia.  Upon  this  un- 
founded accusation  he  was  put  in  close  confinement,  and  held  until  the 
arrival  and  debarkation  of  the  colonists.  They  were  fortuitously  driven 
by  stress  of  weather  farther  northward  than  their  contemplated  place  of 
landing,  which  was  the  disastrous  Roanoke  island,  and  entered  the  mouth 
of  Chesapeake  bay  on  the  26th  of  April,  1607.  Here  they  discovered  a 
large  and  beautiful  river,  which  they  named  James  river,  and  chose  as  a 
proper  spot  for  commencing  a  permanent  settlement,  the  present  position 
of  Jamestown. 

On  the  13th  of  May  they  debarked,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  organise 
their  government.  The  mysterious  box,  as  they  had  surmised,  was  found 
to  contain  the  names  of  the  council,  and  mstructions  for  their  guidance. 
In  the  list  were  the  names  of  Gosnold,  Smith,  Wingfield,  and  Newport. 
Wingfield  was  elected  President,  but  a  vote  was  passed  excluding  Smith 
from  his  seat  at  the  board.  They  had,  however,  the  magnanimity  to  re- 
lease him  from  confinement;  and  his  subsequent  services  to  the  colony 
were  of  great  moment.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  dilatory  spirit 
of  these  adventurers,  as  regards  the  cultivation  of  the  soil ;  they  had 
no  visible  means  of  support  for  any  length  of  time,  and  yet  neglected  to 
put  in  any  crops  during  the  first  year  of  their  settlement.  Barter  and 
negotiation  with  the  Indians  for  a  time  sufficed  to  supply  them  with  the 
necessaries  of  life ;  but  this  was  a  very  uncertain  and  precarious  mode 
of  subsistence,  as  they  presently  found.  The  aborigines  became  aware 
of  the  comparative  dependence  of  the  new  comers  upon  them,  and  lost, 
in  a  great  measure,  that  reverential  awe  with  which  they  had  at  first  wel- 
comed them. 

In  four  months  from  the  time  of  their  landing,  fifty  of  their  number 


638  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

had  perished,  and  the  remainder  were  so  disheartened  that  they  deter- 
mined upon  returning  to  England.  In  this  emergency  the  great  abilities 
of  Smith  were  made  manifest;  he  undertook  to  regulate  the  affairs  of 
the  colony,  and  was  certainly  very  successful  in  so  doing.  In  1608, 
Capt.  Newport  arrived  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  new  settlers,  and  a 
supply  of  provisions.  This  was  a  source  of  great  joy  to  the  colony  ;  but 
their  prospects  were  soon  overcast ;  for  about  this  time  they  discovered 
in  the  bed  of  a  small  river  near  Jamestown,  a  shining  substance  which 
they  supposed  to  be  gold-dust.  A  sort  of  universal  phrensy  was  excited 
by  this  discovery.  "  Immediately,"  says  Smith,  "  there  was  no  thought, 
no  discourse,  no  hope,  and  no  work,  but  to  dig  gold,  wash  gold,  refine 
gold,  and  load  gold."  Smith  used  all  his  influence  to  convince  them  of 
their  folly,  but  to  no  purpose.  A  vessel  was  loaded  with  the  useless 
commodity,  and  sent  to  England.  On  its  arrival  there,  the  cargo  was 
examined,  and  found  to  be  nothing  but  earth,  filled  with  small  pieces  of 
shining  stone. 

In  one  of  Smith's  excursions  into  the  interior,  attended  only  by  an 
Indian  guide,  he  was  surrounded  by  a  body  of  savages  and  taken  pris- 
oner. His  exulting  captors  conducted  him  to  Powhatan,  the  principal 
chieftain  of  Virginia.  After  many  ceremonies  and  consultations  they 
decided  to  put  him  to  death.  He  was  accordingly  led  forth  to  execution. 
His  head  was  placed  upon  a  stone,  and  a  war-club  presented  to  Pow- 
hatan, who  claimed  the  honour  of  being  his  executioner.  As  the  chief 
raised  the  club  to  give  the  fatal  blow,  Pocahontas,  his  favourite  daughter, 
rushed  through  the  crowd  and  clasped  the  head  of  Smith  in  her  arras, 
laid  her  own  upon  it,  and  entreated  her  father  to  spare  his  life.  Pow- 
hatan was  amazed.  He  let  fall  the  club  and  set  Smith  at  liberty,  and 
soon  after  had  him  conducted  in  safety  to  Jamestown.  In  1612,  Poca- 
hontas incurred  the  resentment  of  her  father — probably  on  account  of  her 
attachment  to  the  whites — when  she  left  her  home  and  visited  the  terri- 
tories of  Jopazows,  chief  of  the  Potomacs.  Capt.  Argoll,  having  sailed 
up  the  Potomac  river,  on  a  trading  voyage,  prevailed  on  Jopazows,  by 
the  tempting  offer  of  a  copper  kettle,  to  surrender  her  to  him.  He  de- 
tained and  carried  her  to  Jamestown,  presuming  that  Powhatan  would 
do  no  hurt  to  the  English  while  they  retained  possession  of  his  daughter. 

But  the  noble-hearted  chief  felt  indignant  at  the  treachery  of  the 
whites,  and  refused  to  listen  to  any  terms  of  peace  till  Pocahontas  was 
restored.  During  her  detention  at  Jamestown,  Mr.  Thomas  Rolfe,  an 
Englishman  of  respectable  character,  became  attached  to  her  and  offered 
her  his  hand.  It  was  accepted,  and  the  consent  of  Powhatan  being  ob- 
tained, the  marriage  was  solemnized  with  great  pomp,  in  presence  of  the 
uncle  of  Pocahontas  and  her  two  brothers.  This  event  relieved  the  col- 
ony from  the  enmity  of  Powhatan,  and  preserved  peace  between  them 
for  many  years.  In  1616  she  embarked  with  her  husband  for  England, 
and  was  received  by  the  king  and  queen  with  the  attention  due  to  her 
rank.  While  in  London  she  received  a  visit  from  her  former  friend, 
Capt.  Smith.  Her  residence  among  civilized  men  was  destined,  how 
ever,  to  be  short.  While  about  to  embark  from  Gravesend,  with  her  hus- 
band and  an  infant  son,  to  return  to  Virginia,  she  died,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two.  Her  son  was  educated  in  London,  and  from  him  are  de- 
scended some  of  the  most  respectable  families  in  Virginia. 

In  1609  the  London  Company  obtained  a  new  charter,  granting  greater 
power  and  privileges  than  the  former.  They  soon  after  sent  out  nine 
ships,  with  nine  hundred  emigrants,  to  Virginia.  The  vessel  on  board 
of  which  were  vhe  officers  appointed  to  govern  the  colony,  was  unfor- 
tunately driven  by  a  storm  upon  the  Bermuda  islands ;  the  others  ar- 
rived safely.  Most  of  the  persons  who  came  in  these  were  of  a  vicious 
character.     They  at  first  refused  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  Smith, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  539 

and  by  this  means  threw  the  colony  into  great  confusion.  Smith  deter- 
mined, however,  that  he  would  be  obeyed  until  the  arrival  of  the  officers 
that  were  appointed  to  succeed  him.  He  accordingly  seized  upon  the 
leaders  of  the  sedition,  and  put  them  in  prison,  and  by  this  means  order 
was  again  restored. 

About  this  time,  the  Indians,  fearing  that  the  white  people  would  be- 
come too  powerful,  concerted  a  plot  to  destroy  them  all.  Pocaliontas 
heard  of  it,  and  resolved  to  save  them.  Accordingly,  one  dark  and 
stormy  night,  she  hastened  to  Jamestown,  and  informed  Smith  of  his 
danger.  He  immediately  took  measures  to  put  the  colony  in  a  state  of 
defence,  and  the  Indians,  perceiving  that  their  design  was  discovered,  gave 
up  the  project.  Soon  after,  Smith  received  a  severe  wound,  and  returned 
to  England  to  procure  the  aid  of  a  surgeon.  The  most  unhappy  conse- 
quences followed.  The  Indians,  perceiving  the  absence  of  the  man  they 
feared,  attacked  the  colony  with  united  forces.  They  cut  off  all  sup- 
plies, and  thus  reduced  the  settlers  to  the  greatest  extremity.  Such  was 
their  wretched  condition,  that  they  devoured  the  skins  of  their  horses, 
the  bodies  of  the  Indians  they  had  killed,  and  at  last  the  flesh  of  their 
dead  companions.  This  period  was  remembered  by  the  name  of  "  the 
starving  time."  In  six  months  their  number  was  reduced  from  more 
than  five  hundred  to  sixty,  and  these  feeble  and  dejected.  While  the 
colonists  were  in  this  situation,  the  persons  who  had  been  wrecked  on 
the  Bermudas  arrived.  The  colonists  again  determined  to  return  to 
P^ngland,  and  for  this  purpose  they  embarked  and  sailed  down  the  river. 
F'oitunately,  however,  they  were  met  by  Lord  Delaware,  who  had  been 
appointed  governor  of  Virginia,  with  supplies  of  men  and  provisions. 
He  persuaded  them  to  return  to  Jamestown,  and  by  a  judicious  exercise 
of  authority  he  restored  order  and  contentment,  and  for  several  years 
the  affairs  of  the  colony  continued  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

In  1611,  Lord  Delaware,  in  consequence  of  ill  health,  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Thomas  Dale.  Public  authority  was 
now  rigidly  enforced.  Hitherto  no  right  of  private  property  in  land  had 
been  established.  The  fields  that  had  been  cleared  were  cultivated  by 
the  joint  labour  of  the  whole,  and  the  produce  was  deposited  in  public 
stores,  and  shared  in  common.  This  plan  of  proceeding  presented  but 
few  inducements  to  industry,  and  the  idle  and  improvident  trusted  en- 
tirely to  what  was  distributed  from  the  common  stores.  To  remedy 
these  evils.  Sir  Thomas  divided  a  considerable  portion  of  land  into  lots 
of  three  acres  each,  and  granted  one  of  these  to  each  individual  to  be 
his  own  property.  The  happy  effects  of  this  measure  were  soon  so 
manifest,  that  another  assignment  of  fifty  acres  to  each  one  was  made, 
and  the  plan  of  working  m  a  common  field  was  entirely  abandoned. 
From  this  time  the  colony  rapidly  increased  and  improved.  In  1616 
they  began  to  cultivate  tobacco,  a  plant  which  was  first  found  in  that 
soil,  and  became  the  great  staple  of  Virginia. 

Thus  far  the  affairs  of  the  colony  had  been  managed  by  a  governor 
and  council,  appointed  by  the  London  company,  and  from  1611  they  had 
been  under  martial  law,  like  a  garrison  of  soldiers,  but  the  people  had 
become  dissatisfied  with  this  state  of  things.  They  longed  to  enjoy 
the  rights  and  privileges  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  their 
native  country.  To  gratify  this  noble  desire  of  the  colonists.  Governor 
Ycardly,  in  1619,  called  a  general  assembly,  consisting  of  representa- 
tives from  the  several  plantations  or  boroughs.  It  met  at  Jamestown  on 
the  19lh  of  June,  and  was  the  first  legislative  assembly  ever  held  in 
America.  The  colony  hitherto  consisted  almost  entirely  of  men  who 
came  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  wealth,  and  who  intended  again  to 
return  to  England.  But  in  order  to  attach  them  more  to  the  soil,  and 
to  induce  them  to  regard  this  as  their  home,  in  1620,  the  company  sent 


010  THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY 

over  ninety  girls,  to  be  disposed  of  among  the  young  planters  for  vvItcb. 
At  first  the  price  of  a  wife  was  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  but  the 
demand  for  them  increased  so  much  that  it  soon  rose  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty  pounds.  The  same  year  a  Dutch  vessel  arrived  at  Jamestown 
with  twenty  Africans,  and  offered  them  for  sale  as  slaves.  They  were 
purchased  by  tiie  people.  These  were  the  first  slaves  brought  into  tlie 
country,  and  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  for  that  system  of  slavery 
which  new  exists  in  the  United  States.  Emigrants  continued  to  arrive 
from  England,  and  the  settlements  were  widely  extended.  The  colony 
was  now  advancing  on  the  full  tide  of  prosperity ;  but  it  was  destined 
soon  to  experience  a  sudden  and  dreadful  reverse  of  fortune.  The  In- 
dians, though  apparently  friendly,  formed  a  plan  for  the  total  destruction 
of  the  English.  On  the  22d  of  May,  1622,  the  savages  burst  forth  upon 
the  settlements  and  murdered  the  whites  without  distinction  of  agf.  oy 
sex.  The  whole  colony  would  have  been  cut  off,  had  not  a  fnendly  In- 
dian given  notice  of  the  plot,  in  time  to  put  Jamestown  and  a  ftw  neigh- 
bouring settlements  on  their  guard.  The  English  were  ro-.iSed  to  ven- 
geance by  this  horrid  scene.  They  attacked  tho  Indians  with  fire  and 
sword,  killed  multitudes  of  them,  and  drove  the  r^^mainder  far  into  the 
wilderness.  By  means  of  this  calamity  the  scUlements  of  the  colony 
were  reduced  from  eighty  to  eight;  and  -n  '1024.  out  of  nine  thousand 
persons  who  had  been  sent  from  Engla.td,  only  eighteen  hundred  were 
living.  These  misfortunes  induced  King  James,  in  1624,  to  dissolve  the 
London  company,  and  take  the  government  of  the  colony  into  his  own 
hands.  He  appointed  a  governor  and  twelve  counsellors,  to  whom  all 
authority  was  committed  ;  ar.d  this  arbitrary  act  was  followed  by  others 
equally  oppressive.  The  colonists  submitted  to  these  tyrannical  mea- 
sures until  1636,  when  tney  had  become  so  disgusted  with  the  conduct 
of  their  governor,  tha*  tiiey  seized  and  sent  him  prisoner  to  England. 
King  Charles  was  so  much  displeased  with  this  act  of  the  colonists 
that  he  sent  him  back,  with  full  power  to  govern  as  before. 

In  1639,  Sir  Wdliam  Berkley,  distinguished  for  the  mildness  of  his 
temper,  was  appointed  to  the  government  of  the  colony,  with  instruc 
tions  to  restore  the  general  assembly.  This  gave  great  satisfaction  to 
the  people,  and  under  his  wise  administration  they  enjoyed  many  years 
of  peace  and  prosperity.  In  1652,  Cromwell,  who  was  then  at  the 
head  of  government  in  England,  sent  a  strong  force  to  compel  the  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia  to  acknowledge  his  authority.  After  a  brave  resistance 
Berkley  was  obliged  to  submit,  when  for  several  years  governors  were 
appointed  by  Cromwell,  and  oppressive  restrictions  were  imposed  upon 
the  colonists.  At  length  the  people  renounced  the  authority  of  their 
oppressors,  and  again  conferred  the  ofBce  of  governor  upon  Berkley,  who 
was  still  residing  in  the  colony.  Soon  after  this  event  news  arrived 
that  Cromwell  was  dead,  and  that  Charles  II.  was  on  the  throne  of 
England.  The  authority  of  Berkley  was  confirmed  by  the  king,  but  the 
rights  of  the  people  were  little  regarded.  Large  tracts  of  land  belong- 
ing to  the  colony  were  granted  to  the  favourites  of  Charles  ;  this  pro- 
duced great  excitement  in  Virginia,  and  resulted  in  all  the  horrors  of  civil 
war.  The  opposing  party  was  swayed  by  the  eloquence  of  a  young 
and  ambitious  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Nathaniel  Bacon.  He  was  elect- 
ed general,  and  arrayed  himself,  with  six  hundred  armed  men,  against 
the  governor  and  council.  Hostilities  continued  for  several  months, 
during  which  Jamestown  was  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  crops  in  the 
fields  were  laid  waste.  Troops  at  length  arrived  from  England,  who, 
on  the  death  of  Bacon,  which  occurred  soon  after,  put  an  end  to  the 
disturbance  and  restored  Berkley  to  power.  Many  of  ths  rebels  were 
tried  and  executed.  The  assembly,  however,  soon  after  interfered,  and 
by  wise  and  salutary  laws  succeeded  in  restoring  peace  and  harmony 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


611 


among  the  colonists.  The  majority  of  the  people  of  Virginia  were  for 
a  long  time  opposed  to  slavery  ;  and  laws  were  passed  to  prevent  it.  But 
the  selfish  policy  of  the  kings  and  proprietors  in  England  encourageJ  the 
introduction  of  slaves,  and  the  evil  could  not  be  resisted  by  the  colonists. 

The  state  has  a  great  variety  of  surface  and  of  soil.  From  the  sea 
coast  to  the  termination  of  tide  water,  which  includes  a  tract  from  110  to 
120  miles  in  width,  the  country  is  low  and  flat,  in  some  places  marshy  ;  the 
soil  is  sandy,  covered  with  pitch  pine,  light,  and  of  but  little  fertility, 
except  on  the  margins  of  the  rivers,  where  it  is  often  productive.  This  is 
denominated  the  low  country,  and  is  unhealthy  from  August  to  October. 
Between  the  head  of  tide  water  and  the  Blue  ridge,  the  country  gradually 
rises  and  becomes  uneven,  and  near  the  mountains  often  abrupt  and 
broken,  though  the  soil  is  fertile. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  Virginia  is  very  great.  Gold,  copper,  lead,  iron, 
coal,  salt,  limestone,  and  marble  are  found  ;  and  it  has  a  number  of  very 
celebrated  mineral  springs,  particularly  those  impregnated  with  sulphur. 
Mining  has  recently  received  much  attention  ;  in  1840,  2000  persons  were 
engaged  in  it.  The  belt  of  the  country  in  which  gold  is  found  is  in 
Spottsylvania  county  and  the  adjacent  country,  and  extending  in  a  S.  W. 
direction,  it  passes  into  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and 
Alabama.  But  the  iron  and  coal  are  much  more  valuable.  The  coal 
fields  are  very  extensive,  both  anthracite  and  bituminous,  and  large  quan- 
tities have  been  exported,  particularly  from  the  neighborhood  of  Rich- 
mond. Salt  springs  are  found,  and  large  quantities  of  salt  are  exported 
from  the  banks  of  the  Great  Kanawha. 

The  first  constitution  of  Virginia  was  formed  in  1776,  This  was 
amended  by  a  convention  assembled  for  that  purpose,  in  1830.  The  gov- 
ernor is  elected  for  three  years  by  the  joint  vote  of  the  two  houses  of 
assembly,  but  is  ineligible  for  the  next  succeeding  three  years.  He 
must  be  at  least  30  years  of  age,  must  be  a  native  born  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  have  resided  in  the  state  for  five  years  next  preceding 
his  election.  The  council  of  state  consists  of  three  members,  elected  for 
three  years,  one  of  the  number  retiring  annually.  They  are  the  advisers 
of  the  governor.  The  senior  councillor  is  lieutenant-governor,  and  acts 
as  governor  in  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  absence,  or  inability  of  the 
governor.  The  senate  consists  of  32  members,  elected  by  the  people  for 
four  years,  one  fourth  of  the  number  retiring  annually.  A  member  must 
be  at  least  30  years  of  age,  and  have  a  residence  and  a  freehold  in  the 
district  for  which  he  is  elected.  The  house  of  delegates  consists  of  134 
members,  elected  annually  by  the  people.  A  member  must  be  at  least  25 
years  of  age,  and  have  a  residence  and  a  freehold  in  the  district  for  which 
he  is  elected.  No  person  holding  a  lucrative  office,  no  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  or  priests  of  any  denomination,  can  be  elected  a  member  of  the 
assembly.  The  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  appeals,  and  the  superior 
courts,  are  elected  by  the  joint  vote  of  both  houses  of  assembly,  and  hold 
their  offices  during  good  behaviour.  The  attorney-general  is  appointed 
in  the  same  manner,  and  holds  his  office  during  the  pleasure  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly.  Every  white  male  citizen  of  the  state,  of  21  years  of  age 
or  upwards,  who  owns  an  interest  in  a  freehold  estate  of  the  value  of  $25, 
or  who  is  a  house-keeper  or  head  of  a  family,  and  has  paid  taxes,  except- 
ing paupers,  non-commissioned  officers,  soldiers,  seamen  or  marines  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  persons  convicted  of  infaii  ous  crimes, 
is  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  general  assembly  metts  annually 
at  Richmond  on  the  first  Monday  of  December.  At  all  elections,  votes 
are  given  openly,  or  viva  voce,  and  not  by  ballot,  as  in  most  of  the  other 
states. 

41 


04-2 


THE  TUEASUIIY  OF  H16T0EY. 


NEW-YORK. 


Probably  the  first  European  who  landed  on  the  soil  of  New- York,  was 
John  de  Verrazaiio,  a  Florentine,  in  the  service  of  Francis  I.  of  France. 
About  the  middle  of  March,  1524,  he  arrived  on  the  American  coast,  near 
Wilmington,  N.  C,  from  which  point  he  proceeded  as  far  south  as  Geor- 
gia. He  then  turned  and  coasted  north,  until  he  came  to  about  the  lali- 
lude  of  41'^  north,  where  he  entered  a  harbour,  which,  from  his  description, 
is  believed  to  be  that  of  New- York.  Verrazano  stayed  in  the  harbour 
about  fifteen  days;  traded  freely  with  the  natives,  and  left  on  the  5th  of 
May,  coasting  as  far  as  Labrador,  whence  he  sailed  for  France.  In  a  let- 
ter to  the  king  he  gave  an  account  of  his  voyage,  giving  the  name  of  New- 
France  to  the  country  he  visited  ;  but  as  his  voyage  neither  produced  nor 
promised  any  addition  to  the  revenues  of  France,  his  discoveries  were 
not  pursued.  In  a  subsequent  expedition  this  voyager  was  lost,  having 
been  destroyed,  it  is  supposed,  by  savages. 

In  1G09,  Henry  Hudson,  an  Englishman,  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  discovered  the  Hudson  river,  and  ascended  it  about 
160  miles.     In  consequence  of  this  discovery,  the  Dutch  laid  claim  to  a 
large  extent  of  territory  on  both  sides  of  this  river,  and  called  it  New- 
Netherlands.     In  1G13,  several  Dutch   merchants  erected  a  fort  where 
Albany  now  stands,  which  they  named  Fort  Orange.     The  next  year  they 
built  several  trading  houses  on  the  island  of  Manhattan,  now  called  New- 
York,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Nieu-Amsterdam.     The  English 
claimed  the  whole  continent  by  virtue  of  Cabot's  discoveries,  and  regard- 
ed the  Dutch  as  intruders ;  and  in  the  same  year,  Captain   Argall,  from 
Virginia,  with  a  fleet  of  three  ships,  visited  these  settlements  on  the  Hud- 
son, demanded  a  surrender  of  the  fort,  and  claimed  the  territory,  as  prop- 
erly constituting  a  part  of  Virginia.     Their  number  being  small,  they  sub- 
mitted without  resistance.     But  the  next  year  a  new  governor  arrived 
from  Holland,  and  the  Dutch  renounced  the  authority  of  the  English,  and 
retained  possession  until  1664.     They  erected  a  fort  on  the  Delaware,  and 
and  one  also  at  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut,  and  laid  claim   to   all  the 
territory  between  these  rivers.     In   1655,    Peter  Stuyvesant,  the   Dutch 
governor,  with  a  fleet  of  seven  ships  attacked  and  subdued  the   Swedes, 
who  had  settled  on  the  west  side  of  the  Delaware  river ;  but  the  Dutch 
soon  had  to  encounter  again  their  old  enemies,  the   English.     In   1664, 
Charles  II.  granted  to  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,  all  New- 
England,    and  the   territory   then   in   the   possession  of  the   Dutch.     A 
squadron,  therefore,  soon  appeared  in  New-York  harbour,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Nichols.     The  English  immediately  demanded  a  sur- 
render of  the  town,  and  promised  to  secure  to  the  inhabitants  the  rights  of 
life  and  property.     Governor  Stuyvesant   determined   to   resist;   but  at 
length  the  inhabitants  constrained  him  to  submit.     The  English  took  pos- 
session, and  in  honor  of  the  duke,  called   the  town   New-York.     Soon 
after.  Fort  Orange  was  taken,  and  named  Albany.     Nichols  now  assumed 
^he  government  of  the  country,  and  under  his  liberal  administration,  New 
York,  in  1665,  was  made  a  city,  and  is  now  the  grand  metropolis  of  the 
western  world. 

In  1673,  shortly  after  war  was  declared  between  England  and  Holland, 
a  Dutch  fleet  arrived  at  Staten  Island,  and  by  the  treachery  of  the  com- 
mander of  the  fort,  was  permitted  to  enter  the  harbour  of  New- York  with- 
out resistance.  The  Dutch  immediately  took  possession  of  the  city  ;  but 
soon  the  news  of  peace  arrived,  and  the  country  was  again  restored  to 
the  English.  Sir  Edmund  Andross  was  appointed  governor  of  the  pro- 
vince, but  his  administration  was  distinguished  for  nothing  but  a  course 
of  tyranny.  Tlie  people  of  the  colony  became  discontented  under  the 
arbitrary  regulations  imposed  upon  them;  and  in  1682,  they  were  first 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  6J3 

f>ermitted  to  take  part  in  the  government.  An  assembly,  consisting  of  a 
councilor  ten,  appointed  by  the  duke,  and  eighteen  representatives,  chosen 
by  the  people,  were  allowed  to  make  the  laws  of  the  colony.  Tn  1690, 
during  the  war  between  England  and  France,  the  French  of  Canada  con- 
spired with  certain  tribes  of  Indians  for  the  destruction  of  the  English 
settlements.  On  the  8th  of  February,  a  party  attacked  and  destroyed  the 
town  of  Schenectady.  Every  house  was  surrounded,  and  a  horrid  yell 
broke  the  stillness  of  the  night ;  the  inhabitants  sprang  from  their  beds, 
found  their  dwellings  in  tlames,  and  their  doors  guarded  by  the  savage 
foe.  Some  escaped  ;  but  naked  and  exposed  to  a  storm,  many  of  them 
perished  before  they  could  reach  Albany,  their  nearest  place  of  refuge. 
In  this  cruel  assault,  sixty  were  killed,  twenty-seven  made  prisoners,  and 
twenty-five  lost  their  hands  and  feet  by  the  cold.  These  and  other  sav- 
age  cruelties,  led  the  English  colonists  to  combine  their  forces  against 
Canada.  Sii- William  Phipps,  with  a  large  fleet,  sailed  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence ;  and  an  army  proceeded  from  New-York  by  land,  as  far  as  Lake 
Champlain ;  but  owing  to  some  mismanagement,  this  expedition  faile^l 
of  success. 

In  lfi91.  King  William  appointed  Colonel  Henry  Sloughter  governor  cf 
New- York.  At  this  time  the  colony  needed  a  magistrate  of  talents  and 
energy.  Sloughter  had  neither;  he  was  weak  and  vicious.  Ex-gover- 
nor Leisler  disputed  his  authority ;  but  after  several  vain  attempts  to  maip- 
tain  his  own  power,  he,  with  Malborne,  were  taken  and  condemned  fiT 
high  treason.  Sloughter  at  first  refused  to  execute  the  sentence  of  the 
court;  but  at  a  feast,  in  a  fit  of  intoxication,  he  was  induced  to  sign  tl  e 
death  warrant,  and  they  were  executed.  Their  estates  were  afterwanls 
restored  to  their  families,  and  their  bodies  were  taken  up  by  their  pary 
and  buried  with  great  pomp,  in  the  old  Dutch  church,  in  the  city  of  Ne\v- 
York.  Sloughter  died  in  1691 ;  and  he  was  succeeded  the  next  year  I  y 
Colonel  Fletcher.  Fletcher  desired  to  promote  among  the  Dutch  inhab- 
itants the  use  of  the  English  language,  and  the  interests  of  the  Englisli 
church ;  and  these  objects  he  recommended  to  the  attention  of  the  asse  n- 
bly.  After  much  difficulty,  a  bill  was  passed  encouraging  education  in 
the  colony,  and  providing  for  the  support  of  ministers  of  the  gospel,  w'lo 
were  to  be  chosen  by  the  people. 

In  1698,  the  Earl  of  Bellamont  was  made  governor  of  the  colony,  at 
which  time  the  American  seas  were  infested  with  pirates.  The  earl  pro|  'O- 
sed  to  send  out  a  naval  force  against  them ;  but  the  assembly  rejected  i  he 
proposal.  He  then  fitted  out  a  private  vessel,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Kidd,  who  afterwards  became  a  pirate  himself.  Bellamont  w  as 
succeeded,  in  1702,  by  Lord  Cornbury,  son  of  the  celebrated  earl  of  Clar- 
endon. In  his  private  character,  Cornbury  was  vicious  and  contemptible  ; 
as  a  magistrate,  he  was  tyrannical  and  prodigal  of  the  people's  money. 
He  was  removed  from  office,  and  soon  after  seized  by  his  creditors  and 
thrown  into  prison. 

In  1710,  the  queen  appointed  General  Hunter  governor  of  the  colony. 
During  his  administration,  another  attempt  was  made  for  the  subjugation 
of  Canada.  An  army  of  4,000  men  left  Albany  and  marched  aga  nst 
Montreal.  A  large  fleet  proceeded  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  meeting  w  ith 
a  violent  storm,  many  of  the  ships  were  dashed  upon  the  rocks,  and  the 
remainder  returned  to  England.  When  this  was  made  known  to  the  ai  my 
the  troops  were  disheartened,  and  the  enterprise  was  abandoned. 

In  1719,  Hunter  left  the  colony  in  a  state  of  perfect  harmony,  and  re- 
turned to  Europe,  when  his  oflfice  was  conferred  upon  William  Burnet,  son 
of  the  celebrated  Bishop  Burnet.  At  this  time  the  French  were  erecting 
forts  along  the  lakes  and  rivers,  from  Canada  to  tiie  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Their  policy  in  this,  was  to  cut  off  the  fur  trade  of  the  English,  and  seoure 
i.t  all  to  themselves.     Burnet  endeavored  to  defeat  their  object,  by  b  liJd- 


GU  THE  TaEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

ing  a  fort  at  Oswego.  He  watched  all  the  movements  of  the  Indiana, 
and  sought  to  prevent  their  union  with  the  French.  After  Burnet,  the 
government  of  tlic  colony  devolved  successively  upon  Colonel  Monteom- 
ery,  Rip  Van  Dam,  and  William  Crosby.  The  latter  arrived  at  New- 
York  in  1732.  During  his  administration  a  prosecution  was  commenced, 
through  his  influence,  against  the  editor  of  a  newspaper,  for  publishing 
an  offensive  article.  After  a  noble  defence  by  Andrew  Ilainiltoii,  the 
editor  was  acquitted,  and  Hamilton  was  greatly  applauded  by  the  citizens, 
who  desired  the  entire  liberty  of  the  press. 

After  the  death  of  Crosby,  in  173G,  George  Clark  was  appointed  lieu- 
tenant-governor. For  many  years  a  severe  contest  had  existed  between 
the  governor  and  the  house  of  representatives.  The  governor  wished 
to  have  the  control  of  the  public  money,  and  make  such  appropriations 
as  he  saw  fit.  On  the  other  hand,  the  house  contended  that  no  money 
should  be  expended  for  any  object  which  they  did  not  approve.  During 
Clark's  administration  the  contest  was  maintained  on  both  sides  with  a 
great  deal  of  spirit,  but  the  representatives  prevailed.  At  this  time  there 
were  many  negroes  in  the  city  of  New-York ;  fires  occurred  frequent- 
ly, and  suspicion  was  excited  against  them.  Some  of  them  were  de- 
tected in  settuig  fire  to  buildings,  and  it  was  then  reported  that  they  had 
formed  a  plot  to  burn  the  city,  and  intended  to  appoint  a  governor  of 
their  own.  The  people  were  terrified ;  about  thirty  negroes  were 
seized  and  put  to  death,  and  two  white  men  were  tried  and  executed. 
When  the  alarm  was  over  the  people  began  to  re.flect  upon  the  character 
of  the  witnesses  and  their  testimony ;  none  of  them  were  respectable, 
and  tlie  evidence  of  a  plot  had  all  vanished ;  terror  and  prejudice  had  led 
the  magistrates  to  a  course  of  manifest  cruelt}'  and  injustice. 

In  1743,  George  Clinton,  a  man  of  eminent  talents,  was  appointed  gov- 
ernor. He  soon  secured  the  love  and  confidence  of  the  people,  and 
united  their  energies  against  the  French  and  Indians.  The  frequent 
depredations  of  the  enemy  upon  the  English  settlements  led  to  the  pro- 
ject of  another  expedition  against  Canada  ;  but  before  their  plan  was 
carried  into  operation  peace  was  restored.  In  17.53  Gov.  Clinton  resign- 
ed his  office,  and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Danvers  Osborne.  This  gentle- 
man, five  days  after  his  arrival,  committed  suicide,  through  grief  for  the 
loss  of  his  wife.  James  Delancey,  who  had  been  Ijeutenant-governor 
under  Clinton,  then  assumed  the  chief  authority.  In  1755  Sir  Charles 
Hardy  arrived  in  New- York  with  commission  of  governor;  but  being  a 
naval  officer  unacquainted  with  civil  aflfairs,  he  put  himself  altogether 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Delancey.  The  governors  next  succeeding  were 
Cadwallader  Colden,  General  Monckton,  Sir  Henrj'  Moore,  and  William 
Tryon,  the  last-named  closing  the  lift  of  royal  governors. 

The  climate  of  New- York  is  various.  In  the  south  part  the  winters 
are  mild  but  changeable ;  in  the  north-east  part  they  are  severe  but  more 
uniform  ;  in  the  level  country  west  of  the  mountains  the  climate  is  more 
mild  than  in  the  same  latitude  in  the  east  part.  The  principal  river  in 
the  state  is  the  Hudson,  three  hundred  and  twenty-four  miles  long,  which 
enters  New-York  bay,  and  is  navigable  for  sloops  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  miles,  to  Troy.  Lakes  Erie,  Champlain,  and  Ontario  lie  partly 
within  the  state :  of  those  which  lie  wholly  within  it,  are  lakes  George, 
Oneida,  Skaneateles,  Owasco,  Cayuga,  Seneca,  Canandaigua,  and  Crooked 
lake,  which,  with  the  exception  of  lake  George,  discharge  their  waters 
into  lake  Ontario,  and  Chatauque  lake,  which  empties  into  the  Alleghany 
river.  Two  principal  chains  of  high  lands,  rising  to  mountains,  cross 
the  eastern  part  of  the  state.  One  of  these  comes  from  New-Jersey, 
and  crosses  the  Hudson  at  West  Point,  where  on  each  side  of  the  rivei 
the  mountains,  in  places  coming  to  the  water's  edge,  and  rising  to  the 
height  of  from  one  thousand  to  one  thousand  seven  hundred  feet,  consti- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


615 


tute  some  of  the  grandest  and  most  interesting  scenery  in  the  country, 
known  as  the  "  Highlands."  These  mountains  are  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  wide,  and  after  crossing  the  Hudson  river  proceed  northerly  ; 
form  the  Taghkannic  mountains,  divide  the  waters  which  fall  into  the 
Hudson  from  those  flowing  into  the  Housatonic  river,  and  thence  into 
Long  Island  Sound.  Another  range  comes  from  the  north-west  part  of 
New-Jersey,  and  constitutes  the  Shawagunk  mountains.  A  third  range 
comes  from  Pennsylvania,  and  proceeding  north  through  Sullivan,  Ulster, 
and  Greene  counties,  constitute  the  Catskill  mountains.  The  Adirondack 
mountains  in  the  north-east  part,  and  south-west  of  lake  Champlain,  are 
the  loftiest  mountains  in  the  state.  Mount  Marcy,  the  highest  peak,  being 
6460  feet  high,  and  little  inferior  to  the  White  mountains  in  New-Hamp- 
shire. 

This  state  boasts  the  noblest  cataract  on  the  earth — that  of  Niagara. 
It  is  computed  that  100,000,000  tons  of  water  are  discharged  over  the 
precipice  every  hour.  The  height  of  the  fall  near  the  American  shore 
is  163  feet;  near  Goat  Island,  on  the  Canada  shore,  134  feet;  the  dis- 
tance around  the  Horse-shoe  fall  is  144  rods.  The  river  at  the  falls  is 
nearly  a  mile  wide,  but  directly  below  is  compressed  to  less  than  a  fourth 
that  distance ;  and  while  it  makes  a  constant  descent,  with  amazing  ve- 
locity, the  banks  rise  gradually  for  six  miles.  Some  suppose  the  falls  to 
have  receded  from  the  escarpment  of  Queenston  to  their  present  site ; 
but  Dr.  Lyell,  the  geologist,  conjectures  the  time  necessary  for  such  re- 
cession, to  be  35,000  years. 

New- York  has  several  important  literary  institutions.  Columbia  col- 
lege, formerly  King's  college,  was  founded  in  New- York  city  in  1754, 
and  is  under  the  direction,  though  not  exclusively,  of  the  Episcopalians ; 
Union  college  at  Schenectady  was  founded  in  1795;  Hamilton  college  in 
Clinton  was  founded  in  1812;  Geneva  college,  conducted  by  the  Episco- 
palians, was  founded  in  Geneva  in  1823 ;  the  University  of  the  city  of 
New-York  was  founded  in  1831  ;  the  Hamilton  literary  and  theological 
seminary  was  founded  by  the  Baptists  in  1819;  the  Theological  Insti- 
tute of  the  Episcopal  church  was  founded  in  1819,  in  the  city  of  New- 
York  ;  the  seminary  connected  with  the  University,  was  founded  in  1826  ; 
the  seminary  at  Auburn  was  founded  by  the  Presbyterians  in  1821;  the 
Hartwick  s»iminary  was  founded,  in  Otsego  county,  by  tlie  Lutherans,  in 
1816;  the  seminary  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  at  Newburgh,  in 
1836;  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  city  of  New- York, 
in  1807;  the  Albany  Medical  College,  in  1839. 

The  governor  is  elected  biennially  by  the  people.  He  must  be  thirty 
years  of  age,  be  a  native-born  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  have 
resided  five  years  in  the  state.  The  lieutenant  is  elected  in  like  man- 
ner, and  must  possess  similar  qualifications.  He  is  president  of  the 
senate;  and  in  case  of  the  impeachment,  removal,  death,  or  absence  of 
the  governor,  discharges  the  duties  of  the  office.  The  senate  consists  of 
.thirty-two  members,  who  are  chosen  for  five  years,  one  fourth  of  whom 
are  elected  every  year.  The  assembly  consists  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  members,  elected  annually  by  the  people.  The  governor 
nominates  all  judicial  officers,  except  justices  of  the  peace,  and  has  the 
power  of  appointment,  with  the  consent  of  the  senate.  The  judges  hold 
their  offices  during  good  behaviour,  or  until  they  are  sixty  years  of  age. 
Every  male  white  citizen  of  full  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  has  re- 
sided for  one  year  in  the  state,  and  for  six  months  preceding  the  elec- 
tion, in  the  county  where  he  offers  his  vote,  enjoys  the  right  of  suffrage. 
Persons  of  colour  are  allowed  to  vote  who  have  resided  five  years  in 
the  state,  who  possess  a  freehold  of  $250,  and  have  held  it  for  one 
vear  previous  to  the  election,  and  pay  a  tax  upon  it. 


CtG  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


Pennsvlvania  was  first  settled  by  the  Swedes,  in  1G38,  who  purchased 
from  the  natives  the  land  upon  the  western  shore  of  Delaware  bay  and 
river,  from  cape  Henlopen  to  the  falls  opposite  the  present  city  of  Tren- 
ton. In  1G42,  tlie  Swedish  governor  erected  a  handsome  house  for  him- 
self on  an  island  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill,  and  caused  a 
church  to  bi-  built,  which  was  consecrated  in  1646.  The  Dutch  govern- 
ment at  Xcw-Netherlands  conquered  the  Swedes  in  1654.  When  the 
English  conquered  New-Netherlands  in  1664,  the  Dutch  possessions  on 
Delaware  river  fell  into  their  hands,  and  for  several  years  remained  sub- 
ject to  the  governors  of  New-York.  In  1681  Pennsylvania  was  granted 
by  Charles  II.  to  William  Penn,  a  member  of  the  society  of  Friends,  in 
consideration  of  the  services  of  his  father  as  a  British  admiral.  Four 
years  from  the  grant  of  the  charter,  the  province  contained  twenty-two 
settlements,  and  Philadelphia  had  two  thousand  inhabitants.  In  1684 
Penn  returned  to  England,  and  appointed  five  commissioners,  with  a 
president,  to  administer  the  government  during  his  absence.  He  return- 
ed to  the  state  in  1699,  having  been  confirmed  in  his  proprietary  rights. 
In  17G8,  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  was  drawn,  to  mark  the  boundary  be- 
tween this  state  and  Maryland.  Penn  died  in  1718,  leaving  his  interest 
in  Pennsylvania  as  an  inheritance  to  his  children,  who  continued  to  pos- 
sess it  until  the  revolutionary  war,  when  their  claim  was  purchased  by 
the  commonwealth  for  jCl 30,000  sterling,  or  $580,000.  In  1784,  the  last 
remaining  portion  of  the  state,  not  previously  purchased,  was  bought  of 
the  Indians,  lying  in  its  north-west  part.  In  1776  a  state  constitution  was 
formed,  which  continued  in  operation  till  1790,  when  another  constitution 
was  adopted,  which  remained  until  1838,  when  the  present  constitution 
was  adopted.  The  United  States'  constitution  was  adopted  in  conven- 
tion, December  13th,  1787;  yeas  46,  nays  23  ;  majority  23.  Philadelphia 
remained  the  seat  of  the  United  States'  government  until  1800,  when  it 
was  removed  to  Washington. 

The  climate  of  Pennsylvania,  though  healthy  and  temperate,  is  variable 
and  inconstant.  The  extremes  of  temperature  are  from  20"^  below  zero 
of  Fahrenheit  to  98^  above  ;  but  such  extremes  are  of  short  continuance. 
The  mean  temperature  is  from  44o  to  52° 

The  surface  of  Pennsylvania  is  greatly  diversified.  There  are  few- 
large  tracts  of  level  land  in  the  state.  The  south-eastern  counties,  though 
they  can  scarcely  be  denominated  hilly,  have  an  undulating  and  variable 
surface.  South  mountain  extends  from  the  Delaware  below  Easton  in  a 
south-west  direction  through  the  state,  to  the  borders  of  Maryland  in 
Adams  county.  Next  to  this,  Kittatiny,  or  Blue  mountain,  extends  from 
the  Delaware  Water-Gap,  and  proceeds  south-west  with  a  regular  eleva- 
tion of  from  seven  hundred  to  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
streams  at  its  base,  and  terminates  at  Parnell's  Knob,  an  elevated  and. 
picturesque  summit  in  Franklin  county,  near  the  south  border  of  the 
state.  North  of  the  Blue  mountain,  and  between  the  Lehigh  and  Sus- 
quehanna, is  a  wild  mountainous  region,  where  the  anthracite  coal  is 
found.  This  region  is  interspersed  with  high  and  barren  ridges  in  close 
succession,  interlocking  with  each  other,  and  enclosing  long  and  pointed 
valleys  between  them.  The  Second  and  Sharp  mountains  are  between 
Kiitatiny  and  the  first  coal  basin.  Next  comes  Broad  mountain,  an  irreg- 
kilar  elevation,  with  a  broad  and  barren  table-land  at  its  top.  East  of  the 
Susquehanna  are  several  ridges  with  v^arious  names.  The  valley  of 
Wyoming  is  enclosed  by  a  chain  of  lofty  mountains,  known  by  many 
local  names.  Between  Kittatiny,  or  Blue  mountain,  and  the  Alleghany, 
is  what  has  been  called  tlie  Appalachian  chain,  which  consists  of  high 


I 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  617 

and  nearly  parallel  ridges,  sometimes  approachin"'  near  to  each  other, 
and  at  other  times  with  valleys  between  them  of  twenty  miles  in  breadth, 
frequently  divided  by  smaller  rido:es.  The  elevated  range,  called  the 
great  Alleghany,  extends  nearly  across  the  whole  state,  presenting  on  its 
south-eastern  side  a  steep  ascent,  but  extending  north  and  west  with  a 
gentle  descent,  and  consists  of  an  elevated  and  undulating  table-land. 
Beyond  the  Alleghany  are  Laurel  hill  and  Chestnut  ridge,  which  are  high 
ridges  running  parallel  with  the  Alleghany  ridge. 

JNIost  of  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains  is  a  hilly  couu 
try,  with  many  irregular  and  abrupt  elevations,  not  disposed  in  chains. 
The  soil  of  the  state  is  generally  good,  and  much  of  it  is  of  a  superior 
quality;  the  richest  tract  is  on  the  south-east,  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
Susquehanna  river.  This  part  of  the  state  has  been  long  settled,  and  is 
under  excellent  cultivation.  In  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains  there  is  much  fertile  land.  For  some  distance  from  the  moun- 
tain, the  country  is  hilly  and  rough.  The  more  level  tracts,  particularly 
along  the  streams,  are  highly  fertile.  Between  the  Alleghany  river  and 
lake  Erie,  and  the  western  border  of  the  state,  the  soil  is  excellent.  By 
far  the  most  important  production  of  the  state  is  wheat,  and  next  in  value 
to  that  is  Incfian  corn.  Rye,  oats,  barley,  buckwheat,  hemp  and  flax,  are 
also  extensively  cultivated.  Apples,  cherries,  and  peaches  are  abundant, 
and  much  cider  is  made.  Although  the  state,  as  a  whole,  is  better  adapt- 
ed to  grain  than  to  grazing,  yet  in  many  parts  there  are  large  dairies ; 
and  fine  horses  and  cattle  are  raised. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  Pennsylvania  is  very  great,  consisting  of  coal, 
iron,  and  salt,  which  are  abundant.  The  immense  coal  regions  form  the 
most  interesting  feature  of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  state.  Bitumi- 
nous coal  of  an  excellent  quality,  and  inexhaustible  in  quantity,  is  almost 
everywhere  found  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  and  in  the  south 
part  of  the  state,  to  the  east  of  them.  In  Pittsburgh  and  the  vicinity,  it 
is  extensively  used  for  manufacturing  purposes.  In  this  region  salt 
springs  occur,  which  afford  a  very  strong  brine.  The  anthracite  coal  re- 
gion, with  some  few  exceptions,  is  bounded  on  the  north-west  by  the 
north  branch  of  Susquehanna  river,  extending  in  a  north-east  direction 
for  over  sixty  miles,  and  divided  into  the  southern,  middle,  and  northern 
coal-fields.  These  three  great  deposites  of  anthracite  coal  have  been 
calculated  to  contain  975  square  miles,  or  624,000  acres,  in  some  places 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  deep;  and  as  each  cubic  yard  in  the  ground  is  calcu- 
lated to  yield  a  ton  of  coal,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  tlie  quantity  must 
be  immensely  great.  The  bituminous  coal  region  of  Pennsylvania  has 
been  estimated  at  21,000  square  miles,  or  13,440,000  acres,  over  which  it 
is  scattered. 

The  Delaware  river  washes  the  eastern  border  of  the  state,  and  is  nav- 
igable for  ships  of  the  line  to  Philadelphia.  The  Lehigh,  after  a  course 
of  seventy-five  miles,  enters  it  at  Easton.  The  Schuylkill  is  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  long,  and  unites  with  the  Delaware  six  miles 
below  Philadelphia.  The  Susquehanna  river  rises  in  the  state  of  New- 
York,  and  flows  south  through  this  state,  and  enters  Chesapeake  bay  in 
Maryland.  It  is  much  obstructed  by  rapids  and- falls,  but  furnishes  a  de- 
scending navigation  for  boats  and  rafts,  in  lime  of  high  water.  The  Ju- 
niata rises  among  the  Alleghany  mountains,  and,  after  a  course  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  miles,  enters  the  Susquehanna  eleven  miles  above 
Harrisburgh.  The  Alleghany  river,  four  hundred  miles  long,  from  the 
north-west,  and  the  Monongahela,  three  hundred  miles  long,  from  the 
south,  unite  at  Pittsburgh  to  form  the  Ohio  river,  which  latter  flows  a 
short  distance  in  this  state.  The  Youghiogheny  is  a  small  river  which 
enters  the  Monongahela  on  the  east  side. 
Philadelphia,  between  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill  rivers,  and  Pitts- 


0i8  THE  TttEASUttY  OF  HISTORY 

burgh,  at  the  junction  of  the  Monongah  'a  and  Alleghany  rivers,  are  the 
most  commercial  places  in  the  slate.  The  other  principal  towns  are 
Lancaster,  Reading,  Harrisburg,  Easton  York,  Carlisle,  Alleghany,  and 
Erie. 

The  governor  is  chosen  by  the  people  for  three  years,  but  cannot  hold 
the  office  more  than  six  years  in  nine.  He  must  be  thirty  years  of  age, 
and  have  resided  in  the  state  for  seven  years.  The  senate  consists  of 
thirty-three  members,  elected  by  the  people  for  three  years,  one  third 
being  chosen  annually.  A  member  must  be  twenty-five  years  of  age, 
and  have  resided  four  years  in  the  state,  and  the  last  year  in  the  district 
for  vvhicii  he  is  chosen.  All  judicial  offices  are  appointed  by  the  gover- 
nor, with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate.  The  judges  of  the  su- 
preme court  hold  their  offices  for  fifteen  years.  The  presiding  judges  of 
the  court  of  common  pleas  hold  their  offices  for  ten  years.  The  asso- 
ciate judges  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  hold  their  offices  for  five 
years.  The  secretary  of  state  is  appointed  by  the  governor,  and  holds 
office  during  his  pleasure.  The  treasurer  is  elected  annually,  by  the 
joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature.  Every  white  person  of  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  has  resided  in  the  state  for  one  year  next 
preceding  an  election,  and  ten  days  in  the  district  where  he  offers  his 
vote,  and  has  paid  a  state  or  county  tax,  enjoys  the  right  of  suffrage. 

The  legislature  meets  annually  at  Harrisburg  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
January. 

By  a  splendid  course  of  internal  improvements,  Pennsylvania  has 
greatly  extended  and  facilitated  her  trade,  but  has  contracted  the  largest 
debt  of  any  state  in  the  Union,  which  she  is  abundantly  able  to  discharge, 
but  can  only  do  it  by  a  moderate  taxation. 


MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  Plymouth  company,  soon  after  its  incorporation,  in  1606,  sent  out 
a  ship  to  make  discoveries  within  the  limits  of  its  grant;  this  ship  was 
taken  by  the  Spaniards.  In  1607  they  sent  out  another  vessel,  with  one 
hundred  persons,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  colony  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Kennebec  river,  in  Maine.  Discouraged  by  the  dreary  appearance 
of  the  country,  fifty-five  returned  in  the  ship  that  brought  them  over;  the 
remainder  suffered  so  much  during  the  winter  from  hunger  and  cold,  that 
they  all  returned  the  next  year  to  England  in  a  vessel  that  came  to  bring 
them  provisions.  The  company,  disappointed  and  disheartened,  for  sev- 
eral years  made  no  further  attempts  to  effect  a  settlement.  In  1614, 
Capt.  John  Smith,  in  the  service  of  the  Plymouth  company,  explored  the 
coast  from  Penobscot  river  to  Cape  Cod.  He  drew  a  map  of  his  discov- 
eries, and  on  his  return  presented  it  to  Prince  Charles,  who  was  so  much 
pleased  with  Smith's  glowing  description  of  the  country,  that  he  gave  it 
the  name  of  New-England.  In  1615  Smith  attempted  to  plant  a  colony 
on  this  part  of  the  coast,  but  was  unsuccessful,  and  all  subsequent  at- 
tempts to  form  a  settlement  failed,  until  the  arduous  business  was  under- 
taken by  men  who  were  influenced  by  higher  motives  than  the  love  of 
gain  or  of  perilous  adventure. 

The  first  settlers  of  New-England  were  called  Puritans,  in  derision  of 
their  peculiar  opinions  in  matters  of  religion.  To  escape  from  persecu- 
tion they  left  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  after  a  long  and  stormy  voyage 
arrived  at  Cape  Cod,  Nov.  9th,  1620.  After  exploring  the  country  for 
several  weeks,  they  fixed  upon  a  spot  which  they  called  Plymouth,  and 
there  commenced  on  the  22d  of  December,  1620,  the  first  permanent  set- 
tlement in  New-England.     Feeling  the  need  of  same  form  of  civil  gov- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  619 

ernrnent  among  themselves,  forty-one  of  their  number,  before  mey  land- 
ed, solemnly  adopted  a  constitution,  and  elected  John  Carver  first  gover- 
nor of  the  colony.  Miles  Standish  was  soon  after  appointed  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  military.  At  first  the  colony  was  not  molested  by  the 
Indians ;  Massasoit,  the  great  sachem  or  chief  of  the  country,  was  in- 
duced, after  much  hesitation,  to  enter  the  village,  and  after  eating  and 
drinking  with  the  governor,  made  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  the  English, 
which  was  faithfully  observed  for  more  than  fifty  years. 

The  long  voyage  of  the  colonists,  the  severity  of  the  winter,  and  their 
numerous  privations,  brought  disease  and  death  among  them,  which  car- 
ried off  nearly  half  of  their  number  before  the  return  of  spring.  But 
the  spirit  of  persecution  in  England  induced  many  others  to  leave  their 
homes  and  join  the  infant  colony.  In  the  year  1628,  John  Endicott,  with 
about  three  hundred  others,  were  sent  over  to  prepare  the  way  for  an- 
other colony  ;  they  began  a  settlement  which  they  called  Salem ;  this 
colony  received  the  name  of  Massachusetts,  so  called  from  an  Indian 
tribe  of  this  name,  in  that  vicinity.  The  next  year  their  colony  was  in- 
corporated under  the  title  of  the  "  Governor  and  Company  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  in  New-England."  This  circumstance  greatly  increased 
the  spirit  of  emigration.  In  1630,  about  fifteen  hundred  people  arrived  at 
the  colonies;  among  them  came  Gov.  VVinthrop,  with  other  officers,  and 
many  gentlemen  of  wealth  and  distinction,  who  brought  over  the  charter 
of  the  colony ;  they  founded  the  town  of  Boston.  Among  the  towns 
earliest  settled  in  this  vicinity,  were  Charlestown,  Dorchester,  Water- 
town,  Roxbury,  Medford  and  Cambridge.  Boston  soon  became  the 
chief  town  in  the  colony,  and  the  first  general  court  of  Massachusetts 
was  held  there,  on  the  19th  of  October,  1630.  The  settlers  now  endured 
great  hardships  from  hunger  and  cold,  and  great  numbers  died  the  first 
winter;  they  had  few  or  no  accommodations,  and  their  place  of  worship 
was  under  a  large  tree.  For  several  years  following  the  colony  rapidly 
increased,  and  the  settlements  were  greatly  multiplied.  The  Massachu- 
setts colonists,  in  wealth  and  education,  were  superior  to  the  settlers  of 
Plymouth ;  in  other  respects  they  were  similar.  The  colonists  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, according  to  their  charter,  were  to  assemble  four  times  a  yea.r 
for  the  election  of  officers  and  the  enactment  of  laws ;  but  in  1631,  it 
being  inconvenient  for  them  all  to  assemble,  it  was  agreed  by  general 
consent,  that  the  power  of  making  laws  should  be  transferred  to  a  rep- 
resentative body,  composed  of  delegates  sent  from  each  of  the  planta- 
tions. In  the  same  year  Roger  Williams,  the  minister  of  Salem,  having 
advanced  opinions  which  gave  offence,  was  banished  from  the  colony ; 
and  in  1636  he  founded  the  town  of  Providence,  in  Rhode  Island. 

In  1635  a  large  number  of  emigrants  arrived  in  Massachusetts,  among 
whom  was  Henry  Vane.  By  his  engaging  deportment  he  won  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  and  the  year  following  was  made  governor  of  the  colony ; 
but  his  popularity  was  of  short  continuance.  About  this  time  Ann 
Hutchinson,  a  woman  of  considerable  talent,  but  of  more  enthusiasm, 
inculcated  opinions  which  involved  the  whole  colony  in  contentions ;  she 
soon  gained  great  influence,  and  was  supported  by  Mr.  Cotton  of  Boston, 
Governor  Vane,  and  others  of  the  first  respectability ;  but  at  ihe  next 
election  Winthrop  instead  of  Vane  was  chosen  governor;  Vane  benig 
disappointed  returned  to  England,  and  afterwards  became  distmguished 
in  the  civil  wars  of  that  country. 

The  settlements  in  Massachusetts  were  now  so  highly  esteemed  m 
England,  that  many  distinguished  persons,  desiring  to  enjoy  a  greater 
degree  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  determined  to  leave  their  native 
shores;  among  them  was  Oliver  Cromwell,  who,  when  about  to  sail, 
was  expressly  detained  by  order  of  Charles  I.  The  Indians,  now  feeling 
that  the  whites  or  themselves  must  soon  be  sxterminated,  began  to  show 


(350  THE  TREASURY  OF   IILSTORY. 

their  hostilily ;  at  this  time  Ihn  Pcquots  and  the  Narraganselts,  two  pow- 
erful and  warlike  tribes,  were  living  within  the  limits  of  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  ;  between  these  two  trihes  there  existed  the  greatest  en- 
mity ;  the  Pequots  proposed  that  all  animosities  should  now  be  laid  aside 
and  their  fuices  united  against  the  whites ;  but  the  Narragansetts,  in- 
stead of  agreeing  to  this  proposal,  made  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  the 
English,  and  heartily  joined  with  them  in  a  war  against  the  Pequot  tribe. 
In  iG37,  the  colonies  of  Massaclmsetts,  Plymouth,  and  Connecticut,  sen- 
sible of  their  danger,  combined  their  forces  for  the  utter  extermination  ol 
these  savage  enemies.  Captain  Mason,  with  about  ninety  whites  and 
three  hundred  friendly  Indians,  was  sent  out  against  them.  He  attacked 
one  of  their  largest  villages,  and  after  a  severe  contest,  took  their  fort, 
set  fire  to  their  wigwams,  surrounded  the  town,  and  shot  many  of  the 
Indians  in  their  attempts  to  escape.  Of  the  Indians  about  five  hundred 
were  killed,  but  only  two  of  the  English.  Soon  after,  a  decisive  battle 
was  fought  in  a  swamp  near  New-Haven,  where  the  whole  tribe  had  as- 
sembled. The  swamp  was  surrounded  by  the  whites,  who,  after  a  hot 
battle,  gained  a  complete  victory.  Many  of  the  Pequots  were  killed, 
many  were  taken  prisoners,  and  the  remainder  of  the  tribe  fled  westward 
and  joined  the  Mohawks.  This  battle  terminated  the  war;  the  English 
were  not  again  molested  by  the  Indians  for  nearly  forty  years. 

It  was  now  ten  years  since  the  first  settlement  of  Salem.  About 
twenty-one  thousand  persons  had  already  arrived  in  Massachusetts.  But 
a  change  had  taken  place  in  England  ;  the  arm  of  persecution  was  bro- 
ken ;  the  puritans  had  gained  the  ascendancy,  and  many,  leaving  the  col- 
onies, returned  to  England.  Notwithstanding  this  check  to  the  spirit  of 
emigration,  the  colonies  continued  to  increase  with  amazing  rapidity  in 
wealth  and  importance.  In  1633  Harvard  University  was  founded  at 
Cambridge,  and  the  next  year  the  first  printing  press  in  America  was 
there  established.  The  first  things  printed  were  the  Freeman's  Oath,  an 
almanac,  and  a  new  version  of  the  Psalms.  The  means  of  mental  and 
moral  improvement  were  already  considered  of  the  first  importance. 

In  1643,  the  colonies  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and 
New-Haven,  joined  in  a  confederacy  for  mutual  advice  and  protection 
they  were  leagued  under  the  title  of  "  The  United  Colonies  of  New- 
England."  Commissioners  met  twice  a  year  alternately  at  Hartford. 
New  Haven,  Plymouth  and  Boston,  to  provide  for  the  interest  of  the  con- 
federated colonies ;  they  were  thus  united  for  more  than  forty  years. 
Rhode  Island  desired  to  join  the  confederacy,  but  Plymouth  would  not 
give  her  consent.  In  1641  the  people  of  New-Hampshire  placed  them- 
selves under  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  1652  the  province 
of  Maine  also  came  under  her  protection.  This  province  was  first  granted 
to  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges,  in  1634  ;  he  established  a  government  over  it, 
which  in  1649  had  lost  its  authority,  and  as  Massachusetts  claimed  the 
province,  as  being  comprised  under  her  charter,  the  inhabitants  submit- 
ted to  her  jurisdiction. 

We  have  seen  that  persecution  was  the  grand  fault  of  that  age.  The 
puritans  themselves  had  been  driven  from  home  on  account  of  their  re- 
ligious peculiarities ;  yet  we  soon  find  them  cruelly  persecuting  others 
who  differed  from  them  in  matters  of  religion.  About  the  year  16-50, 
three  Baptists  came  into  Massachusetts  from  Rhode  Island,  and  having 
assembled  one  sabbath  morning  to  worship,  they  were  taken  by  the  pub- 
lic officers  and  carried  to  the  congregational  church,  and  there  kept  till 
the  close  of  the  service  :  soon  after  this  they  were  tried  and  sentenced  to 
pay  a  heavy  fine  or  be  publicly  whipped.  Mr.  Holmes,  one  of  the 
three,  refusing  to  pay  the  fine,  was  punished  according  to  the  sentence; 
the  friends  of  one  paid  his  fine,  and  the  other  was  released.  In  1656  a 
number  of  Quakers  arrived  in  Massachuaetts;  their  sentiments  not  agree 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  651 

mg  with  those  of  the  puritans,  excited  a  spirit  of  perse'iution,  and  a  law 
was  passed  banishing  all  Quakers  from  the  colony,  and  imposing-  the  pen- 
alty of  death  upon  any  who  should  return  after  banishment.  Four  per- 
sons who  had  been  banished,  returned,  and  were  condemned  and  exe- 
cuted. They  died  in  triumph,  rejoicing;  in  the  opportunity  they  had  of 
evincing  the  sincerity  of  their  faith.  These  cruel  measures  excited  the 
pity  of  the  people,  and  led  some  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  Quakers,  and 
finally  to  embrace  their  sentiments.  The  puritans  at  length  discovered 
their  error  and  repealed  their  cruel  laws;  in  that  age  of  bigotry  the 
wisest  of  men  had  not  discovered,  that  all  men  have  a  right  to  ivorship 
God  in  whatever  manner  they  please. 

The  government  of  England  now  began  to  look  with  jealousy  upon  the 
growing  spirit  of  republicanism  in  the  colonies.  In  1663  laws  were 
passed  which  confined  all  the  trade  of  commerce  between  Europe  and 
the  colonies  to  English  vessels.  Against  these  restrictions  the  colonists 
made  frequent  complaints,  but  without  effect.  In  1064  the  king  sent  over 
four  commissioners  to  examine  into  the  state  of  the  colonies.  They  ex- 
ercised their  authority  in  Plymouth  and  Rhode  Island,  but  their  decisions 
were  little  regarded  ;  in  Massachusetts  their  authority  was  promptly  re- 
jected ;  in  New-Hampshire  they  attempted  to  excite  the  people  against 
the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  but  their  counsel  was  not  regarded; 
they  also  made  the  same  attempts  in  Maine ;  in  Connecticut  the  commis- 
sioners were  received  with  respect  and  compliance,  and  for  these  marks 
of  her  loyalty  she  afterwards  received  the  approbation  of  the  British 
government.  The  laws  restricting  navigation,  and  the  authority  assumed 
by  these  commissioners  from  the  king,  may  be  considered  as  the  com- 
mencement of  those  aggressions  upon  the  rights  of  the  colonists  which 
led  to  the  revolution. 

The  whites  now  began  to  perceive  the  designs  of  the  Indians.  Their 
hostility  was  daily  manifested  ;  and  in  June,  1G75,  they  attacked  the 
town  of  Swanzey,  killed  many  of  its  inhabitants,  and  plundered  and  set 
fire  to  their  houses.  The  troops  of  the  colony  soon  appeared ;  but  the 
enemy  had  fled,  setting  fire  to  every  building  they  passed,  butchering  the 
whites  and  fixing  their  heads  upon  poles  by  the  side  of  the  road.  The 
troops  pursued  but  could  not  overtake  them.  The  whole  country  wa.s 
now  roused  to  arms.  Philip,  sachem  of  the  Wampanoags,  perceiving 
the  augmented  forces  of  the  enemy,  left  his  post  at  Mount  Hope  and 
stationed  his  troops  at  Pocasset,  now  called  Tiverton ;  here  the  English 
attacked  him,  but  were  defeated  with  the  loss  of  sixteen  men.  The  Nar- 
ragansetts  being  now  leagued  with  Philip,  the  English  marched  directly 
into  their  country,  and  forced  them  into  a  treaty  of  perpetual  peace ;  this 
treaty,  however,  was  violated  as  soon  as  the  whites  retired.  The  colo- 
nists now  laboured  under  every  possible  disadvantage ;  their  settlements 
were  surrounded  with  thick  forests ;  Indians  were  living  promiscuously 
among  them,  professing  to  be  friendly  but  proving  to  be  enemies ;  they 
were  exposed  at  every  turn  to  be  shot  by  their  foes.  The  commissioners 
perceiving  that  the  Indians  had  conspired  to  exterminate  the  whites,  de- 
clared war  to  be  just  and  necessary,  and  ordered  that  two  thousand  men 
should  be  raised  to  oppose  the  enemy.  The  Narragansetts  being  the 
nearest  and  most  dangerous  tribe,  the  colonists,  under  the  command  of 
Mr.  VVinslow,  governor  of  Plymouth,  marched  into  their  country  and 
pursued  ihem  through  a  deep  snow  to  their  stronghold  in  the  midst  of  a 
thick  swamp.  Their  fortress  was  built  on  an  island,  and  surrounded  by 
a  liiick  brush-fence  a  rod  wide :  it  had  but  one  narrow  entrance,  and  that 
well  defended.  The  whites  determined  to  force  this  passage  ;  the  In- 
dians fought  bravely;  but  after  a  bloody  contest  the  whites  entered,  set 
fire  to  the  fort,  consuming  about  six  hundred  wigwams,  with  their  old  men, 
women  and  children.     About  two  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  colonists 


^52  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

were  killed  or  wounded,  vvhile  the  loss  of  the  Indians  was  at  least  one 
thousand  slain.  During-  the  winter  the  Indians  destroyed  many  towns 
and  massacred  great  numbers  of  the  defenceless  whites.  In  the  spring 
the  people  of  Connecticut  successfully  invaded  the  country  of  the  Nar- 
ragansets,  took  their  chief  sachem,  and  delivered  him  up  to  the  Mohe- 
gans,  who,  being  friendly  to  the  whites,  put  him  to  death.  Philip  had 
now  collected  a  band  of  his  scattered  forces,  and  returned  to  his  old 
station  at  Mount  Hope.  About  the  1st  of  August,  Capt.  Church  attacked 
him,  took  his  wife  and  children  prisoners,  and  killed  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty  of  his  men.  On  this  occasion  Philip  wept  bitterly  for  the 
loss  of  his  family,  and  exhibited  the  noblest  feelings  of  human  nature. 
One  of  his  own  men  proposed  to  him  to  submit  to  the  whites ;  Philip  in- 
stantly shot  him  dead  on  the  spot.  A  brother  of  this  Indian,  enraged  at 
Philip,  deserted  his  ranks  and  joined  the  colonists;  this  man,  in  a  battle 
shortly  after,  shot  Philip  in  revenge  for  his  brother's  death,  and  thus  fell 
this  great  Indian  warrior.  This  event  put  an  end  to  the  war,  and  the  In- 
dians now  fled  or  sued  for  peace. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  this  war  the  heirs  of  Gorges  urged  against 
Massachusetts  their  claim  to  the  territory  of  the  province  of  Maine  ;  to 
satisfy  these  claims  Massachusetts  paid  the  sum  of  c£12.50  In  1680 
New-Hampshire  was  separated  from  Massachusetts,  and  became  a  dis- 
tinct colony.  The  government  of  England,  dissatisfied  with  the  state 
of  affairs  in  the  colonies,  sent  over  Edward  Randolph  to  secure  the  en- 
forcement of  the  obnoxious  laws  relating  to  commerce  He  brought  a 
message  from  the  king,  desiring  the  colonial  governments  to  send  agents 
to  England,  authorized  to  act  with  full  power  in  behalf  of  the  colonies. 
The  people  of  Massachusetts  suspected  that  the  design  of  this  move- 
ment was  to  get  away  their  charter  and  bring  the  government  of  the  col- 
ony under  the  immediate  control  of  the  king.  The  agents,  therefore, 
who  were  appointed,  were  instructed,  on  no  consideration  to  deliver  up 
the  charter. 

In  1G84  the  government  of  England  declared  the  charter  of  Massachu- 
setts to  be  no  longer  valid,  and  in  1686  Sir  Edmund  Andross  was  appoint- 
ed governor  of  the  colony.  This  was  highly  displeasing  to  the  people 
of  Massachusetts ;  they  felt  that  a  tyrant  was  now  placed  over  them. 
The  governor  immediately  imposed  restraints  upon  the  press,  and  broke 
in  upon  the  religious  and  domestic  regulations  of  the  people  ;  the  titles 
of  land  given  under  the  old  charter  were  declared  void,  and  exorbitant 
prices  were  demanded  for  securing  new  ones.  These  proceedings  of  the 
government  provoked  the  people  to  madness,  and  they  were  ready  to 
seize  on  the  first  favourable  opportunity  for  redress.  In  1689  news  came 
from  England  that  William,  prince  of  Orange,  had  landed  at  Torbay,  and 
was  contendmg  for  the  crown.  The  people  of  Massachusetts,  inspired 
with  hope  of  deliverance,  at  once  flew  to  arms,  arrested  and  imprisoned 
their  oppressors  and  restored  their  former  magistrates.  The  next  arrival 
from  England  brought  word  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  gained  pos- 
session of  the  throne,  under  the  title  of  William  III.  This  intelligence 
was  received  with  great  joy  throughout  New-England. 

In  1692  William  granted  to  Massachusetts  a  new  charter,  which  ex- 
tended her  jurisdiction  over  the  provinces  of  Plymouth,  Maine,  and  Nova 
Scotia.  By  this  charter  the  king  reserved  to  himself  the  right  of  ap- 
pointing the  governor  of  the  colony.  On  the  14th  of  May,  Sir  William 
Phipps,  the  first  royal  governor,  arrived  at  Boston  with  the  new  charter, 
which  in  many  respects  was  not  so  acceptable  to  the  people  as  the  old 
one.  By  an  express  provision  the  new  charter  granted  entire  liberty  of 
conscience  to  all  excepting  Roman  Catholics. 

About  this  time  the  colonies  were  greatly  harassed  by  the  French  of 
Canada,  combined  with  the  northern  and  eastern  Indians.     A  fleet  was 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  653 

filled  out  under  the  command  of  Sir  William  Phipps,  to  proceed  against 
Quebec,  and  land  forces  were  raised  to  march  directly  to  Montreal.  These 
movements  were  unsuccessful,  and,  instead  of  relieving  the  colonists,  in- 
creased their  burden  of  debt.  In  the  midst  of  these  calamities  New- 
England  was  thrown  into  panic  and  distress  by  the  strange  delusions  of 
witchcraft.  A  few  years  before,  in  England,  persons  called  witches  were 
tried,  condemned,  and  put  to  death  in  g^reat  numbers.  Many  respectable 
men  had  declared  their  belief  that  some  persons  were  actually  possessed 
with  evil  spirits;  and  the  people  of  New-England,  therefore,  were  pre- 
pared to  receive  with  the  utmost  credulity  the  absurdities  of  this  imagi- 
nary witchcraft.  The  infatuation  had  extended  to  all  classes  in  society. 
Twenty  persons  had  been  put  to  death,  and  more  than  a  hundred  were  in 
prison  awaiting  trial,  when  the  magistrates,  finding  that  their  own  families 
were  exposed  to  the  same  accusations,  began  to  suspect  that  it  was  all  a 
delusion.     Those  in  prison  were  released,  and  the  witches  soon  fled. 

The  English  settlements  were  still  harassed  by  the  French  and  Indians. 
Peace  followed  for  a  few  years,  but  war  breaking  out  anew  between  Eng- 
land and  France,  hostilities  at  once  commenced  between  their  colonies. 
In  February,  1704,  the  town  of  Deerfield,  Mass.,  was  attacked  in  the 
night  by  the  Indians  and  French ;  the  town  was  set  on  fire,  and  the  inhab- 
itants killed  or  carried  prisoners  to  Canada.  In  1711  a  large  fleet,  under 
the  command  of  Admiral  Walker,  left  England  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 
duing Canada.  Having  entered  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  disregarding 
the  advice  of  the  American  pilots,  he  was  driven  upon  the  rocks  and 
many  of  his  ships  dashed  to  pieces.  This  calamity  defeated  the  object 
of  the  expedition  ;  the  Indians  continued  their  depredations  upon  the  col- 
onies till  1713,  when  peace  was  concluded  between  England  and  France. 
In  1716  Samuel  Shute  was  appointed  governor  of  the  colony;  during  his 
administration  much  contention  prevailed  between  him  and  the  house  of 
representatives,  respecting  the  governor's  salary.  The  house  contended 
for  the  right  of  rewarding  him  according  to  his  services,  while  the  king 
had  ordered  the  governor  to  establish  a  permanent  salary.  This  contest 
continued  for  many  years,  and  was  finally  settled  by  a  vote  of  the  house 
of  representatives,  to  grant  a  definite  sum  for  the  pay  of  the  governor. 

In  1744  war  was  again  declared  between  England  and  France.  During 
the  time  of  peace  the  French  had  strongly  fortified  the  port  of  Louis- 
burgh  on  Cape  Breton ;  this  port  gave  French  privateers  every  advantage 
for  ruining  the  important  fisheries  on  that  coast,  and  for  breaking  up  the 
trade  of  the  colonies.  A  plan  was  concieved  by  one  of  the  colonists  for 
taking  this  port,  and  communicated  to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts. 
Having  imposed  an  oath  of  secrecy  upon  the  members  of  the  general 
court,  the  governor  made  known  the  plan  to  them ;  at  first  the  enterprise 
was  considered  as  altogether  hazardous  and  impracticable, but  when  made 
known  to  the  people,  all  hands  and  hearts  were  ready  for  the  undertaking. 

An  army  of  more  than  four  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  Wil- 
liam Pepperell,  was  soon  landed  on  the  island,  while  a  fleet  under  Com- 
modore Warren  blockaded  the  harbour;  a  detachment  marched  round  to 
the  north-east  part  of  the  harbour  in  the  night,  and  set  fire  to  the  build- 
ings containing  naval  stores,  tar,  pitch,  wine,  brandy  &c. ;  the  flames  and 
smoke  pouring  into  the  grand  battery  so  terrified  the  French,  that  they 
spiked  their  guns  and  fled  to  the  city.  The  next  morning  the  New-Eng- 
land troops  took  possession  of  the  battery ;  they  spent  fourteen  nights  up 
to  their  knees  in  mud  and  water,  drawing  their  cannon  through  a  marsh, 
from  the  landing  to  the  camp,  and  they  then  turned  them  with  great  efTecl 
upon  the  city.  The  fleet  in  the  harbour  captured  a  French  64  gun  ship, 
laden  with  stores,  and  five  hundred  and  sixty  men  for  the  relief  of  the 
garrison.  This  threw  the  besieged  into  great  distress,  and  with  other  ad- 
verse events,  led  the  French  on  the  16th  of  June  to  surrender  the  city 


054  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

This  expedition  displayed  the  spirit  of  New-England,  and  excited  the 
jealousy  of  Great  Britain.  The  next  summer  a  large  French  fleet  of 
forty  ships  appeared  on  the  coast,  which  spread  great  alarm  through  the 
colonies;  but  the  French,  after  many  serious  disasters,  which  destroyed 
nearly  half  their  fleet,  returned  to  France.  In  1748  peace  was  concluded, 
and  Cape  Breton  was  restored  to  the  French. 

In  no  state  of  the  Union  has  agriculture  been  more  improved  than  in 
Massachusetts;  she  is  also  extensively  engaged  in  the  fisheries.  In  it3 
shipping  Massachusetts  is  the  second  state  in  the  Union,  being  inferior 
only  to  New-York.  The  face  of  the  country  is  diversified;  the  south- 
eastern part  is  mostly  level ;  through  Berkshire  county  pass  two  moun- 
tain ranges,  the  Taghkannic  on  the  western  border  of  the  state,  and  be- 
tween the  Housatonic  and  Connecticut  rivers  the  Green  mountain  range, 
here  called  Hoosic  mountains.  Mount  Holyoke,  near  Northampton,  is 
more  than  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  Wachuseit 
mountain  in  Princeton  is  an  isolated  summit,  from  two  to  three  thousand 
feet  high;  Saddle  mountain,  in  the  Taghkannic  range,  in  the  north-west 
corner  of  the  state,  is  four  thousand  feet  high,  and  Mount  Washington, 
in  the  same  range,  in  the  south-western  part  of  the  state,  is  about  three 
thousand  feet  high. 

The  government  of  Massachusetts  consists  of  a  governor,  lieutenant- 
governor,  senate,  and  house  of  representatives  ;  they  are  elected  annu- 
ally by  the  people;  the  governor  must  have  lesided  seven  years  in  the 
state,  and  be  worth  a  freehold  of  1000  pounds,  and  declare  his  belief  in 
the  Christian  religion ;  the  lieutenant-governor  must  possess  the  same 
qualification.  A  council  of  nine  persons  besides  the  lieutenant-governor 
are  elected  annually  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the  legislature,  and  not  more 
than  two  can  be  chosen  in  one  congressional  district ;  they  rank  next  to 
the  lieutenant-governor.  The  senate  contains  forty  members,  who  must 
possess  a  freehold  of  300  pounds,  and  a  personal  estate  of  600  pounds, 
and  must  have  resided  in  the  state  for  five  years  immediately  preceding 
the  election.  The  house  of  representatives  contains  three  hundred  and 
fifty-six  members,  who  must  possess  a  freehold  of  100  pounds  in  the 
town  for  which  he  is  chosen,  or  rateable  estate  to  the  value  of  250  pounds. 
The  judges  and  various  other  officers,  as  attorney  general,  &:c.,  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council ;  the 
judges  hold  their  office  during  good  behaviour;  the  secretary,  treasurer, 
and  receiver-general  are  appointed  annually,  by  the  joint  ballot  of  both 
houses  of  the  legi.slature.  Every  male  citizen  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age  (excepting  paupers  and  persons  under  guardianship),  who  has  re- 
sided in  the  state  one  year,  and  in  the  town  or  district  in  which  he  may 
claim  to  vote  six  months  next  preceding  an  election,  and  shall  have  paid 
a  tax  in  the  commonwealth  within  two  years,  or  shall  have  been  ex 
empted  from  taxation,  enjoys  the  right  of  suff"rage. 


NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  in  New-Hampshire  was  made  by  ine 
English  in  1623.  John  Mason  and  Ferdinand  Gorges  obtained  from  the 
New-England  company  a  grant  of  this  territory,  and  sent  over  a  few 
pioneers,  who  made  new  settlements  on  the  west  side  of  the  Piscataqua 
river— one  near  the  mouth,  called  Little  Harbour,  the  other  further  up  ihe 
river,  at  Cocheco,  now  called  Dover.  Portsmouth  was  settled  in  1631. 
and  in  1638  a  settlement  was  made  at  Exeter,  by  the  Rev.  John  Wheel- 
wright, who  had  before  purchased  the  land  of  the  Indians.  Soon  after 
the  settlement  of  Exeter  the   inhabitants  of  that  town  organised  a  gov 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  655 

ornment  for  themselves.  For  several  years  the  government  of  each  town 
was  distinct  and  independent ;  but  finding  that  they  were  very  much  ex- 
posed to  the  ravages  of  the  Indians,  they  placed  themselves,  in  1641,  un- 
der the  protection  of  Massachusetts.  During  the  wars  with  Philip  these 
feeble  settlements  suffered  extremely  from  the  barbarous  assaults  of  the 
enemy. 

In  1679  New-Hampshire  was  separated  from  Massachusetts,  and  made 
a  distinct  province.  Its  government  consisted  of  a  president  and  coun- 
cil, appointed  by  the  king,  and  a  house  of  representatives,  chosen  by  the 
people.  The  assembly  "held  its  first  session  at  Portsmouth,  in  1680,  when 
a  law  was  passed,  declaring  that  "no  act,  imposition,  law,  or  ordinance, 
should  be  imposed  upon  the  nihabitants,  but  such  as  should  be  made  by 
the  assembly,  and  approved  by  the  president  and  council."  About  this 
time  a  contest  commenced  which  continued  with  more  or  less  severity 
for  many  j^ears.  Robert  Mason  arrived  at  Portsmouth  and  laid  claim  to 
a  large  part  of  the  territory ;  his  claims  were  rejected,  and  returning  to 
England,  he  induced  the  king  to  commission  Edward  Cranfield  as  the 
commander-in-chief  of  New-Hampshire;  on  his  arrival  he  also  met  with 
opposition;  he  rendered  himself  contemptible  and  was  obliged  to  leave 
tlie  country.  Mr.  Waldron,  a  principal  man  in  the  colony,  was  very  ac- 
tive in  opposing  the  claims  of  Mason  and  Cranfield.  In  1689  the  people 
sent  a  petition  to  the  king,  praying  that  they  might  again  be  annexed  to 
Massachusetts ;  the  petition  was  refused,  and  the  petitioners  were  obliged 
to  submit  to  a  separate  government.  Samuel  Allen,  who  had  purchased 
Mason's  claim,  was  made  governor  of  the  colony ;  he  at  once  renewed 
the  old  contests  respecting  lands;  suits  were  laid  against  some  of  the 
principal  landholders,  but  the  court  usually  gave  a  decision  in  their  fa- 
vour. 

Major  Waldron  and  others,  of  Dover,  had  by  repeated  acts  of  injustice 
roused  the  indignation  of  the  Indians,  who  concerted  a  shrewd  scheme 
for  destroying  the  town.  In  consequence  of  the  dangers  to  which  they 
were  exposed,  the  inhabitants  had  fortified  several  houses  to  which  they 
repaired  every  night  to  sleep;  the  Indians  sent  several  women,  who  were 
considered  friendly  to  the  whites,  to  seek  lodging  with  them ;  they  were 
instructed  to  throw  open  the  doors  of  these  houses  in  the  night,  and  give  , 
a  signal  to  the  Indians,  who  were  to  be  concealed  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity. The  plan  was  successful.  At  midnight  the  signal  was  given, 
and  the  savages  rushed  into  the  houses  ;  their  vengeance  was  first  di- 
rected towards  Waldron,  who,  after  bravely  defending  himself,  was  over- 
powered and  treated  with  the  greatest  barbarity.  He  was  thrown  upon 
a  table,  and  each  of  the  savages  in  turn  gashing  his  breast  with  their 
knives,  exclaimed,  •'  Thus  I  cross  out  my  account."  At  length  they  put 
an  end  to  his  sufferings  by  rolling  him  from  the  table  upon  the  point  of 
his  own  sword.  Many  houses  were  plundered  and  burned ;  other  towns 
were  attacked,  hundreds  were  killed,  and  many  carried  captive  to  Canada 
and  sold  to  the  French.  These  cruel  depredations  continued  till  1697, 
when  peace  was  again  restored.  In  1703  the  colonies  were  again  in- 
volved in  a  long  and  bloody  war.  In  1719  Londonderry  was  settled  by 
emigrants  from  Ireland.  In  1722  war  broke  out  again  with  the  French 
and  Indians  ;  During  this  war  Capt.  John  Lovewell  distinguished  him- 
self in  fighting  the  Indians ;  in  one  of  his  expeditions  he  surprised  a 
company  of  ten  Indians  who  were  asleep  round  a  fire;  the  Indians  jump- 
ing up,  one  after  another,  were  shot  on  the  spot,  except  one,  who,  at- 
tempting to  escape,  was  seized  by  Lovewell's  dog,  and  shared  the  same 
fate  with  the  others.  In  anotlier  expedition  Lovewell  and  most  of  his 
men  were  killed  by  the  Indians,  under  the  command  of  the  famous  Pau- 
gus.  In  1746  the  owners  of  Mason's  title  urged  again  their  old  claim  ; 
but  meeting  with  no  success  they  yielded,  and  settled  this  unhappy  con- 


C5G  THE  TREA3CJIIY  OF  HISTOEY. 

test  by  an  honourable  appropriation  of  their  lands.  In  their  grants  they 
provided  for  tho  liberal  support  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  for  build- 
ing cluirches,  promoting  education,  and  internal  improvements.  The 
people  of  New-Hampshire  now  enjoyed  a  good  degree  of  prosperity  and 
repose,  which  was  not  interrupted  till  the  opening  of  the  French  war. 

The  recent  geological  survey  of  this  state  by  Dr.  Jackson,  has  resulted 
in  the  discovery  of  extensive  copp>er  and  iron  mines.  A  copper  mine  in 
Coos  Co.  yields  an  ore  of  thirty-three  per  cent,  of  pure  copper.  In  dif- 
ferent parts  are  some  picturesque  lakes  and  fine  waterfalls ;  and  the 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  scenery  presented  by  its  mountains  and  lakes 
has  caused  it  to  be  denominated  "the  Switzerland  of  America."  The 
principal  mountain  peaks  are  Grand  Monadnock,  toward  the  south-wesl 
part  of  the  state,  3254  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  Sunapee  moun- 
tain, near  Sunapee  lake ;  Kearsarge  mountain,  between  Sutton  and  Sal- 
isbury, 2461  feet;  Carr's  mountain,  in  Ellsworth  ;  Moosehillock,  in  Ben- 
ton, 4636  feet  high,  and  iMount  Washington,  the  highest  peak  of  the  White 
mountains,  6428  feet  high.  The  Notch  in  the  White  mountains  is  justly 
regarded  as  a  curiosity,  being  in  some  places  not  more  than  twenty-two 
feet  wide,  with  lofty  precipices  on  both  sides,  affording  some  of  the  wild- 
est and  grandest  scenery  in  nature;  a  road  passes  through  this  notch, 
being  the  only  place  in  which  the  mountain  can  be  passed. 

The  constitution  was  formed  in  1784,  and  in  1792  was  altered  to  its 
present  form.  The  governor  is  elected  annually  by  the  people  on  the 
second  Tuesday  in  March.  He  must  have  resided  in  the  state  for  seven 
years  next  preceding  his  election,  be  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  possess 
property  to  the  amount  of  jGoOO,  one  half  of  which  must  be  a  freehold 
within  the  state.  The  council  consists  of  five  members,  chosen  by  the 
people ;  the  legislature,  consisting  of  the  senate  and  house  of  represent- 
atives, is  denominated  the  general  court  of  New-Hampshire;  the  senate 
consists  of  twelve  members,  elected  annually  by  the  people ;  the  house 
of  representatives  consists  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  members,  elected 
annually  by  the  people.  All  judicial  officers  are  nominated  and  appoint- 
ed by  the  governor  and  council,  and  hold  their  offices  during  good  beha- 
viour, but  are  removable  by  the  governor,  with  the  consent  of  the  coun- 
cil, at  the  representation  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature;  no  judicial 
oflticer  can  hold  office  after  he  is  seventy  years  of  age.  The  secretary  and 
treasurer  are  elected  by  the  joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature. 
Every  male  inhabitant  of  twenty-one  years  of  age,  or  over,  excepting 
paupers,  and  persons  excused  from  paying  taxes  at  their  own  request, 
have  the  right  of  suffrage. 


RHODE-ISLAND. 

This  is  the  smallest  state  in  territory  in  the  Union,  being  only  about 
forty-nine  miles  long,  and  twenty-nine  broad.  The  first  settlement  was 
made  in  1636  by  Roger  Williams,  who  was  banished  from  Massachusetts, 
as  before  mentioned.  He  obtained  a  tract  of  land  from  the  Indians  at  a 
place  called  Mooshausic,  and  began  to  build  a  town,  which,  in  acknowl- 
edgement of  God's  goodness  to  him,  he  called  Providence.  In  1643 
Rhode-Island  petitioned  lo  be  admitted  into  the  celebrated  Union  of  the 
New-England  colonies  ;  Plymouth  declaring  the  settlements  of  this  col- 
ony to  be  within  the  limits  of  her  territory  would  not  consent  to  the  pe- 
tition;  but  after  a  warm  discussion  between  the  commissioners,  it  was 
voted  that  Rhode  Island  should  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  the  Union,  pro- 
vided  she  would  submit  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Plymouth ;  spurning  the 
idea  of  such  submission,  she  mauitained  her  independence,  and  was  not 


THE  TttEASLTRY  OF  HISTORY.  657 

Msociated  with  the  other  colonies.  The  same  year  Roger  Williams  went 
to  England  and  obtained  a  grant  of  the  territory,  and  a  permission  for 
the  people  of  the  colony  to  organize  a  civil  government.  In  1647  dele- 
gates from  the  several  towns  met  at  Portsmouth,  adopted  a  constitution, 
and  framed  a  code  of  laws ;  the  executive  power  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  president  or  governor,  and  four  assistants. 

In  1663  King  Charles  granted  a  charter  to  Rhode-Island,  similar  in  its 
provisions  to  that  of  Connecticut.  The  legislature  passed  a  law  that 
every  Christian  sect,  except  Roman  Catholics,  should  enjoy  all  the  priv- 
ileges of  freemen ;  a  law  was  also  passed,  that  the  property  of  Quakers 
who  refused  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  colony,  should  be  seized 
by  the  public  officers ;  but  this  law  not  being  agreeable  to  the  people  was 
never  enforced.  The  charter  government  of  this  colony  was  dissolved 
by  Andross  while  he  was  governor  of  New-England,  but  was  resumed 
again  directly  after  his  imprisonment.  Rhode-Island,  on  account  of  her 
just  and  benevolent  treatment  of  the  Indians,  was  seldom  molested  by 
their  depredations. 

The  executive  power  of  the  state  is  vested  in  a  governor,  elected  an- 
nually by  the  people.  In  case  of  the  inability  of  the  governor  to  serve, 
through  death,  impeachment,  or  absence  from  the  state,  his  place  is  sup- 
plied by  the  lieutenant-governor,  elected  also  annually  by  the  people ;  or 
in  case  of  the  inability  of  both,  the  office  shall  be  filled  by  the  president 
of  the  senate.  The  senate  consists  of  the  lieutenant-governor,  and  one 
member  from  each  town  or  city  in  the  state,  and  is  presided  over  by  the 
governor,  or  in  his  absence  by  the  lieutenant-governor,  who  has  no  vote 
excepting  on  an  equal  division  of  the  members.  The  secretary  of  state 
is  also  secretary  of  the  senate,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  governor  and 
lieutenant-governor,  presides  over  the  body  until  a  president  is  ciiosen. 
The  house  of  representatives  consists  of  not  to  exceed  seventy-two  mem- 
bers. Each  town  or  city  is  entitled  to  at  least  one  member,  provided 
that  no  town  or  city  shall  elect  more  than  one-sixth  of  the  entire  num- 
ber. The  present  ratio  of  representation  is  one  member  to  every  1530 
inhabitants,  and  each  fraction  exceeding  one  half  is  entitled  to  one  rep- 
resentative. The  present  number  of  members  is  sixty-nine.  The  judi- 
cial power  of  the  state  is  vested  in  one  supreme  court,  and  such  inferior 
courts  as  the  general  assembly  may  from  time  to  time  ordain.  The 
judges  of  the  supreme  court  are  elected  by  the  general  assembly  in  grand 
committee,  and  may  be  dismissed  by  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elect 
of  each  house  separately.  Every  person  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  has  resided,  and  has  had  a  home  in 
the  state  for  one  year,  and  in  the  town  or  city  where  he  offers  his  vote 
for  six  months  next  preceding  an  election,  and  real  estate  in  said  town  or 
city  to  the  amount  of  $134,  or  renting  for  $7  above  all  incumbrances 
whatsoever,  is  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage ;  or  if  his  property  is  in 
anotiier  town  or  city  in  the  state  than  that  in  which  he  resides,  he  must 
produce  a  certificate  to  that  effect  from  the  clerk  of  the  city  or  town  in 
which  it  lies,  dated  within  ten  days  previous  to  the  election,  and  show- 
ing that  the  deed,  if  there  be  any,  has  been  recorded  for  ninety  days ;  the 
name  of  the  voter  must  have  been  legally  enrolled  for  one  year  next  pre- 
vious to  the  election  in  the  town  or  city  where  he  offers  his  vote,  and  he 
must  have  paid  a  town  or  city  tax  of  one  dollar,  and  have  been  enrolled 
in  the  militia,  and  have  performed  military  duty;  a  residence  at  any 
garrison  or  naval  station  in  the  state  does  not  give  a  legal  residence. 
This  constitution  went  into  operation  May  3d,  1843.  Rhode  Island  bore 
an  honourable  part  in  the  revolutionary  war ;  and  General  Greene,  one 
of  her  citizens,  was  inferior,  as  a  general  officer,  only  to  Washington 
42 


658  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


CONNECTICUT. 

The  territory  now  constituting  the  state  of  Connecticut,  was  granted 
by  the  Plymouth  company  in  England  to  lords  Say  and  Seal,  Brooke  and 
others,  in  1G31.  About  this  time  Mr.  Winslow,  governor  of  Plymouth, 
visited  the  country  along  the  Connecticut  river,  and  finding  the  Indians 
friendly,  and  desirous  of  trading  with  the  whites,  he  selected  a  spot  for 
a  trading-house-  The  Dutch  at  New- York,  anticipating  the  designs  of 
Winslow,  sent  a  company  to  erect  a  fort  at  Hartford,  to  prevent  the  En- 
glish from  forming  a  settlement  in  that  region.  In  1635  a  number  of 
families  from  Massachusetts  began  settlements  at  Wethersfield  and  Wind- 
sor ;  the  next  winter,  some  of  them  being  destitute  of  provisions,  re- 
turned to  their  friends  in  Massachusetts.  In  October  of  the  same  year, 
John  Winthrop  arrived  from  England,  with  orders  from  the  company  who 
now  owned  the  territory,  to  build  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  In 
the  summer  of  1635,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker  and  about  one  hundred  mem- 
bers belonging  to  his  congregation,  left  Massachusetts  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  Hartford.  In  their  long  journey  through  the  wilderness  they 
had  no  guide  but  their  compass,  no  cover  but  the  heavens,  and  their  prin- 
cipal food  was  the  milk  of  the  cows,  which  they  drove  before  them. 
The  Indians  in  Connecticut  were  very  numerous  ;  thirty  years  after  its 
settlement  there  were  twenty  Indians  to  one  white  man,  and  the  first  set- 
tlers suffered  every  kind  of  barbarity  from  these  savages.  In  1637  the 
troops  from  this  colony  distinguished  themselves  for  bravery  and  forti- 
tude in  the  war  against  the  Pequots,  an  account  of  which  has  already 
been  given  in  the  history  of  Massachusetts.  During  this  war,  the  Rev. 
John  Davenport,  Mr.  Eaton,  and  other  gentlemen  of  wealth  and  respec- 
tability from  England,  arrived  at  Boston.  In  1638  they  founded  the  col- 
ony of  New-Haven  at  Quinnipiac,  the  Indian  name  of  that  region.  The 
first  sabbath  after  their  arrival  Mr.  Davenport  preached  to  the  colony  un- 
der a  large  oak  tree  ;  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  appointed,  and  at 
the  close  of  it  they  all  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  covenant,  "  to  be 
governed  in  all  things,  both  civil  and  religious,  by  the  rules  and  principles 
of  the  Bible." 

In  1639  the  people  of  this  colony  met  in  a  large  barn  and  adopted  a 
constitution.  It  provided  that  none  but  members  of  some  church  be  per- 
mitted to  vote  or  take  any  part  in  the  government ;  that  all  voters  should 
meet  once  a  year  to  choose  the  officers  of  the  colony  ;  and  that  the  word 
of  God  should  be  their  only  rule,  as  well  in  civil  as  in  religious  affairs. 
The  same  year  the  people  of  Wethersfield  and  Windsor  assembled  at 
Hartford,  and  adopted  a  constitution  for  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  which 
in  man}'  respects  was  similar  to  that  of  New-Haven.  About  this  time 
George  Fenwick  and  others  began  a  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
which,  in  honour  of  lords  Say  and  Seal,  and  Brooke,  was  called  Say- 
brook;  for  many  years  they  enacted  their  own  laws  and  made  their  own 
regulations,  but  in  1664  this  town  became  a  part  of  the  Connecticut 
colony. 

On  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  John  Winthrop,  governor  of  Con- 
necticut, was  sent  to  England  to  obtain  from  the  king  a  royal  charter  for 
that  colony.  He  presented  to  Charles  a  ring  of  great  value,  which  his 
father,  Charles  I.,  had  given  to  Winthrop's  grandmother.  Pleased  with 
the  gift,  the  king  granted  a  charter  very  liberal  in  its  privileges,  and  which 
confirmed  all  the  provisions  of  their  constitution.  The  charter  included 
New-Haven ;  but  that  colony,  not  willing  to  give  up  its  entire  indepen- 
dence, did  not  submit  to  the  regulations  of  the  charter  until  1665,  when 
the  two  colonies  were  united.  In  1686,  James  II„  dissatisfied  with  the 
spirit  of  liberty  which  prevailed  in  the  colonies,  ordered  the  people  of 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  659 

Connecticut  to  surrender  their  charter.  Sir  Edmund  Andross,  his  agent, 
and  at  that  time  governor  of  New-England,  finding  the  people  of  that 
colony  unwilling  to  submit  to  the  king's  order,  marched  with  a  band  of 
troops  to  Hartford.  The  legislature  was  now  in  session ;  Sir  Edmund 
entered  the  court-house  and  demanded  the  charter ;  the  matter  was  de- 
bated until  evening,  when  the  charter  was  brought  forth  and  laid  on  the 
table ;  the  excitement  was  great,  and  the  house  was  crowded ;  in  the 
heat  of  the  discussion  the  candles  were  all  suddenly  extinguished,  and 
when  they  were  relighted  the  charter  was  gone ;  amid  the  darkness  and 
confusion  a  Captain  Wadsworth  had  seized  it,  and,  escaping  from  trie 
house,  concealed  it  in  the  hollow  of  an  oak  tree. 

When  James  II.  was  driven  from  the  throne,  King  William  confirmed 
the  charter,  which  thenceforth  became  the  basis  of  the  government,  until 
the  formation  of  the  new  constitution  in  1818.  In  1692  Col.  Fletcher 
was  appointed  governor  of  New- York,  and  authorised  to  command  the 
militia  of  Connecticut.  He  proceeded  to  Hartford  and  ordered  the  train 
bands  to  be  assembled,  and  attempted  to  read  to  them  his  commission, 
but  Captain  Wadsworth,  the  senior  officer  of  the  militia,  ordered  the 
drums  to  beat;  Fletcher  commanded  silence,  and  again  attempted  to 
read,  when  Wadsworth  exclaimed,  "drum,  drum,  I  say,"  and  turning  to 
Fletcher  he  said,  "  if  it  is  attempted  again  I  will  make  the  sun  shine 
through  you  in  a  moment."  Fletcher  desisted,  and  returned  the  follow- 
ing night  to  New- York.  Here  was  something  of  the  spirit  of  the  Amer- 
ican revolution.  The  king  of  England  afterward  gave  the  command  of 
the  militia  to  the  governor  of  Connecticut,  with  the  reservation,  that  in 
time  of  war  a  certain  number  should  be  placed  under  the  orders  of 
Fletcher.  Until  1698  the  assembly  sat  in  one  house,  but  was  then  di- 
vided into  two.  In  1700  Yale  college  was  founded  at  Saybrook,  but 
was  subsequently  removed  to  New-Haven,  and  was  named  in  honour 
of  Elihu  Yale,  a  merchant  of  London,  an  early  benefactor.  In  1708,  by 
order  of  the  legislature,  the  ministers  and  delegates  of  the  churches  as- 
sembled at  Saybrook,  and  formed  the  celebrated  Saybrook  Platform, 
which  has  ever  since  formed  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  churches 
of  Connecticut. 

The  government  of  the  state  is  vested  in  a  governor,  a  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, who  is  president  of  the  senate,  and  a  senate  and  house  of  repre- 
sentatives. The  senate  consists  of  not  less  than  eighteen,  nor  more  than 
twenty-four  members.  Most  of  the  towns  choose  two  representatives. 
The  legislature,  called  the  general  assembly,  holds  its  session  annually, 
alternately  at  Hartford  and  New-Haven.  All  white  citizens  of  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  who  have  resided  in  the  town  where  they  vote  six 
months  previous  to  the  election,  who  have  a  freehold  estate  of  the  an- 
nual value  of  seven  dollars,  or  who  have  performed  military  duty  for 
one  year  next  preceding  an  election,  are  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage. 
The  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  senate,  and  representatives,  are  elect- 
ed annually  by  the  people,  on  the  first  Monday  of  April.  The  supreme 
court  consists  of  five  judges,  appointed  by  the  legislature,  and  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behaviour,  or  until  they  are  seventy  years  of  age. 
These  judges  hold  separately  a  court  twice  a  year,  in  each  county ;  and 
all  the  judges  together  hold  one  court  annually  in  each  county,  as  a  court 
of  errors.  The  county  courts  consist  of  one  chief  judge,  and  two  asso- 
ciate judges,  appointed  annually  by  the  legislature. 

The  shore  of  Connecticut  is  penetrated  by  numerous  bays  and  creeks, 
which  afford  many  harbours.  The  principal  sea-ports  are  New-London, 
New-Haven,  Stonington,  and  Bridgeport  on  the  coast,  and  Middletown  in 
the  interior.  The  harbour  of  New-London  is  the  best  in  the  state,  and 
one  of  the  best  in  the  United  States ;  it  is  spacious  and  safe,  has  a  depth 
of  thirty  feet  of  water,  and  is  not  obstructed  by  ice  in  the  winter. 


660  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


NEW-JERSEY. 

New-Jersey  was  first  settled  by  the  Danes,  at  Bergen,  in  1624.  Shortly 
after,  a  few  Dutch  families  settled  on  the  western  shore  of  New-York,  bay  ; 
six  years  after,  the  English  began  a  settlement  at  Elsingburgh,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Delaware  river ;  this  settlement  was  soon  broken  up 
by  the  Swedes,  who  erected  a  fort  on  the  same  spot  to  guard  the  river. 

The  Swedes  continued  to  multiply  tlieir  settlements  until  1655,  when 
they  were  conquered  by  the  Dutch.  It  has  been  stated  in  the  history  of 
New-York,  that  the  Dutch  claimed  all  the  territory  between  the  Connec- 
ticut and  the  Delaware  ;  the  same  territory  was  also  claimed  by  the  king 
of  England,  who,  in  1614,  sent  over  a  fleet  which  completely  subdued  the 
Dutch.  The  same  year  the  Duke  of  York,  to  whom  the  king  had  granted 
this  territory,  conveyed  all  the  lands  between  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
to  Lord  Berkley  and  Sir  George  Carteret.  These  possessions  were 
called  New-Jersey,  in  honour  of  Sir  George  Carteret,  who  had  been  gov 
ernor  of  the  island  of  Jersey;  they  appointed  Philip  Carteret  governor; 
he  arrived  at  Elizabethtown,  in  1665,  and  established  a  government  over 
the  colony,  just  and  liberal  in  its  principles. 

For  several  years  the  colony  was  in  a  flourishing  state ;  but  at  length 
those  settlers  who  had  purchased  their  land  of  the  Indians,  before  the 
English  took  possession,  refused  to  pay  rent  for  it  to  the  government. 
In  1672,  the  discontented  party  rose  in  rebellion;  their  complaints  were 
made  known  to  the  proprietors  in  England,  when  some  concessions  were 
made,  and  some  privileges  granted,  which  satisfied  the  people.  About 
this  time  Lord  Berkley  granted  all  his  claims  in  the  colony  to  Edward 
Billinge.  In  1G76,  the  territory  was  divided  into  East-Jersey  and  West- 
Jersey ;  the  latter  was  assigned  to  Billinge — the  former  to  Sir  George 
Carteret.  Three  years  before  this  division  was  made,  the  Dutch  again 
took  possession  of  this  territory,  but  retained  it  only  a  few  months.  In 
consequence  of  this  conquest  by  the  Dutch,  Sir  Edmund  Andross  declared 
that  Berkley  and  Carteret  had  lost  all  claim  to  the  territory;  in  1678,  he 
therefore  extended  his  tyrannical  sway  over  New-Jersey. 

He  imposed  taxes  upon  the  people,  seized  and  imprisoned  all  those  who 
would  not  submit  to  his  authority  ;  the  colonies  complained  to  the  duke, 
and  the  case  was  at  length  referred  to  commissioners,  and  decided  in 
favour  of  the  people.  Billinge  had  committed  the  management  of  affairs 
in  West-Jersey  to  a  board  of  trustees,  one  of  whom  was  William  Penn. 
To  Penn  and  his  associates,  the  territory  of  East-Jersey  was  also  granted, 
in  1608,  and  Robert  Barclay  was  appointed  governor  of  East-Jersey  for 
life  ;  but  peace  and  tranquillity  were  not  yet  secured.  There  had  been  so 
many  owners  of  the  land,  and  so  many  changes  in  the  government,  that 
no  one  could  tell  with  certainty  whether  he  had  a  good  title  to  his  land  or 
not ;  great  disorder  prevailed,  and  this  state  of  confusion  continued  till 
1702,  when  the  right  of  government  was  surrendered  to  the  queen  of 
England. 

The  two  divisions  were  now  reunited,  under  the  old  name  of  New-Jer- 
sey. Lord  Cornbury  was  appointed  governor,  the  same  governor  exer- 
cising jurisdiction  over  the  provinces  of  New- Jersey  and  New- York.  In 
1738,  the  king,  in  answer  to  a  petition  of  the  people  of  New-Jersey,  ap- 
pointed a  separate  governor  over  that  colony ;  the  office  was  first  con- 
ferred upon  Lewis  Morris,  under  whose  administration  the  people  enjoyed 
peace  and  prosperity.     The  population  was  then  forty  thousand. 

The  constitution  of  this  state  was  formed  in  1776.  The  state  for  sev- 
eral years,  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  was  occupied  by  the  American 
and  British  armies,  and  several  important  battles  were  fought  in  its  ter- 
ritory, particularly  those  of  Trenton,  of  Princeton,  and  of  Monmouth, 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


661 


and  the  inhabitants  bore  their  full  share  of  toil  and  suffering  during  that 
memorable  period. 

The  government  consists  of  a  governor,  council,  and  house  of  assembly. 
The  governor  is  elected  annually,  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the  council  and 
the  assembly.  The  ''ouncil  consists  of  eighteen  members,  elected  annu- 
ally by  the  people  A  councillor  must  have  resided  one  year  in  the 
state,  and  possess  property  of  jCIOOO  value  in  the  county  for  which  he 
is  chosen.  The  council  elects  from  its  body  a  president,  who  performs 
the  duties  appertaining  to  a  lieutenant-governor.  The  assembly  is  com- 
posed of  fifty-eight  members,  elected  annually  by  the  people.  A  mem- 
ber must  have  resided  one  year  in  the  state,  and  possess  property  to  the 
amount  of  jesoo,  within  the  county  for  which  he  was  elected.  The  judges 
of  the  supreme  court  are  elected  for  seven  years,  and  of  the  inferior  courts 
for  five  years,  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the  council  and  assembly.  All  per- 
sons of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  are  worth  je50  proclamation 
money,  and  have  resided  in  the  state  one  year  immediately  preceding  an 
election,  enjoy  the  right  of  suffrage. 


DELAWARE. 

Delaware  was  first  settled  in  1627,  by  a  number  of  Swedes  and  Fms, 
who,  at  the  instance  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden,  emigrated  to 
America.  They  landed  at  Cape  Henlopen,  which  on  account  of  its 
beauty,  they  called  Paradise  Point ;  the  Delaware  they  named  Swedeland 
Stream. 

Afterwards  a  settlement  was  made  at  Tinicum,  and  became  their  seat 
of  government.  John  Printz  was  their  first  governor;  and  they  erected 
a  number  of  forts  along  the  river  to  protect  their  settlements  from  the 
Dutch,  who  were  now  settling  on  the  eastern  side.  In  1641,  the  Dutch 
crossed  the  river  and  built  a  fort  at  New-Castle  ;  the  Swedes  claimed  the 
territory,  and  remonstrated  against  these  proceedings.  Risingh,  the 
second  Swedish  governor,  with  a  band  of  thirty  men,  visited  the  fort  under 
pretence  of  friendship ;  being  admitted,  and  kindly  treated  by  the  Dutch, 
he  seized  the  opportunity  to  take  possession  of  the  fort.  This  act  of 
treachery  exasperated  the  Dutch  governor  of  New- York,  and  he  came 
with  a  fleet  of  seven  ships  and  took  possession  of  all  the  Swedish  settle- 
ments ;  many  of  the  Swedes  were  seized  and  transported  to  Holland; 
the  remainder  submitted  to  the  Dutch.  In  1664,  the  English  conquered 
the  Dutch,  and  the  settlement  on  the  Delaware  continued  under  the  En- 
glish governor  of  New- York,  until  1682;  at  this  time,  William  Penn  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  the  several  tracts  of  land  which  now  constitute  the  state 
of  Delaware.  They  were  called  the  "  territories,"  and  for  many  years 
were  under  the  government  of  Pennsylvania. 

Delaware  has  no  state  debt,  but  possesses  funds,  exclusive  of  the  school 
fund,  to  the  amount  of  $339,686.  Wilmington  is  the  largest  and  most 
commercial  place  in  the  state.  Vessels  requiring  fourteen  feet  of  water 
can  come  to  its  wharves ;  it  has  considerable  trade,  particularly  in  flour, 
and  has  several  ships  engaged  in  the  whale-fishery.  The  other  principal 
towns  are  Dover  and  New-Castle. 

The  present  constitution  of  the  state  was  adopted  in  1831.  The  gover- 
nor is  chosen  for  four  years,  and  is  ever  afterwards  ineligible.  The  sen- 
ate consists  of  three  members  chosen  from  each  county,  for  the  term  of 
four  years.  The  representatives  consist  of  seven  for  each  county,  chosen 
for  the  term  of  two  years.  The  legislature  meets  once  in  two  years,  on 
the  first  Tuesday  in  January.  The  elections  are  held  on  the  second 
Tuesday  of  November.     Every  male  citizen  over  twenty-two  years  of 


562  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

age,  who  has  resided  one  year  in  the  sta'.e,  and  the  last  month  in  the 
county  in  which  he  offers  his  vote,  and  has  p^id  a  tax,  has  the  right  of 
suffrage ;  and  if  he  be  between  twenty-one  and  twenty-two  years,  and  is 
otherwise  quahfied,  he  may  vote  without  the  payment  oi  a  tax.  The  state 
treasurer  is  chosen  biennially  by  the  legislature  ;  and  in  case  of  his  death, 
resignation,  &c.,  the  governor  fills  the  office  until  the  next  session  of  the 
legislature.  He  is  to  settle  annually  with  the  legislature  or  a  committee 
thereof,  which  is  to  be  ap^pointed  at  every  biennial  session.  The  judicial 
power  of  the  state  is  exercised  by  four  common  law  judges  and  a  chan- 
cellor. The  judges  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  during  good  behavior. 
Of  the  four  law  judges,  one  is  chief  justice  and  the  others  are  associates. 
The  chief  justice  and  chancellor  may  be  appointed  for  any  part  of  the  state 
but  there  must  be  one  associate  judge  for  each  county.  A  court  consists 
of  the  chief  justice  and  two  associates;  but  no  associate  judge  is  permitted 
to  sit  in  his  own  county.  The  legislature  has  power  to  establish  such 
inferior  courts  as  may  be  necessary.  The  chancellor  exercises  the  pow- 
ers of  a  court  of  cliancery,  and  with  all  the  judges,  of  a  court  of  appeals. 

The  constitution  provides  that  no  act  of  incorporation  shall  be  passed 
without  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  legislature,  unless  it  be  the  renewal  of 
an  exibting  incorporation ;  and  all  acts  are  to  contain  a  power  of  revoca- 
tion by  the  legislature.  No  act  hereafter  passed  shall  be  in  force  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  without  a  re-enactment  by  the  legislature.  No  person 
belonging  to  the  military,  naval,  or  marine  service  of  the  United  States 
can  gain  such  a  residence  as  will  entitle  him  to  vote,  by  being  stationed 
at  any  military  or  naval  post  in  the  state. 


MARYLAND. 

We  have  seen  that  the  first  settlement  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode- 
Island  was  owing  to  religious  persecution.  The  same  spirit  prevailed 
against  the  Roman  catholics,  which  led  to  the  settlement  of  Maryland. 
In  1632,  George  Calvert,  called  Lord  Baltimore,  a  distinguished  member 
of  that  sect,  applied  to  Charles  I.  for  a  grant  of  territory  north  of  Virginia, 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  settlement  on  the  principles  of  religious 
liberty;  before  the  grant  had  passed  the  royal  seal,  he  died.  About  two 
months  after,  the  territory  was  granted  in  the  name  of  Cecil  Calvert, 
Lord  Baltimore's  eldest  son  and  heir.  In  honour  of  the  queen  Maria,  the 
colony  was  called  Maryland.  Lord  Baltimore  appointed  his  brother, 
Leonard  Calvert,  governor  of  the  province  ;  he,  with  about  two  hundred 
catholic  emigrants,  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac,  in  1634;  after 
exploring  the  country  for  a  few  weeks,  they  purchased  the  village  of 
Yoamaco  of  the  Indians,  and  named  it  St.  Marys.  Here  they  found  com- 
fortable habitations  ;  and  the  soil  being  somewhat  cultivated,  they  had  a 
sufficient  supply  of  provisions. 

Many  circumstances  favoured  the  settlement  of  Maryland;  although 
Lord  Baltimore  and  his  family  were  catholics,  and  had  been  severely  op- 
pressed and  persecuted  in  England,  they  granted  equal  protection  to  all 
Christian  denominations  in  their  new  colony,  while  persecution  prevailed 
in  the  northern  provinces.  The  soil  and  climate  were  very  inviting ;  the 
Indians  were  perfectly  friendly ;  and  the  people  were  permitted  to  make 
their  own  laws.     These  things  led  to  the  rapid  increase  of  the  colony. 

The  first  assembly,  which  met  soon  after  they  arrived,  was  composed 
of  all  the  freemen  in  the  colony.  This  mode  of  legislation  was  soon  al- 
tered. In  1639,  the  "  House  of  Assembly"  was  made  up  of  representatives 
chosen  by  the  people,  together  with  the  governor  and  secretary ;  these 
all  met  in  the  same  room.    A  change  took  place,  in  1560,  by  which  this 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  663 

body  was  divided  into  a  lower  house,  consisting  of  representatives,  and 
an  upper  house,  consisting  of  persons  appointed  by  the  proprietor. 

The  peace  of  this  colony  was  soon  disturbed  by  William  Clayborne. 
By  circulating  false  reports  among  the  Indians,  he  excited  tliem  to  a  war, 
which  involved  the  colony  in  much  distress  for  several  years.  Clayborne 
was  tried  and  condefnned,  but  before  the  day  of  his  execution,  he  made 
his  escape.  But  the  contending  parties  in  England  soon  occasioned  a 
civil  war  in  the  colony.  The  catholics  were  overpowered,  and  an  act 
was  passed  declaring  them  without  the  protection  of  law  ;  laws  were  also 
enacted  against  the  quakers.  At  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  in  1660, 
Cecil  Calvert  recovered  his  right  to  the  province,  and  his  son,  Philip  Cal- 
vert, was  appointed  governor,  and  harmony  was  again  restored  in  the 
colony.  At  this  time  the  population  of  Maryland  was  about  twelve 
thousand. 

Potomac  river,  which  divides  this  state  from  Virginia,  is  five  hundred 
miles  long,  and  navigable  about  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles,  from 
the  mouth  of  Chesapeake  bay  to  Washington  city.  It  is  seven  and  a  half 
miles  wide  at  its  mouth  in  Chesapeake  bay,  and  one  and  a  quarter  miles 
at  Alexandria.  Susquehanna  river  enters  the  head  of  Chesapeake  bay  in 
this  state,  one  and  a  quarter  miles  wide  at  its  mouth,  and  navigable  only 
five  miles ;  above  which,  it  is  obstructed  by  falls  and  rapids.  The  Pa- 
upsco,  though  a  small  river,  is  navigable  fourteen  miles  for  large  ships  to 
Baltimore,  and  affords  above  much  water-power.  The  Patuxent  is  one 
nundred  and  ten  miles  long,  and  navigable  for  fifty  miles  for  vessels  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burden.  The  other  rivers  are  Elk,  Sassafras, 
Chester,  Choptank,  Nanticoke,  and  Pocomoke,  which  flow  by  broad 
mouths  into  the  east  side  of  Chesapeake  bay. 

Two  of  the  greatest  works  of  internal  improvement  in  the  United  States 
have  been  projected  and  commenced  in  Maryland  ;  the  first  is  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  canal,  which  commences  at  Georgetown,  D.  C,  and  is 
designed  to  extend  three  hundred  and  forty-one  and  a  quarter  miles  to 
Pittsburgh.  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad  is  designed  to  extend  from 
Baltimore  to  the  Ohio  river  at  Wheeling,  three  hundred  and  sixty  miles, 
and  is  the  second  great  work. 

The  constitution  was  formed  in  1776,  but  has  been  frequently  amended, 
since  that  time.  The  state  is  divided  into  three  districts,  the  eastern, 
southern,  and  north-western.  The  governor  is  elected  for  three  years,  by 
the  people  from  the  districts  alternately,  so  that  each  district  is  repre- 
sented in  the  gubernatorial  chair  for  one  term  in  each  period  of  nine  years. 
He  must  have  resided  in  the  district  for  which  he  is  elected  for  three  years 
next  preceding  the  election.  The  senate  consists  of  twenty-one  members 
elected  for  six  years,  by  the  people ;  one  third  of  the  number  being  elected 
every  two  years  ;  and  the  senators  must  have  resided  in  the  city  or  county 
for  which  they  are  chosen  for  three  years  next  preceding  the  election. 
The  house  of  delegates  'consists  of  seventy  members  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  must  have  resided  in  the  county  for  which  they  are  chosen  for 
one  year  next  preceding  the  election.  All  judges  are  appointed  by  the 
governor,  with  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  and  hold  their  offices 
during  good  behavior.  Every  white  male  citizen  over  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  who  has  resided  in  the  state  one  year  next  preceding  an  election, 
and  for  six  months  in  the  city  or  county  where  he  oflfers  his  vote,  enjoys 
the  right  of  suff'rage.  The  legislature  meets  annually  at  Annapolis,  on  the 
last  Monday  in  December. 


()64  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 


NORTH-CAROLINA. 


Sir  Robert  Heath,  m  1630,  obtained  a  grant  of  a  large  extent  of  territory 
south  of  Virginia,  which  was  called  Carolina,  but  under  this  grant,  no 
colony  was  planted.  About  the  year  1G45,  a  number  of  persons  fled  from 
persecution  in  Virginia,  and  settled  north  of  Albemarle  sound,  and  for 
many  years  they  lived  in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom  and  plenty.  In  1664, 
another  settlement  was  made  near  Cape  Fear,  by  a  band  of  adventurers 
from  New-England.  A  few  years  after,  it  was  greatly  increased  by  a 
company  of  emigrants  from  Barbadoes.  They  purchased  the  lands  of  the 
Indians,  but  had  no  other  title.  As  Sir  Robert  Heath  had  not  complied 
with  the  conditions  of  his  title,  in  the  year  1663  the  same  territory  was 
granted  to  Lord  Clarendon  and  seven  others ;  they  now  organized  a  gov- 
ernment on  the  most  liberal  principles,  and  held  out  many  inducements  to 
emigrants.  Mr.  Drummond  was  appointed  governor  of  the  settlement  on 
the  Albemarle. 

At  this  time  the  celebrated  John  Locke  had  gained  great  reputation  in 
England  for  his  political  writings.  At  the  request  of  Lord  Clarendon,  he 
prepared  a  constitution  of  government  for  the  province.  It  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  constitutions  of  the  other  colonies.  It  provided  that  the 
governor  should  hold  his  office  during  life,  and  that  an  hereditary  nobility 
should  be  created.  This  constitution  was  adopted,  but  was  not  pleasing 
to  the  people,  and  was  the  occasion  of  much  disorder  in  the  colony.  In 
1671,  William  Sayle  commenced  a  settlement,  which,  in  honour  of  King 
Charles,  he  called  Charleston.  This  town,  being  well  situated  for  com- 
merce, rapidly  increased  in  population  ;  many  came  from  Clarendon 
county,  which  embraced  the  settlements  about  Cape  Fear.  After  the 
death  of  Sayle,  Sir  John  Yeamans  was  appointed  governor  of  Charleston; 
the  settlements  under  this  government  were  now  called  South-Carolina, 
in  distinction  from  those  at  Albemarle,  which  were  called  North-Carolina. 
At  length  disorders  began  to  arise  in  the  northern  colony ;  these  were 
greatly  increased  under  the  administration  of  Selh  Sothel,  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors, who  had  been  appointed  governor.  The  people,  after  enduring 
for  six  years  his  cruel  oppression,  banished  him  from  the  colony.  In  1 793, 
a  change  took  place,  and  the  government  of  each  colony  afterwards  con- 
sisted of  a  governor,  council,  and  house  of  representatives. 

North-Carolina  was  not  long  free  from  the  calamities  of  an  Indian  war. 
In  1712,  the  Tuscaroras,  fired  with  a  love  of  country,  and  a  spirit  of  re- 
venge for  past  injuries,  formed  a  plan  for  destroying  the  whites.  At  this 
time  many  French  and  German  protestants  were  living  in  the  interior; 
one  night  twelve  hundred  savage  warriors,  having  concerted  a  plan,  entered 
the  houses  of  the  inhabitants,  and  murdered  men,  women,  and  children, 
without  mercy ;  they  flew  from  village  to  village,  leaving  nothing  behind 
them  but  a  horrid  scene  of  common  slaughter.  '  Colonel  Barnwell,  with 
about  one  thousand  men,  arrived  from  South-Carolina,  subdued  the  enemy, 
and  restored  peace ;  but  hostilities  were  soon  renewed  by  the  Indians. 
Colonel  Moore  was  then  immediately  sent  with  a  strong  force  from  the 
southern  colony,  when  he  defeated  the  savages,  and  took  eight  hundred 
prisoners.  The  next  year  the  Tuscaroras  abandoned  their  country,  and 
ioined  the  confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations  in  New-York. 

The  two  Carolinas  were  still  under  the  same  proprietors,  and  troubles 
and  disputes  often  arose  between  the  rulers  and  the  people.  In  1729,  the 
court  of  England  declared  the  old  charter  forfeited,  and  the  king  immedi- 
ately established  a  distinct  government  over  each  colony.  The  people  of 
North-Carolina,  finding  the  soil  in  the  interior  much  better  than  that  near 
the  coast,  began  to  penetrate  the  wilderness ;  and  the  colony,  under  wise 
governors,  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of  prosoerit" 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  665 

The  whole  eastern  coast  of  North-Carolina  consists  of  a  ridge  of  sand 
and  low  islands,  separated  from  the  mainland  in  some  parts  by  narrow, 
and  in  other  parts  by  broad  sounds  and  bays,  entered  by  various  inlets, 
generally  shallow  and  of  dangerous  navigation.  Ocracoke  inlet  is  the 
only  one  north  of  Cape  Fear,  through  which  vessels  pass.  The  western 
part  of  the  state  is  an  elevated  table  land,  and  in  some  places  rises  into 
rugged  mountains.  In  Yancey  county  is  the  highest  land  in  the  United 
States  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Black  Mountain  is  six  thousand 
four  hundred  and  seventy-six  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  which  is  two 
hundred  and  forty-two  feet  higher  than  the  highest  peak  of  the  celebrated 
White  Mountains  in  N.  H.  Roan  Mountain  is  six  thousand  thirty-eight 
feet  high,  and  Grandfather  Mountain  is  five  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-six  feet  high.  It  is  but  recently  that  the  elevation  of  these  moun- 
tains has  been  correctly  ascertained.  In  the  low  country  the  climate  is 
somewhat  unhealthy,  but  in  the  elevated  parts  it  is  salubrious.  In  the 
northern  part,  extending  into  Virginia,  is  the  Great  Dismal  swamp,  thirty 
miles  long  and  ten  broad,  containing  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres ; 
and  on  the  Virginian  line  is  lake  Drummond,  fifteen  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence. Between  Albemarle  and  Pamlico  sounds  is  the  Alligator  or  Little 
Dismal  swamp,  which  also  has  a  lake  in  the  centre.  It  is  computed  that 
there  are  two  millions  five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  swamp  within  the 
state,  which  are  capable  of  being  drained,  at  a  moderate  expense,  and  made 
to  produce  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  and  Indian  corn. 

Gold  and  iron  are  found  in  this  state.  The  gold  region  lies  on  both 
sides  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  extends  to  the  east  of  the  Yadkin  river. 
Many  persons  have  commenced  digging  for  gold,  and  a  considerable 
amount  is  sent  annually  to  the  mint  of  the  United  States. 

The  governor  of  this  state  is  elected  by  the  qualified  voters  for  the 
house  of  assembly,  once  in  two  years,  but  cannot  hold  the  office  more 
than  four  years  in  six.  He  must  be  thirty-five  years  of  age,  possess  a 
freehold  estate  to  the  value  of  jClOOO,  and  have  resided  in  the  state  for  five 
years.  The  council  consists  of  seven  persons,  elected  for  two  years  by 
the  general  assembly.  The  senate  is  composed  of  fifty  members,  elected 
once  in  two  years  by  the  people.  A  senator  must  have  a  residence,  and 
possession  for  one  year  previous  to  the  election,  of  three  hundred  acres 
of  land,  in  the  county  for  which  he  is  chosen.  The  house  of  assembly 
consists  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  members,  chosen  once  in  two  years 
by  the  people.  A  member  must  have  a  residence,  and  possession  for  one 
year  previous  to  the  election,  of  land  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  acres 
in  the  county  for  which  he  is  chosen.  The  general  assembly,  by  joint 
ballot,  appoint  the  judges  of  the  supreme  courts  of  law  and  equity,  judges 
of  admiralty,  and  the  attorney  general.  The  judges  hold  their  offices 
during  good  behavior,  and  the  attorney  general  for  two  years.  Every 
person  of  twenty-one  years  of  age  or  upwards,  who  has  resided  in  one 
county  one  year  previously  to  an  election,  and  paid  taxes,  is  entitled  to 
vote  for  members  of  the  house  of  assembly.  In  addition  to  this,  to  be 
entitled  to  vote  for  senator,  he  must  possess  fifty  acres  of  land.  Free  ne- 
groes, and  persons  of  a  mixed  blood  from  negro  ancestors,  to  the  fourth 
generation,  are  excluded  from  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  legislature 
meets  once  in  two  years,  at  Raleigh,  on  the  second  Monday  of  November. 


SOUTH-CAROLINA. 

The  first  settlement  in  South-Carolina  was  made  at  Port  Royal,  in  1670, 
cy  William  Sayle ;  the  next  year  he  commenced  the  settlement  of  old 
Charleston ;  this  place  increased  rapidly    and  was  for  many  years  the 


666  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Beat  of  government ;  but  in  1680,  the  people  of  this  town  considered  Oyster 
Point  a  more  suitable  place  for  a  city,  removed  there,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  present  city  of  Charleston.  The  first  settlers  suffered  ex- 
tremely from  the  climate,  and  from  the  hostility  of  the  natives.  In  1690, 
Seth  Sothel,  who  had  been  banished  from  North-Carolina,  was,  by  favour 
of  a  party,  made  governor ;  but,  on  account  of  his  oppression,  he  was  af- 
terwards removed  from  office.  The  English  episcopalians,  being  very 
numerous,  manifested  a  spirit  of  determined  opposition  against  the  French 
protestants.  They  were  not  willing  to  admit  their  representatives  into 
the  general  assembly.  The  French  were  mild  and  peaceable,  and  the 
governor  favoured  their  cause,  and  endeavoured  to  appease  the  feelings 
of  their  unchristian  opposers.  * 

In  1695,  John  Archdale  was  appointed  governor  of  both  Carolinas ; 
order  was  now  restored,  and  the  French  soon  enjoyed  all  the  rights  of 
freemen.  But  not  long  after  this.  Lord  Granville,  one  of  the  proprietors, 
and  James  Moore,  the  governor,  determined  to  establish  the  episcopal  re- 
ligion by  law.  An  act  was  passed  for  this  purpose,  depriving  dissenters 
of  all  participation  in  the  government ;  but  the  dissenters  made  complaint 
to  the  house  of  lords,  and  soon  after  the  obnoxious  law  was  declared  void. 
During  the  war  between  England  and  Spain,  Governor  Moore  made  an 
unsuccessful  expedition  against  the  Spanish  settlements.  Soon  after  his 
return  he  marched  against  the  neighbouring  Indians.  He  burnt  their 
towns,  took  many  prisoners,  and  enriched  himself  by  selling  them  as 
slaves.  In  1706,  a  Spanish  fleet  appeared  in  Charleston  harbour ;  but 
finding  the  whole  force  of  the  colony  appeared  to  oppose  them,  they  re- 
tired without  a  general  attack.  One  of  their  ships,  however,  was  taken 
by  the  colonists. 

A  general  war  with  the  Indians,  who  had  conspired  to  extirpate  the 
whites,  commenced  in  1715.  It  began  by  a  general  massacre  of  the  colo- 
nists around  Port  Royal;  a  band  of  seventy  whites,  and  forty  negroes, 
after  a  short  contest,  surrendered,  and  were  all  immediately  cut  to  pieces. 
Governor  Carver,  with  a  force  of  twelve  hundred  men,  fought  a  bloody 
battle  with  the  enemy,  when  the  savages  were  defeated  with  great  slaugh- 
ter; four  hundred  whites  were  killed  in  the  war,  and  a  great  deal  of  prop- 
erty destroyed.  Besides  the  calamities  of  war,  the  colonists  groaned 
under  the  cruel  measures  of  the  proprietors,  and  their  oppressive  officers. 
In  1719,  a  general  union  was  formed,  and  after  several  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts to  produce  a  change  in  their  favour,  the  people  met  and  appointed 
James  Moore  their  governor.  He  immediately  assumed  supreme  author- 
ity, and  controlled  the  affairs  of  the  colony  with  spirit  and  decision. 

Its  peace  was  again  disturbed,  in  1738,  by  an  insurrection  of  the  slaves. 
At  Stono  they  killed  the  keepers  of  a  warehouse,  and  supplied  themselves 
with  guns  and  ammunition ;  they  then  marched  forward  with  their  colours 
flying,  killed  the  whites,  burnt  their  houses,  and  compelled  the  blacks  to 
join  them.  The  alarm  soon  reached  Wiltown,  where  a  large  congrega- 
tion were  assembled  for  divine  worship ;  having  their  arms  with  them, 
they  immediately  marched  against  the  negroes,  whom  they  found  in  an 
open  field,  dancing  and  rejoicing  at  their  success.  They  fell  upon  them, 
killed  some,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight.  The  colony  afterwards  suffered 
from  the  Indians  ;  yet  the  population  continually  increased. 

South-Carolina  presents  a  great  variety  of  soil  and  surface.  Along  the 
seaboard  and  for  forty  miles  into  the  interior,  the  face  of  the  country  is 
flat  and  unpromising ;  covered  with  extensive  tracts  of  pine  barren,  swamp, 
and  savannah,  or  open  meadow  without  wood;  comprising  the  most  fer- 
tile and  the  most  sterile  extremes  of  soil.  Ascending  towards  the  centre 
of  the  state,  the  country  rises  into  hills  of  moderate  elevation.  Advan- 
cing still  further  in  a  north-wesierly  direction,  it  becomes  mountainous,  and 
very  picturesque.     The  first  section,  which  is  generally  called  the  lower 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HIST0R7'  667 

country,  includes  the  sea-islands,  famous  for  produ'''Ug-  the  finest  kind  of 
cotton,  called  the  sea-island  cotton,  which  bears  a  higher  price  than  the 
other  kinds  ;  the  tide  lands  are  equally  celebrated  for  their  valuable  crops 
of  rice.  The  high  lands  of  this  region  are  generally  poor,  interspersed 
with  strips  of  great  fertility.  The  climate  is  moist,  very  changeable,  and 
during  the  summer  and  autumn  months,  extremely  unhealthy.  The  re- 
gion which  lies  between  the  tide  lands  and  the  granite  or  mountain  ridges, 
is  called  the  middle  country,  less  healthy  in  summer  than  the  latter,  but 
much  more  so  than  the  former.  In  winter  and  spring,  it  may  be  regarded 
as  much  more  healthy  than  either.  It  is  well  irrigated  by  rivers  and 
water-courses.  It  possesses,  amidst  long  and  barren  tracts  of  swamp 
and  forest,  many  fine  spots  for  culture,  and  produces,  in  considerable 
abundance,  the  kind  of  cotton  which  is  called  upland,  or  short  staple. 

The  first  constitution  of  South-Carolina  was  formed  in  1775;  the  first 
which  was  formed  in  the  Union.  The  present  constitution  was  ratified  at 
Columbia,  June  3d,  1790.  The  governor  is  elected  for  two  years  by  the 
joint  vote  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature,  and  is  ineligible  for  the  next 
four  years.  He  must  be  thirty  years  of  age,  have  resided  in  the  state  for 
ten  years,  and  possess,  within  the  state,  property  to  the  amount  of  .^1500 
sterling,  above  his  debts.  The  lieutenant  governor  is  elected  at  the  same 
time,  in  a  similar  manner,  and  with  similar  qualifications ;  and  in  case  of 
the  death,  removal,  resignation,  or  absence  of  the  governor,  discharges 
the  duties  of  the  office.  The  senate  consists  of  forty-five  members,  elected 
for  four  years  by  the  people.  One  half  the  number  is  elected  biennially. 
A  senator  must  be  a  free  white  citizen  of  the  age  of  thirty  years  or  up- 
wards, and  must  have  been  a  citizen  and  resident  in  the  state  for  five 
years  next  preceding  his  election,  and  possess  a  freehold  estate  in  the 
district  for  which  he  is  elected,  of  the  value  of  dCSOO,  clear  of  debt.  If  a 
non-resident  within  the  district,  he  must  possess  within  it  an  estate  of 
£1000  clear  of  debt.  The  house  of  representatives  consists  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  members,  elected  biennially  by  the  people.  A  mem- 
ber must  be  a  free  citizen  of  the  United  States,  twenty-one  years  of  age 
or  upwards,  and  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  state  for  at  least  three  years 
next  previous  to  his  election,  and  possess  a  freehold  estate  of  five  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  ten  negroes,  or  real  estate  of  c£l50  sterling,  clear  of 
debt.  If  a  non-resident,  he  must  possess  a  freehold  estate  of  i^400  ster- 
ling, clear  of  debt.  The  judges  of  the  superior  courts  are  elected  by  the 
joint  ballot  of  the  legislature.  The  courts  consist  often  judges,  and  are 
three  in  number : — of  law,  equity,  and  appeal.  The  two  former  are  com- 
mon to  all  the  districts ;  the  latter  is  held  only  in  Charleston  and  Colum- 
bia. The  secretary  of  state,  treasurer,  and  surveyor-general  are  elected 
in  the  same  manner,  and  for  the  same  period  as  the  governor.  Citizens 
and  inhabitants  of  the  state,  who  have  paid  taxes  for  the  year  preceding 
the  election,  and  who  have  resided  for  six  months  in  the  county  where 
they  offer  their  vote,  are  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage. 


GEORGIA. 

Georgia  was  the  latest  settled  of  the  original  thirteen  United  States. 
In  1732  George  II.  granted  the  territory  now  constituting  the  state  of 
Georgia  to  a  company  of  benevolent  individuals,  who  desired  to  provide 
an  asylum  for  the  poor  of  England,  and  for  the  persecuted  protestants  of 
all  nations.  The  affairs  of  the  colony  were  committed  to  a  board  of 
twenty-one  trustees,  who  made  many  wise  and  useful  regulations.  In 
January  of  the  next  year,  James  Oglethorpe,  with  one  hundred  and  thir- 
teen emigrants,  arrived  at  Charleston,  and  after  receiving  a  good  supply 


668  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORV. 

of  provisions,  they  proceeded  south  and  settled  at  Savannah.  The  next 
year  a  large  company  of  poor  persons  arrived  and  commenced  clearing 
up  the  wilderness ;  but  the  trustees  finding  many  of  these  emigrants  idle 
and  inefficient,  made  liberal  offers  to  any  one  who  would  settle  in  the 
colony,  and  this  induced  hundreds  from  Scotland,  Germany,  and  Swit- 
zerland to  emigrate. 

In  1638  George  Whitefield,  the  most  celebrated  preacher  of  modern 
times,  visited  the  colony.  His  benevolence  and  piety  had  led  him  to 
explore  the  habitations  of  the  poor  in  England,  where  he  found  bun 
dreds  of  helpless  orphan  children,  and  his  object  now  was  to  establish 
an  orphan  asylum  in  Georgia,  where  they  might  be  trained  up  in  the 
paths  of  virtue  and  religion.  In  1740  about  twenty-five  hundred  emi- 
grants had  settled  in  the  colony;  more  than  fifteen  hundred  of  these 
were  from  among  the  poor  of  Europe,  or  persecuted  protestants,  and  for 
their  support  the  trustees  had  expended  nearly  $500,000. 

At  this  time  the  Spaniards  had  possession  of  Florida,  and  Oglethorpe, 
fearing  that  they  would  combine  with  the  Indians  and  invade  Georgia, 
undertook  an  expedition  against  St.  Augustine ;  this  expedition  proving 
unsuccessful,  the  Spaniards  threatened  to  subdue  Georgia,  the  Caro- 
linas,  and  Virginia.  Oglethorpe  applied  to  South  Carolina  for  assist- 
ance ;  but  alarmed  at  their  own  danger,  the  people  of  that  colony  pre- 
pared only  for  their  own  defence.  The  general,  hoping  to  be  able  to 
resist  the  enemy  till  aid  should  arrive,  collected  all  his  forces  at  Fred- 
erica;  soon  after  a  Spanish  fleet  arrived,  and  landed  more  than  three 
thousand  men.  Oglethorpe,  learning  that  the  Spanish  army  was  sepa- 
rated into  two  divisions,  determined  to  attack  one  of  them  by  surprise. 
He  advanced  his  troops  in  the  night  within  two  miles  of  one  division; 
then  selecting  a  small  band,  he  advanced  nearer,  and,  while  observing  the 
situation  of  the  enemy,  a  French  soldier  in  his  service  fired  his  musket, 
and  deserted  to  the  Spanish  camp.  The  general,  fearing  that  this  de- 
serter would  make  known  to  the  enemy  his  bad  situation,  devised  a 
very  happy  expedient,  by  which  his  little  army  escaped.  He  wrote  a 
letter  to  this  French  soldier,  instructing  him  to  make  known  to  the  Span- 
iards the  weakness  of  the  English  forces,  and  urge  them  to  attack  Fred- 
erica;  and  that  he  should  persuade  them  if  possible  to  remain  on  the 
island  until  the  expected  reinforcement  should  arrive  from  South  Caro- 
lina. He  also  cautioned  him  not  to  drop  a  word  respecting  the  attack 
which  a  British  fleet  was  preparing  to  make  upon  St.  Augustine.  He 
concluded  by  promising  him  a  large  reward  for  his  services.  The  letter 
was  sent  by  a  Spanish  prisoner,  who  promised  to  give  it  to  the  deserter; 
but  instead  of  this  he  carried  it  directly  to  the  Spanish  general,  as  was 
expected.  The  deserter  was  now  supposed  to  be  a  spy,  and  was  put  in 
irons.  Soon  after  three  vessels  of  war  appeared  off  the  coast ;  the  Span- 
ish general  supposing  this  to  be  the  reinforcement  spoken  of  in  the  letter, 
determined  to  attack  the  English  without  delay.  Oglethorpe,  anticipating 
his  designs,  placed  a  party  of  his  men  in  ambuscade,  and  falhng  sud- 
denly upon  the  Spaniards,  killed  many,  and  threw  the  rest  into  disorder. 
Thus  defeated,  and  fearing  the  approach  of  the  reinforcement,  the  enemy 
embarked  and  left  the  coast  as  soon  as  possible.  By  these  successful 
manoeuvres  Gen.  Oglethorpe  saved  his  own,  and  perhaps  all  the  neigh- 
bouring colonies.  The  trustees  of  Georgia  being  disappointed  in  their 
expectations,  gave  up  their  charter  in  1752,  when  the  king  soon  after  es- 
tablished a  government  over  Georgia  similar  to  those  in  the  other  col- 
onies, and  it  then  began  to  flourish. 

The  present  constitution  of  Georgia  was  formed  in  1798,  and  amended 
in  1839.  The  governor  is  elected  by  the  people,  and  holds  his  office  for 
two  years ;  his  salary  is  $3000  annually,  and  with  the  other  executive 
officers  he  is  required  during  his  term  of  office  to  reside  at  Milledgeville. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  669 

The  state  is  divided  into  forty-six  districts,  and  each  district  is  entitled 
to  one  senator.  The  representatives  are  proportioned  to  the  population, 
including  three-fifths  of  the  people  of  colour.  The  counties,  according 
to  their  population,  have  from  one  to  three  members.  The  general  as- 
sembly meets  annually  in  November,  at  Milledgeville.  The  state  is  di- 
vided into  eleven  circuits,  with  a  judge  for  each.  An  inferior  court  is 
held  in  each  county,  composed  of  five  justices,  elected  by  the  people 
every  four  years ;  those  courts  possess  the  powers  of  courts  of  probate. 
The  judges  of  the  supreme  court  are  elected  for  three  years  by  the  legis- 
lature; and  the  judges  of  the  inferior  courts  and  justices  of  the  peace, 
are  elected  for  four  years  by  the  people.  All  white  male  inhabitants, 
who  shall  have  resided  in  the  county  in  which  they  vote  six  months 
preceding  the  election,  and  shall  have  paid  taxes  in  the  state  for  the  year 
previous,  are  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage. 


MAINE. 


The  first  permanent  settlement  in  Maine  was  made  in  Bristol  as  early 
as  1625,  at  Pemaquid  point.  In  an  old  fort  once  called  William  Henry, 
and  afterwards  Frederic  George,  built  of  stone  in  1692,  and  taken  by  the 
French  in  1696,  are  found  grave-stones  of  a  very  early  date,  and  in  other 
places  cofiins  have  been  dug  up,  which  bear  indubitable  evidence  of  a  re- 
mote antiquity.  In  1635  the  district  was  granted  by  the  British  crown 
to  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  and  he  appointed  a  governor  and  council.  In 
1647  a  government  was  established  by  the  settlers.  In  1652  the  state  of 
Massachusetts  purchased  the  territory  of  the  heirs  of  Gorges  for  $5334. 
In  1691  it  was  incorporated  with  Massachusetts,  by  a  charter  of  William 
and  Mary,  and  continued  under  its  jurisdiction  until  it  became  an  inde- 
pendent slate.  It  had  long  a  sufficient  population  to  become  a  state,  and 
eftbrts  were  made  for  this  purpose  in  1785,  1786,  and  1802;  but  the  in- 
habitants were  averse  to  a  separation.  In  1820,  however,  a  constitution 
was  formed,  and  it  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  state. 

Maine  is  diversified,  and  has  an  uneven  surface,  but  is  not  generally 
mountainous.  On  the  western  side  of  the  state,  east  of  the  White  moun- 
tains in  New-Hampshire,  an  irregular  chain  of  high  lands  commences, 
and  passing  north  of  the  sources  of  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot  rivers, 
and  south  of  the  sources  of  the  Aroostook,  extends  eastwardly  to  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  United  States,  and  terminates  at  an  isolated  peak 
denominated  Mars  Hill,  1683  feet  high.  This  chain,  which  is  not  con- 
tinuous, the  British,  before  the  late  treaty,  claimed  as  the  highlands  de- 
scribed in  a  previous  treaty.  Katahdin,  between  the  east  and  west 
branches  of  the  Penobscot,  5300  feet  above  tide-water,  is  much  the  high- 
est land  in  the  state,  and  constitutes  a  part  of  the  above  range,  if  such  it 
can  be  called.  The  rest  of  Maine  is  hilly,  though  the  hills  are  not  very 
elevated  ;  the  land  on  the  sea-coast,  for  the  distance  from  it  of  from  ten 
to  twenty  miles,  is  not  in  general  very  fertile,  but  further  inland,  its 
quality  is  greatly  improved.  The  uncleared  lands  are  of  great  extent, 
and  furnish  a  vast  amount  of  pine  and  other  timber.  Lumber  cut  and 
sawed  may  be  regarded  as  the  staple  production  of  the  state,  and  is  ex- 
ported to  the  amount  of  about  $10,000,000  annually.  The  state  is  well 
adapted  to  grazing,  and  the  wool  produced  is  estimated  at  $2,000,000  an- 
nually. Lime  is  manufactured,  particularly  at  Thomaston  and  the  vicin- 
ity, to  the  annual  amount  of  $100,000.  A  fine  building  granite  is  found 
at  Hallowell,  and  is  extensively  exported;  the  Hall  of  Justice  in  the  city 
of  New- York  is  composed  of  it.  Previous  to  the  year  1807,  the  wars  in 
Europe  gave  to  the  United  States  much  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the 


670  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

world,  and  Maine  engaged  largely  in  commerce,  and  neglected  her  lands 
for  this  superior  source  of  wealth ;  but  when  the  embargo,  non-inter- 
course, and  war  crippled  her  commerce,  her  agricultural  resources  were 
developed. 

Maine  has  a  sea-coast  of  over  two  hundred  miles,  indented  by  nume- 
rous bays,  and  protected  by  numerous  islands,  and  has  more  good  har- 
bours than  any  other  state  in  the  Union.  Ships  are  extensively  built,  no< 
only  for  their  own  use,  but  for  a  foreign  market.  The  fisheries  employ 
many  of  the  inhabitants,  and  are  not  only  a  source  of  wealth,  but  are  a 
nursery  of  seamen.  Maine  in  point  of  shipping  is  the  fourth  state  in  the 
Union. 

The  government  consists  of  a  governor,  senate,  and  house  of  repre- 
sentatives. The  governor  is  elected  by  the  people,  and  holds  his  office 
for  one  year;  a  council  of  seven  persons  to  advise  the  governor  is  elected 
annually,  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the  legislature.  The  senate  consists  of 
thirty-one  members,  elected  by  the  people  ;  the  house  of  representatives 
consists  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  members,  elected  annually  by  the 
people.  The  right  of  suffrage  is  possessed  by  every  male  citizen  of  the 
United  States  of  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  excepting  pau- 
pers, persons  under  guardianship,  and  Indians  not  taxed,  who  have  re- 
sided in  the  state  for  three  months  next  preceding  an  election.  The  elec- 
tion must  be  by  written  ballot.  The  judiciary  is  vested  in  a  supreme 
judicial  court,  and  such  other  courts  as  the  legislature  shall  from  time  to 
time  establish.  The  judges  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  senate,  and  hold  their  offices  during  good  beha- 
viour, or  until  they  are  seventy  years  of  age.  In  a  similar  manner  are 
appointed  the  attorney  general,  the  sheriffs,  coroners,  registers  of  pro- 
bate, and  notaries  public. 


VERMONT. 

The  first  settlement  of  this  state  was  at  Fort  Dummer,  in  the  south- 
east part  of  the  state,  by  emigrants  from  Massachusetts.  New-Hamp- 
shire claimed  the  territory  from  1741  to  1764,  and  granted  many  townships 
in  it  to  proprietors,  which  were  thence  called  the  "New-Hampshire 
grants,"  and  comprise  now  many  of  the  best  towns  in  the  state.  New- 
York  also  claimed  the  territory,  and  obtained  a  grant  of  it  from  the  British 
parliament  in  1764.  These  conflicting  claims  exceedingly  harassed  the 
inhabitants.  At  the  commencement  of  the  revolutionary  war,  Congress 
dared  not  admit  Vermont  to  the  Union,  though  the  state  proclaimed  itself 
independent,  for  fear  of  offending  New-Hampshire  and  New- York,  espe- 
cially the  latter.  Vermont  had  a  difficult  part  to  act,  and  it  conducted 
itself  with  great  wisdom  and  patriotism.  The  British  hoped  to  be  able  to 
detach  it  from  the  American  confederacy  ;  and  its  leaders,  without  com- 
mitting themselves,  flattered  these  hopes,  and  saved  its  exposed  frontier 
from  attacks,  while  no  portion  of  the  Union  showed  a  more  devoted  patri- 
otism, or  contributed  more,  according  to  its  means,  to  the  common  cause. 
The  "  Green  Mountain  boys'"  were  characterized  by  daring  bravery  in  the 
revolutionary  stri^ggle.  In  1790  New- York  was  induced,  by  the  payment 
of  $30,000,  to  withdraw  her  claims  to  the  territory;  and  in  1791  Vermont 
was  admitted  to  the  Union,  whose  independence  she  had  extensively  con- 
tributed to  acquire. 

The  surface  of  Vermont  is  hilly  or  mountainous.  A  few  townships 
along  the  margin  of  lake  Champlain  may  be  regarded  as  level,  extending 
from  five  to  ten  miles  from  it ;  but  otherwise  the  surface  is  generally  un- 
even, consisting  of  hills  and  valleys,  alluvial  flats,  gentle   acclivities,  ele- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  (J71 

vated  plains,  and  lofty  mountains.  The  range  of  the  Green  mountains, 
so  named  by  the  French  from  the  evergreens  which  cover  them,  and 
w^hich  have  given  name  to  the  state,  extend  quite  through  it  from  north 
to  south.  From  the  line  of  Massachusetts  to  the  southern  part  of  Wash- 
mgton  county,  it  constitutes  a  lofty  and  unbroken  range,  keeping  nearly 
a  middle  course  between  Connecticut  river  on  the  east  and  lake  Cham- 
plain  on  the  west,  and  dividing  the  waters  which  fall  into  each.  Though 
the  passage  across  the  mountains  in  this  part  is  arduous,  yet  by  the  con- 
struction of  good  roads,  and  a  judicious  location  of  them,  it  is  much  less 
so  than  formerly.  In  the  southern  part  of  Washington  county  the  Green 
mountains  are  separated  into  two  ranges.  The  highest  of  these  ranges  pas- 
ses west  of  the  middle  of  the  state  to  the  Canada  line.  The  highest  peaks 
lie  in  this  range,  which  are  Camel's  Hump,  generally  called  Camel's  Rump, 
4188  feet  high,  and  the  Chin,  in  Mansfield  mountain,  4279  feet  high  ;  and 
it  is  remarkable  that  the  whole  is  cloven  down  to  its  base,  admitting  a 
passage  for  Winooski  or  Onion  river  through  it,  the  mountain  approaching 
oftentimes  so  near  the  river  as  scarcely  to  admit  a  road  along  its  banks, 
and  affording  much  sublime  and  romantic  scenery. 

The  first  constitution  of  this  state  was  formed  in  1777.  The  present 
constitution  was  formed  July  4th,  1793,  and  has  since  been  amended.  The 
governor  is  elected  annually  by  the  people.  He  must  be  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  have  resided  in  the  state  for  four  years  next  preceding 
his  election.  The  lieutenant-governor  is  elected  in  the  same  manner,  and 
must  have  the  same  qualifications  ;  and  in  case  of  the  absence  of  the  gov- 
ernor, or  his  inability  to  serve,  succeeds  to  the  office.  As  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, he  is  president  of  the  senate.  The  supreme  executive  council  con- 
sists of  the  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  and  twelve  persons  chosen  by 
the  people.  The  senate  consists  of  thirty  members,  each  county  choosing 
at  least  one.  Some  are  entitled  to  more,  according  to  their  population. 
The  house  of  representatives  consists  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  mem- 
bers, elected  annually  by  the  people.  Every  representative  must  be  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  must  have  resided  in  the  state  for  two  years, 
the  latter  of  which  must  be  in  the  town  for  which  he  is  elected.  The 
supreme  court  consists  of  five  judges,  elected  annually  by  the  legislature. 
The  supreme  court  sits  once  a  year,  and  the  county,  courts  twice,  in  each 
county.  There  is  a  court  of  chancery  which  holds  a  session  in  each 
county,  each  judge  of  the  supreme  court  being  chancellor  of  a  circuit. 
The  secretary  of  state  is  elected  annually  by  the  joint  vote  of  both  houses 
of  the  legislature,  and  the  treasurer  is  chosen  by  the  people.  The  right 
of  suffrage  is  enjoyed  by  every  person  who  is  full  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  of  quiet  and  peaceable  behaviour,  and 
who  has  resided  in  the  state  for  one  year  next  preceding  an  election.  A 
council  of  censors  is  appointed  once  in  seven  years,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
inquire  whether  the  constitution  has  been  preserved  inviolate,  and  whether 
the  legislature  and  executive  branches  have  performed  tlieir  duty  as  guar- 
dians of  the  commonwealth  ;  whether  the  taxes  have  been  justly  laid  and 
collected,  and  the  public  moneys  have  been  properly  disposed  of,  and  the 
laws  have  been  duly  executed. 


DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 
This  territory,  ten  miles  square,  is  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Poto- 
mac river,  about  two  hundred  miles  from  the  ocean,  lying  between  the 
states  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  ceded  by  them  in  1790,  to  the  United 
States,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  the  sent  of  the  federal  government. 
It  is  under  the  immediatri  jurisdiction  of  Congress,  and  contains  the  cities 
of  Washington,  Alexandria,  and  Georgetown.     The  population  in  1840 


67d  THE  TREASUaY  OF  HISTORY. 

was  43,712;  of  whom  30,657  were  whites,  4,694  slaves,  and  8,361  free  JdL- 
cured  persons. 

The  site  was  seleeted  by  Washington,  in  accordance  with  a  clause  in 
the  Constitution,  which  gives  Congress  the  power  to  exercise  exclusive 
legislation  in  all  cases  over  such  District,  not  exceeding  ten  miles  square, 
as  may,  by  the  cession  of  particular  states,  and  the  acceptance  of  Con- 
gress, become  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States.  The  location 
was  happily  chosen.  It  is  central  to  the  Atlantic  states  and  easily  acces- 
sible to  the  Western  states.  It  contains  one  hundred  square  miles.  The 
surface  is  gently  undulating,  with  some  low  marshes,  but  many  comman- 
ding eminences,  furnishing  extensive  and  fine  views.  The  soil  is  natu- 
rally sterile,  but  the  climate  is  healthy  and  the  air  salubrious.  Agricul- 
ture is  not  a  primary  object  of  attention  ;  nor  is  it  pursued  with  the  same 
success  that  it  would  be,  if  its  soil  were  better  adapted  to  the  purpose. 

"The  commerce  of  the  District  is  considerable  ;  but  having  the  large 
city  of  Baltimore  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  with  superior  advantages,  it 
can  never  become  very  commanding.  By  the  fine  river,  the  Potomac,  it 
has  a  ready  access  to  the  ocean.  This  river  is  navigable  for  vessels  of 
the  largest  class  to  Alexandria,  six  miles  below  Washington,  where  it  is  a 
mile  wide,  and  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  deep;  and  vessels  of  a  large  class 
come  up  to  the  United  States'  navy-yard  at  the  junction  of  the  east  branch 
Avith  the  Potomac  at  Washington.  A  branch  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio 
canal  terminates  at  Georgetown,  and  is  extended  seven  and  a  half  miles 
to  Georgetown.  By  this  means  a  large  amount  of  flour  and  other  pro- 
duce comes  down  from  the  interior,  which  enters  mostly  at  Alexandria, 
and  some  of  it  at  Georgetown.  The  business  at  Washmgton  relates 
chiefly  to  the  accommodation  of  the  national  legislature,  with  its  various 
departments,  foreign  ambassadors,  and  the  numerous  persons  which  are 
necessarily  drawn  around  it. 

There  are  two  colleges  in  the  District.  Georgetown  college,  a  Roman 
Catholic  institution,  was  founded  in  1799.  The  Columbian  college,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Baptists,  was  founded  in  1821.  Congress  meets  an- 
nually at  Washington,  on  the  first  Monday  of  December,  unless  otherwise 
provided  for  by  law.  The  president  of  the  United  States,  and  the  other 
chief  officers  of  the  government,  reside  at  Washington  ;  and  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  sits  here  annually,  on  the  second  Monday  in 
January. 


KENTUCKY. 

This  state  once  belonged  to  Virginia.  It  was  first  explored  in  1769-70, 
by  Daniel  Boone,  an  enterprising  hunter ;  and  the  first  permanent  settle- 
ment was  made,  in  1774,  at  Harrodsburg.  Until  Wayne's  treaty  in  1795, 
it  was  continually  exposed  to  incursions  from  the  Indians.  The  first 
newspaper  was  issued  at  Lexington,  August  28th,  1787.  Kentucky  was 
separated  from  Virginia  in  1786,  after  which  it  had  a  territorial  govern- 
ment until  1792,  when  it  became  a  state  and  was  admitted  into  the  Union. 

Cumberland  Mountains  run  on  the  south-east  border  of  the  state,  and 
send  off  spurs  which  extend  into  its  eastern  part,  rendering  it  mountain- 
ous. The  Cumberland  range  divides  this  state  from  Virginia.  A  tract 
along  the  Ohio  river,  from  five  to  twenty  miles  wide,  is  broken  and  hilly, 
extending  ihrough  the  whole  length  of  the  state.  But  the  hills  are  gently 
rounded,  and  are  fertile  to  their  tops,  with  narrow  valleys  between  them 
of  great  fertiUty.  Along  the  margin  of  the  Ohio  with  an  average  width 
of  one  mile,  are  bottom  lands  subject  to  periodical  inundations.  Between 
the  hilly  tract  on  Ohio  river,  the  mountainous  country  in  the  eastern 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  673 

counties,  and  Green  river,  is  a  tract  one  hundred  miles  long,  and  fifty  miles 
wide,  beautifully  undulating,  with  a  black  and  fertile  soil,  which  has  been 
denominated  the  garden  of  Kentucky.  The  forest  growth  of  this  region 
is  black  walnut,  cherry,  honey  locust,  buckeye,  papaw,  sugar  maple,  elm, 
ash,  hawthorn,  coffee-tree,  yellow  poplar,  with  an  abundance  of  grape 
vines  of  a  large  size.  The  country  in  the  south-west  part  of  the  state, 
between  Green  and  Cumberland  rivers,  has  been  improperly  denominated 
barrens,  as  the  soil  is  far  from  being  poor.  It  is  thinly  wooded  with  short 
oak  timber,  and  is  covered,  in  summer,  with  a  high  grass.  The  whole 
state,  below  the  mountains,  rests  on  an  immense  bed  of  limestone,  gen- 
erally about  eight  feet  below  the  surface^  in  which  are  frequent  apertures, 
in  which  the  waters  of  the  rivers  sink  into  the  earth,  causing  the  large 
rivers  to  be  greatly  diminished  in  the  summer  season,  and  some  of  the 
smaller  ones  entirely  to  disappear.  In  no  part  of  the  country  do  the  rivers 
suffer  so  great  a  diminution  in  the  dry  season,  as  in  Kentucky.  The  rivers 
have  generally  worn  deep  channels  in  the  calcareous  rocks  over  which 
they  flow.  Stupendous  precipices  are  formed  on  Kentucky  river,  where 
the  banks  in  many  places  are  three  hundred  feet  high,  of  solid  limestone, 
with  a  steep  and  elevated  ascent  above  them.  In  the  south-west  part  of 
the  state,  between  Green  and  Cumberland  rivers,  are  several  wonderful 
caves.  The  Mammoth  cave,  in  Edmondson  county,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  from  Lexington  on  the  road  to  Nashville,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  caves  in  the  world.  It  has  been  explored  to  a  great  distance, 
and  is,  with  good  reason,  supposed  to  extend  for  eight  or  ten  miles.  The 
earth  at  the  bottom  is  strongly  impregnated  with  nitre,  which  lias  been, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  manufactured  from  it. 

The  climate  of  this  state  is  generally  salubrious.  The  winters  are  mild, 
being  only  of  two  or  three  months'  continuance,  but  the  atmosphere  is 
moist.  The  spring  and  autumn  are  delightful.  The  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold  through  the  year  are  less  than  in  some  other  parts  of  the  country. 

The  first  constitution  was  formed  in  1790,  and  in  1799  the  present  con- 
stitution was  formed.  A  governor  is  elected  for  four  years  by  the  people, 
and  is  ineligible  for  the  next  seven  years.  A  lieutenant  governor  is  cho- 
sen at  the  same  time,  who  is  president  of  the  senate,  and  who,  in  case  of 
the  death  or  absence  of  the  governor,  discharges  the  duties  of  his  office. 
The  senators  are  elected  for  four  years,  one  quarter  of  them  being  chosen 
annually.  Their  number  cannot  be  over  thirty-eight,  the  present  num- 
ber, nor  less  than  twenty-four.  The  representatives  are  elected  annually, 
and  apportioned  every  four  years  among  the  different  counties,  according 
to  the  number  of  electors.  The  present  number,  one  hundred,  is  the 
highest  which  the  constitution  allows,  and  there  can  never  be  less  than 
fifty-eight.  The  general  assembly  meets  annually  at  Frankfort,  on  the 
first  Monday  of  November.  Every  free  white  male  citizen,  who  is  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  and  who  has  resided  two  years  in  the  state  or  county 
in  which  he  offers  his  vote,  is  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage.  Votes  are 
given  openly,  or  viva  voce,  and  not  by  ballot.     The  judges  of  the  different 


TENNESSEE. 

This  state  was  originally  included  in  the  charter  of  North-Carolina, 
given  by  Charles  II.,  in  1664.  In  1757  Fort  London  was  built,  and  garri- 
soned ;  and  the  Indians,  to  induce  artisans  to  settle  among  them,  made 
donations  of  land.  Fort  London  was  established  on  the  north  side  of 
Little  Tennessee  river,  about  one  mile  above  the  mouth  of  Tellico,  in 
>he  centre  of  the  Cherokee  country.  A  war  with  that  Indian  nation  hav- 
43 


674  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY, 

ing  occurred,  the  garrison  was  besieged,  and  compelled  to  surrender  for 
the  want  of  provisions.  By  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  they  were  to 
retire  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge ;  but  after  proceeding  about  twenty  miles, 
the  Indians  fell  upon  and  massacred  the  whole  number,  amounting  to  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred,  excepting  nine  persons.  This  happened 
in  the  year  1700.  In  1761  Colonel  Grant  marched  against  the  Indians  and 
subdued  them,  and  compelled  them  to  sue  for  peace.  The  only  settle- 
ments which  had  been  made  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  London  were  broken 
up  by  the  war ;  but  tranquillity  having  been  restored,  fifteen  or  twenty 
persons  formed  themselves  into  a  company  and  came  to  a  place  now 
called  Carter's  valley,  in  East  Tennessee.  In  1768  an  exploring  party 
came  into  the  country  from  Virginia.  The  first  permanent  settlements 
were  made  in  17G8  and  1769,  by  settlers  chiefly  from  North-Carolina  and 
Virginia.  The  settlements  continued  to  increase  until  1774  and  1775, 
when  an  extensive  purchase  of  land  was  made  from  the  Indians  by  Hen- 
derson and  company,  but  not  without  warm  opposition  from  the  chief,  who 
declaimed  against  the  encroachments  of  the  whites,  without  effect.  In 
1776  war  with  the  Indians  occurred,  but  after  some  fighting  an  arrange- 
ment was  made  by  the  states  of  North-Carolina  and  Virginia,  by  which 
the  boundaries  of  the  territory,  now  the  state  of  Tennessee,  were  definitely 
settled.  In  1779  Captain  James  Robertson  and  others  from  East  Ten- 
nessee crossed  Cumberland  Mountain,  and  explored  the  country  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Nashville,  and  planted  corn  that  season  on  the  ground 
where  Nashville  now  stands.  They  all  returned  for  their  families  except- 
ting  three,  who  remained  to  keep  the  buffaloes,  which  abounded  in  this 
region,  out  of  the  corn.  In  May,  1790,  congress  passed  a  law  for  the 
government  of  the  country  southwest  of  the  Ohio,  and  William  Blount 
was,  by  President  Washington,  appointed  the  first  governor  of  the  terri- 
tory, who  In  October,  1790,  established  his  residence  in  East  Tennessee. 
On  the  19th  of  October  the  governor  authorized  an  election  of  a  colonial 
legislature  by  the  people.  The  assembly  met  at  Knoxville  on  the  fourth 
Monday  of  February,  1794,  and  was  regularly  organized.  In  1795,  the 
territory  was  found  to  contain  77,262  inhabitants,  which  entitling  them  to 
become  a  state,  a  constitution  was  formed  in  February,  1796,  and  on  the 
6th  of  June,  1796,  they  were  admitted  to  the  Union.  This  constitution  was 
revised  and  amended,  and  ratified  by  the  people,  in  March,  1835. 

On  the  eastern  boundary  is  a  chain  of  mountains  denominated  in  its 
different  parts,  Unko,  Iron,  Smoky  and  Bald  mountains  which  constitute 
a  continuous  range.  None  of  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  are  over  two 
thousand  feet  high,  and  they  are  generally  wooded  to  their  tops,  though 
in  some  instances  too  rough  for  cultivation.  Iron  ore  is  found  in  nearly 
every  county  in  Eastern  and  Middle  Tennessee,  and  in  many  places  it  is 
wrought,  furnishing  iron  equal  in  quality  to  any  in  the  country.  On  the 
borders  of  Georgia  and  North-Carolina  some  gold  has  been  found,  and  a 
beautiful  variegated  marble  near  Nashville. 

The  climate  is  mild  and  generally  healthy.  The  winter  in  Tennessee 
resembles  the  spring  in  New-England.  Snow  seldom  falls  to  a  greater 
depth  than  ten  inches,  or  lies  longer  than  ten  days.  Cumberland  river  has 
been  frozen  over  but  three  or  four  times  since  the  first  settlement  of  the 
country.  On  some  low  grounds  in  the  western  parts  of  the  state,  the 
inhabitants  are  subject  to  bilious  fevers,  and  fever  and  ague  in  the  autumn. 

The  governor  is  elected  by  the  people  biennially,  and  is  not  eligible 
more  than  six  years  in  any  teim  of  eight  years.  He  must  have  attained 
the  age  of  thirty  years,  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  a  citi- 
zen of  the  state  for  seven  years  next  preceding  his  election.  The  senate 
consists  of  twenty-five  members,  elected  bythe  people  once  in  two  years. 
Every  senator  must  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty  years,  must  be  a  citi- 
zen  of  the  United  States,  must  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  the  state  for 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  673 

three  years,  and  of  the  district  for  which  he  is  elected  for  one  year,  im- 
mediately preceding  his  election.  The  house  of  representatives  consists 
of  seventy-five  members, elected  at  the  same  time  and  for  the  same  period 
as  the  senators.  Every  representative  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  of  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  must  have  been  a  citizen  of  the 
state  for  three  years,  and  a  resident  in  the  county  for  which  he  is  elected 
one  year  immediately  preceding  his  election.  All  judges  are  elected  by 
the  joint  vote  of  the  general  assembly.  The  judges  of  the  supreme 
courts  are  elected  for  twelve  years,  and  must  have  attained  the  age  of 
thirty-five  years.  The  judges  of  the  inferior  courts  are  elected  for  eight 
years,  and  must  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty  years.  The  state  attor- 
neys are  elected  in  the  same  manner,  for  the  term  of  six  years.  The 
secretary  of  state  is  elected  by  the  joint  vote  of  the  general  assembly  for 
four  years  ;  and  the  state  treasurer,  in  like  manner,  for  two  years.  Every 
free  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  who  has  been  a  citizen  of 
the  county  where  he  offers  his  vote  for  six  months  next  preceding  the 
day  of  election,  enjoys  the  right  of  suffrage ;  and  no  person  is  disquali- 
fied from  voting  on  account  of  his  colour,  who  is,  by  the  laws  of  the  state, 
a  competent  witness  in  a  court  of  justice  against  a  white  man.  The 
legislature  meets  biennially  at  Nashville,  on  the  first  Monday  of  October. 


OHIO. 


Ohio  is  the  most  populous,  wealthy,  and  improved  state  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains.  It  contains  an  area  of  forty  thousand  five  hundred 
square  miles,  and  a  population  of  more  than  one  and  a  half  millions  of 
souls.  The  first  white  settlement  was  made  in  1789  ;  yet  now  Ohio  is  the 
third  state  of  the  Union  in  population,  and  has  nearly  a  thousand  miles 
of  canal  and  railroad.  The  country  is  generally  level,  except  in  the 
south-east,  where  it  is  broken  and  hilly  ;  it  is  forested,  except  in  the 
centre  and  north-west,  where  are  extensive  prairies.  In  a  state  of  nature 
Ohio  was,  with  the  exception  of  some  central  prairies,  covered  with  a  dense 
forest,  to  which  the  fertility  of  the  soil  gave  a  stupendous  developement. 
The  most  extensive  prairies  are  found  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Mus- 
kingum and  Sciota;  also  near  the  sources  of  the  Miami  river.  The  soil 
is  very  fertile,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  is  capable  of  profitable  cul- 
tivation. Corn,  wheat,  and  pork  are  the  staple  productions ;  iron,  coal, 
and  salt  abound  in  the  south-east  counties.  Columbus,  the  capital,  is  a 
flourishing  place  on  the  Sciota  river  and  national  road,  near  the  centre  of 
the  state.  Cincinnati,  on  the  Ohio,  near  the  south-west  corner  of  the 
state,  is  the  largest  and  wealthiest  city  in  the  west,  and  the  greatest  pork 
market  in  the  world. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  was  made  at  Marietta,  in  1788.  The 
next  was  at  Columbia,  six  miles  above  Cincinnati,  in  1789;  and  the  next 
settlement  was  made  by  the  French  emigrants  at  Gallipolis,  in  1791. 
Cleveland  was  settled  by  New-England,  in  1796,  as  also  was  other  points 
upon  Lake  Erie.  The  first  territorial  legislature  met  at  Cincinnati,  in 
1799,  and  organized  the  government.  In  1802,  Ohio  formed  her  state 
constitution,  and  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Union. 

The  legislative  authority  is  vested  in  a  senate  and  house  of  representa- 
tives, both  of  which  collectively,  are  styled  the  general  assembly.  The 
representatives  are  chosen  for  one  year,  and  for  eligibility  must  be  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  and  twenty-five  years  of  age,  having  resided  in 
the  state  one  year,  and  paid  taxes.  Their  number  must  never  exceed 
seventy-two,  nor  be  less  than  thirty-six.  The  senate  is  composed  of 
members  elected  for  two  years,  who  must  not  exceed  one-half  nor  fall 


(;76  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

short  of  one-third,  of  the  number  in  the  house  of  representatives.  A  sen 
ator  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  thirty  years  of  age,  and  have 
resided  two  years  in  the  district  from  which  he  is  chosen.  The  general 
assembly  has  the  sole  power  of  enacting  all  the  state  laws,  the  assent  or 
signature  of  the  governor  not  being  necessary  in  any  case  whatever.  The 
qualifications  of  an  elector,  are,  to  be  one  year  a  resident  of  the  state, 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  The  judi- 
ciary system  comprises  three  several  grades  of  courts,  namely ;  the  su- 
preme court,  courts  of  common  pleas,  and  justices'  courts.  The  supreme 
executive  authority  is  vested  in  a  governor  chosen  biennially  by  the  peo- 
ple. He  must  be  thirty  years  of  age,  and  have  resided  in  the  state  at 
least  four  years.  He  is  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia,  and  commis- 
sions all  officers  in  the  state,  both  civil  and  military. 


INDIANA. 

In  1702,  Vincennes  was  settled  by  French  soldiers  of  Louis  XIV.  from 
Canada.  Separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  they  became  assimilated 
to  the  savages  by  whom  they  were  surrounded,  and  with  whom  they  in- 
termarried. At  the  peace  between  England  and  France  in  1763,  this 
country  came  into  possession  of  the  English.  In  the  revolutionary  war 
the  inhabitants  took  sides  with  the  Americans,  in  consequence  of  which 
the  general  government  ceded  to  them  a  tract  of  land  about  Vincennes. 
In  1787,  the  United  States  took  possession  of  Vincennes,  and  erected  a 
fort  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  for  a  defence  against  the  savages. 
The  inhabitants  at  that  period  consisted  of  French,  Canadians,  and  Indi- 
ans. The  victories  and  treaty  of  Wayne  in  1795,  put  an  end  to  Indian 
hostilities.  In  1811,  in  consequence  of  depredations  and  murders,  a 
military  .force  was  sent  against  the  Indians ;  and  the  bloody  battle  of 
Tippecanoe,  under  General  Harrison,  compelled  them  to  sue  for  peace. 
In  1816,  Indiana  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  an  independent  state,  hav- 
ing previously  been  under  territorial  government,  and  has  since  rapidly 
progressed  in  population  and  improvement. 

There  are  no  mountains  in  Indiana,  but  the  country  bordering  on  Ohio 
river  is  hilly  and  broken.  A  range  of  hills  runs  parallel  with  Ohio  river, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  to  Blue  river,  sometimes  approaching 
to  within  a  few  rods  of  the  river,  and  at  other  times  receding  from  it  to 
the  distance  of  two  miles.  Immediately  below  Blue  river,  the  hills  cease, 
and  an  immense  tract  of  level  land,  covered  with  timber,  is  presented  to 
the  view.  Strips  of  bottom  and  prairie  land,  covered  with  a  heavy  growth 
of  timber,  skirt  all  the  principal  rivers,  excepting  the  Ohio,  from  three  to 
six  miles  in  width.  With  some  few  exceptions,  the  greater  proportion  of 
this  state  may  be  pronounced  to  be  one  vast  level.  The  prairies  and  tim- 
ber land  alternate,  and  in  general  these  kinds  of  land  are  more  happily 
balanced  than  in  other  parts  of  the  western  country.  Many  prairies  are 
iong  and  narrow,  so  that  the  whole  can  be  taken  up,  and  timber  be  easily 
accessible  by  all  the  settlers.  Even  in  the  large  prairies  are  those  beauti- 
ful islands  of  timbered  land,  which  form  such  a  striking  feature  in  the 
western  prairies.  The  great  extent  of  fertile  land,  and  the  happy  distri- 
bution of  rivers  and  springs,  has  been  one  cause  of  the  very  rapid  in- 
crease of  population  in  this  state. 

Iron  and  coal  have  been  found  in  the  state,  and  there  are  some  salt 
springs,  and  Epsom  salts  are  found  in  a  cave  near  Corydon ;  but  the  min- 
eral productions  have  no  great  interest.  Thechmate  is  generally  pleasant 
and  healthy. 

A  governor  is  elected  by  the  people  for  three  years,  and  may  be  once 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  677 

re-elected.  At  every  election  of  governor,  a  lieutenant-governor  is 
elected,  who  is  president  of  the  senate,  and  in  case  of  the  death,  resigna- 
tion, or  removal  of  the  governor,  discharges  the  duties  of  the  office.  The 
senators  and  representatives  are  apportioned  among  the  counties,  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  male  white  inhabitants,  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  There  can  be  no  fewer  than  thirty-six  nor  over  one  hundred  repre- 
sentatives. The  representatives,  and  one  third  of  the  senators,  are 
elected  annually  by  the  people.  The  legislature  meets  in  December, 
annually,  at  Indianapolis.  The  judges  of  the  supreme  and  circuit  courts 
are  appointed  for  the  term  of  seven  years.  The  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  with  the  consent  of  the  senate ;  the 
chief  justices  of  the  circuit  courts  by  the  legislature ;  and  the  associate 
judges  by  the  people.  All  male  white  inhabitants  over  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  who  have  resided  in  the  state  for  one  year  next  preceding  the 
election,  enjoy  the  right  of  suffrage. 


ILLINOIS. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Illinois  was  explored  by 
the  French  from  Canada,  and  some  forts  and  trading  posts  were  estab- 
lished. About  1720,  several  forts  were  built  within  the  present  limits  of 
Illinois,  of  which  P'ort  Charles  was  the  most  considerable,  and  a  chain  of 
communication  was  formed  from  Canada  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
river.  The  oldest  document  in  the  state  is  at  Kaskaskia,  which  is  a 
petition  to  Louis  XV.  for  a  grant  of  common  fields,  stating  the  great  losses 
of  the  people  the  year  before  by  an  extraordinary  flood.  At  the  peace  of 
1763,  this  country,  together  with  Canada,  was  ceded  to  the  English.  In 
1765,  Captain  Sterling,  of  the  Royal  Highlanders,  took  possession  of  Illi- 
nois, and  was  followed  by  several  other  commanders.  In  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  the  Virginia  militia,  under  General  Clarke,  subjugated  Fort 
Chartres,  Kaskaskia,  and  conducted  a  successful  expedition,  in  1788, 
against  Port  Vincent,  now  Vincennes.  In  the  same  year  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  organized,  in  this  remote  region,  the  country  of  Illinois,  which 
was  afterward  ceded  to  the  United  States.  In  1800  the  present  territory 
of  Illinois  contained  about  three  thousand  inhabitants.  In  1809  the  terri- 
torial government  was  formed,  and  the  population  the  next  year  amounted 
to  twelve  thousand.  In  1818  a  state  constitution  was  formed,  and  Illinois 
was  received  into  the  Union  as  the  twenty-second  state. 

The  general  surface  of  the  country  is  level,  or  moderately  undulating; 
the  northern  and  southern  portions  are  broken,  and  somewhat  hilly,  but 
no  part  of  the  state  is  traversed  by  ranges  of  hills,  and  there  is  nothing 
in  the  state  which  can  be  denominated  a  mountain.  That  portion  of  the 
state  which  lies  south  of  a  line  from  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash  river  to  the 
mouth  of  Kaskaskia  river,  is  generally  covered  with  timber,  but  north  of 
this  the  prairie  country  predominates.  It  is  computed  that  two-thirds  of 
the  surface  of  the  state  is  covered  with  prairies.  The  eye  sometimes 
wanders  over  imroense  plains  covered  with  grass,  and,  in  the  season  of 
them,  adorned  with  flowers,  with  no  other  boundary  of  vision  but  the  dis- 
tant horizon,  though  the  view  is  often  broken  with  occasional  woodlands. 
Much  of  the  prairie  land  is  undulating  and  entirely  dry.  The  dry  prairies 
are  generally  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  bottom  land 
on  the  river,  and  are  often  very  fertile.  In  many  instances,  there  are 
copses  or  groves  of  timber,  of  from  one  hundred  to  two  thousand  acres, 
in  the  midst  of  prairies,  like  islands  in  the  ocean.  This  is  a  common 
feature  of  the  country  between  Sangamon  river  and  lake  Michigan  in  the 
north  part  of  the  state.     IlUnois  in  general  is  abundantly  supplied  with 


678  THE  TiiEASUilY  OF  HISTORY. 

timber,  but  it  is  unequally  distributed,  and  on  the  prairies  there  is  often  a 
deficiency,  which  might  be  rejnedied  by  cultivation.  The  kinds  of  timber 
most  abundant  are  oaks  of  various  species,  black  and  white  walnut,  ash 
of  several  kinds,  elm,  sugar-maple,  honey-locust,  hackberry,  linden,  hick- 
ory, cotton-wood,  pecuan,  mulberry,  buckeye,  sycamore,  wild-cherry,  box, 
sassafras,  and  persimmon.  The  alluvial  soil  on  the  rivers  produces  cot- 
ton-wood and  sycamore  timber  of  amazing  size.  In  some  parts  of  the 
state  are  knobs  or  ridges  of  flint  limestone,  intermingled  and  covered  with 
earth,  elevated  one  or  two  hundred  feet  above  the  common  surface.  Back 
of  the  alluvions  which  border  the  streams  there  are  bluffs,  some  in  parallel 
ridges,  and  others  of  a  conical  form,  formed  of  limestone  rock,  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  feet  high.     The  soil  of  the  state  is  generally  fertile. 

The  most  important  mineral  production  of  the  state  is  lead,  found  in  its 
north-west  part,  and  in  Wisconsin,  in  inexhaustible  quantities,  of  which 
13,000,000  pounds  have  been  smelted  in  one  year.  Galena  is  the  centre 
of  the  lead  trade.  Salt  springs  are  found  in  the  east  and  south  part,  par- 
ticularly near  Shawneetown.  The  salt-works  are  here  owned  by  the 
United  States,  and  leased  to  the  manufacturers.  Coal  abounds  in  the 
bluffs,  and  iron  exists  in  various  parts  of  the  state.  Bituminous  coal 
abounds  in  the  ravines  and  bluffs.  The  climate  is  generally  healthy,  and 
the  air,  except  in  the  neighbourhood  of  low  and  wet  lands,  is  pure  and 
serene. 

Chicago,  on  lake  Michigan,  is  the  principal  commercial  depot  in  the 
north.  It  has  a  tolerably  good  harbour,  which  has  been  improved  by  arti- 
ficial works.  Alton  is  the  most  commercial  place  on  the  Mississippi,  two 
and  a  half  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri.  It  has  a  good  landing 
place.  The  other  principal  places  are  Springfield,  the  capital,  Quincy,  Ga- 
lena, Peoria,  Vandalia,  and  Kaskaskia. 

The  governor  is  elected  by  the  people  for  four  years,  but  is  eligible  only 
four  years  in  eight.  A  lieutenant-governor  is  elected  at  the  same  time, 
who  is  president  of  the  senate,  and,  in  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  or 
absence  of  the  governor,  discharges  his  duties.  The  senators  are  elected 
for  four  years,  and  the  representatives  for  two  years.  The  number  of 
senators  shall  never  be  less  than  one  third,  nor  more  than  one  half  the 
number  of  representatives.  The  judges  of  the  supreme  court  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature,  and  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behaviour.  Every  white  male  inhabitant  over  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  who  has  resided  in  the  state  for  six  months  next  pre- 
ceding an  election,  has  the  right  of  suffrage. 


LOUISIANA. 

The  river  Mississippi  was  discovered  in  1663,  by  Marquette  and  Joli- 
ette,  two  French  missionaries.  In  1682  the  country  was  explored  by  La 
Salle,  and  named  Louisiana,  in  honour  of  Louis  XIV.  In  1699  a  French 
settlement  was  begun  at  Ibberville,  by  M.  Ibberville,  who  in  the  attempt 
to  plant  the  country  lost  his  life.  His  efforts  were  followed  up  by  M. 
Crozat,  a  man  of  wealth,  who  held  the  exclusive  trade  of  the  country  for 
a  number  of  years.  About  the  year  1717,  he  transferred  his  interest  to  a 
chartered  company,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  celebrated  John  Law, 
whose  national  bank  and  Mississippi  speculation  involved  the  ruin  of  half 
the  French  nobility.  In  1731  the  company  resigned  the  concern  to  the 
crown,  who,  in  1762,  ceded  the  whole  of  Louisiana  to  Spain.  In  1800, 
Spain  re-conveyed  the  province  to  the  French,  of  whom  it  was  purchased 
by  the  United  States,  in  1803,  for  about  $15,000,000.  This  purchase  in- 
cluded the  present  territories  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Rocky  moun- 


THE  THEASURY  OF  HISTORY.  679 

tains.  Soon  after  the  purchase,  the  present  state  of  Louisiana  was 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  territory,  under  the  name  of  the  territory 
of  Orleans.  In  1812,  Louisiana  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  state, 
and  the  part  of  West  Florida  west  of  Pearl  river  was  annexed  to  it. 
The  state  is  divided  into  thirty-eight  parishes,  answering  to  counties  in 
other  states. 

All  the  country  below  the  La  Fourche,  with  little  exception,  is  over- 
flowed. By  a  survey  made  by  order  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  in  1828,  it  was  found  that  the  river  overflowed  an  extent  of 
5,000,000  of  acres,  a  great  portion  of  which  is  at  present  unfit  for  cultiva- 
tion. A  part  of  this  is  covered  by  a  heavy  growth  of  timber  and  an  al- 
most impenetrable  growth  of  cane,  and  other  shrubbery.  This  becomes 
dry  on  the  retiring  of  the  river  to  its  natural  channels,  and  has  a  soil  of 
great  fertility,  and  which  might,  by  labour,  be  rendered  fit  for  cultivation. 
More  earth  is  deposited  by  the  Mississippi  on  its  immediate  margin  than 
further  back  ;  and  to  prevent  the  river  from  inundating  the  valuable  tract 
in  the  rear,  which  could  not  be  drained,  an  artificial  embankment  is  raisetf 
called  the  levee.  On  the  east  side  of  the  river,  this  embankment  com- 
mences sixty  miles  above  New-Orleans,  and  extends  down  the  river  more 
than  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles.  On  the  west  shore  it  commences  at 
Point  Coup6e,  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  miles  above  New-Orleans- 
Along  this  portion  of  the  river,  its  sides  present  many  beautiful  and 
finely  cultivated  plantations,  and  a  continued  succession  of  pleasant  resi- 
dences. 

The  constitution  of  this  state  was  formed  in  1812.  The  governor  is 
elected  for  four  years.  The  people  give  their  votes  for  governor  at  the 
same  time  they  vote  for  senators  and  representatives,  and  on  the  second 
day  of  the  succeeding  session  of  the  general  assembly,  the  two  houses, 
by  a  joint  ballot,  elect  for  governor  one  of  the  two  candidates  who  have 
the  greatest  number  of  votes.  The  governor's  term  of  office  commences 
on  the  fourth  Monday  succeeding  his  ejection,  and  continues  for  four 
years.  The  senators  are  elected  for  four  years,  one-half  being  chosen 
every  two  years.  The  present  number  is  seventeen,  chosen  by  senatorial 
districts.  The  representatives  are  elected  for  two  years,  appointed  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  electors,  as  ascertained  by  enumeration  every 
four  years.  The  present  number  is  sixty.  The  pay  of  the  members  of 
both  houses  is  four  dollars  per  day.  Their  legislature  meets  biennially 
at  New-Orleans,  on  the  first  Monday  of  January.  The  judges  of  the  su- 
preme and  inferior  courts  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  senate,  and  hold  their  offices  during  good  behaviour. 
The  right  of  suff'rage  is  possessed  by  every  white  male  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  of  twenty-one  years  of  age  or  upwards,  who  has  resided 
in  the  county  where  he  oflers  his  vote  one  year  next  preceding  the  election, 
and  who  in  the  last  preceding  six  months  has  paid  a  state  tax. 


MISSISSIPPL 

In  1716,  the  French  formed  a  settlement  at  the  place  where  the  city  or 
Natchez  now  stands,  and  laid  claim  to  the  country  as  belonging  to  Louis- 
iana. This  colony  was  massacred  by  the  Indians  in  1729.  In  1763,  it 
was  ceded  to  the  British,  and  north  of  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude was  in  the  chartered  limits  of  Georgia;  south  of  that,  it  belonged  to 
West  Florida,  which  was  ceded  to  the  United  States  in  1798  by  Spain- 
In  1800,  this  state,  with  Alabama,  was  constituted  a  territory,  under  the 
name  of  the  Mississippi  territory.  In  183  7,  Mississippi  was  separated 
from  Alabama,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  state.    The 


680  THE  TRBASUaY  OP  HISTORY. 

constitution  was  formed  in  1817,  and  revised  and  amended  m  1832.  The 
state  is  divided  into  fifty-six  counties. 

Jackson,  in  Hinds  county,  a  little  west  of  Pearl  river,  is  the  capital  of 
the  state.  Mississippi  has  a  sea-coast  of  only  about  seventy  miles,  with 
no  harbour  in  this  distance  which  admits  large  vessels.  A  chain  of  low 
and  sandy  islands  along  the  coast  encloses  Pascagoula  bay,  which  is  sixty- 
five  miles  long  and  seven  wide,  forming  an  inland  navigation  betlreen 
Mobile  bay  and  the  lake  Borgne,  which  communicates  with  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  by  a  number  of  entrances,  that  admit  vessels  requiring  eight  feet 
of  water.  The  south  part  of  the  state,  for  about  one  hundred  miles  from 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  a  level  country,  covered  chiefly  with  pine  forests, 
swamps,  prairies,  or  marshes. 

The  Mississippi  river  washes  the  entire  western  border  for  a  distance, 
by  the  windings  of  the  stream,  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  A  large 
portion  of  its  bank  in  this  state  consists  of  inundated  swamp,  covered 
with  cypress,  excepting  occasional  elevated  bluffs,  which  immediately 
border  the  river.  The  Yazoo  is  the  largest  river  which  flows  wholly 
within  the  state,  and  enters  the  Mississippi  twelve  miles  above  Vicksburg. 
It  is  one  hundred  yards  wide  at  its  mouth,  is  two  hundred  miles  long,  and 
is  navigable  for  large  boats  fifty  miles. 

The  largest  and  most  commercial  place  in  the  state  is  Natchez,  on  the 
Mississippi,  situated  on  a  bluff  elevated  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above 
the  surface  of  the  river,  three  hundred  miles  above  New-Orleans,  by  the 
course  of  the  river.  Vicksburg,  one  hundred  and  six  miles  above  Natchez, 
and  twelve  below  the  mouth  of  Yazoo  river,  has  had  a  rapid  growth,  and 
is  flourishing. 

The  governor  is  elected  biennially  by  the  people,  but  is  ineligible  for 
more  than  four  years  in  any  term  of  six  years.  He  must  be  twenty  five 
years  of  age,  and  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  for  twenty 
years.  The  senate  consists  of  thirty  members,  elected  for  the  term  of 
four  years,  one-half  of  the  number  being  elected  every  two  years,  by  the 
people.  A  senator  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  have  resided 
in  the  state  for  four  years,  and  in  the  district  for  which  he  is  chosen  for 
one  year  next  preceding  his  election,  and  be  thirty  years  of  age.  The 
house  of  representatives  consists  of  ninety-one  members,  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  elected  biennially  by  the  people.  Every  representative 
must  have  resided  in  the  state  for  two  years,  and  in  the  city,  town,  or  dis- 
trict for  which  he  is  chosen,  for  one  year  next  preceding  his  election. 
The  judges  of  the  high  court  of  errors  and  appeals  are  elected  by  the 
people  for  six  years  ;  the  judges  of  the  circuit  court  for  the  term  of  four 
years  ;  the  chancellor  for  the  term  of  six  years  ;  the  judges  of  probate  for 
the  term  of  two  years.  The  judges  of  the  high  court  of  appeals  and 
errors  must  be  thirty  years  of  age ;  and  the  others  twenty-five  years 
of  age.  The  secretary  of  state,  the  treasurer,  and  the  sheriffs,  are  elected 
by  the  people,  for  the  term  of  two  years.  Every  white  niaie  person  of 
twenty-one  years  of  age  or  over,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  who  has 
resided  in  the  state  for  one  year,  and  in  the  county  for  which  he  offers 
his  vote,  four  months  next  preceding  an  election,  enjoys  the  right  of  suf- 
frage. The  legislature  meets  biennially  at  Jackson,  on  the  first  Monday 
in  January. 


MISSOURI. 

The  territory  of  this  state  was  included  in  Louisiana,  purchased  by  the 
United  States  of  France,  in  1803.  The  town  of  St.  Louis  was  settled  by 
the  French  in  1764,  as  a  trading  post  with  the  Indians,  and  remained  such 
until  it  was  purchased  by  the  United  States.     In  1804,  Louisiana  was 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  681 

divided  into  the  territory  of  Orleans,  extending  to  the  23°  of  north  lati- 
tude, and  the  residue  was  styled  the  district  of  Louisiana.  In  1805  the 
district  was  erected  into  a  territorial  government,  under  the  name  of  the 
territory  of  Louisiana,  and  in  1812  its  name  was  changed  to  Missouri. 
In  1821  a  part  of  this  territory  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  the  state  of 
Missouri,  after  much  debate  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  which  was  allowed, 
by  its  constitution,  under  certain  restrictions. 

The  state  is  divided  into  sixty-two  counties,  and  Jefferson  city,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Missouri  river,  fifteen  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Osage 
river,  is  the  seat  of  government.  The  state  presents  a  variety  of  surface 
and  of  soil.  South  of  Cape  Girardeau,  with  the  exception  of  some  bluffs 
along  the  Mississippi,  it  is  alluvial,  and  a  large  portion  consists  of  swamps 
and  inundated  lands,  most  of  which  are  heavily  timbered.  From  thence 
to  the  Missouri  river,  and  westward  to  the  dividing  ridge  between  Gas- 
conade and  the  Osage  rivers,  the  country  is  generally  rolling,  and  in 
some  parts  quite  hilly.  Along  the  head  waters  of  Gasconade  and  Big 
Black  rivers,  the  hills  are  frequently  abrupt  and  rocky,  with  fertile  allu- 
vion along  the  water  courses.  Much  of  this  region  abounds  with  various 
minerals,  as  lead,  iron  ore,  gypsum,  manganese,  zinc,  antimony,  cobalt, 
ochres,  common  salt,  nitre,  plumbago,  porphyry,  jasper,  chalcedony,  buhr- 
stone,  marble  and  free-stone.  The  lead  is  inexhaustible  in  quantity  and 
rich  in  quality.  The  iron  ore  of  this  region  is  sufficient  to  supply  the 
whole  United  States  for  many  thousands  of  years.  Bituminous  coal  exists 
in  inexhaustible  abundance.  The  difficulty  of  transporting  products  to 
a  market,  is  the  only  inconvenience. 

The  western  part  of  this  state  is  divided  into  prairie  and  forest  land, 
and  much  of  the  soil  is  fertile.  The  whole  is  undulating,  and  along  the 
Osage  it  is  hilly,  abounding  with  good  water,  salt  springs  and  limestone. 
North  of  the  Missouri,  the  surface  is  diversified,  and  divided  between  tim- 
ber and  prairie  land.  From  the  Missouri  to  Salt  river,  springs  are  scarce, 
and  in  several  counties  artificial  wells  are  dug,  to  be  filled  with  rain  water 
from  the  roofs  of  houses.  Between  Salt  river  and  Des  Moines  river  is  a 
beautiful  country,  with  a  fertile  soil.  In  the  middle  counties  north  of  the 
Missouri  the  surface  is  rolling,  and  there  are  bluffs  and  hills,  with  con- 
siderable good  prairie,  and  much  timber.  To  the  west  of  this,  and  also 
to  the  north,  the  prairie  predominates. 

The  lead  region,  the  centre  of  which  is  seventy  miles  south-west  of 
the  Missouri,  is  seventy  miles  long,  and  forty-five  wide,  covering  an  area  of 
3150  square  miles.  The  greatest  part  of  this  country  is  situated  in  Wash- 
ington and  St.  Francis  counties,  but  a  part  extends  into  St.  Genevieve  and 
Jefferson  counties.  The  ore  is  of  the  richest  kind.  It  yields  from  eighty 
to  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  the  true  metal.  In  the  south-east  part  of  Wash' 
ington  county  is  the  celebrated  "  iron  mountain,"  one  mile  broad  at  its 
base,  and  three  miles  long,  and  from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  high,  filled  with  micaceous  oxide  of  iron,  which  yields  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  pure  metal.  There  is  another  body  of  iron  ore  denomi- 
nated Pilot  Knob,  three  hundred  feet  high,  and  a  mile  and  a  half  wide  at 
its  base,  which  is  equally  rich.  Washington  county  is  a  perfect  bed  of 
metallic  treasures. 

The  Mississippi  winds  along  the  entire  boundary  of  the  state,  for  a  dis- 
tance of  four  hundred  miles,  and  receives  the  waters  of  the  mighty  Mis- 
souri, which  crosses  the  state,  and  deserves  to  be  regarded,  on  account  of 
its  length,  and  the  volume  of  its  waters,  as  the  parent  stream.  The  Mis- 
souri is  navigable  eighteen  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth  in  the  Missis- 
sippi, to  the  mouth  of  Yellow  Stone  river,  for  four  or  five  months  in  the 
year.  The  Missouri  receives  La  Mine,  Osage,  and  Gasconade  rivers  on 
the  south  side,  and  Grand  and  Chariton  rivers  on  the  north  side.  Salt 
river  crosses  the  north-east  part  of  the  state,  and  enters  Mississippi  river 
eighty-five  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Missouri  river. 


682  THE  TKEASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

The  governor  is  elected  once  in  four  years  by  the  people,  but  is  ineli- 
gible  for  the  next  succeeding  four  years.  He  must  be  a  natural  born  citi- 
zen of  the  United  States,  at  least  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  have  re- 
sided in  the  state  for  four  years  next  preceding  his  election.  The  lieu- 
tenant-governor is  elected  at  the  same  time,  in  the  same  manner,  and 
must  possess  similar  qualifications.  He  is  president  of  the  senate  ;  and 
in  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  or  removal  from  office  of  the  governor, 
discharges  the  duties  of  that  office,  until  it  is  regularly  filled.  The  senate 
consists  of  eighteen  members,  chosen  for  four  years  ;  one  half  the  num- 
ber being  elected  biennially.  A  senator  must  be  at  least  thirty  years  of 
age,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  have  resided  in  the  state  for  four  years 
next  preceding  the  election,  and  for  one  year  in  the  district  for  which  he 
is  elected,  and  must  have  paid  a  state  or  county  tax.  The  house  of  rep- 
resentatives consists  of  forty-nine  members,  elected  biennially  by  the  peo 
pie.  A  representative  must  be  at  least  twenty-four  years  of  age,  have 
been  an  inhabitant  of  the  state  for  two  years  next  preceding  his  election, 
and  have  paid  a  state  or  county  tax,  and  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
The  governor,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  appoints  the 
judges  of  the  superior  and  inferior  courts,  and  the  chancellor,  who  hold 
their  oflices  during  good  behaviour.  They  cannot  be  appointed  before 
they  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty  years,  nor  hold  their  office  after  the 
age  of  sixty-five  years.  Every  white  male  citizen,  of  twenty-five  years  of 
age  or  upward,  who  has  resided  in  the  state  for  one  year  next  previous 
to  an  election,  and  the  last  three  months  in  the  district  in  which  he  offers 
his  vote,  is  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage. 


ARKANSAS. 

Arkansas  was  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase.  It  was  made  a  separate 
territory  in  1819,  and  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  a  sovereign  state,  in  1820. 
The  capital  is  Little  Rock,  situated  on  the  south  side  of  Arkansas  river, 
three  hundred  miles  from  its  entrance  into  the  Mississippi.  The  other 
principal  towns  or  villages  are  Columbia  and  Helena,  on  the  Mississippi, 
Datesville,  on  White  river,  Van  Buren  on  the  Arkansas,  Fayetteville,  in 
Ihe  north-west  part  of  the  state,  and  Fulton  on  Red  river. 

The  eastern  part  of  the  state,  for  the  distance  of  one  hundred  miles 
from  the  Mississippi,  is  low  and  wet,  covered  extensively  with  swamps 
and  marshes,  and  much  of  it  is  subject  to  be  overflowed  at  certain  seasons. 
Near  the  St.  Francis  hills,  and  at  Point  Chico,  the  eastern  front  along  the 
Mississippi  is  above  the  overflow.  In  the  middle,  the  country  is  uneven 
and  broken,  and  in  the  west  it  is  hilly  and  mountainous.  There  are  some 
extensive  prairies  and  some  heavily  timbered  land.  On  the  margins  of 
the  rivers  the  soil  is  generally  fertile,  but  back  of  this  it  is  poor.  The 
Ozark  mountains,  rising  sometimes  to  the  height  of  from  1,000  to  2,000 
feet,  cross  its  north-west  part.  A  range  of  hills  called  the  Black  Moun- 
tains, runs  between  the  Arkansas  and  White  rivers.  A  little  south-west 
of  the  centre  of  the  state  are  boiling  springs,  the  temperature  of  which 
sometimes  rises  nearly  to  212°  Fahrenheit,  though  subject  to  much  vari- 
ation. Wild  animals,  as  the  deer,  elk,  bear,  and  wolf,  and  wild  fowls,  as 
the  wild  goose,  turkey,  and  quail,  are  found  in  abundance.  Its  mineral 
productions  are  extensive,  consisting  of  iron  ore,  gypsum,  coal,  and  salt. 

The  constitution  of  the  state  was  formed  in  1836.  The  governor  is 
chosen  by  the  people  for  four  years,  but  cannot  hold  the  office  more  than 
eight  years  in  twelve.  The  members  of  the  senate  are  chosen  by  the 
people  for  four  years,  and  the  representatives  for  two  years.  The  elec- 
tions are  viva  voce.     The  se^^ate  can  never  consist  of  less  then  seventeen 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  683 

nor  more  than  thirty-three  members  ;  and  the  house  of  representatives  of 
less  than  fifty-four,  nor  more  than  one  hundred  members.  The  judges  of 
the  supreme  court  are  appointed  for  eight  years,  and  of  the  circuit  court 
for  four  years,  and  are  all  chosen  by  the  legislature.  The  judges  of  the 
county  courts  are  chosen  by  the  justices  of  the  peace.  The  legislature 
meets  once  in  two  years  at  Little  Rock.  Every  white  male  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  has  resided  in  the  state  for  six  months,  possesses 
the  right  of  suffrage.  No  lotteries  can  be  established,  nor  lottery  tickets 
sold.  The  legislature  may  establish  one  bank  with  branches,  and  one 
banking  institution  to  promote  the  interests  of  agriculture.  It  cannot 
emancipate  slaves  without  the  consent  of  their  owners.  Slaves  have  the 
right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  suffer  the  same  degree  of  punishment  for  a  crime 
as  white  persons,  and  no  other.  Courts  of  justice  are  obliged  to  assign 
counsel  to  the  slaves  for  their  defence. 


ALABAMA. 

This  state  was  originally  included  in  the  territorial  limits  of  Georgia, 
except  the  part  which  belonged  to  Florida.  In  1802,  Georgia  ceded  all 
her  territory  west  of  Chattahoochee  river  to  the  Mississippi  river,  to  the 
United  States,  and  in  1817  it  was  constituted  the  Mississippi  territory,  and 
Alabama  continued  part  of  this  territory  until  it  was  admitted  to  the  Union 
and  became  an  independent  state  in  1820. 

The  capital  is  Tuscaloosa,  situated  on  Black  Warrior  river.  Mobile  is 
the  most  populous  and  commercial  place  in  the  state.  The  other  princi- 
pal towns  are  Huntsville,  Florence,  Wetumpka,  Montgomery,  Cahawba, 
and  St.  Stephen's.  Near  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  country  is  low  and  level, 
with  many  swamps  and  savannahs ;  the  soil  is  sandy,  and  the  prevailing 
timber  is  pine.  The  central  part  is  an  elevated  table  land,  with  a  deep, 
rich,  and  productive  soil,  and  a  mild  and  healthy  climate.  Towards  the 
north,  the  country  becomes  hilly  and  mountainous,  beyond  which  is  the 
valley  of  Tennessee  river,  on  which,  in  some  parts,  the  bottom  land  is  low, 
and,  near  the  Muscle  Shoals,  unhealthy.  Cotton  is  the  chief  production 
of  the  state,  of  which  there  were  produced,  in  1840,  117,138,823  pounds. 
Mobile  is  the  principal  river,  and  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Alaba- 
ma and  Tombigbee  rivers,  and  enters  Mobile  bay  by  two  mouths.  The 
Alabama  is  navigable  for  vessels  requiring  six  feet  of  water,  sixty  miles 
above  its  junction,  and  has  four  or  five  feet  of  water  150  miles,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Cahawba.  It  is  traversed  by  steamboats  as  far  up  as  Mont- 
gomery, 300  miles ;  and  to  Tuscaloosa,  285  miles — and  to  Columbus,  Miss. 

Mobile  was  incorporated  a  city  in  1819.  It  has  now  near  fifty  wharves, 
and  is,  with  the  exception  of  New-Orleans,  the  greatest  cotton-market  in 
the  United  States.  The  exports  of  the  city  amount  annually  to  about 
$16,000,000.  Mobile  bay  sets  up  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  30  miles,  and  is 
12  miles  average  width  ;  on  the  point  is  a  lighthouse  the  lantern  of  which 
is  fifty-five  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Fort  Morgan,  opposite  Dau- 
phin island,  defends  the  entrance. 

The  executive  power  is  vested  in  a  governor,  elected  biennially  by  the 
people.  The  legislative  power  consists  of  a  senate  and  house  of  repre- 
sentatives ;  the  former  contains  thirty  and  the  latter  one  hundred  mem- 
bers. The  legislature  meets  annually  at  Tuscaloosa,  on  the  first  Monday 
in  November.  The  secretary  of  state  is  elected  for  two  years,  and  the 
comptroller  and  treasurer  annually,  by  the  joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  the 
legislature.  The  right  of  suffrage  is  possessed  by  every  male  citizen  of 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  has  resided  within  the  state  one  year  im- 
mediately preceding  the  election,  and  the  last  three  months  within  the 
county,  city,  or  town,  in  which  he  offers  his  vote. 


684  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

MICHIGAN. 

The  state  of  Michigan  is  composed  of  two  peninsulas,  formed  by  the 
great  lakes  Superior,  Michigan,  Huron,  and  Erie,  and  is  unsurpassed  in 
advantages  for  commerce  by  any  inland  state  in  the  Union.  Michigan 
was  visited  by  French  traders  as  early  as  1640.  Detroit  was  settled  in 
1670.  At  the  peace  of  1763,  this  country  was  ceded  by  France  to  Great 
Britain,  and  at  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war  was  ceded  by  Great 
Britain  to  the  United  States.  They,  however,  held  possession  of  Detroit 
until  1796,  when  it  was  given  up  to  the  United  States.  In  1805  the  state 
was  erected  into  a  distinct  territory,  and  received  a  territorial  government. 
The  British  again  obtained  possession  of  the  country,  in  1812-13,  but 
were  soon  expelled  by  the  Arnericans  under  General  Harrison.  In  1836, 
Michigan  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  state. 

The  surface  of  the  lower  or  southern  peninsula  is  generally  level,  hav- 
ing very  few  elevations  which  may  be  termed  hills.  The  interior  is  un- 
dulating, rising  gradually  from  the  lakes  to  the  centre  of  the  peninsula, 
and  is  mostly  covered  with  fine  forests,  interspersed  with  prairies.  Along 
the  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  are  sand  hills,  thrown  by  the  winds 
into  innumerable  fantastic  forms,  sometimes  covered  with  stinted  trees 
and  scanty  vegetation,  but  most  generally  bare ;  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Huron,  are  some  high  cliffs.  The  point  formed  by  Lake  Huron  and  Sag- 
inaw bay  is  generally  low  and  swampy-  The  forest  trees  are  the  same 
as  in  Ohio,  with  the  addition  of  white  and  yellow  pine ;  and  fruit  trees 
produce  abundantly. 

The  northern  peninsula  does  not  promise  much  to  agriculture,  though 
there  are  doubtless  fertile  tracts  ;  but  in  minerals  it  is  rich.  Iron,  copper, 
and  lead  are  abundant,  and  some  surprising  masses  of  native  copper  have 
been  discovered  in  Ontonagon  river.  The  climate  is  cold,  but  healthy ; 
and  though  the  summers  are  short,  vegetation  is  exceedingly  rapid.  No 
part  of  the  United  States  is  better  supplied  with  aquatic  game  and  fish. 

The  powers  of  government  are  divided  into  three  distinct  departments  ; 
the  legislative,  the  executive,  and  judicial.  The  legislative  power  is  vested 
in  a  senate  and  house  of  representatives.  Senators  are  chosen  every  two 
years,  and  representatives  annually.  The  executive  power  is  vested  in  a 
governor.  Term  of  service  two  years.  The  judicial  power  is  vested  in 
a  supreme  court,  and  such  other  courts  as  the  legislature  may  from  time 
to  time  establish.  Every  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  having  resided  in  the  state  six  months  preceding  an 
election,  is  a  qualified  elector. 


FLORIDA. 

Florida  was  discovered  by  Sebastian  Cabot,  sailing  under  the  Englisn 
flag,  in  1497 :  but  he  did  not  land  to  examine  the  interior  of  the  country. 
Ponce  de  Leon,  a  Spanish  adventurer  from  Hispaniola,  to  some  extent 
explored  the  country  in  1512,  and  a  second  time  in  1516.  In  1539  Hernan- 
do de  Soto,  who  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  under  Pizarro,  in  the 
conquest  of  Peru,  sailed  from  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  landed  at  Tampa 
Bay  in  Florida  with  an  armed  force,  with  which  he  overran  the  country, 
though  his  followers  were  mostly  cut  off,  and  himself  died.  In  1763,  Flor- 
ida was  ceded  to  Great  Britain  by  Spain.  The  Spanish  re-conquered  it  in 
1781,  and  it  was  confirmed  to  them  at  the  peace  of  1783  ;  but  in  1821  the 
Spaniards  ceded  it  to  the  United  States  in  compensation  for  spoliations 
on  their  commerce.  Florida  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1845. 

The  face  of  the  country  is  uneven  ;  but  it  is  without  mountains  or  high 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  685 

hills.  The  whole  extent  of  the  sea-coast  is  indented  with  bays  and  la- 
goons. A  large  portion  of  the  country  is  covered  with  pine  forests,  the 
trees  of  which,  standing  at  a  considerable  distance  from  each  other,  with- 
out brush  or  underwood,  affords  an  opportunity  for  the  grass  and  flowers 
to  spread  with  luxuriance  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  during  the  whole 
year.  The  borders  of  the  streams  are  usually  skirted  by  hammocks  of 
hard  timber  entangled  with  grape  and  other  vines.  The  sea-coast  is  gen- 
erally healthy,  and  in  many  parts  remarkably  so.  The  peninsula,  which 
is  the  southern  portion  of  the  territory,  presents  a  singular  alternation  of 
savannahs,  hammocks,  lagoons,  and  grass-ponds,  called  collectively  the 
Everglades,  which  extend  into  the  heart  of  the  country  for  two  hundred 
miles  north  of  Cape  Sable. 

The  legislative  council  is  composed  of  eleven  members  elected  for  two 
years,  and  a  house  of  representatives  composed  of  twenty-nine  mem- 
bers, elected  annually  by  the  people  on  the  second  Monday  in  October. 
The  legislative  council  meets  annually,  at  Tallahassee,  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, and  the  residence  of  the  governor,  on  the  first  Monday  in  January, 
and  its  sessions  are  limited  to  seventy-five  days.  The  pay  of  the  mem- 
bers is  four  dollars  a  day,  and  four  dollars  for  every  twenty  miles  travel 
ling,  to  and  from  the  seat  of  government. 


TEXAS. 

This  state  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  after  a  very  stormy  debate,  la 
1845.  It  contains  an  area  of  200,000  square  miles,  divided  into  three 
distinct  regions,  each  of  which  invites  the  hand  of  man  to  an  essentially 
different  system  of  agricultural  production.  The  Coast  Plain,  or  level 
region,  lies  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  directly  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
extends  from  the  Sabine  to  the  Rio  Grande — a  distance  of  four  hundred 
miles.  Each  extremity  of  this  plain  narrows  down  to  a  width  of  perhaps 
thirty  miles  ;  but  about  the  centre,  at  the  Colorado,  it  expands,  and  runs 
back  a  hundred  miles,  in  one  vast  flower-embroidered  prairie,  unbroken 
by  rock  or  waterfall.  The  prevailing  character,  says  Kennedy,  of  the 
soil  of  the  level  region  of  Texas  is  a  rich  alluvian,  and  singularly  free 
from  those  accumulations  of  stagnant  water  which,  combined  with  a  burn- 
ing sun  and  exuberant  vegetation,  render  a  large  proportion  of  the  southern 
parts  of  the  United  States  little  better  than  a  sickly  desert.  The  porous 
character  of  the  soil,  the  gradual  elevation  of  the  level  lands  toward  the 
interior,  and  the  general  rise  of  the  banks  from  the  beds  of  the  streams, 
preclude  the  formation  of  swamps  to  any  injurious  extent.  The  returns 
of  the  soil  are  abundant,  and  the  most  valuable  known  to  commerce.  To 
cotton  and  sugar,  already  tested,  may  be  probably  added  indigo  and  cochi- 
neal. Lemons  and  oranges  grow  well  in  favourable  situations,  and  the 
fig,  peach,  prune,  olive,  almond,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone, 
will  thrive  in  any  part  of  the  Gulf  prairie. 

Midland  Texas  consists  of  a  large  zone,  nearly  two  hundred  miles  in 
width,  from  east  to  west  across  the  country.  This  is  the  chosen  home  of 
the  grain-raising  farmer;  timber  of  the  best  kind  is  plentiful,  and  so  dis- 
tributed that  the  settler  can  have  on  his  farm  a  fair  proportion  of  prairie 
ready  for  the  plough. 

Northern  Texas,  lying  between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande,  has 
been  little  explored  for  settlement.  At  the  close  of  1833,  and  during  the 
two  subsequent  years,  emigrants  were  placed  by  a  New- York  land  com- 
pany, under  an  Empresario  grant,  at  a  settlement  called  Dolores,  on  the 
Rio  Grande.  The  report  of  Mr.  Egerton,  the  company's  surveyor,  repre- 
sents the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande  as  well  adapted  to  farming :  and  de- 
scribes the  whole  country  between  that  river  and  the  Medina  as  unsur- 
passed for  grazing. 


686  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

Previously  to  1690,  Texas  formed  a  remote  and  merely  nominal  part  of 
the  conquests  of  Cortez,  inhabited  almost  wholly  by  predatory  Indian 
tribes ;  but  in  that  year  the  Spaniards,  having  driven  out  a  colony  of 
French  who  had  established  themselves  at  Matagorda,  made  their  first 
permanent  settlement  at  San  Francisco.  On  the  consummation  of  Mex- 
ican independence,  Texas  was  constituted  one  of  the  federal  states  of 
Mexico,  in  conjunction  with  the  adjacent  state  of  Coahuila;  a  union  very 
unpopular  with  the  Texians,  and  which  was  productive  of  the  first  dis- 
agreement with  the  central  government,  and  as  we  have  seen,  in  con- 
junction with  other  causes,  induced  them  finally  to  throw  off  entirely  the 
Mexican  government,  and  successfully  assert  their  own  independence. 

The  principal  towns  are  Galveston,  Austin,  Houston,  Nacogdoches, 
Bexar,  Goliad,  and  Matagorda.  The  geographical  position  of  Texas  is 
eminently  favourable  to  the  growth  and  extension  of  commerce.  Its 
rivers,  and  the  facilities  which  the  country  affords  for  the  completion  of 
railways,  will  enable  the  traders  and  agriculturists  to  forward  their  pro- 
duce easily  to  the  coast  and  the  European  markets.  After  the  rivers  al- 
ready named,  the  principal  proceeding  from  north  to  south,  are  the  Ne- 
ches,  Trinidad,  Brazos  de  Dios,  Colorado,  Guadaloupe,  San  Antonio,  and 
Nueces.  They  all  fall  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  or  rather  (except  the 
Brazos  de  Dios)  into  its  bays  and  lagoons. 


IOWA. 

This  is  the  youngest  of  the  United  States'  territories,  and  has  grown 
more  rapidly,  since  its  organization,  in  1838,  than  any  state  or  territory 
in  the  Union.  Its  population  was  sufficient,  in  1845,  to  warrant  the  action 
of  Congress  establishing  it  a  separate  state.  For  some  reasons  dis- 
liking the  terms  of  admission,  however,  the  people,  twice  by  popular  vote, 
decided  their  state  should  remain  a  territory. 

The  territory  embraces  all  that  portion  of  country  lying  north  of  the 
state  of  Missouri,  west  of  the  Mississippi  river  and  a  line  due  north  from 
its  source  to  the  British  possessions,  south  of  the  British  possessions,  and 
east  of  the  Missouri  and  White-earth  rivers.  That  part  of  the  territory 
which  has  been  surveyed,  is  a  strip  on  the  Mississippi  of  about  an  average 
width  of  sixty  miles ;  extending  from  the  north  boundary  of  the  state  of 
Missouri  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  ten  miles,  to  the  Yellow  river. 
This  portion  is  more  or  less  settled ;  it  is  a  beautiful,  fertile,  healthy,  and 
undulating  country,  abounding  in  springs  and  mill  streams.  It  is  now 
settling  very  rapidly,  with  enterprising  and  industrious  inhabitants.  The 
streams  rise  in  the  great  prairies,  and  those  which  have  an  easterly  course 
unite  with  the  Mississippi,  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  territory,  while 
those  which  flow  in  a  westerly  direction,  fall  into  the  Missouri  river.  The 
streams  which  flow  through  the  surveyed  part  are  the  Des  Moines,  Skunk, 
,  Iowa,  Wapsipinqcor^  Macoquetta,  Turkey,  and  Yellow  rivers ;  further 
north,  is  the  Upper  Iowa,  and  still  further,  the  St.  Peter's  river,  which 
rises  near  the  "sacred  red  pipestone  quarries"  of  the  Indians.  . 

Iowa  city,  the  capital,  was  laid  out  in  1839,  in  a  fine,  healthy,  fertile,- 
country,  on  Iowa  river,  eighty  miles  from  the  Mississippi,  and  is  already 
a  considerable  town.  Burlington,  on  the  Mississippi,  forty  or  fifty  miles 
from  the  south-east  corner  of  the  territory,  has  a  good  landing.  Bloom- 
ington  is  advantageously  located  on  a  bend  in  the  Mississippi,  at  the  first 
place  above  Burlington  where  a  town  can  be  built.  Dubuque,  on  the 
Mississippi,  opposite  a  corner  of  Illinois,  is  the  emporium  of  the  lead  region. 

The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  the  governor  and  the  legislative  as- 
sembly, which  consists  of  a  council  of  thirteen  members,  elected  for  two 
years,  and  a  house  of  representatives  of  twenty-six  members,  elected  an- 
nually. The  sum  of  $20,000  has  been  appropriated  by  the  United  States, 
to  erect  public  buildings  at  the  seat  of  the  territorial  government. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY.  687 


WISCONSIN. 


Wisconsin  territory  embraces  all  that  portion  of  country  lying  north  of 
the  state  of  Illinois ;  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  and  a  line  drawn  due 
north  from  its  source  to  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the 
British  possessions ;  and  west  of  the  Montreal  and  Menomonee  rivers, 
and  Lake  Michigan. 

Madison,  between  the  third  and  fourth  lakes,  of  the  chain  of  the  Four 
Lakes,  in  Dane  county,  is  the  capital.  The  United  States'  government 
have  appropriated  $40,000  for  the  erection  of  public  buildings,  and  $5,000 
for  the  public  library.  The  most  important  place  in  the  territory  is  Mil- 
waukie,  on  Lake  Michigan.  Green  Bay,  near  the  mouth  of  Fox  river,  has 
a  good  harbour  and  an  extensive  trade.  Racine,  on  Lake  Michigan,  and 
Prairie  du  Chien,  on  the  Mississippi  river,  just  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Wisconsin  river,  are  important  and  growing  places. 

The  surveyed  portion  of  the  country  south  of  Green  Bay,  Fox,  and 
Wisconsin  rivers,  is  composed  of  timbered  and  prairie  land,  with  some 
swamps,  or  wet  prairies,  having  generally  a  soil  from  one  to  ten  feet  deep. 
All  kinds  of  crops  which  are  raised  in  northern  latitudes  may  be  cultivated 
with  success ;  and,  owing  to  the  great  range  of  pasturage  on  the  prairies, 
it  is  an  uncommonly  fine  country  for  grazing.  The  counties  of  Grant 
and  Iowa  abound  with  lead  and  copper  ore.  This  region  is  well  watered 
with  clear  perennial  streams  and  springs.  North  of  the  Wisconsin  com- 
mences a  hilly,  and  thence  northward  gradually  swelling  into  a  moun- 
tainous, region ;  the  surface  becomes  rugged  and  broken,  the  streams  rush- 
ing down  falls  and  rapids,  forming,  in  many  places,  wild  and  picturesque 
views.  Near  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  is  an  elevated  table  land, 
abounding  with  lakes  and  swamps,  filled  with  wild  rice  and  fish.  Bor- 
dering the  Mississippi  and  Wisconsin  rivers,  the  soil  is  rich,  and  the  sur- 
face most  generally  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber. 

The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  the  governor  and  the  legislative  as- 
sembly. The  legislative  assembly  consists  of  a  council  of  thirteen  mem- 
bers, elected  for  four  years,  and  a  house  of  representatives  of  twenty-six 
members,  elected  for  two  years. 


OREGON. 

This  is  the  last  corner  of  the  earth,  according  to  an  English  reviewer, 
which  is  left  free  for  the  occupation  of  a  civilized  race.  When  Oregon 
shall  be  filled  up,  the  map  of  the  world  will  be  completed.  The  romantic 
days  in  which  every  new  adventurer  saw,  in  the  first  green  shores  which 
greeted  him,  the  nursery  of  some  new  empire  to  be  called  by  his  name, 
are  gone  forever.  The  world  has  grown  old  within  the  last  two  hundred 
years  more  rapidly  than  in  the  preceding  two  thousand  years.  The  future 
conquests  of  man  must  be  over  other  elements.  Earth  has  but  little  more 
left  to  dispose  of.  Of  the  beautiful  islands  in  the  Pacific,  the  loveliest 
and  largest  are  already  appropriated.  The  vast  and  teeming  solitudes  of 
South-America,  it  is  true,  aflford  room  for  empires ;  but  their  air  breathes 
death  to  the  northern  colonist. 

Generally  speaking,  Oregon  consists  mostly  of  mountains.  The  sum- 
mits of  the  Rocky  Mountains  rise  above  the  line  of  perpetual  congelation  ; 
and  the  country  descends  below  them  by  regular  belts,  in  the  form  of  im- 
mense terraces,  or  descending  plains,  disposed  regularly  one  below  the 
other.  The  country  must  have  an  abrupt  slope  towards  the  Pacific,  as  it 
descends  as  much  in  six  hundred  miles  to  the  west,  as  it  does  in  fifteep 


g88  THE  TREASURY  OF  HISTORY. 

hundred  to  the  east.  The  Columbia  river,  its  chief  geographical  feature, 
in  falling  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  sea,  cuts  transversly  three  or 
four  mountain  ridges.  One  of  them,  the  President's  range,  has  points  of 
extreme  height,  reaching  up  near  sixteen  thousand  feet  in  single  peaks, 
and  frowning  down  almost  immediately  over  its  waters.  North  of  the 
Columbia,  the  country  is  but  a  labyrinth  of  mountains ;  interspersed,  in- 
deed, with  vallies,  and  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber.  South  of 
the  Columbia,  the  scene  suddenly  and  completely  changes  ;  an  undulating 
country  appears,  clad  with  magnificent  trees.  This,  however,  does  not 
last ;  as  the  interior  is  composed  of  volcanic  and  arid  plains,  with  a  soil 
entirely  useless. 

The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica describes  this  territory  as  "a  vast  extent 
of  country  belonging  to  the  United  States  of  America,  which  is  situated  to 
the  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  between  the  41st  and  54th  parallels  of 
north  latitude,  and  the  34th  and  48lh  meridians  of  west  longitude."  It  was 
first  discovered  by  the  Spanish,  and  by  them  sold  to  the  Americans.  The 
Columbia  river  was  examined  as  early  as  1790,  by  Gray,  an  American 
navigator;  and  in  1805,  the  interior  of  the  country  was  explored  by  Lewis 
and  Clarke,  by  order  of  the  United  States'  government.  In  1811  a  settle- 
ment was  founded  by  Mr.  Astor,  of  New-York,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia ;  but  this  was  taken  by  the  British  in  the  war  of  1612-13,  and  when 
restored,  was  sold  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  The  trading  posts  are 
at  present  in  possession  of  the  English,  though  the  settlers,  being  mostly 
Americans,  are  clamorous  to  come  under  the  government  of  the  U.  States. 

The  sources  of  the  Columbia  are  said  to  be  interlocked  with  those  of 
the  Missouri  river.  Immediately  after  it  emerges  from  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, its  current  becomes  broad  and  deep,  and  having  received  Clarke's 
and  Lewis'  rivers,  which  flow  in  from  rich  vallies  on  the  south-east,  and  the 
Wallamette  and  Coweliskee  rivers  (whose  vallies  are  surpassingly  rich  and 
beautiful),  its  breadth  is  enlarged  to  nine  hundred  and  sixty  yards.  It 
there  takes  a  great  bend  to  the  south,  and  penetrates  the  second  mountain 
barrier.  One  hundred  and  thirty-six  miles  lower  down  are  the  great  falls, 
or  cascades,  which  descend  altogether  fifty-seven  feet.  Below  the  falls 
the  river  winds  first  to  the  north-west  and  then  to  the  southwest  and  in- 
tersects the  third  chain  of  mountains,  where  it  is  again  compressed  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  breadth.  Below  this  rapid,  which  is  dis- 
tant one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  from  the  Pacific,  it  meets  the  tide,  and 
from  this  point  it  has  a  broad  estuary  to  the  sea.  Sixty  miles  below  the 
falls,  the  Wallamette  flows  in  from  the  south-east;  and  a  half  day's  jour- 
ney below  that,  the  Coweliskee.  There  are  no  other  streams  of  impor- 
tance in  the  whole  territory. 

A  bill  is  now  before  Congress  for  the  organization  of  a  government  in 
Oregon.  If  it  pass  without  much  amending,  its  provisions  may  be  summed 
up  as  follows: — Seel.  Extends  the  jurisdiction  of  Iowa  over  Oregon. 
Sec.  2.  Regulates  the  courts.  Sec.  3.  Authorizes  the  president  to  appoint 
justices  of  the  peace,  and  provides  that  British  subjects  who  shall  be  ar- 
rested shall  be  delivered  up  for  trial  to  the  nearest  British  authority. 
Sec.  4,  Grants  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  to  every  white  male 
inhabitant  of  Oregon,  of  18  years  age  and  upwards,  who  may  have  removed 
or  in  two  years  shall  remove  from  the  United  States  and  settle  in  Oregon. 
Sec.  5.  Provides  for  the  appointment  of  a  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs. 
Sec.  6.  Authorizes  the  president  to  erect  mihtary  posts  to  protect  emigrants. 
Sec.  7.  Provides  for  raising  two  regiments  of  mounted  men,  for  the  same 
purpose.  Sec.  8.  Provides  for  an  overland  mail  to  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia river.  Sec.  9.  Appropriates  $200,000  to  carry  the  provisions  of  this 
ftill  into  operation.  Sec.  10.  Provides  for  giving  notice  forthwith  to  the 
British  government,  of  the  termination  of  the  joint  occupancy.  It  is 
understood  the  British  minister  objects  only  to  the  4th  and  6th  sections. 


1 


THE  TREASURY  OP  HISTORY.  999 


CALIFORNIA. 

As  the  transfer  of  a  portion  of  this  country  is  now  in  agitation  between 
governments,  and  as  citizens  of  the  west  are  emigrating  thither  in  num- 
bers, enticed  by  the  glowing  representations  of  those  who  have  preceded 
them,  a  brief  notice  of  what  the  region  really  is,  may  be  deemed  due  to 
the  public. 

California  is  naturally  divided  into  Old  or  Lower,  and  New  or  Upper ; 
which,  as  they  differ  widely,  require  to  be  noticed  separately.  The  first, 
consists  of  a  long,  narrow  peninsula,  on  the  west  coast  of  America,  which 
is  separated  by  the  gulf  of  California  from  the  Mexican  province  of  Sonora. 
It  is  about  seven  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  from  thirty  to  one  hundred 
in  breadth.  The  country  is  perfectly  worthless.  A  range  of  low,  bare 
rocky  mountains  runs  through  it,  without  water,  and  the  sea  coast  is  sand. 
The  climate  is  dry  and  hot,  and  hurricanes  are  frequent.  Timber  of  any 
description  is  scarcely  to  be  found,  and  corn  cannot  be  produced.  It  is, 
m  fact,  one  of  the  most  barren  and  unattractive  regions  within  the  tem- 
perate zone.  There  are  some  tolerable  harbours ;  but  the  same  barren- 
ness reigns  around  them  that  prevails  elsewhere,  and  renders  them  ineli 
gible  as  situations  for  towns.  The  pearl-fishery  in  the  gulf  of  California 
has  been  famed,  and  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  large 
quantities  of  pearls  were  obtained  by  Spanish  adventurers.  Pearls,  tor- 
toise-shell, and  a  few  bullocks'  hides  constitute  all  the  exports  of  Lower 
California,  which  are  mostly  sent  to  San  Bias  and  Mazatlan,  in  small 
coasting  vessels. 

Upper  California  stretches  from  San  Diego,  in  lat.  32°  north,  to  42°, 
making  seven  hundred  miles  of  seaboard,  indented  by  bays  and  harbours, 
many  of  them  equal  to  any  in  the  world,  and  one,  San  Francisco,  forming 
probably  the  best  and  safest  harbour  now  known.  A  country  extending 
back  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  thousand  miles,  which  is  half  as 
large  as  Europe,  or  fifteen  times  larger  than  the  state  of  Ohio — and  has  a 
a  soil  in  fertility  equal  to  the  alluvial  bottoms  of  the  Mississippi :  a  coun- 
try high  and  as  healthy  as  any  other,  with  a  most  delightful  climate,  where 
winter  is  unknown,  and  the  heat  of  summer  moderated  by  the  healthful 
sea  breeze,  coming  continually  from  the  Pacific.  A  climate  more  regular 
and  healthful  than  any  in  America  excepting  that  of  Chili,  in  South  America, 
The  coast  rises  abruptly  from  the  sea,  to  vast  plains  of  rich  table  land, 
without  the  marshes  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  or  swamps  of  our  Missis- 
sippi country.  A  country,  too,  with  geographical  advantages  for  extended 
commerce,  greater  than  the  European  or  American  side  of  the  Atlantic ; 
and,  from  its  soil  and  climate,  as  well  adapted  to  the  culture  of  the  sugar- 
cane as  Louisiana,  and  superior  to  Mississippi  for  cotton.  It  is  said  thai 
three  thousand  pounds  can  be  raised  to  the  acre.  For  tobacco  it  is  equal 
to  Kentucky  in  weight  and  quantity,  and  to  Virginia  in  fineness.  The 
average  crop  of  Indian  corn  is  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  bushels  to  the 
acre.  Oats  are  indigenous  to  the  country  ;  and  wheat  grows  most  lux- 
uriantly. As  a  grazing  country  it  is  equalled  only  by  the  pampas  of 
South-America ;  even  now  cattle  and  horses  roam  wild  in  countless  herds. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  why  so  lovely  a  portion  of  country  has  not  ere 
this  been  settled,  it  is  said,  the  same  question  might  fifteen  years  since 
have  been  asked  concerning  Texas,  or  five  years  since  of  Wisconsin. 
The  misgovernment  of  Mexico,  the  lack  of  energy,  and  the  small  share  of 
civilized  inhabitants,  are  cited  as  the  chief  reasons. 


eOVERNORS  OF  THE  U.  S.  A.  AND  TERRITORIES  (1849), 

WITH    THEIR    TERMS    OF    OFFICE   AND    SALARIES. 

Stateu.  Governors.  Term  expiree.  Salary. 

Maine John  W.  Dana 1850 $1500 

New  Hampshire Samuel  Dinemoor 1850 1000 

Vermont Carlos  Coolidge 1850 750 

Massachusetts George  N.  Brigga 1850 2500 

Rhode  Island Henry  B.  Anthony 1850 400 

Connecticut Joseph  Trumbull 1850 1100 

New  York Hamilton  Fish 1851 4000 

New  Jersey Daniel  Haines 1851 2000 

Pennsylvania Wm.  F.  Johnston 1852 3000 

Delaware William  Tharp 1853 1333^ 

Maryland Philip  F.  Thomas 1851 2000* 

Virginia J.  B.  Floyd 1852 3333J 

North  Carolina Charles  Manly 1851 2000 

South  Carolina W.  B.  Seabrook ^ 1850 3500 

Georgia George  W.  B.  Towns 1851 3500 

Florida Thomas  S.  Brown 1853 2500 

Alabama Reuben  Chapman 1851 3500 

Mississippi Joseph  W.  Matthews 1850 3000 

Louisiana Isaac  Johnson 1851 6000 

Texas P.  H.  Bell 1851 2000 

Arkansas Thomas  S.  Drew 1852 2000 

Missouri Austin  A.  King 1852 1500 

Tennessee W.  Trousdale 1851 2000 

Kentucky John  J.  Crittenden 1852 2500 

Ohio Seabury  Ford 1850 1500 

Michigan Epaphroditu.s  Ransom 1850 1500 

Indiana Joseph  A.  W^right 1852 1500 

Illinois Augustus  C.  French 1853 1000 

Wisconsin Nelson  Dewey 1851 1250 

Iowa Ansel  Briggs 1850 1000 

Minesota  Territory Alexander  Ramsay 

Oregon  Territory Joseph  Lane 1852 3000t 

*  With  the  use  of  a  furoielied  bouse. 

t  Including  $1500  as  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs. 


EUROPE. — States,  Capitals,  Reig^jing  Sovereigns,  &c. 

state.  Population.  Ruler.  ^^^^^-  Religion.  Capital.  ofCap^tol!' 

Austria 35,879,152. .Emperor  Francis 1848. .Catholic Vienna 333,818 

Baden 1,335,200 . .  Gr.  Duke  Leopold 1830 . .  Protestant Manheim 21,650 

Bavaria 4.504,874 . .  King  Maximilian 1848 . .       do Munich 118,000 

Belaium 4,335,319..    "     Leopold 1831..       do.*       Brussels 130,000 

Brunswick 267,565..  Duke  William 1831..       do Brunswick 33,450 

Denmark 2,194,950.  .King  Frederic  VIL  ...1848..       do Copenhagen...    145,000 

France 35,400,486. .Louis Napoleon, Pres.  .1849. .Catholic Paris 1,000,000 

Great  Britain.  .27,019,555.  .Queen  Victoria 1837 .. Protestant London 1,873,676 

Greece 637,700.  .King  Otho 1832. .Catholic* Athens 15,000 

Hanover 1,773.711..    "     Ernest  Aug 1837.. Protestant Hanover 40,000 

Hesse  Cassel. .     732,073..Elector  William  11 1821..       do Hanau 15,000 

Holland 3,247,655 ..  King  William  H 1840..      do TheHague....     60,000 

lonianlsles...     219,797..  J  ^^P^^^^^'^P^^*^^^^  J  Greek  Church...  Corfu 17,000 

Lucca 168,198. .Duke  Charles  Louis  .  .1824.  .Catholic Lucca 24,000 

Modena 515.343..     '•      Francis  V 1846..      do Modena 27,000 

Nassau 417,708..     "      Adolphus. ....  ..1839.. Protestant Wiesbaden 25,000 

Parma 496,803..     "      Charles  Louis  .  .1847.  .Catholic Parma 36,000 

Portugal 3,412,500.. Queen  Maria  II 1826..       do Lisbon 298,000 

Prussia 16,112,948.  .Kinar  Fred.  Wm.  IV.  .  .1840.  .Protestant Berlin 311,491 

Roman  States  .  2,908,115.  .Pope  Pius  IX 1S46.  .Catholic Rome 224,000 

Russia 65.949,266.  .Emperor  Nicholas 1825.  .Greek  Church. .  .St  Petersburg  .  445,514 

Sardinia 4.650,368.  .King  Victor  Emanuel  .1849.  .Catholic Turin 143,000 

Saxony 1,757,800..    "     Fred.  Augustus..  1836..       do.*    Dresden 74.122 

Two  Sicilies.-  8,423,316..    "     Ferdinand  IL  .  .-1830..       do Naples 410,000 

Spain 12,386,841.. Queen  Isabella  II i833-.       do Madrid 250,000 

Sweden 4,306,650 . .  King  Oscar 1844 . .  Protestant Stockholm 81.638 

Switzeriand  . .  2,188,009. .  [Republic]                               Prot.  and  Cath..  .Berne 20,000 

Turkey 9,545,000.  .Sultan  Abdul  Medjid.. 1839. .Mohammedan.  ..Constantinople.  800,000 

Tuscany 1,733,949 . .  Gr.  Duke  Leopold  II. .  .1824 . .  Catholic Florence 80,000 

Wnrtemburg  .  1,743,827.  .King  William 1816..Prote=l3nt Stuttgard 40,000 

*  The  King  of  Belgium  is  a  Protestant,  though  his  subjects  are  mostly  Catholics  j  the  King  of  Saiony  is  a  Catholic, 
though  the  greater  part  of  his  subjects  are  Protestants  ;  and  the  King  of  Greece  is  a  Catltolic,  thongh  most  of  bis  sab 
jects  are  ofthe  Grctk  Church. 


>- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
Los  Angeles 
I  111     .T^is  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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